A Reaper's Mission

Chapter 21: What Breaks David (David)

I sigh when the light appears this time. I have lived through my worst memories more times than I can count. I feel the dread overtake me. What would it be this time? Burning? My wife dying? The murder of the little boy? What would be my hell this time?

            The light swallows me.

            I appear in a familiar place. Six seats in front of the room, where all the focus would be. The balcony above me. A place I had stood a million times. The hallway to the left leads to three doors. Only one of those doors is the one everybody would want to enter. I turn around and notice the empty space that's in the middle of the room. Right in front of the seats. I look behind me and see the double doors that lead to this room. There's a staircase to the side that leads to the balcony.

            The Judgement Room.

            I feel my heart spike. Why am I here? This isn't like any of the hellish nightmares I lived through. I look around but I'm entirely alone.

            "David?"

            I whirl around to see Emma opening one of the double doors. She looks so hesitant like she didn't know whether to enter or not. 

            "Emma?" I gasp out. I run over to her, feeling happy for the first time in so long. Finally, another person that wouldn't remind me of the worst days of my life. That won't remind me of my loved ones I could never see again.

            Emma backs away from me, and I finally register her fear. She's looking at me...like she thought I would hurt her. I stop about six feet away from her. "Emma?" I ask, worried.

            She swallows but says nothing. Suddenly, I see tears fall down her face. I feel a pang in my heart when she starts to cry. What's wrong? Did I hurt her? Did someone else hurt her?

            "Emma, talk to me. Please." I tell her, putting my hands up, trying to show her I didn't mean to harm her. Some of the tension fades when I do so. She closes the space between us, but not by much. We are still five feet apart.

            She looks at me, and the tears are falling so fast. These are tears of absolute sadness. I feel my heart break a bit at seeing it, but I stay silent. She needs to decide whether she would tell me why that look is in her eyes on her own.

            We stand in silence. Her tears falling down, until the collar of her shirt is soaked. I do nothing, except leave my hands in their position of peace. It's so hard to just leave her when all I want to do was comfort her and discover what hurt her so.

            Finally, Emma swallows. "I'm going to Hell." She whispers the words, barely audible. But I hear her. And all of my hopes dashed against the ground. My knees collide against the ground, but I don't feel any pain. I can only stare at her in horror as all of the thoughts that had kept me sane started to fall to pieces.

            She lets out a sob. "I'm going to Hell." I can't say anything. All I'm doing is repeating those words I had dreaded ever coming out of her mouth. She sobs her heart out, and I can't move.

            Move.

            I can't.

            Comfort her.

            How?

            Do something.

            She takes a gasping breath, "We failed. The baby died." Her words sound bitter. "We're going to Hell for nothing." Another sob racks through her.

            The last bit of sanity I had, goes away. He's gone. I didn't save him. I didn't save her. I failed. I can't do anything for him. And I can't do anything to spare her from Hell. I shake my head.

            "We tried." I tell her, "We did the right thing." A bitter laugh passes through her lips.

            "We did absolutely nothing." Suddenly, her eyes get brighter, as if a light bulb had flicked on in her mind. "This is all your fault."

            I jerk back as if she had slapped me.

            "What?" I gasp out.

            "This is all your fault," She hisses through her teeth. Her eyes are shining with her anger and fear. "If you hadn't wanted to be a damn hero I wouldn't be in this situation."

            I shake my head, "Emma, we both made this choice." I tell her. She lets out a laugh that only has anger in it. Mocking.

            "'We both chose this'?" She tells me, lowering her voice so it's closer to mine. She then throws her head back and lets out a terrible bark of laughter. "Yeah, we both chose this all right." She shakes her head, but a smile is on her face. It isn't a pleasant smile. She turns her doe eyes onto me, "Oh please, David. You made that choice, not caring about what I wanted." She takes a few steps towards me, until she's in front of me, staring down her nose at me on the floor.

            "You didn't think about me once, all you thought about was becoming a hero."

            She's right. I can't argue that she isn't. I was adamant that I was going to try and didn't even consider her once.

            But I can't regret trying.

            "I'm sorry that you got involved, Emma," I tell her, feeling a tickle on my cheek. I bring my hand up and brush it across only to feel wetness. Tears. I'm finally crying.

            "I hate you."

            The crack is everywhere now. It's not far from shattering.

            "What?" I whisper, praying that I had heard her wrong.

            I feel her knot her fingers into my hair and jerk my head back until I'm looking into her eyes. They are flickering like a fire. "I. Hate. You." She says it slowly, enunciating each word. I study her eyes but don't see a hint of a lie.

            My heart shatters. 

            "I hate you." She says it again. "I hate you!"

            Her volume steadily increases.

            "I HATE YOU!"

            I HATE YOU!"

            "I HATE YOU, DAVID!"

            And then I'm back into the darkness.

            I can feel every bit of my body. I can feel my shredded heart. I can feel the cool tears falling down my face.

            I curl up into the darkness and sob, hearing Emma screaming about how much she hates me.

            I feel nothing but pain.