Grim and I (Edited)

Her POV

The first time I met him was a long time ago. I wasn't sure why I was so surprised, now that I think about it.I knew I was going to meet him eventually. I guess I just didn't expect to meet him so... soon. I had been sinking ever so slowly. I felt like a feather gently floating down onto the ground. My limbs were floating limply, as if the morning breeze was gently moving the feather's bristles.

But feathers don't have ribbons of red streaming from their nostrils. As water filled my lungs, I glanced up for what I expected to be the last time. I saw a light. A small, flickering light that faded just as quickly as it had come, making me wonder if it had come at all. It flickered again, and though my vision had begun to fade, I could make out the outline of a person drifting towards me.

It was not, as I had hoped, a person. A creature swam towards me. Some sort of thing that vaguely resembled a human, and yet wasn't one at all. But I wasn't afraid. I knew, somehow, who this was. But I wasn't afraid. After all, what was there to be afraid of? I had chosen this. I had willed my own feet to slip, for the currents to come rushing overhead. I had expected it, but it was only after it was my only option that I realized that it wasn't the one I wanted.

He raised his scythe. Light reflected off of it as it had before, illuminating his sunken cheeks and hallowed eyes. As I looked into his even colder stare, I saw something. it might have been my brain manipulating me, seeking revenge for having been cut off from it's necessary supply of oxygen. It might have been my own miserable life flashing before my eyes. But still, as I looked up, the disproportions and monstrous nature of the face seemed to melt away into one that I was familiar with.

Clarence had not been handsome by any standards, his large ears and stretched cheeks had been the cause of much torment over the years. Still, when I saw him just now, I couldn't have thought of a face I wanted to see more. At first, I was a bit perplexed. Why now, as I was supposed to be reviewing the highlights of my experiences, did I see him of all people? Why not my mother or father? Why Clance?

Understanding hit me with the strength of a current. Clance, like me, had dies young. He had sacrificed so much of the life he had to become a member our community's police force. He didn't like the experience or want to do the things he had to do, but he did them anyways. As long as we were safe, it was allright with Clance. He'd push through.

Now, as the face slowly melted back into the one it had been before, my emotions seemed to carry over. Clance. Such a compassionate young man. One with feelings that overflowed despite his constant efforts to shut the open book that betrayed him.

My brain, though failing, somehow managed to link my experiences. I felt like I understood this strange creature, in a way. It was in those few seconds that I pitied him and felt for him (if it was, in fact, a he). Drawing my last breath, I smiled at them. Clance and the creature. He drew back, a look of surprise once again morphing his face. With this last memory, I closed my eyes and allowed myself to finally let go.