Life and Death

Not everyone dies. Only the strongest are able to do that.

Life created people. It created them perfect, because that is what it was. It created them just like Life. This beautiful, perfect thing. A new form of the good. This is how people existed. In a perfect harmony with Life. For centuries, the world went on, knowing the beauty of Life. It would never change.

Then, Life got bored. Everything was always the same. Everyone was always perfect. Nothing unexpected ever happened; that would disrupt the perfect. So, just as Life had made people, it made something else. While Life was perfect, this new thing was flawed. While Life was beautiful, it was disgusting. While Life created, it destroyed. For years, people struggled to name this new thing. They had never known a thing like this. For everything Life was, it was the opposite. And, the interesting part, this new thing did not touch everyone. Few were affected by it. Had they angered Life? Or had they won Life's favor? Did they become even more perfect? Was it a new form of beauty that Life only awarded to its favorite? Then, they were gone. Just like that. In a blink of an eye. Friends or family found them, lying in their beds, sitting under trees, at the bed of a river, near the mountains. No, this was not a new form of perfection. They were not perfect. They were broken, destroyed. Some, only found by their bones. These people were flawed, dirty, gone. Finally, people knew what this new thing was. It was not a gift from Life. Life was stealing from them. Death, it was Death.

People continued to live, for not everyone was plagued by Death. Death, it seemed, did not choose its victims, instead touching only those that Life handed to it. These poor souls, Life decided, would be the ones with fire burning in their hearts. They would have cores of steel. Their minds would not bend, their bodies would not break, no matter how hard Death came to them. Life had decided that these few would be the true embodiments of living. They did not live without fear of an end like everyone else. No, they would live knowing that one day everything would be over and there was nothing they could do to stop it. This was what Life had sought to create. Life wanted to create people who were strong, Who were unbending. Who didn't take for granted what they had but instead cherished every minute. If the world was only going to have a few of these people, Life decided that He would give them the best life possible, even with Death waiting for them. He would not allow Death to take them without his permission. Death would wait. She touched them only when Life deemed them ready to leave. And so, this continued. Life and Death, working together to give these special people the most fulfilling life and the most satisfying death possible.

Then, one day, Life created a child. It was vowed that Death would take this child. Life sent this child, this innocent soul down to the world. There, she would live and grow, not knowing that one day Death would come for her. Life and Death watched her grow, everyday. She had become their favorite. Life loved young children, He always had. They held an innocence that older people seemed to lose. Their curious minds and gentle hearts were one of the greatest beauties in the world. Death loved children just as equally as Life, though it pained Her to take them. Even she knew there was pleasure in living. Twenty, this young girl was to die at twenty. In Death's opinion, that was still too young. Just as Life and Death knew the age she was to die, they knew how Death was to take her. Stop her heart. One day, it would fail, never to beat again. To make her death painless, Life had given her a broken heart. It did not beat properly already. It would be easier for Death to take her. And it was. When the day came, Death went down. She went as one of the young woman's favorite things. Death had decided long ago that if she was going to steal from them, she would at least make sure they died next to their favorite thing. For this young woman, it was hard to pick one. She had several and Death could not just pick one. So, Life chose for Her. He did, after all, make this girl. In Her newly changed form, Death descended. Her shape took that of a land animal. Large and powerful. A strong heart beat in that body. Four long legs were under Her. Life had told Her, the people called it a horse. This horse was darker than the darkest midnight. The woman came up to Her, unknowing of what was about to happen. For Death, everything seemed to happen so slowly. The young woman's hand stretched out. Death wanted to back away. She didn't want to take such a good soul. But she had to. She always had to take the most beautiful souls. And this one was the most beautiful of all. Death felt the woman's hand oh so softly brush against Her. You could see the light leave her eyes. Yet, she didn't seem scared. Now, she definitely wasn't excited but it seemed that she knew what was happening. There was a reason that Life only let Death touch a few souls. It was because Life only let Death touch the strongest souls. The ones He knew could handle it. The young woman flashed a small smile before dropping to the ground. Just like Life and Death had decided, her heart had failed. Others, aware of what just happened crowded around the woman. They tried to save her but Death knew it was all in vain. Already, Death knew that the woman was in Her domain. There, she would live, with all the other souls Death had collected. It was a beautiful place. Made for the beautiful souls that filled it. The woman would be surrounded with souls like her own. She would be with Life and Death forever. Death turned and went into the shadows, returning to her throne that sat next to Life's. Once there, Life and Death watched the souls flourish in the safe heaven they had created for them. Out of all of the souls there, that young woman's soul shone the brightest of them all.