Salvation

I stared at him incredulously. His black eyes held mine, daring me to challenge him. He moved forward slowly, and I closed my eyes.

I didn't know what I expected, or if I expected anything at all. My mind was suddenly hazy, my body felt liquefied, I wanted to collapse and just lay here, shivering as the rain washed over me.

Strong arms enveloped me, drawing me to his muscled chest before lifting me and allowing me to bury my face into the crook of his neck. He was as cold as the rain.

"Hold on tight, Little Bird," he said. His voice was thick.

I opened my eyes to be met with the blackness of night around us. I knew we were moving, I felt it. My stomach tightened from the speed.

Lightning lit up the sky making my eyes widen before being followed by the loud crackle of thunder. Another bolt of lightning struck the earth as it seemed to chase us, as Thane weaved towards our temporary destination.

The thunder drowned out his heavy footfalls as we neared the empty cottage. As we got closer, a light flicked on inside the cottage making me jump and clutch onto Thane tighter. Thane slid in the mud slightly sending us backwards and making Thane land on his butt, one of my legs fell from his arms and I lay there awkwardly trying to put my leg back in his arms as he is attempting to get to his feet while trying not to drop me. The front door opened and Thane and I looked up as the dim yellow light flooded my vision and washed over us.

“Do you need to come in?” someone asked and I nodded. “Come in, come in,” that same person, an older woman I could now see, ushered us inside before closing and dead bolting the door behind her. “Oh you poor things,” she whispered as she assessed us, her hands touching Thane’s soaking shirt lightly before leaving us in the parlor of her small home.

Thane still hadn't put me down, but I was glad. I was cold, and a shaking mess. I didn't know if I could have stood on my own.

“Gerald! Warm up four bowls of the Chili!” the old woman yelled, to who I assumed to be her husband, who I couldn't see at the moment. The short plump older woman with graying light blonde hair appeared with an armful of blankets, pillows, and towels.

She laid the blankets down on the small couch they had and brought the towels over to us. “Why were you both out in that dreadful storm?” she asked, bewildered. “You’ll catch your death out there!” she said worriedly as she attempted to wrap me in a towel. Thane’s large arms around me effectively kept her from doing a good job of it. Thane’s whole body tensed at the word death and I laid my head back against him, attempting to comfort him as much as I could in my position.

“I-I don’t know,” my teeth chattered slightly. My clothes were still wet, and I was cold. I also didn't know how to answer her question. Her eyebrows knit together in confusion before looking up at us. Her hands froze as she got a good look at Thane and stared at his scar.

“S-sorry Hun, I don’t mean, mean to stare, but what happened..?” she trailed off making the question quite obvious that she was talking about his scar.

“I think we should get her warmed up, before she gets sick,” he paused, “definitely before I start telling my life to strangers,” his voice was terse making me look at him. He was tense--on edge. The old woman’s eyes flickered a little bit, with hurt, before she stepped back and nodded.

“Yes, yes. My husband, Gerald, will have the chili ready by the time you change. I’m such a silly old bat. What was I thinking!” she said before laughing lightly. “Come with me dear,” she said and took my hand lightly making Thane put me down to be led into the other room by this strange old woman to get changed into some fresh new clothes.



Sitting at the small dining room table with Evett was awkward to say the least. Thane was changing, and I still never met Gerald. The kitchen's lighting was brighter than the living room which made the robin egg blue cabinets pop against the yellow wallpaper, making me smile as Evett whirled about the small kitchen getting me a bowl of Chili.

“You're going to love Gerald’s Chili. Best chili you’ll ever have,” she said smiling. She filled a pink bowl full of chili and offered me corn bread, which I accepted. I saw Thane appear in the doorway and I smiled at him. He managed to find another long sleeve shirt, although this one was very tight on him. His obsidian eyes scanned over me, seeming to drink me in, before smiling crookedly at me, and blinked a few times. The black in his eyes seemed to move and seemed to boil as it reformed into the shape of an iris. He closed his eyes for a few moments, and when he opened them his eyes were a medium brown. My eyes widened.

“Oh, Thane! Are you hungry?” Evett asked, and his eyes hardened immediately before flicking over to her.

“How do you know my name?” he said lowly.

Her pale green eyes widened, emphasizing the wrinkles around them. She licked her lips, surprised by his hostile reaction. “Uh, um, Dahlia told me,” she said.

Thane’s eyes snapped back to mine and held my gaze for a long moment, to see if it was the truth. When I nodded slightly, he nodded too. “I’m sorry Evett, I’m overly cautious with her around,” he responded astounding both Evett and myself. How did he know her name? I mentally connected the dots. He was Death, of course he knew her name. He walked over to the small wooden chair next to me, that matched the maple oval dining table, and sat down. “And, I will take you up on your offer of food,” he said. She filled another pink bowl, “Thank you ma’am,” he replied when she served him the bowl of chili wordlessly. She didn’t offer him any cornbread.

