Dying Wish

[38]

Too tired. Too many stairs. I fell back, barely conscious, ready to crash.

Instead, forearms slipped under my armpits. KA-BOOM!

The confinement of cold concrete was gone. Before me was the vastness of the night sky. Clouds of fluffy black gave the silver moon a nice cushion. The winds were still mild. My body was still held up. Thankfully. My outstretched legs being so limp and heavy, I was unable to stand on my own. That could've been a problem. I couldn't face the one who transposed me. This voice...

"Here we are, little brother."

To think He'd still call me that.

"Where's the Death Coin?"

My breathing was easier outside.

I chuckled, "Don't you know? Wait, that's right. Your God Ring can't see the Death Coin. God's one blind spot." Death was the countermeasure for God, remember? What would be the point if God could keep tabs on His own failsafe. "The first God was smart, huh?"

"Seems like you had fun."

"More than you. I realize now how burdensome being God is."

"You think so?" He chuckled.

"I'm sorry for what I did. You never would've given me the Death Coin if you could've known."

"I think I would have. This has been... informative."

"What you did with the Book of Life, you mean. You left out my death when you incarnated me."

"Who knew I could?" He said. "Felt good to give Death a blind spot."

"Father would be pissed," I said.

"Doesn't matter. He's retired."

"Listen to you. Tell him, I'm sorry."

"I will," He promised.

"Alice should have the Death Coin, by now," I said.  

"You're not going to ask me to heal you."

"And watch you embarrass yourself? I'm good." 

"Thanks..."

His arms slid away. I floated down onto the roof.

"Guess this is goodbye," I said.

A featheriness filled my insides. He stood over me. I laid there trying to keep my eyes open; this was it; this was going to be the very last time we saw each other. When I finally surrendered to the serenity of everything and blinked slowly, He was gone. Just in time, too. The wind blew across my closed eyelids.

The door flung open. BAM!

One last disruption.

"Oh, my God," Alice gasped. She ran over.

"Just missed Him." Alice froze over me, body covered in a light sweater with a high collar. Still in shorts. "Come on, Alice. What's that face for, huh? I actually feel... pretty good right now. It hurts a lot less." 

A siren approached.

She dropped to one knee. "I deactivated the Death Coin."

"Of course you did," I said sleepily.

"Gray, what... What do you think you're doing?"

"I wanted to see something beautiful before I went." And I'd never seen the moon quite like this. It's hard to explain why, but, to me, the silver gem swelled to a size 20 times larger than normal. So close, in fact, it could devour us all with one chomp. "It is, right? Beautiful."

"Stop it. Gray, you're not going anywhere. Get up. Now."

"In... In a minute."

"You're the worst, you know that?" Alice fell to her second knee. Hands slid under my neck, she tucked her knees under me. The back of my head now rested on the firm cushion of her thighs. It was great, though it came at a price. A stern voice. "Gray, we're leaving in exactly one minute. I mean it, ok?"

"We're that busy?"

"Duh."

"Doing what? Tell me."

"Like... Like you don't know," she stammered. "Exams this year. Next year, prom. Can't wait to see you in that tuxedo. And my dress is going to be so great, I swear. Then, graduation. Then, it's off to university. Here or overseas. Wherever you want, doesn't matter. I-I don't care. And we—" she sniffled— "we won't be able to count on God after I incarnate. We'll both need jobs. They have to be fun, ok? We'll start with a cute little apartment if we have to and work our way into some place bigger. We're getting a dog. Cats are too moody."

"And then?"

"'And then'? What do you mean 'and then'? You have to make me a bride. How many kids do we want? More than one. But no more than four. That's what I've been thinking. We can't get greedy about this. I-I don't think I can manage five. Giving birth looks scary painful. My body might not be able to handle it, ok? And I promise to make a good mom. I'll try... really hard at it, Gray. You know I will."

"Mm-hmm. I know."

"We might not be able to travel quite as much. Or eat all the things we do now. And some day, we'll have to tell those kids of ours about AfterLife. As soon as we can. Yeah." Tears splashed onto my cheeks. "I know I might've left some stuff out. Things... they might get complicated along the way. But we'll be together and that's all that matters. And one day, we'll grow old. And we might forget some stuff. But never how much we love each other, ok? Never. So, you see, we're too busy to go today. And I gave you more than a minute. So, come on. Jokes over, ok? It's... It's time to get up now. Please, all right?"

But I couldn't move.

She shouted, "GODDAMIT, GRAY! YOU HAVE TO FIGHT FOR US!"

I willed my palm to her wet face; tears trickled through my fingers. "It all sounds perfect, Alice. Find somebody to do those things with." I'd like that. Don't get me wrong, I wanted everything she wanted, and I wanted them with her. More than anything. I just couldn't. That's how life is sometimes.

She insisted, "But you are my somebody." Her hand clutched mine. For an instant.

My fingertips felt warmer and grainy. The sensation crawled down my wrist, off to take the rest of me. A fuzziness filled my skull. My vision remained to see my right-arm fall, I heard it hit the roof. I never ordered this. So, that's what the fuzziness was about, I realized. Command over my own body was lost. Speaking of lost, by the time I tilted my face to the right the flesh above my wrist was changing. Rising away as copper particles. The pixelated palm attached to me got warmer and warmer. The same warmth moved to my cheeks. Those same particles began to cover my vision.

"This doesn't make sense..."

Turns out we were wrong.

Alice held a powerless coin, pulled from her pocket. What wanted me exceeded even Death.

The moon started to wither. Everything about me felt lighter. Unable to work my lips, the last bit of consciousness under my control was consciousness itself. Flashes of what we went through as one. In that moment, it all raced through me.

I smelled our meals without nostrils, heard laughter without ears, saw her face without eyes, felt her fingers without hands and tasted her lips without a mouth. Everything linked to a moment in a graveyard.

To her.

Coin in her teeth. Hand reached out for mine. Ready to change everything.

What a life.

Hey, Alice. Thank you for my dash.

THHHHIISSSS CANNOOOTTTT BEEEE HAPPPEEEENNNNINGGG! NOOOOOO!

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