Lilith opens her eyes.
She gasp for air as if she's just resurfaced from water.
She looks to her left, all she can see is black.
She looks to her right, all she can see is black.
She can just about make out her cold breath in front of her face, which looks like smoke. No matter where she looks, it's all the same. Black. Complete and utter darkness. She reaches her right arm out, and waves it around to see if anything was in front of her, and just as she suspected, nothing.
"Where the hell am I?" Lilith whispers to herself.
It was cold, and pitch black. It's dark, but Lilith has never experienced this sort of darkness. She almost feels just as empty and blank as the impenetrable darkness she is engulfed in.
Lilith can hear her breath trembling, but she doesn't seem to react much more to the environment around her. She closes her eyes, squinting them as if she's forcing herself to keep them closed.
"This isn't real. This is just a dream." Lilith doubted to herself in a soft tone.
"This isn't happening right now. This is a bad dream." she continues to talk herself, as if she's comforting a child.
Suddenly, Lilith hears a very subtle click, which echoes. Her eyebrows raise slightly to the noise, but she doesn't open her eyes. She is still stood in the same spot, keeping her eyes shut. Her heartbeat picks up rapidly, and her neck begins to feel clammy.
She slowly cracks open her left eye, and can see a blurry light in her sight. She completely opens both eyes, to find a dim lightbulb hanging from a thin cord. The cord continues in to the abyss, appearing to be never ending. The light flickers slightly, making Lilith feel on edge. One minute she was running away from Marcus, and made it out of the alleyway to ask for help, then all of a sudden she's in a living horror movie. Despite what just happened to Lilith, she has no memory of it happening.
She takes one step closer to the light, hesitating.
"There must be a way out of this place." Lilith thinks to herself.
She proceeds to walk slowly towards the lightbulb, which appears to be slowly getting closer to her, each step she takes.
Eventually, Lilith is stood directly below this lightbulb, and can see nothing but darkness where the light doesn't reach. Even though it is freezing, Lilith doesn't seem to be affected from the temperature. She looks up at the lightbulb, which even has frosted over slightly on the bottom.
Lilith begins to panic, it looks like there's no way out that she can see. She doesn't trust the space enough to walk out and try and find a way herself. She looks around her, to see if she can see if anything will emerge from the darkness.
"Hello? Is anyone there?" Lilith called out. Her voice echoes across the space, and gets no response.
"Anybody here? Hello?" Lilith shouted this time, with a much stronger echo ringing through the space.
No response, yet again.
The lightbulb begins to flicker more, making Lilith looking up at it again. It appears to be getting worse, and the light looks like it could give out any second.
"No, not again." Lilith mutters to herself.
Lilith raises her heels off the ground gradually, leaving herself standing on her toes to give herself extra height. She reaches up towards the lightbulb, hoping that maybe she'd be able to reach it and screw it in tighter, to see if that would improve the flickering.
As her finger just touches the lightbulb, the lightbulb immediately shines brighter than anything Lilith has seen.
Lilith drops to the floor, shielding her eyes from the light. She can hear a high pitched tone ringing and echoing, like a monitor. She then hears the cries of a woman echo throughout this space. She opens her eyes, frightened from the distressing sounds, and stood in front of her appears to be a black cloak, it is no longer dark anymore, in fact, the space is just white and never ending. The only thing that's dark now is this cloak stood upright in front of her. It looks like nobody is in it; it's just stood by itself.
The hood is up and draped over. Lilith is unable to see a face. Suddenly, she is no longer cold or frightened. In fact, she feels nothing.
She stares at this cloak for a moment, and she brings herself back up to her feet. The cloak slightly rises in height. The hood is pulled down to reveal a black silhouette under this cloak. They're bald, and as black as the space that Lilith was just stood. A black, skinny hand emerges from the cloak on the right hand side, and reaches back in to their left hand side, rummaging through the cloak.
Lilith doesn't say a word, in fact, she's not even breathing. She's just stood there completely lifeless, watching this figure.
As the figure is rummaging, they go on to say in a very low and raspy tone,
"Usually souls are screaming and crying right now..."
Lilith's eyes widen, as she did not expect this mysterious entity to speak to her.
"Souls?" Lilith questions them.
The figure pulls out a dark, ruined book from the cloak, and opens it on a specific page, about two thirds in to the book.