“What do you mean by that?” she finally asked. I heard footsteps coming from the other room and assumed it was Gerald. Thane must have heard them too, because he didn’t answer her.

“Mean by what?” a gruff voice asked, indicating the owner might have smoked too much over the years, before a man a little taller than Evett entered the small kitchen/dining area. He walked over to one of the empty chairs--the one next to Thane--before asking “What? Is no one gonna say anything now that I’m in here?” His Irish accent was thick, but he spoke English fluently for the most part.

“We were talking about this poor young man’s scar,” Evett said, seeming to have recovered from Thane’s rudeness earlier, setting down a bowl of chili in front of her husband and shaking her head.

Gerald turned to look at Thane, who was eating his chili silently. Thane took up most of the space at the dining table because of his size, and you could tell that the elderly couple never planned on having a man of this size in their home. “Well, Lad, let me see it,” Gerald said turning towards Thane.

I don’t know why, but I reached under the table and my hand brushed his leg. He tensed as my hand lightly danced up it to the hand that sat in his lap. I grasped his hand, and laced our fingers together. He relaxed somewhat before turning towards Gerald and Evett, who had just joined us.

“Holy shit,” Gerald said before laughing. “Well I bet that sends all the ladies running, aye Lad?” Gerald said before continuing to laugh.

Evett smacked her husband’s arm before speaking, “Sorry for my husband’s stupidity.”

“What?!” the old man replied incredulously. “It’s quite a nasty thing! Only coulda got that from a war! It’s where I got all of my scars,” the old man said, unbuttoning his shirt to reveal his gray haired chest. There was a large grotesque scar in the middle of his chest, wrapping around the side of his rib cage.

“Gerald, button your shirt back up,” Evett scolded as Gerald puffed his chest out slightly prideful. I laughed lightly and looked down to my bowl of chili and began eating again.

“I was in the Vietnam War here,” Gerald began, and I looked up from my bowl of chili. I loved war stories, they were always so interesting to me. I drew my hand away from Thane’s and folded them atop the table. Gerald smiled as he noticed that he had my full attention. Evett rolled her eyes, and Thane leaned back in his chair--slightly annoyed.

“I was 16 years old when my father signed me up. We were Irish immigrants, and since he had a bad leg, he told me: ‘Son, ye need to fight for this country, and give it all ye got cause she’s all ye got. Got that?’ I nodded my head, he signed me up and I was shipped out three days later. From the day I got in Nam, we were out there--fighting. We were out there mowing people down, hell bent on killin’ em. All we were taught was to hate them, and we sure did.”

“I remember, one night, we were all sleeping in these little huts that we had. Our beds were slightly raised off the floor and such, and they were small little things. I heard something, so I sat up in bed real quiet like,” Gerald said, his voice lowering. He paused for a second before continuing, “I got up and crept towards the little makeshift door we had set up.”

Thane leaned forward and slowly put his arms under the table. I looked over to him as Gerald continued, “I heard it again, it was footsteps, and a slight clickin’ noise. I crept even closer to the door, I and drew my knife from my leg sheath. I prayed to The Lord that I was wrong,” Thane’s body was tense and I grabbed his hand again. I scooted closer to him, which he surprisingly didn’t mind. “The Vietcong were on the other side of that door, I just knew it and I wished I was wrong but I knew in me gut that I wasn’t,” I clutched Thane’s hand tightly and continued to listen to Gerald.

“That door flung open, and the force of it pushed me behind it. I heard em open fire on them. On...on all of my friends, my buddies in there. I heard them scream as they were murdered, like we murdered them Vietcong. I thought for sure I was gonna die. I held my breath, afraid that if I let it out it would move the door and they would see me. I didn’t move for the longest time. I heard them leave, and I still didn’t move. I was forced to breathe and the door moved, and when I wasn’t filled with lead I knew they were gone, so I did move. I went out from behind that door and I looked. I looked at all of my dead buddies, missing pieces of themselves, bleeding everywhere,” my eyes were tearing up as I stared at Gerald’s sad face. I knew he was reliving his memories, and I was sad that he had to. “Then I heard him. The gurgling sound of one of my buddies, as they tried to say my name. It was Dick, an American boy only a few years older than me but we were buddies. We were close, and now I was watching him die” Gerald’s eyes were filling with tears, as were Evett’s and mine. Thane looked sick.

Thane leaned over, and whispered very lowly “We should leave, now.” I shook my head no, I wanted to hear the rest of this.

