Red Flags and Long Nights

The girl screamed for long hours into the night, unheard by anyone. Finally, her aggressor got tired of it. There was no way in hell he'd be able to enjoy a nice brandi while sitting in his favourite chair while the same girl kept screaming in the most annoying way. He marched down the stairs of his basement, each step heavy and loud. He put on his gloves and his apron an walked over to the girl who was strapped down to a chair screaming bloody murder.

No one was going to hear her, thought the man, putting a cloth in her mouth which muffled her cries, stupid woman. It was about time she was gone.

He went toward the bathtub that he set up in the basement for his needs and filled it with a chemical he had made from scratch. One that was supposed to preserve a body for a long period of time. He was going to keep her beautiful for a long time, just like all the others.

"Have you ever been to Ireland?" He asked while pouring setting up her last bath. He would add bubbles if he could, only in attempt to make it a little more pleasant for the girl. "There's this place in Dublin, this house, that has this just, fascinating history. In a house, a mother murdered her whole family, and turned them into dolls. Her husband, her daughter, and her two twin sons. The mother went on living in that house until she was found, murdered, in the same place where she had hung up her very favourite childs body. That's how people found out about her crimes. She was innocent til death."

"Of course, no one knows the whole of the story. No witnesses or anything. Just the bodies and her workshop," the man finished the bath and grabbed a bone saw before he slowly inched his way towards her, "Look at you know, you're squirming like a worm. Did I scare you? I'm sorry. You're a guest in this house. I only want to be a good host to you. "

He looked down at the saw, "Oh boy, what was I thinking! I can't use this!," He smiled to at her, "This would make our cuts too jagged! We need something smoother." He walked off to go to a table with held an array of more sharp objects. The one he picked up resembled something of a sickle.

"The woman's name was Cameron Sue Callaghan, by the way, and she was a genius. Her cuts were perfect and her stitches were so clean. One of these day, I hope to create something as beautiful as her dolls," The man walked back in front of the girl and held her chin in his gloved hands that smelled strongly of embalming fluid. "Perhaps, just maybe, you can be the next perfect? You're beauty could be known for years and years, if I get this right. I'm almost sure I got the chemicals right this time."

Tears streamed down the girls face silently as the last of her will depleted and as she gave up she saw the hopes in her murderers eyes rise high. Was she destined to stay in this hell forever? Lifeless and stuffed in the dress that he had picked out for her, hanging grimly on a meat hook. It was pink and frilly.

"You're going to be so beautiful. Like a doll."

That was the last thing he said to her and swinging his arm in one swift and clean motion, the sickle came into contact with her neck, and her head fell with a quiet thump on the floor.

Her name was Jennifer Rose. Her story was short. She grew up in a middle class family, living happily with her brother and her parents. She was a senior in highschool, and had a best friend named Sabine and a boyfriend named Robert. She had been nominated as Prom Queen, but she never got a chance to find out if she had won. Her life was too short. Her story book, too thin. But it was not yet over. Her life was done but her story had an epilogue. She stood free and painless behind her own dead body, watching the blood surge through the open ends and spill on the linoleum floor. The man picked up her head and held it carefully, observing it's face and brushing the hair from it's eyes, "Still beautiful. Not a scratch on you."

He took it too his work bench and grabbed something that looked like an ice cream scooper. Carefully, he removed the eyes from their sockets and they dangled uselessly. He had a set of new glass eyes to put in her sockets. They were blue, almost exactly like hers, but more lively. The man grabbed a pair of scissors and placed the optic nerve of the right eye in between the sharper edges. Snip. He tried to cut the left one, but it took him a few tries, as his scissors were dull, and the nerve kept getting caught in between the sides of the blades. Finally he had gotten it out.

"Hello," A voice rose behind Jennifer. She spun on her heel and came face to face with a man in a large came made of black feathers, a large brimmed hat, and a mask that imitated the face of a crow. "Don't be afraid," it said. Jennifer screamed loudly, but it sounded like a whisper.

"No, no, no, no, don't do that, please, there's no need for that," The crow man said again, holding up his hands defensively, "Here, wait."

The man took off his hat, and then his mask, and revealed a rather young looking man, with messy black hair and slightly droopy brown eyes. He smiled at her sympathetically.

"Are you here to take me?" Jennifer asked. He nodded. "Am I going to be judged?" He smiled.

"No. No, I take everyone to the same place. If you were going someplace different then someone else would have picked you up. Or I could have just left you here, but I feel like you've been through enough."

"Are you the devil."

"Not really. I'm death."

"Am I going to Hell?"

"Some cultures would call it hell. I call it home," Her face dropped and the tears welled up in her eyes. "Oh no, please dont."

The boy carefully placed his hand on her shoulder, awkwardly and reassuringly. The murderer hummed behind them, and the boy ignored him. When Jennifer sobbed harder he grabbed her and embraced her tightly, his cape falling over her gracefully.

"I swear it's not as bad as you think it is" he spoke into her hair, "I'm really very sorry."

"Can you tell my parents where I am?" The boy patted her hair sympathetically.

"No. No, I cannot, I wish I could, but I physically can't do that. As of right now my physical body is asleep. When I wake up I will not remember that this event had occurred. I'm sorry."

The two stayed silent there. Jennifer wondered if her body would ever be found.

"What's going to happen to me?"

"I'm going to count to three. And then I'm going to let you go. And I'll be out of your hair forever." She nodded quietly into his chest.

"My names Jennifer," she said, after a few seconds.

"I know Miss Rose."

"Try not to forget about me."

"I'll try my best."

"What's your name."

"August." He said, and Jennifer smiled sadly. What a name for the God of Death, "Are you ready?"

"Yes."

"Good."

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