The Beauty of Death

Chapter Five: Jasper Cartley

I stared at the now dead soul in front of me. An elderly old man who wouldn't even look my way. He was staring at his wife as she held his hand, sobbing. I sighed heavily and walked around to approach him. He looked up at me as I came to stand at his side. "My condolences to your wife," I said sadly. "But I'm afraid that it's time to go. Your fate awaits." He looked at me, tears brimming in his eyes.

"What is my fate?" he asked. I took a deep breath, trying to remind myself that I couldn't get caught up in my subject's lives. That was one of Reaper's many rules when he took me on as his apprentice. I cleared my throat.

"Heaven. Your fate is heaven. If we leave now, I can get you on the next train." He looked so confused.

"What about the staircase? The one that I heard so much about in church?" I shook my head sadly.

"Death doesn't actually work out that way, sir. I'm sorry. Now come along, we have to go." I took his hand, but he jerked away from me.

"Please...just give me a few more minutes with my wife." He looked back down at his crying wife. All I could see was the clock that was above her head, and squeezed my eyes shut when I saw the timer sitting at fifteen hours. She wasn't going to live a week after her husband's passing.

"Five more minutes won't make a difference here. I have to take you right now, otherwise you'll be in limbo. You'll miss your chance and won't get into heaven ever again if you aren't on that train right now. You want to take your chances that's fine, but don't do that to your wife. When she dies, she'll be alone in heaven, and limbo is practically hell. Now please come with me, and you can wait for her there. Time passes faster there I hear." He looked over his shoulder at me.

"You mean that you don't know?"

"No, mate," Kaden said from behind me. I spun around and glared at him. He was eating an apple, but it looked more like a heart. He chewed loudly, his food showing. "She missed her chance a long time ago. She owes something to death now I'm afraid." I snapped my fingers and his thread tore through his lips, sealing his mouth shut. I turned back to face the man.

"Please...just trust me. Your wife doesn't have much time either, and I don't want a widow to never see her husband again." He rested his hand on her shoulder and leaned down, pecking her cheek. He nodded his head.

"Okay," he said, no longer fighting. I sighed heavily and held out my hand, which he took firmly in his. I closed my eyes and the hospital room fell away from us. I opened my eyes and saw that we were at Limbo Station. The train whistled loudly and was ready to leave. I rushed forward and balled my hand into a fist. keeping it back. The conductor came back and stared me down as I approached.

"You're lucky, I was just getting ready to depart," he said. I rolled my eyes, but he couldn't see it because of my cloak.

"Whatever, Bruce. Just take him. He's to be in heaven." He chuckled.

"Clearly darling. He's on the train to heaven." I gave a low growl and he quit laughing. He cleared his throat and leaned down, his hand out to the old man. "Come along, sir. Let's not waste Death's time." I released his hand as he boarded the train and he looked back down at me.

"Do they always call you Death?" I nodded my head.

"That's my name."

"What was your name before you died?"

"Rosalinda, but everyone called me, Rose." He smiled and held his hand out for me to shake.

"Pleasure to meet you, Rose. My name is Jasper. Jasper Cartley...and I died after a thirty year battle with cancer." I sighed heavily as the train's horn blared through the air. "You said that my wife would be along soon...what did you mean?" I cleared my throat.

"She'll be dead within fifteen hours. So by the time you get to heaven she'll be getting on the next train." He nodded his head, a sad smile on his face.

"Thank you, Rose." I smiled, and a tear fell down my face. I reached up, wiping it away.

"You're welcome, Mr. Cartley. Goodbye. I hope you enjoy your after life." I turned and disappeared back into my castle. I tossed the robe away and someone grabbed me from behind. I was spun around to face Kaden, his stitching half undone.

"You're bloody crazy! Stitching my lips together like that!" I huffed and pushed him away.

"Perhaps you should've stayed hidden from my subject. You know Reaper has a rule against that! If he had shown up he would have killed us both." He rolled his eyes.

"Okay, Rosie, I get it, but you didn't need to stitch my lips shut."

"Yeah, I did. You were giving that man information. Information that he did not need to know." He sighed heavily.

"It's not like you're going to ever see him again! Every other apprentice winds up in Hell anyway. You'll never see that man again." My heart broke when he said that and he knew it. He took a step forward. "Rosie, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it." I blinked back the tears and grabbed the nearest object, which in this case was my love seat, and threw it across the room.

"You think I don't know that, Kaden?! You think I don't know that I won't be going to heaven?! You think I don't know that I'll never see Thomas and Elizabeth ever again?! Seeing that man today, proved me wrong. That I can't live without him!" I yelled. "I can't handle being without him!" I toppled down to my knees, sobbing into my hands. Kaden wrapped his arms around me, pulling me close to him.

"Maybe you should go after him."

"And how is that going to work? I'm dead." He sighed heavily.

"I know, honey...but maybe you could...keep possessing that girl, Penny. I can dig up everything that I can about her or something." I shook my head.

"I won't do what you do."

"Then I will help you find a way, Rosie. As your brother I should take care of you in every way possible." He kissed the top of my head lovingly.