The Angel of Death

“Why are you here?”

I slowly opened my eyes, just wanting to go back to sleep. I couldn’t actually remember falling asleep, but I figured that was the only reason everything would’ve been so dark.

“Huh?”

“I told you I never wanted to see you again, kid,” my dad growled, picking me up and setting me on my feet. I got really dizzy and almost fell over when he did that. “Why didn’t you listen to me?”

“I didn’t mean to…I fell…”

“You fell?!” he snarled, just inches away from my face. I nodded nervously. “Be more careful, then. I don’t think you understand. You have to leave.”

“I can’t!” I cried. “I tried flying but the wind made me fall! I’m sorry.” I didn’t want to cry in front of him again, but he was really scary.

“Do you want me to hurt you?” he said, gritting his teeth together and spraying small flecks of blood on my face. I shook my head. “Then listen to me. Get out. Now.”

“Why, daddy?” I asked. “Do you not like me?”

“No,” he answered without hesitation. I looked down at the ground, wanting to cry even more now. I couldn’t think of anything I’d done wrong; I didn’t like making anyone mad, but it seemed like he was mad at me for no reason at all. I felt really guilty.

“Can you take me back up there, then?” I nearly whispered.

“Too busy,” he snapped, crawling away from me much like the other creatures, reaching forward with his arms and staying low to the ground. “Find your own way back.”

“But I can’t fly,” I said, looking up.

“Then learn,” he growled over his shoulder, turning back to face whatever he was going after. I followed him for a while, but when he suddenly pounced on one of the creatures I’d seen last time and started clawing at its skull, I looked away, trying to pretend I didn’t know what he was eating. I turned and wandered away, jumping up into the air now and then to see if I could get any better at flying. I got tired really fast.

Eventually, I got lost. I knew my dad wouldn’t bother looking for me, since he obviously didn’t like me. I crawled into a cave and sat on the ground, staring out at everything. There were rocks everywhere, and it seemed a little brighter where I was. There was a weird orange glow off to one side, but I didn’t feel like going to see what it was. I really wanted to go back home. Maybe if I just took a nap first, I’d have more energy…

Something appeared in front of me, so I stopped walking. It didn’t move or anything, so I reached out one hand to see what it was. It was something soft, and it felt like it wasn’t going anywhere. I slowly started to climb up on it. It was really bouncy. It was kinda like my bed, actually. I lay down and stretched out, and right before I fell asleep, I wished there was a wall to keep all the scary monsters away.

I woke up later, and I felt a lot better. I jumped down from the bed and ran over to the entrance of the cave, wishing there was a door so I could leave without letting anything else get through the wall. I ran outside and tried to find my dad. He wasn’t very far away.

“Hi, dad,” I said, slowing to a walk once I got closer so I wouldn’t startle him. He turned around and glared at me. I looked at the ground once I saw that he had more blood on his face.

“Are you leaving yet?” he asked. I shook my head.

“I can’t make it. I’m not good at flying. Can you take me back instead?”

He sighed, sounding frustrated. “I’m busy right now. Figure it out yourself.”

“But I can’t go anywhere!”

He shrugged, turning back to whatever he was doing. “Guess you’re grounded, then.”

I blinked. “Grounded? What’s that?”

“It means you stay away from me and stop whining,” he growled. I looked down at the ground.

“Sorry…”

He turned around again and stepped back over to me. “Sorry?”

“Yeah,” I said, glancing up at him. He towered over me, making me feel even smaller than usual.

“Why are you sorry?”

I shrugged. “I don’t like making you mad. I didn’t mean to.”

“Well…” He narrowed his eyes. “Don’t do it again.”
-
He ended up keeping me there until I learned to fly.

I traveled back and forth between them for quite some time. I got used to my dad’s harsh words and even harsher actions; it was something he couldn’t control at first, but then it became part of who he was, part of my life.

It’s important to understand that I age differently than a human. Though several thousand years had passed on Earth, I was only about five or six, like I said at the beginning. The more time I spent down in Hell, the more I aged there. When I would go back to see my mom, I would be younger again. I was certain it had more than a little to do with the fact that I was a lot cuter as a child than a teenager.
-
“Dad?” I called, hearing nothing but an echo in response. I tucked away my wings and began walking towards the huge rocky structure not far away. It was fairly crude, but it still seemed impressive, rivaling the ragged mountains surrounding everything. I stepped inside, hearing my footsteps resonate in the large hallway on a startlingly smooth floor, and called his name again.

“Hello, Death.”

His words chilled my blood. I instantly stopped walking. Instead of yelling or speaking hurriedly and erratically, he sounded completely collected and calm with a morbidly even tone.

“…dad?” I asked again, following the sound of his voice to the end of the hall. It wasn’t any brighter there, but I knew he was looking straight at me.

“I’d like you to meet someone,” he stated placidly. I had never heard him sound so easygoing; it was easily ten times more terrifying than when he was angry. I heard two sets of footsteps coming towards me. My eyes had started to adjust to the near-total darkness, and I saw a girl standing there, towering over me with a frightening smile.

“Who are you?” I nearly whispered. I was starting to wish I had never looked directly at her.

“Regret,” she answered with no emotion at all. Another one exactly like her appeared next to me.

“What about you?” My voice was quivering. I hoped they wouldn’t hurt me.

“Fear.”

I wanted to run past them and go hide behind my dad, but I didn’t think he would protect me from them. I was sure they worked for him, actually.

“I need you to do something for me, Death,” my dad said, standing from wherever he was and walking closer to me. The two girls silently stepped aside to let him pass.

“What?”

He placed a hand on my shoulder and suddenly shocked me. I lost my balance and fell to one knee because it hurt so much.

“I’ve just given you the ability to see people’s souls. You need to get the ones that belong to me and bring them here.”

“…people…souls…what are you talking about?” I asked as the pain receded. I couldn’t move yet, so I was still kneeling in front of him.

“‘People’ are those creatures living on earth,” he said with a slight snarl. “Your mother’s quite proud of them, but a lot of them don’t belong to her. They belong to me. Besides, their souls have decided they wouldn’t be happy staying with her for all eternity, so it wouldn’t be fair to force them into that, would it?”

I shook my head. “I guess not…”

“Right.” He held out one hand, and I noticed he was wearing black gloves. It looked like everything he wore was different, but I couldn’t quite see yet, so I wasn’t sure. More black, at least. I took his hand, and he helped me stand up. I was still fairly weak and nearly fell over, and he put one hand on my shoulder. “They’re the ones with red clouds above their heads. Not very difficult to spot.”

“How do I bring them back here?”

“Figure it out.”

I sighed. “Okay, I’ll try.”

“You’re not going to try,” he said suddenly, his tone turning sour. “You’re not going to come back until you do exactly as I said.”

I couldn’t think of anything to say to that, so I simply nodded once and left, breathing a short sigh of relief as I made my way outside and flew up towards the ceiling. I thought about going to visit my mom, and the idea of seeing her again after such a long time made me smile. I decided I would go let her know I was okay, just for a while. It couldn’t hurt.