Death Isn't So Bad

First, a little about myself...

You might say I'm kind a dirt bag, judging by how I dress. I wear the classic black outfit. You know the black shoes, black pants, and black shirt. The only exception was the purple hoodie I wore everywhere I go. I even rock a green stripe that does not go with my dark brown hair.

I listen to same old rocks bands like Green Day, Cheap Trick, Marilyn Manson, among others. How I live my life one could tell I was the type that was a loner, but I did not care much at all. My parents never really paid much attention to me. I could tell I was a mistake before I was born. I could not believe it took me the first fifteen years of my life to finally get that through my head. I am eighteen now and in the 9th grade, failing and repeating the same grade over and over.

In the end my life is not so bad. There are only two good things in my existence I have going for me at the moment. Emily, an acquaintance of mine and, believe it or not, being a decent artist. The thing about being an artist that I have the special ability to make things a reality just by sketching them out. I do not think of myself as a god or anything, but I do what I want with my power.

I laid on my, bed in the morning, a short time before school started. It is only a block or two away so I do not bother taking the bus, seeing as how it is only a short five minute walk from my house. I just sat there drawing something I saw on t.v. I think it was from some animated show call Parasyte or whatever...

(Shinichi and Migi from the show                                                                                                                       Parasyte The Maxim)

I did not care what it was. I just drew it because I thought it looked cool or something. No, I did not bother making this drawing come to life. Somehow I have the ability to decide, wether or not, I want a sketch come to life or not and this was not one of them.

When the time came time for school I only decided to take my sketch pad. Since I skipped class frequently I did not bother to take my book bag or any of my books. I was failing all of my classes anyway so what was the point?

As I walked I kept rolling around the thoughts in my head, wondering why I even bothered to attend class at all today.

I was about halfway to my destination when I spotted a kid kicking a soccer ball in the middle of the street as she was making her way across the street.

"Damn it kid, get out the way!," I yelled as an oncoming truck was speeding towards her.

I did not have enough time to react, by pushing her out of the way, so the only other option I had was create a quick sketch.

I drew an awful sketch of the same truck, only this one had four blown out tires. The drawing looked like a preschooler drew it, but it worked. The driver of the truck kept swerving, left and right, only to end up crashing into a light post.

The kids was fine as her mother ran over to her, holding her tightly, but the driver was not so lucky. I could only see a banged up truck and broken blood stained windows. I was not sure, but I think I could make out a hand twitching through the passenger side of the door.

I stood there just thinking of myself as another bystander as more came over the try and aid the driver. A couple of them called an ambulance, but I already knew they were only trying to help a dead man. In the end I felt I was no longer needed there so I simply ignored the commotion and continued my way to school.

I had already put what happened, minutes ago, in the back of my head when I sat down at my desk just staring out the window.

As the science teacher kept blabbing his mouth away I noticed a girl next to me, paying attention like the rest of the class. I kept wondering why she seemed so familiar to me until it hit me. She was there a few minutes ago at the time of the crash. I did not pay too much attention and in the end ignored her then spaced out again, looking through the window.

After half an hour, bored out of my mind, I went with the urge I felt and walked out of class, skipping the rest of the day, but something kept me thinking about the girl in class as I made my way through the halls.

I was outside, desperately trying to get the image of that girl out of my mind. I had no idea who she, so why was I thinking about her constantly?

I thought about going to a local store to shoplift a soda and candy bar, but decided I was not hungry and did not seem long enough to spend the rest of the day. Besides...the only thing I spent doing was rotating the image of the girl's face in my head. Just who was that girl?

I walked around the neighborhood for a few minuets, sketch pad in hand, until I found an empty bench to sit on. I thought I would spend a moment or two to sketch something to help pass the time, but what was I going to draw? Having no good idea, I decided to just move my hand and see what would come in the end.

When I was done I could not help but notice that it looked like the girl from class.

Frustrated as hell, I threw down my sketch pad to the ground and was about to storm of until I heard a voice behind me.

"That looks like me, does it not?"

I turned around to find myself face to face with the girl from class, picking up my sketch pad.

"No it does not! Give it back!," responding to her.

"On the contrary...," she began. I do not have to. You threw it on the ground which makes it public property if you do not want it anymore."

