A Little Bet Between Me & Death

Chapter 3

Death looked at me as if I was an idiot, he then gave me a mock bow, "As you wish"m 

He straightened, and the scene changed once more. We were in a forest so vibrant that it hurt my eyes. A forest of reds, yellows, greens and browns. A forest on the verge of birth, living, and death. 

It took me a moment to realize that it wasn't just my eyes that hurt but my ears too. So much pain in the screams of millions. 

My knees buckled and I felt as if the sounds could tear me to shreds. I curled up into the soft ground, it was too much. 

"Lovely, isn't it?" Death said as he savored the sound. He looked down at my curled form and tapped my shoulder with his foot.

The sound never went away but it died to a dull roar in the ears. 

He turned to me and smiled, "You know that ringing that the living sometimes get in their ears? That high pitch sound which seemingly blocks out all other sounds for just a moment. It comes from here. A moment when the screams of those unjustly killed breaks through the barriers of then dead to reach the living. It only gets louder over time." 

He put his finger to his lips, "To remind you of the fear they felt when they died." 

I looked at the vibrant shades of green, red, orange, and brown and realized that the shadows were moving. Shadows that seemed to be running forever, screaming forever. 

"The place was fear it self, created to hold the souls of those who never quite forgot their torment. Souls who died in horrible, terrible ways. It has an effect, you know, when you are murdered by the hands of another. When it happens, I can't use the souls anymore until they are cleansed."  

He walked over to the tree and touched the trunk, "Most mortals who enter the realm of death will only remain here briefly - they are little dots of energy who must go back to the river to power the ways of this world. Of course there are the exceptional ones who are granted entry to paradise. Unfortunate are those like your family who have been touched by the blighted and in turn, are blighted. A corrupted soul can not be allowed to enter the river of life lest it corrupts others. Unable to find peace, the only option is to have them remain here until they become nothing but dust." 

Sam raised a hand, and a few leaves fell into his hands. In them I saw the last moments of my mother, father, and brother and sister. 

"Here they are." 

I saw them, reliving the last moments I had with them. The bullets tearing into their flesh as they were shot. 

My father, not quite dying, stared at the bodies of his young son. My mother, her skull fractured and torn apart, hung like a rag doll over the railing. 

A foot smashed into my father's face as his murderers took turns stomping and spitting on him. They had been his friends and closest allies. They had worked for him and had respected him and now they were the first to ground their heels into his flesh.

They took out a large tarp and laid their bodies on it. Then they poured gas on them. 

I saw a twitch in my brother's hand. He was still alive. and they were going to burn him. He was alive. 

They saw the twitch of his hand and laughed. The match was lit. 

I screamed and screamed. I jumped towards the images, trying to jump back in time. I screamed their names.

 I was an animal of grief, wild and filled with hate. 

I want to tear and rip the flesh of those who had done this. I wanted to take a knife and skin them, I wanted to hurt them as they had hurt my family.