"Lilith Skyes?" the voice asks.
Lilith looks at the book, then back at where the figures face would be.
"Yes, that's me." she responds.
The figure slams the book shut, slipping it away back in to the cloak that drapes from this figure.
The figure slowly moves towards Lilith, but there appears to be no movement from the cloak, as if they're floating, not walking.
Lilith gulps, wondering who this mysterious person is, and what they want with her.
The figure takes a loose grip of Lilith's hands. She looks down at her hands in theirs, and back up to their "face". Even though they're stood directly in front of her, she still can't see or make out a face. It's almost like they're a mannequin.
"Do you know how you got here?" the figure asks in a soft, raspy tone.
Lilith looks around her, before answering.
"No. I have no idea what's going on. I don't even remember what I was doing before this. I was probably in work, maybe?" Lilith answers, in a questionable tone, as if she's questioning herself as well.
The figure slightly nods, and moves themselves back from Lilith to give her space.
"You may want to sit down for this one." the figure insists.
They raise their hand, and hold out a flat palm towards the ground. Two black armchairs slowly emerge from the white ground below them. The figure proceeds to take a seat in the armchair where they was once stood, the other one is directly in front of Lilith. She slowly moves to the armchair, sitting down.
"What I'm about to tell you, is not something that will be taken lightly." the figure instructs.
Lilith nods, hanging on the edge of her seat, like she's engrossed from a movie.
The figure sits there for a minute, pausing before continuing the conversation. Their long, thin fingertips are tapping the arm on the chair, as if they're trying to process what needs to be said next.
"Am I dead?" Lilith asks, before the figure could answer.
The figure looks up at Lilith. Even though they have no face, you can tell that this question has surprised them.
"Yes. You are." the figure answers.
Lilith feels a weight at the pit of her stomach. She had a feeling that this was the case, but didn't expect this figure to confirm she's actually dead. It explains the lack of emotion and sensation, however.
"I- I don't-" Lilith spits out, trying to get her words out.
The figure stops tapping their fingers on the chair.
"It's okay, Lilith. You wouldn't remember. Most people who come here don't, unless they're elderly or terminally ill. It was a very sudden and brutal death." they explain.
All of a sudden, Lilith's eyes widen.
"Oh my god, Remi." Lilith realises.
"How could I forget about my beautiful Remi?" Lilith questions herself, as she stands back up beginning to pace around.
"No, how could I leave Remi?"
The figure stays seated, observing Lilith's behaviour.
Lilith mutters, arguing with herself. How did this even happen to her? Who took her life?
"Where is Remi, is she okay?" Lilith asks, turning to the figure.
"At the moment, no. The moment you touched that lightbulb, was the moment you died and were passed over to me. She's currently with you at the hospital." the figure explains.
Lilith glares at the figure, she can't comprehend the news that has just been dropped on her.
"Passed over? Who are you, anyway?" Lilith interrogates the figure.
"Haven't you guessed already?" the figure questions.
Lilith shakes her head, "No. I wouldn't be asking you otherwise." Lilith puts in.
The figure stands up, brushing downwards on where their legs would be to straighten the cloak.
"Ah yes, well, you have a point there." the figure observes.
"Are you the grim reaper?" Lilith asks.
The figure lets out a soft chuckle,
"You could say that, but just call me Death." Death insists.
Lilith returns to the front of the armchair where she was once sat, and takes grip of Death's hand.
"Pleasure to meet you." Lilith softly intoned.
"Yes ... pleasure to meet you, as well." Death responded, in a rather questionable tone.
"So, how did I die?" Lilith asks.
"I don't know if you're ready to see that just yet. Maybe we should focus on other things." Death responds, as he lowers himself back down in to the armchair he was sat in. He sits back, relaxing.
Lilith sighs, "look, I've no idea how I ended up here. You could at least just tell me how it happened."
Death sits forward, "I've been doing this since the beginning of time, Lilith. I know you're not ready to know yet. Instead, we should be focusing on your life. You'll never get to live it again." they chattered.
Lilith sits back in her seat and relaxes, she deflates like a balloon.
"My life isn't that interesting." she adds.
"Oh, sure it is!" Death insists.
"You were an accountant, right? In Taunton." they add.
Lilith nods, "Yeah. I was pretty good at my job, too. Looks like Hugh will have to find someone else." Lilith laughs to herself over this comment, Death remains sat still not reacting to it.
