Brian watched as the 'guards' remained by his side all the time.
Whenever he had seen the Grim Reaper's image when he was living, it had always never frightened him. Now it was real, he was scared.
As they led him back through the corridor, the lights on the wall appeared to dim. He turned to ask questions, but each of them placed a bony finger to their lips. His gaze turned back to the way he was walking.
Seeing some Grim Reapers walk towards him, he stopped, but like before, when the ones behind Brian neared him, they pushed him forward to continue his journey.
The ones approaching him, pulled down their hoods.
He watched as he watched them smile as each lifted their arm, pointing at him.
"Yyyyyyyoooooooooouuuuuuuuu," they hissed in unison.
The ones behind him formed a circle around him.
He wondered what was happening. What were they trying to save him from? The ones walking towards him lowered their scythes as they neared.
The ones who had formed a circle around him also lowered theirs.
Hearing metal bang against metal, he witnessed the corridor brighten.
One of the other group moved their hatless head toward one from his group. When their heads parted, the one who was leading him down the corridor turned towards him, reaching out the scythe.
Brian stepped back, but the scythe moved with him. There was no escape. The Grim Reaper nodded his head and pointed the scythe, "Move," it said, before swaying the scythe back and forth in a rocking motion.
Not immediately doing as he was asked, the figure moved to him. Lowering it's head, soon the end of the hooded cape touched him. He was unable to see anything, but imagined the figure smiling until it bared it's teeth.
"Move," it repeated, again swaying the scythe.
This time, Brian did not have to be asked again. He started to walk the direction the scythe swayed, feeling the presence follow.
Walking for what appeared forever, the figure stepped in front of him, putting it's scythe out to touch the wall.
"Enter," it said, again swaying it's scythe in the direction it wanted Brian to go.
Doing what was asked, he walked into the darkness after the door opened itself.
The Grim Reaper walked behind him swaying the scythe to a seat in the corner as the room illuminated.
With Brian sat, the figure stood by him, "If only..." it repeated as Brian begun to hear people talking.
Looking around the room, he saw what he thought was a screen appear on the wall opposite. At first it was unclear what he was watching, but then people appeared on it – Melanie. She was with a colleague of hers from work. That couldn't be right. She couldn't be doing what he thought. He turned his attention from the screen to the figure who was in the room with him.
Again, that scythe swung toward the direction of the screen. "Watch," was the only word it said.
Frightened to do anything other than what he was being ordered, he continued staring at the screen. He watched as Melanie opened the wardrobe and threw some of his clothes on the bed. Watched as she spoke to her colleague, but was unable to hear the conversation. Then he watched as her friend picked up a few pieces of his clothes and placed them in a bag. Was Melanie doing what he thought she was. Why would she want to get rid of his things? Didn't she love him enough to keep them close to her to a longer time? He watched as her friend handed her the bag, Melanie taking it from the room, crying.
"Why?' he asked, looking to the Grim Reaper for answers.
He was met by a shake of the head, and the Grim Reaper sat by the side of him. Holding it's scythe by it's side, it begun to speak, "You should have come when we first called you. Had you done as we wished, things would have been a lot easier for the ones who are left. They would have been able to cope a lot better with your death. It was because your spirit remained in their world a lot longer than it should have done, has made it more difficult for your loved ones to let you go. She felt your presence for a lot longer than she should have done, providing her with a false sense of security and she thought you would be with her forever."
Brian shook his head. "I wanted to," he said.
"Yes. We know that. But, when a spirit is called it needs to come to make room for the spirits who want to enter the world. There is only so much space, and not everyone can survive for an eternity."
"When will she join me?" Brian cried. "I want to be near her."
"Never," the grim reaper replied. "If you had done what your destiny wanted you to do, things would have been much better and you would have been reunited when her spirit was ready to leave her world. But, now, you have to realise you cannot mess with destiny and expect to get away with it. You have to be punished, and the only way to do this is not giv you what you want, when you didn't provide us with what we wanted."
Brian rose.
The Grim Reaper pointed it's scythe towards the door, causing it to slam. "I thought I could have trusted you. I thought you would have learnt your lesson. But, no. You still want to try to escape us, even though we keep reminding you. I bought you hear to show you that your loved one has moved on and she is making room to try and remove a little piece of you from her heart."
"She can't," Brian cried.
"The Death you saw pull down it's hood – he did that for a reason. He is one of the Deaths looking after your loved one. He came to tell me what he witnessed while watching her. Came to tell me how her colleague urged her to start removing parts of you from her home. Make her home her own where eventually there would be no sign that you ever existed."
Brian cried, "She can't do that."
The Grim Reaper nodded it's head, "She can do what she likes. She has her life to live. One where she has to forget about you. She may think she can join you, but..."
"I know," Brian wanted to finish. "We can no longer be together for eternity because I did not come when I was being called. You were forced to come to collect me and you don't look upon that in a good manner."
The Grim Reaper nodded slowly. "The both of you will remain parted forever, and she has to forget her beliefs that loved ones are rejoined in eternity."
"She has to have a belief," Brian said as he stood.
The Grim Reaper rose with him. "Beliefs are not everything. Beliefs are only what you are taught, not what really happens. I have already quickly shown you the reality, and if you choose not to believe it, that is your choice, but, I am sure, the longer you remain here, the more you will believe that you were taught incorrectly in your existence."
He was pushed back down as the Grim Reaper glided to the door, "You will remain in here until you believe we are saying the truth. You need to believe what we are telling you to make the time you will be spending by yourself enjoyable. Life in eternity could be a long time when you got no one to share it with."
"But,,," Brian begun.
"I know, we have provided you with cloaks of protection. You only have four left. If you had come to us when we first called, you would have had thirtheen, but they disappeared the longer it took for us to get you. New spirits were entering your realm, and the reapers were appointed elsewhere. That was why it was imperative we got you when we did, otherwise..." the figure trailed off as it left the room.
Brian ran to the door, trying the handle, but it was locked. He looked back at the screen, which went blank. He had no one again.
How long was eternity for? Was there an end to it? How lonely would he become? But after all them questions, How could he get to see Melanie again?
© 2016 Tony Lawrence. All Rights Reserved
Disclaimer- The pictures are NOT mine
This is the first draft of this chapter. May change slightly in future.
