The Scythe of Thanatos

I Have a Near-Death Experience

I'm not normal, not even for who I am. I can rip open wounds that have healed completely, and then seal them back up ... by snapping my right hand (to open) and my left (to close). I don't feel fatigue either, I don't get tired, but I do feel pain, and I don't have to breathe. Woo-hoo! I win all the "hold your breath" contests! When I was younger, my father told me that I should never tell other people about my "condition" and that I should try to act normal; then he left and I haven't seen him since.

"Seth!" my mother called me from down stairs, her voice rang sweetly like a bell; and loud enough to wake me. my mom hasn't had it easy, my father left us and now she works long hours for barely enough money to sustain us both. I just wish there was more I could do! Working odd jobs for people around the apartments usually brings in about 25-30 dollars a day, but it's not consistent; some days I only make 5.

"Coming!" I called and swung myself out of bed, then stumbled down the stairs like a zombie. I plopped myself down into the chair opposite my mother, and started to eat the delicious pancakes in front of me.

"You've got that hiking trip up through Long Island today, are you packed?" she asked, typical for a mother. Her tone was cheerful, but her face was worried.

"What's wrong?" I asked, putting my fork down slowly.

"Nothing... are you ready?" She replied, her smile reassuring. The worry never left her gaze.

"Yeah, when are they going to pick me up?"

"In about twenty minutes."

"Gah!" I rushed back upstairs, changed out of my pajamas and into a black t-shirt and jeans, ran past my backpack, grabbed it and my large black pocket knife, which was... well magical to say the least, and jumped down the stairs.

I helped my mother with the dishes and then walked outside as the SUV pulled up with all the other hikers piled inside. I clambered in and sat at the back next to my best, and only, friend; Garret. Garret had a leg disability, but he had agreed to come on the hike because I was going. Best friend material right there. Smiling at him as I sat down, I glanced at his head. Two little nubs were sticking out of his naturally curly brown hair, which was what caught my attention in the first place. I looked away before he noticed me staring. What are those?

When we arrived at the base of the trail, I heard a faint singing, like a girl humming a melody but from really far away. We started up the trail and the singing got louder. I asked Garret about the sound, but he looked at me like I was crazy and said,

"I c-can't here anything!" But he looked away quickly, like he did when he was lying.

Deciding not to press, I tried to ignore the singing, but it was persistent and got louder as we continued. After a while I found myself attracted to the noise. I followed it off the trail, through the woods, and came into a clearing. It was like a meadow but the grass was all dead and trampled on with hoof prints and giant holes and large boulders embedded in the ground.

I could still hear the music, and it got louder the farther I got towards the other side of the clearing, but right as I was about to step into the other side of the forest, I heard something behind me. I whipped around to see a beast, a giant hound with glowing red eyes and teeth as long as my foot (about a size 7); suddenly the music stopped. Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw a girl melt into a tree. The hound leaped down from the rock it was standing on and padded directly to me like I was its master, or like it was going to kill me. I shied away from its muzzle, and it cocked its head to the side. Then it leaned forward a bit more and sniffed, recoiled and growled.

I flashed out my pocket knife, pressing the button on the grip. The blade telescoped out to form an impressive black blade. The beast looked from the blade to me, then it pounced, Slamming me into the ground, its massive paws pressed my chest into the ground. If I had breath, it would've been knocked out. I struggled, but couldn't wriggle out from beneath it. Swinging my sword, I slashed its side. It howled and growled, then ripped open my left arm with its razor sharp claws. I yelled in pain. It leaped off me and I jumped up, holding the sword firmly. I knew that if I didn't kill it, it would slice me into human bacon. I ran toward it and swung the black sword again, but I barely grazed the beast. Hardly reacting to my failed swipe, it just stood there as if commanded to wait. I shot forward and impaled my sword into its throat, all the way up to the hilt. My veins filled with the rush of killing something as the hound melted into shadow and seeped into the ground. The rush faded and I stepped backwards, not comprehending all that had happened, and fell to my knees. I heard running behind me and people I couldn't identify rushed to my side.

"Blaa! Was that a hell hound??" I heard Garret say, then everything went black.