Morning came far,
far too soon for her liking.
It wasn’t that she didn’t like mornings, just that…she’d rather sleep in. But there was work to be done, gardens to tend to, and streets to sweep clean of snow; the general routine needed doing and time stopped for no one.
Her legs thought otherwise.
The problem was that they were as listless as lead, the result of all the walking she’d done the day before. It wasn’t any sort of serious injury or anything, and the stiffness wasn’t terrible, but the muscle spasms were painful enough to make her cringe. Even wiggling her toes wasn’t worth doing because of the pain.
She sighed, both out of frustration and out of resignation. Never mind cleaning up and sweeping streets, just getting out of bed was too big of a hurdle to jump. And it wasn’t like her parents would be totally oblivious to the matter either; both of them hounded after what she was doing night and day, every day. She knew they were only doing it because they cared for her, but still—wasn’t it a bit much to follow what your child was doing all the time? And it wasn’t like she couldn’t take care of herself, either. After all, she was seventeen now, already a year into adulthood by local standards.
I bet one of them will be here any second now, ready to pelt me with questions about what’s going on… She heaved a sigh once more, clutching a pillow to her chest. At least she actually
had an excuse this time, if only a rather feeble one….
There was a knock on the door.
“Mariah? Are you in there?”
Speak of the devil….Mariah rolled her eyes skyward, idly flicking a few ivory strands out from in front of her face. The voice on the other side of the door could only be her mother’s—no one else could put that particular note of worry into their voice, especially when the subject at hand was
her. Other people would get worried over her health occasionally, but not
that worried….
Taking a deep breath before replying, she steeled herself for the inevitable lecture that was about to happen.
“Of course I’m in here; I can’t move.”
The door closed.
“You can’t move…?” Carissa looked her daughter over, clicking her tongue softly in annoyance when she noticed the awkward way Mariah was cradling her legs.
“I’m guess you went out on another one of your ‘adventures’, correct?”
Mariah couldn’t help but flinch at the acid contained in her mother’s words.
Trust her to know where it hurts… She opened her mouth to fire off a retort, only to close it moments later, frowning. Was there really a point to arguing about it? After all, it
was her fault she was in this mess…
“Mariah, look at me. We need to talk.”
Mariah remained silent, carefully keeping her expression neutral. Her best course of action was to stay silent; at least that way she couldn’t be verbally flayed for launching a snarky remark.
When it was apparent she wasn’t going to get a reply, Carissa dragged over the sole chair in the room, sitting down with a grace her daughter could only envy. Much to Mariah’s surprise, however, the lecture she was expecting never came. Instead, Carissa only smiled.
“I’m not going to lecture you on where you spend your time my dear; I just wanted to know what was going on. Though from the look on your face, I bet you’ve already played through that particular conversation on your own!”
She smirked as Mariah’s jaw dropped, patting her daughter reassuringly on the shoulder.
“Now then, let’s get you fixed up, shall we?”
Still slightly dazed, Mariah nodded, craning her neck to see what was about to happen. It had always fascinated her to see Healers at work, even if she couldn’t practice the techniques herself. But when Carissa’s hand gently pressed against her leg—the way every Healing session started—everything changed.
What started out as a usual routine quickly descended into madness; instead of the normal sleepiness “after-effect” associated with a Healing session, every iota of her body convulsed with pain. She tried to scream, to somehow alert her mother that something had gone horribly, terribly wrong. But all that came out was a whimper, no more audible than a blade of grass shifting in the wind. Unable to move a muscle, unable to speak, Mariah found herself calling out mentally, though she knew it would do no good.
Someone make it stop MAKE IT STOP MAKEITST—
Everything went utterly, completely black.
--------
Mariah opened her eyes at the sound of ghoulish laughter. But having them open was no different than before; everything was still pitch black. Had she really opened them, or just imagined doing so? Vaguely she could recall the sensation of opening them, but…. Moreover, where was she? How long had it been since she was last conscious? And if she wasn’t in her room, had she died back then…?
“Oh yes, you most certainly did.”
The voice cackled softly, almost directly in front of her. But when she tried to reply, no words came out.
“…How stupid are you? Of course you can’t talk. You’re DEAD.”
She frowned, or at least imagined she was frowning. It was becoming harder and harder to distinguish the two…. Seconds later the voice cleared its throat, bringing her attention back to it. Just
who was speaking to her…?
“That’s simple; you can call me Death, the god of the underworld.”
The voice laughed again.
“You called?”
--------
The funeral was held the day after it happened. No one spoke of the matter to her family, for Carissa had almost lost it when the death was confirmed. But while every other part of the process had been rushed, the burial was to be delayed, and the body preserved, upon Carissa’s request.
She was only a ghost; a remnant of the past. Yet that did not prevent her from watching everything as it unfolded.
“Delicious emotions aren’t they?” Death said from atop her shoulder. He had taken the form of a small mouse. A rotten, maggot infested mouse corpse. Yet she did not flinch at his hideous form; no longer could she feel anything, smell anything—she didn’t even know if she still had sight. Nothing made sense anymore. Was all of this scenery conjured up by Death, or was it the real world?
“Oh it’s the real world alright. Real as real can be. Though considering we’re here now, is it really reality, or is this reality? Whatever the case, I’m granting you sight for now. After all, I
did take you rather abruptly out of that world.”
So that was how she had come to be here. But getting an answer only gave rise to more questions. For instance, if Death loved to see pain, why had he ended hers…? Was that kindness, or something more?
“Ah, finally. You see, Mariah, I have plans for you. Wonderful plans. Provided you can cooperate with me.” Death jumped off of her shoulder, coming to rest suspended in the air in front of her.
“You see, I’ve been bored lately. Nobody comes to visit me anymore, because they all go to that nasty white place up in the clouds. And forcefully taking people is against the rules. So, I wanted to play a…game.” One of his eyes popped out of its socket, landing with a splat against the hard ground.
“Here’s how the game works: You become my slave and send me lots of new toys to play with. In return, you get to go back to the world of the living.”
He cackled, laughing harder as more parts of his body broke off and splattered against the ground.
“There’s a catch though; if you don’t send me a toy within a period of three days, you’ll die for real. But if you do send me something to play with in time, that timer resets, of course.”
The mouse-form exploded, showering bits and pieces of itself everywhere. Death next spoke as if he himself was the world surrounding her.
“How long will you survive….? Anyways, LET THE GAME BEGIN!”
Darkness overwhelmed everything once more.