Death
Reader
Introduction
Death is something many people fear and try to avoid; others can’t get out of its way. People fear what they may lose or who, but most fear it because they truly don’t understand it. To understand death you must first look death in the face then you will understand a part of what it is. People who face death and not fully realize what there is to it will usually die before they get chance to again. A person must have an open mind to the possibilities of death, whether or not it has a meaning or just coincidence. My job is to show people the truth of what death really is, to show that it is more than just pure fantasy. I am a Death Reader, a human who has fully recognized death and is given the gift to speak to the dead along with control. I wasn’t always this way though I too lived a normal life, until I met him.
I was 11going on 12 working out in my father’s fields. The herds had seemed to vanish from my sites and I couldn’t understand how so I left my work to go search for them. Once I came to the edge of the woods I saw prints in the mud and realized that it was the cows so I walked on. I quickly got dark as the trees thickened within the forest. A little after I had walked in I heard a cry from one of the cows and quickly ran to where the sound had come from, but tripped from a large hole. I sat up rubbing my head from the fall and turned to see what had tripped me. I stare in terror as I see the large clawed print of a wolf. Soon after a loud howl fills the forest and I jump to my feet. Knowing that I am defenseless I run to the entrance of the forest hoping I can make it in time before the wolf catches my scent. I run faster and faster as I hear loud footsteps from behind. I see the light of the entrance and run with all the energy I have left, but I am soon talked from the side by a large wolf, larger than a normal. I know that I will not return from this alive. I stare into the eyes of death and see something peculiar, the wolf’s eyes are red instead of a normal yellow and it seems to be giving off some kind of black steam, which was when my eyes had been opened. Now I was both confused and terrified. I close my eyes awaiting my doom, until the heavy wait is forcefully hit off of my body. I look up to see a man wearing a long red jacket that touch down to his heels and hair as black as night. In his right hand he wields a sword that seems to curve at the end almost taking the form of a scythe and in the other hand a book. He stares at the creature that begins to get back on its feet, but is stabbed into a nearby tree. The creature howls as it slowly begins to rot away, almost as if the life is being drained right out of it. I notice that the tree had died as well, it became black like ash and its limbs hung low to the ground. I jump to my feet as the man walks towards me. He smiles and says in a strong, but gentle voice, “Do not fright my child I will not harm you, I have come to give you a gift.” I look at him in confusion and ask him, “What gift?” He hands me the book which was in his left hand. The book is old and deteriorating; on the front was a strange looking skull with eyes that glowed when I held it in my hands. I did not understand anything that was going on at the moment. The man kneels down so that he was eye level with me and says, “You possess a very special talent, a talent know other man has. You can see and interact with the dead. You have been chosen to be the next Death Reader.” I look up with shock and look to the pile of bones that was once a wolf, or was it. I feel the book become warm and hear it growl in a low tone that sounds much like an earthquake. “The book calls for you.” I hear him whisper. I look him in the eyes and ask, “What am I to do with it.” He stands and says, “You are to read it, every word, every sentence, every paragraph until the very end, then you will write your own story.” I open the book and see that it is the journal of a Death Reader before me and look back up at the man to see him smiling still. “It seems death has favored you.” He says in a confident voice and vanishes.