"It's only public public property if I throw in the trash." I said sternly. "So hand it back."

"Fair enough." She handed it back to me as she complimented how well an artist I was.

I turned to leave until she spoke my name, which was Michael.

"How do you know my name?," I asked cautiously. "Are you stalker or what?"

"In a way I am," she confessed. "My name is Emily. It is a pleasure to meet you."

I threatened to beat the living hell out of her if she did not get lost and to never approach me again. I turned to leave and get the hell out of there until she somehow stood in front of me.

"You were just behind me!," I screamed taking a few steps back. "What the hell are you witch!?"

"I am no witch," she responded politely. "I am no human either. I have come to show you the truth because you are an unexpected soul to me and my kind. With so many souls on this earth we have no time reveal the truth so we just take them to the afterlife without a word, but you are an exception Michael."

Still not understanding this psycho's words, I ran the hell out of there. I dropped the sketch pad, running as fast as my legs could carry.

I tried to loose her by fleeing left and right around each block I ran past, until I came across a familiar sight. It was the same sight as the crash. I kneed down next to the light post where the driver crashed in order to catch my breath.

I then looked down at my feet to realized I was standing in blood, but did not care. The truck was still there but the driver's body and everyone else was gone. I was left alone...at least I thought I was.

I heard Emily call my name from behind me.

Not even turning around I fled again, not daring to look back.

I do not know how long I ran, but I decided to take refuge somewhere, but what was a good place to hide?

I came across a hospital then sneaked through a back door, leading inside. I made sure to stay out of sight until I came across an elevator.

Acting on instinct, I pushed the button that lead down to the furthest level.

I stepped off the elevator to find myself alone in what appeared to me the hospital's morgue. The idea came to me to hide in one of the spare body bags to hide along with the rest of the dead until I felt safe enough to come out.

I looked everywhere to find one, but could not. I asked myself what was I going to do next, but before I could make a decision Emily stood in front of me.

"It is time Michael...," she started. "It is time to go. It is time to stop running and face what happened to you."

I asked what she was talking about, still keeping my distance from her. She then told me everything.

"Very well. As I told you before I am no witch. I am a reaper. It is a reaper's job to take deceased souls to the after life. The truth is that you are already dead."

"Lair!," I responded. "I'm not dead! I'm alive. I'm going crazy! Your not real!"

Emily then instructed to open one of the body bags she had pointed at. "If I am lying I promise to leave you alone."

Believing her, I opened the bag quickly, only to fall back in shock after what I saw.

"It's me...," I whispered. "That is my body, but how am..."

"Yes. You are the one that died, not the truck driver. You are now in denial so your mind made you think you were still among the living. When you saved the little girl's life by blowing out truck's tires it resulted in you dying, not her. The truck did not hit a light post...instead it hit you. You gave up your life for her's, thanks to that special ability of yours. There are others in this world that also have abilities, unlike yours, but you are the only one that has ever decided to use your power to save another's life. The other people in this world with abilities use their power only for themselves."

"To be honest, somehow you have defied fate by writing your own destiny. It was probably your power in the end. It is not known how people are born with this power, but they are. There is a difference between fate and destiny. Fate is force that binds us to a path without a choice. On the other hand, destiny is a weaker force that is a tool that can break fate by forging that person's own path for themselves."

"Originally, your fate was to end up ending the lives of your parents because you grew too much hating life along with the rest of the world...but thanks to your power to defy fate with destiny you ended up to have a peaceful afterlife. You will longer feel alone and you will no longer hate everything anymore. All you have to do is take my hand."

I stood silent, in place, for a few moments and as I did the real memories of the accident came to me. I now remembered dying. I remembered laying in my own blood. I remembered the little girl's tears falling on my face as she kept telling me "Thank you, please don't die mister."

For the first time in years...I cried.

I fell to my knees, my hand covering my face, letting the tears continue to fall.

Even though my eyes were closed I could hear the reaper stepping towards me. Somehow I knew what was going happen next.

She stood behind me and laid her arms around me and whispered the words...,"I can tell you do not regret anything," into my ears.

The last thing that happened was hearing the sound of wings then felt the sensation that they wrapped around me.

Before she took me away I told her that death was not so bad after all.