Grim Reaper

ONE

The day Addie died was not as glamorous as she had hoped, it was more tragic really. It was certainly not what she had expected. She had always imagined her death as going one of two ways.

The first being (of course) dying of old age surrounded by family and leaving behind a life long lived and successful. The other way being going out in a blaze of glory doing something heroic like saving a kid from a burning building or something.

She never thought she would die on the side of the road alone, unable to move, and cold. Her red hair was matted with blood, and strew out around her head. Her limbs felt heavy and her chest hurt.
She wasn't just cold either, she was very cold. It was making it hard for her to think.

She could still see the headlights of her car illuminating the woods adjacent to her. The fire, though dim, was also shedding some light on the area. The car was gruesomely twisted, it's a wonder she was able to crawl out of the wreckage at all. She was in pain, but it was distant and foggy. Everything felt like a bad dream.

When she had fallen onto the grass all she could think was, This is it. This is where i'm going to die. And unfortunately she was right.

She heard someone call her name from far off, but it didn't really concern her all that much. She was too busy looking at the shadows. The light was casting them across the forest. They swayed against the trees, as if dancing with the wind. They were pretty, and she needed something nice, everything felt wrong. But then she saw something, amongst the shadows. There was a figure there concealed in them. It was tall and terrifying and it moved unnaturally. It scared her. She felt cold fear in the center of her stomach. She wanted to cry out as it started to slowly move closer to her.

She wanted to turn away from the figure, but it hurt to move her head. She did anyway, squeezing her eyes shut for good measure. Maybe it was just her imagination. Maybe if it was real it would just go away.
Sadly turning her head didn't stop her from hearing the figure's heavy steps inching closer and closer. She closed her eyes tighter. She could still hear that voice yelling her name. She just wanted this all to be over. Her head hurt and everything was foggy. She kept her eyes closed.

Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder, which prompted her to opened her eyes. Her head didn't hurt anymore. Things weren't that foggy.
And she didn't feel like lying down anymore.

She pushed herself up and into a sitting position, leaning back on her elbows. She bent her knees up and down and moved her feet back and forth. She suddenly felt fine. As if nothing had happened.

She was so confused in the midst of her miracle healing that she almost forgot about the hand on her shoulder. Almost.

She turned her head towards whatever was holding her, it was still there. She jerked back, getting a full look at it. The "it" in question wasn't a figure as she had thought earlier, but something else entirely. It was a creature, covered in murky sludgy shadows. They dripped and melted before her eyes. It was going to kill her, somehow she knew this. Fear filled her up. She felt as through she might burst.

At this point she did what anyone in her situation would do. She promptly got up and ran as fast as she could in the opposite direction. She tore down the road, weaving through the wreckage of her vehicle.

She didn't get very far. She turned to see if the figure was following her when she ran directly into something. She was flung back onto the ground again. She tasted something bitter in her mouth, and when she looked down she was very startled to see she was covered in the disgusting darkness. She looked up and saw the creature, reaching out for her. She screamed and flung her hands out in front of her. She heard a quick sharp sound, and felt a gust of wind.

She opened her eyes and looked out expecting to meet whatever the hell was coming for her, but it was no longer there. Standing in place of the creature, she could see a man. A man dressed in a black suit and tie. He was holding a long weapon, it was taller than he was and had a long curved blade on the end. Oily shadow dripped from the end of the blade.

The man was leaning down towards her, getting a better look she supposed. His black oily hair was falling in front his eyes, it made it to where she couldn't see them. "You alright dear?" He asked offering Addie a hand. She ignored it as she pushed herself to her feet. It was unbecoming to just lay in the grass, she was stronger than that.

"Suit yourself," He shrugged picking up the sharp staff thing he had from where he had laid it in the grass when he had offered a hand. She started to walk away when the man held up a hand, "No, no. No need to start walking yet. Plenty of time for that later. We've a long road ahead of us ya know. Better to wait." He had an accent but Addie couldn't quite place where it was from.

She watched as the man plunged his weapon into the ground before leaning against it, pulling out a white handkerchief and cleaning his hands, which were also covered in the strange liquid shadows.

She was still very afraid, but curiosity won.
"What are you even talking about?" She asked him.

"Well if you hadn't run off so fast," He paused, tilting his head towards her, "And then right into the creature i could've already explained all of this."

He sounded slightly exasperated and he kept fixing his tie and running his hands through his hair as he looked around. It's as if he was watching, or waiting, for something.

She took a closer look at the man, he had a strong, anguished face, with a slight mustache and goatee that made him look like a reject cowboy. Kinda like he was from the old westerns Addie's dad used to watch.

"Who even are you?" Addie asked turning so that she could face the man.

This seemed to amuse him, he smiled a wicked smile, "I'm a Reaper dearie," he held his arm out as if presenting himself. He then added with a wink, "And a grim one at that."