“‘Behind you,’ he whispers to me, and I didn’t know what he meant. Then I was stabbed,” Gerald’s hand goes to his chest, to cover his scar. “The Cong had come back and had seen me crouching there over him, and snuck in there. He stabbed me in the chest, and ripped the knife down, and around, just shallow enough to miss doing enough damage to kill me the doctor’s said,” his rough veined hand traced the jagged scar, making my eyes follow it. My eyes went up to meet Gerald’s but I couldn’t. Gerald’s eyes were glazed and he was locked onto Thane. My stomach did a little flip.

“I fell down almost next to Dick, who was almost dead, and we laid there, dying as the Vietcong left us there,” Gerald’s voice grew hoarse. “I saw Death that night, I - I saw him take Dick, and he--”

“I think it’s time we go,” Thane stood up abruptly, tugging me up with him. Evett’s eyes were wide, as she stared at her husband.

“Please, why did you take him? Why not take me instead? Why take him dammit!” Gerald was crying now, and Evett was getting out of her chair to go over to him.

“Gerald, it’s in the past--” she began but he pushed her away.

He stumbled out of the chair, “Dammit woman!” he yelled as he wiped his eyes with his forearm. Thane, nudged himself between me and Gerald. I backed up and ran over to Evett, earning a frustrated growl from Thane.

“Answer me dammit!” Gerald was in Thane’s face now, screaming at him. “We were both close to death! But ye took him and not me! Ye fucking took HIM!”

Thane looked calm on the outside, but I could see that his jaw was tense. He didn’t answer him.

Gerald stumbled over to him, and began to hit him. He was screaming and punching him. Evett cried out, and I grabbed her around the waist. “He’ll kill him! He’ll kill him!” she wailed, attempting to push me away. We sank to the ground, holding each other.

“No, they won’t hurt each other,” I assured her, as tears came out of my own eyes. Tears for Gerald, for Evett, and for Thane.

“Why? Why? Why?” I heard Gerald cry grievously.

“Because, it wasn’t your time, just like it wasn’t your time to go when you got in that car crash. I don’t get to choose when you die and neither do you, He does, and He takes you when He thinks you are ready,” I heard Thane whisper to the man as he lowered him to the ground.

Evett cried in my arms as I looked through the table legs, over at Thane and Gerald. Gerald was clutching Thane’s shirt, and Thane looked uncomfortable.

I untangled myself from Evett and whispered to her, “Come on,” before crawling over to the men that lay haphazardly on the floor.



“Thane?”

“Yeah?” he grumbled. His arm was over his eyes and he was laying on the floor with a blanket and pillow. I was on the couch with a large heavy knit quilt and the other two pillows.

After calming Gerald and Evett down, they let us stay here while the storm continued to rage on outside. They left us alone after what had transpired though, and after finding out who Thane actually was.

“Will you come up here with me?” I asked slightly shy. He didn’t answer for a few minutes, making me think he ignored me.

The wind howled outside, and thunder boomed, making me jump.

He sighed.

I heard him get up, and I jerked when I felt his cold arm wrap around my lower back, to lift me up. He slid in behind me and positioned me on the couch so I was on the outside. I sat up and adjusted us, so we were both under the covers.

I laid back down and cuddled up to him, pushing myself as far up against him as I could, seeing as I was on the edge of the couch, he would have to live with our close proximity. He grumbled but still wrapped an arm around me, pulling me close.

“Thane?”

“What, Dahlia?” he said, resigning to the fact that he might not get much sleep.

“What did you mean when you said you broke ‘The Law,’ by saving me?” I asked him.

He sighed, this sigh was much heavier than his others. “In simple terms, there’s a bunch of rules in Heaven. There are laws, and things. The most number one rule of ‘The Law’ is that you don’t directly interfere with human interactions in anyway other than the planned way, the way that He planned out. The second rule is that you don’t show yourself to a human. With me being Death I can show myself on rare occasion but that’s it. So I broke ‘The Law’ twice trying to save your life, which got me in a lot of trouble.” I hugged him tighter, trying to offer what little comfort I could give.

I was silent for quite some time, before I finally asked him what was really on my mind. “Why did you save me?”

“The answer to that Little Bird, remains a mystery to the both of us,” he replied turning towards me. I looked up into his eyes, trying to decipher them. They were back to their original black pools of blackness that I had grown fond of.

I looked away from him, and rested my head back on his chest. “Why do you call me Little Bird?”

He took a moment to answer me. “Because...your delicate. Your small, and fragile. I feel as if I could hold you in the palm of my hand caressing and loving you one second and crushing you in the next,” he admitted. His chest deflated as if he just admitted a huge secret to me, and I wondered if he had.

I didn’t know how to respond to him, so I looked up at him. His face was pointed towards the ceiling as if he had been staring at it but his eyes were closed. I quickly inched closer to his face and planted a light quick kiss on cheek. I closed my eyes and returned my head to his chest before I could see if he opened his eyes.

“Good night Thane,” I whispered to him.