Shadow in Time

You humans constantly complain about not having enough time, but what would you do if you had too much time?

Time is never an issue for me, I have nothing but time. Oh, how I wish I could trade places with any of you, if even just for one day. If only I could fritter my life away, yet remain content with what I’ve done, or have time to change the course I am on. After all these years, I’ve never experience friendship or love. Yes, it is true that someday your life will end, but you have the opportunity to engage in something that transcends time. I have never felt the comfort of a friend or the adoring gaze of a significant other. Trust me; you are better off without enough time than all the time in the world and no one to share it with. Forever is a lonely place to spend your days.

The list in my cloak is brushing up against my leg as if to remind me that I’ve got to start maneuvering down it and crossing off the names as I go. The first name belongs to a little girl of six years old. I don’t want to take her, but I must. Claiming the lives of young children is the most horrific experience for me, but when their tiny clock has stopped ticking, I have no choice but to act. In my world, I have no free will. You could say that you don’t have any free will either. Doesn’t that just warm your heart?

You will never know what it’s like to be haunted by the faces of those whose lives you’ve taken. Every contour and detail of their faces is etched into your memory with a searing force that you cannot stop. Billions of years have passed and countless lives have been lost…that’s a lot of faces to see.

I’ve dawdled long enough; the list is practically burning through my cloak in anticipation now. It’s time for me to fade among the ranks of humans and invisibly weave through the crowds to single out those whose names are on my list. I can already feel time beginning to blur, that little girl requires my attention as well as thousands after her. The clocks have stopped ticking and the church bells have stopped tolling. Time has frozen but I can move fluidly through it. I must leave you now and luckily for you, your name isn’t on my list today. But don’t forget dear human that we will meet face to face someday soon.