After two days of busily collecting souls from around the world I was suitably tired, working for thousands of years without much of a holiday is difficult. That's why after successfully wishing thousands more souls well on their journeys I headed back down to the bar in another world, in the world that I belong to. I again stumbled in through the door and ducked my head to avoid the old wooden beams that seemed to move closer to the ground every day.

"What exotic drink would you like this time princess?" Jealousy sneered at me as she flicked her green hair over her shoulder and readjusted her handbag.
"Um, just the usual…" I replied, my voice monotone and dead as I stood by the old wooden bar.
"That'ssss all you ever get, issssn't it?" Spite hissed, walking so that he stood directly in front of me. He readjusted his snake skin suit and raised an eyebrow as I spoke.
"Yes Spite, that's why it's known as the usual because it's what I usually get, okay?"
"Oooh, ssssomeone's in a bit of a bitchy mood thisssss afternoon aren't they?"
"Piss off Spite, I'm tired, I've been out there for thousands of years collecting souls almost non-stop while all you have to do is work a few hours a day to check up on all the humans who are as spiteful as you."
"Okay, okay…." He stuttered as he backed away from me, "I'll leave the bitchy beassst alone then."

Jealousy slid my glass of lemonade across the bar, fake smiled and watched as I took it and sat down in a far corner of the pub.

The table that I chose to sit was almost grey with dust and wobbled because someone had removed a coaster from underneath one of the table legs. The seats around it were like one curved bench of flaking green leather that cursed as you took a seat. I noticed someone with curly brown hair and a crown of olive leaves sat huddled in the corner. The purple Greek chiton blended into the darkness and without even seeing the purple mirror with the golden shell clasp, I knew that it was Narcissism. He sipped on a small goblet of red wine, his eyes shooting up towards me when I sat down.

"Go away honey…" he whispered at me, "can't you see that you're damaging my aesthetic?"
"Sorry Narcissism…" I whispered, resting my head on the desk and allowing my eyes to close.
"I said: you're damaging my aesthetic Death! Everything seems cold when you are around and I'm scared that you'll damage my mirror!" Narcissism said urgently, huddling up into the corner as far from me as possible.
"I'm sorry Narcissism, I don't mean to ruin your aesthetic or look or anything, I'm just tired of everything." I whispered back, dragging my fingers through the layers of dust on the table.
"Honey…." he said, showing me his beloved mirror again , "this table and this mirror isn't big enough for the two of us."
"Will you stop making references!"
"That's not even a reference yet!" Narcissism replied with.
I was going to reply, but the words got stuck in my throat and I just decided to sit there quietly, watching Narcissism frown at me whenever I took a drink of my slightly warm glass of lemonade.

"Could you not just leave me alone?" Narcissism asked once more, running a hand through his curly brown hair and readjusting his olive crown.
"Why do you want me to leave?" I mumbled.
"Because I'm scared tha-"
"I'm not going to steal your mirror Narcissism." I replied back with a whisper.
"NO! I'm scared that you're going to make me leave."
"Make you leave, what?" I questioned.
"Like Love and Happiness and all the others! I don't want to leave! I don't want you to take away all my people with some purple behind their eyes! I don’t know what I'd do, where I'd go! So I don't ever want you near me, okay?!"
"But Narcissism I wouldn’t eve-"
"Shut up and just go back to work!" He cried, throwing the remaining contents of his cup into my face.

"Okay then, I'll go." I replied, standing up and wiping the red alcohol from my face with my sleeve. I marched out of the door and realised that a soul from the human world was ready to be collected.

---

I was on the way back from the hospital after greeting the soul of a content 94 year old women who smiled at me as if we'd been friends for years, when I saw him next. Humans greet you in many ways after they have died, some souls are willing to float into my arms and they smile at me, some are grateful to have escaped the world and whisper 'thank you' as I pick them from the floor or the swirling depths of a river. However, some souls need coaxing out of their bodies whereas some souls simply refuse to leave the body as they try desperately to cling onto life. Though eventually they will end up in my arms. I am inevitable and inescapable. Life and Death are not opposites, Death is simply a part of life, you must understand this.

