Her Eternal Soul

Mayu slept soundly at my side, her thin arms wrapped about my torso. But my mind was cluttered with thoughts of that journal. Cautiously, I slipped out of her grasp and headed for the kitchen. I pulled the journal out from the drawer I had clumsily thrown it in earlier that night. I exhaled, staring at the tattered thing. It was a wonder how a bundle of papers could force my heart to race this quickly. I opened the hard binding, noticing the words scribbled on its title page in fine ink.

Reaper’s Instructions:
1. Those names appearing on your list must be eliminated. You must collect their soul.
2. Should you fail to collect those souls listed, there will be severe punishments.
3. In the event you are unable to collect a soul, you may collect a soul that is not currently on your list. Be warned, this does not eliminate the soul to be collected, but postpones its due date.
4. Be cautioned, a person can see their own name in these pages. Should a person take hold of this journal and rid their name of this list, your own life will end and they will take your place as Reaper.

The journal then went into detail about locating a particular soul, travelling to a soul, how to collect a soul, as well as delivering a soul. Turning the page, I was face-to-face with Mayu’s name yet again. She was there, at the top of the list. Her name was in deep red print, with the words “overdue” scribbled next to it.

The man’s words echoed in my ear, ‘It’s your time.’ It was both mine and Mayu’s time…we were meant to die together tonight. Had I been tricked into becoming a Reaper? …If that truly is what I am? Or had I unconsciously chosen to become one? The man had tried to collect my soul, but I fought against him. I eliminated my own name from the list, and I had taken place of the Reaper meant to eliminate me.

I looked at Mayu’s name scribbled across the page yet again. My heart ached. I couldn’t do this… I noticed a pen at my side, and immediately scribbled her name out. The ink immediately disappeared, and her name still flashed in those bright red letters. I tried erasing her name. The ink smudged, but then returned to normal. I then ripped the page out, but all those names transferred to the next page in the journal. I continued ripping out pages, again and again. The journal was never ending. The pages seemed to replenish themselves.

Tears slipped from my eyes as I struggled. I couldn’t do this. This was something I couldn’t handle. It then occurred to me… ‘A soul that is not currently on your list may be collected to postpone the due date of another soul.’ Could I really take an innocent person’s life, to keep Mayu alive?

I bit my lip in thought, returning the journal to its hiding place. I returned to our bedroom, peering at Mayu’s sleeping form. She was the love of my life. We were supposed to be together forever. Forever came too soon…

And so, I slipped out of my home into the darkness of night, collecting souls to postpone the elimination of my own lover.