Stories from an Empty Room

Death and Her Fortune Teller

"I'd tell you not to jump if it wasn't my job to take you." she shouted at the man, overlooking the ocean on the edge of a cliff.
The man looked back startled and nearly slipped off. Maybe he does deserve to die.
"Who are you? Stop right there or I'll do it! I'll jump!" he yelled.
Facing Death herself, the man blinks, and he blinked, and blinked. Drowning in his own tears, Death kept walking closer and closer.
"Where are you?!" the man shouted.
"You know she loved you, right? It wasn't your fault." she whispered to the man's ear.
The man stopped crying.
"I'm sorry, mama. I couldn't save you." he opened his arms and had a look at the stars once more.
Death sighed, she walked two steps back before she gently nudged the man with her cane.
She watched as the ocean engulf his final tear drop.
"I guess your own beliefs are stronger than the truth." she smiled.

Wearing her red sundress and her rose crown, she bursts through the curtains. She placed down the cane on the corner of the room and sat down.
"Who's next?" she asked.
"Can't you take a break first? You've been at it for more than a hundred years now." I told her.
She leaned in closer and asked again, slowly "Who's next, Rosita?"
I sighed.
"There's a boy playing near a waterfall..."
"Why him?" she asked.
"Abuse from his father?" I answered.
She stood up and called her cane. One blink and she disappeared in front of me.

From a far, she starts walking closer to the boy. The boy was playing by the river bank, building towers from pebbles and occasionally destroying it only to build it back up.
"What ya' playing there?" she asked the kid.
"I'm trying to build a big castle but it keeps falling down." the boy said as he was stacking the pebbles.
He then slowly looked back and saw Death standing in front of him.
"You look pretty, I like you!" as the wind takes blows gently.
She was caught of guard, she blushed.
"You can see me?" she asked the boy.
"Yeah! Why won't I?" the boy asked back.
"Such a shame..." she flicked a pebble with her cane and it hopped on the water, towards the waterfall.
"Woah! How did you do that?!" the boy asked enthusiastically.
The boy proceeds to throw more pebbles in the river, with each throw getting closer to the violent waters.
"I can do it!" the boy shouted.
She noticed the scars and bruises all over his lean body. Despite all the suffering he felt, he still looked happy.
"Winter! Let's eat!" her mother called.
"I'll be there in a minute, mom!" he replied.
Before the boy throws his last pebble, he looked around.
"Where's the lady in red?" he asked to himself.
With full force, he threw the pebble into the river. He slipped and soon followed.

His arms helplessly flailed as he tried to escape the river's mighty pull, it was too late. He hit a boulder before his small body violently hit every other rock at the end of the river.
"Winter! Come home!" her mother called out again.
Death stared blankly, watching the water splash around.
She tried to walk away but couldn't, her legs were immovable.
"Winter!" the boy's mother called one last time.
Death's eyes water, but no tear fell down.
She took one rose from her crown and gave it a kiss.
"You were strong, kid. I'm sorry you had to go." she whispered into the flower before placing it on the tower the boy had built.

One blink, and she disappeared.