Reaper

New Meaning

"Hey, you hear about the new phone? It comes out tomorrow!" A pale man reaches for his friend as to get his attention, the movement was anticipated and the recipient responded accordingly.

"Aww, you just reminded me that I forgot to order it." He responded rubbing the stubble on his mid-tone skin. His hair bounced in a furious jerk towards the other to continue his conversation.

"Better hurry home, it's gonna sell out fast you know." He joked as he stood up and brushed crumbs off his shirt. As they fell off his chest he made his way towards the door. The door slid open in a complicated and flashy fashion.

"The new door's cool, when did you get it anyway?" The other questioned as he set his drink into a cup holder. He repeated the same steps as the other man had done before and gallantly walked to the now open door.

"Present." The pale man said in response and grabbed a coat from the closet. The closet moved toward him and opened then retracted into the wall. "Stay safe, and watch out for... Him." He taunted while handing over the coat.

"Funny, well happy 80th see you tomorrow?" The dark man said as he put on his coat.

"Sure, meet at the bar instead? I need to see my son's teacher tomorrow. After that?"

"Fine by me, ok then, bye!" The man said as he left the building, being greeted by the chilling wind of Autumn. He shivered then waved goodbye to the other from the street. As he adjusted his coat more before heading off down the street. The street was vacant as expected at this time of night. With longer lives, people started to leave their small towns to live in big cities. That just meant that suburban lifestyles were more peaceful than any other. Although that may be true, this one town has been targeted by a new, terrible rumor.

When scientist found the cure for aging they gave it to everyone that could afford it, over time that leads to it becoming cheaper. Now you're a minority if you have a time limit on your life. Most just call them Zeitgeber or Z's which basically means timers in German. For those who die, life is how it was years ago, but for those who live, it's different.

Death has been a part of culture for forever, why would we remove that from society? Well, some people had that same idea as that, and they formed a society around it. They called themselves the Segadores. Their goal was simple, reinstate death as being something we have to face.

The dark man was walking down the street checking his phone when he heard a faint noise in the distance. He stood in place and a bead of sweat dripped down as he panicked, thinking that the noise was familiar. When after a minute the noise wasn't there he continued on more cautiously. Then suddenly he heard someone whisper in a metallic and grumbled voice, "Time's up..." followed by a crash of metal. The man broke out into a sprint his face flushed to white and he nearly lost balance with every step. The sounds of chains dragging grew louder and louder as the figure approached. From behind him a gray and disfigured creature grew ever so faster. Suddenly it whipped its chains forward and broke one of the man's legs and he flew under the light post. As it sort-of hovered to the man he repeated a rhyme to itself. "Jack and Jill went up the hill..." It mumbled in a melodic tone as it drew closer. "To fetch a pail of water..." It lifted a long and jagged scythe and stretched it into the light. "Jack fell down and broke his crown," It said slowly pulling it cloak down from off its head. "And Jill came tumbling after." It fished the rhyme as it poked its head in the light revealing a pale white coloring over a mechanical skull. "What do you think the face of death looks like?" It asked as it pulled its ripped and dirty cloth cloak into the light, chains dragging behind him. "How could you feel, without pain, without me." It questioned as it grimly smiled and played a recording of a little girl's giggle.

The man trembled as blood poured from his leg, he tried to scream but he was in too much shock to make a noise. "Don't worry, death is...natural." It stated as it floated around the man who was bleeding. As he made his ghostly circles, a local man turned the corner to see the sight being displayed. He panicked and tried to run but was caught in the figures sight. It lifted the scythe and pointed at the man. Then suddenly a harpoon launched out impaling him. It recoiled the rope attached to the harpoon and pulled the man off the harpoon. While licking the blood off the weapon it gently whispered in its mechanical voice. "Why run from Death, I'll always catch up." The man tried to limp away out of the light while the thing was distracted by the other mans corpse but was spotted once again. The figure lashed at the man with its chains again and split open his other leg. He drew closer to the man again and leaned down to the man who was crying from the pain. In a spaced out and stern voice the thing repeated, "WHY. RUN. FROM. DEATH..." He stood up and turned around with his back to the man.

Chains echoed in the distance and the man thought that he was free at last. He crawled in the direction he was heading when he heard a familiar voice whisper once more for the night. "Why run... from me?" The voice chanted as a scythe fell from the sky and finished off the struggling man. "The Reaper is the Guardian, the sole protector of the Gates of Nothingness." The Reaper said before disappearing into the night leaving the crime scene fully exposed.