"You've been with Remi for eight years, nearly nine." Death adds.
"Yes. Not long enough, really." Lilith responds.
There is a slight pause for a moment, as Lilith appears deep in thought. Death is preparing himself for a rather delicate question.
"Tell me about your childhood." Death questions.
Lilith looks up at them, sat there blankly.
"That's not important." Lilith insists.
"Of course it is, Lilith." Death debated.
"It grows you as a person, and I can see from your childhood, despite having little to none, it toughened you up as an individual. You certainly had no problem walking home late at night almost every night in the high streets of Taunton, did you?" Death rambles on.
"Is that what I was doing before I died?" Lilith questions.
Death sighs, "don't change the subject, Lilith. I promise you'll know everything in time." Death instructs.
Lilith sits up again in the armchair, trying to work around Death. The mysterious figure appears to show very little emotion. It's a bit hard to pinpoint any physical emotion, as there's not much about them that's physical.
"Is Remi okay, though? Did she see me die?" Lilith continues to interrogate.
Death responds with shaking his head.
Lilith sighs with relief, "oh, thank god."
"we had a savings, have been building it up for the last five years. We were planning on moving out of Taunton eventually and buying our first property together." Lilith rambles on, explaining.
Death leans forward slightly in their seat,
"You seem very relaxed considering you've just found out that you've died." Death points out.
"Are you feeling okay?" they add.
Lilith nods, "It all just feels like a surreal dream, to be honest." Lilith replies.
Death nods slightly, "I see."
"Tell me about Remi." they add.
"You seem to only be thinking of them. What sort of person are they?"
Lilith sits back, and looks upwards slightly, like she's thinking.
"Well, let's see - she's the most gentle being I have ever met. She's kind, selfless. She's an amazing artist. I thought it was mesmerising watching Bob Ross, but she puts a couple of shapes on a canvas, with a few streaks of colour, and brings it to life more than a real photo of scenery. It's breathtaking." Lilith rambles on, "her favourite food is dumplings. She loves long walks in the autumn so she can gather inspiration for her artwork. She's always wanted cats, which is one of the things we bonded over, as I love cats myself-"
"I see." Death interrupts.
There is a moment of silence. Lilith's eyes are locked on to where Death's eyes should be.
"Why didn't you get a cat together?" they ask.
"Well, the apartment we live in doesn't allow cats, and she didn't want to risk it." Lilith explains.
Death nods slightly, "life is too short to hold back on decisions, don't you think?" they add.
Lilith nods, agreeing with their statement.
"Well, I definitely agree with that statement." Lilith comments.
A slight pause fills the space.
"So are you a boy or a girl?" Lilith asks.
"What?" Death responds, as if they just didn't hear what Lilith asked.
"Are you a boy or a girl?" Lilith repeats.
Death lets out a slight chuckle.
"I'm neither. I'm an entity." Death responds
Lilith cocks her one eyebrow in confusion, "so you're non-binary?" she adds.
"No." Death says bluntly, "I'm an entity. I have one purpose, and one purpose only. That is deciding what to do with lost souls."
Lilith remaining a confused expression on her face, rests her chin in the palm of her hand, engrossed with the conversation.
"Isn't that what Jesus is meant to do?" Lilith interrogates.
"Don't get me started on that guy." Death grumbled.
"You really think the man that created the universe, and fed five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish, would also cause cancer, and horrific wars and diseases?" Death pointed out.
Lilith shrugged.
"There has to be a balance in the universe. If there is no balance, there would be no life. I create the balance of life and death. It's nothing personal, however." Death explains.
"You died today, because of your situation. Unfortunately one must die so another can live. It's just how the world has always worked."
Lilith nods, "I guess that makes sense. Sounds a bit horrific, but makes sense."
Death pauses for a moment,
"Usually I have people cursing me by now, telling me I'm selfish for taking their relatives and whatnot. Why do you think it makes sense?" Death asks.
Lilith shrugs again, "Well, it's like you said. There has to be a balance. I'm an accountant, it's almost like my work. The information provided has to balance out, and make sense. Otherwise, what's the point in my job?" Lilith debates.
"You make a fair point, Lilith. I like you." Death responds.
Lilith's thin lips curve in to a smile.