The sky was an off-white mess when I saw Gerard next, clouds hung low across the sky as if they were a burden, and grey arrows of rain thrashed down to the ground. The sun had all but disappeared as Gerard stumbled down the soaked tarmac. Houses on either side of him were derelict with windows smashed, rotting cardboard at their windows, doors hanging off their hinges, dust rising from within as if it were a wildfire as the houses fell to pieces. He ignored them and swept his soaked red hair behind his ears and shivered from the cold. His spotless white jeans had turned grey with the polluted rain and his hands were numb, but not as numb as his heart.

Gerard's heart seemed lost, either missing from his body or it had been shattered into a million pieces and lay rotting on the ground as he searched desperately on his hands and knees so that he had a chance of piecing his life back together. Tears streamed down his face and raced the belting rain, his feet barely moving as he stumbled on down the endless road.

If I'd have asked Gerard in that moment where he was going his reply would have been:
'I don't know, I'm just searching.'

And after reading the previous chapter of this story we all know that Frank was the person that Gerard was searching so desperately for.

After about another ten minutes of walking aimlessly through the pouring rain, Gerard reached a cemetery. Small black iron gates guarded the path that lead to the small derelict chapel that stood at the centre of the cemetery as if it were watching over the dead. I reminded it that that was my job and followed Gerard through the gates. He wandered along the gravel path that crunched underneath his feet and read the names on the gravestones as he walked past. Unlike me he did not know the people whose names were engraved into the stone, reading every name brought me back to the scene of where we had met, regardless to if the date on the stone was 3 weeks ago or if it was 200 years ago.

It was only when Gerard reached a small gravestone in the corner of the cemetery that Gerard stopped in his tracks and knelt down. I wandered over to the stone which was covered in ivy, some newly bought grey flowers fought the weather to stay put at the grave side. The red-haired figure moved the ivy to one side and ran his hands over the letters that were carved into the stone.


Alfie Thompson
4th May 1981-3rd November 1992
Taken away at only 11 years old, a loved son, grandson and best friend.


"I'm so sorry…" Gerard whispered, his voice disappearing into the howling wind, "I'm sorry Alfie. I'm so sorry that I couldn't keep Frank safe."
Tears dripped from his face as he wept in front of the small gravestone and beat his fists against the ground.

He then pulled himself to his shaking feet before placing a tentative foot after the other, walking gently along the gravel path, through the land of the dead.
I froze immediately when I saw the gravestone that Gerard stared at next.
Gerard froze.
The whole world seemed to hold its breath.


Here lies Linda and Frank Iero
Taken away from us on the 31st of October 1992
Leaving Frank, their only son, and an empty space in this world


Gerard fell to his knees. Now he understood what Frank had shouted when he said that "Alfie wasn't the only one that Death had taken." Frank had lost his parents when he was just 11 years old, then lost his best friend just three days after.

I remember the day so vividly, brightly coloured balloons where enclosed in the boot, Alfie sat with the birthday cake on his knees. Frank's parents sat in the front of the car planning on the best way to surprise him. And then. The screech of tyres. Sirens. An air ambulance. The strain of a defibrillator. The screaming of a child. The endless droning beep of a cardiac monitoring system. Nothing. Nothing but three gravestones told anyone that they ever existed.

The sound of the river rushing nearby brought Gerard back to his senses. He looked to where the noises of water that seemed to be fighting its very self came from. He raced out of the cemetery, his footsteps as constant as his tears, and reached the bank of the river. It's swirling depths of darkness seemed so inviting to him and he could imagine himself being pulled gently under its surface and have his breath taken away within a few minutes in the icy cold torrent of water. He shook himself from his trance and looked upwards towards the murky sky and then to the old abandoned railway bridge that stretched itself across the river. A figure sat on the edge of the bridge, green eyes staring at Gerard.

The figure smiled, leaned over the edge and stared longingly at the abyss of water.

Notes

Hello again! I hope this chapter was okay...oops, left it on a cliffhanger. The next chapter is almost finished so it should be up by tomorrow.
Thank you for all the views! :D
Have a good day or night or whatever time it is, I don't even know anymore. Goodbyeeee. :)
Thank you for reading!
-lou