Alone

He stumbled through the sharp-ended gates, the killing gates that knew all of your secrets. They beckoned him in and he embraced them gratefully. Tombstones lined his path like glowing orbs of hope, a visual promise of something more. He had lost his purpose; there was no use fighting it and he knew this. However, that didn’t stop the fear from filling him to the brim. The promise of death didn’t make his eyes glow with excitement and acceptance, but dull over with terror and pain.

The mausoleum glimmered against the night sky, the walls painted with scarlet icing. The windows were blackened with laughter. There was nothing left for him to do but crawl on his hands and knees through the doors. This was where it would all come to an end, and it was his entire goddamn fault. He knew this, yet he still sobbed and begged for forgiveness. I have no mercy, though. Death never shows mercy.

His sins decorated his pallid skin. Swollen scars reminded him of what he had done to numb himself from what he deserved. I watched as he crawled onto the casket and lay his head against the freezing wood.

“Please.” He begged. A cackle escaped me as I revealed myself.

I knew what his horror-filled eyes saw: sickly grey bones and dark musty cloth. Festering flesh hung from my mouth that was ripped across my face.

“You deserve much worse.” I whispered in his ear. His body started convulsing and blood trickled out one ear as he cried relentlessly.

“I don’t want to die alone.”

“The dead will soon be your friends, boy. You have never been alone. We always watch you.”

His body stilled, his eyes grew cold and distant. I took him, screaming and flailing with me to dine on sorrows and torment.