The Game of Life

The ultimate master of life is Death but Death likes a skilled oponent.

I watched the snow outside as slowly all the colours from the world washed away into white. Bright colours, christmas colours, summer colours, the so-called 'colourful' colours are all beautiful but nothing speaks perfection as white. It was the first snow of the year. The first snowfall is always the best. It just has this feeling of magic that others do not have. 

                

       I was reading a book with a nice hot cup of coffee sitting on my window seat. I was alone at home. I had recorded some pieces on the piano which were now playing in the background.  It was surprisingly quiet outside. No one was walking, there were no children in the playground and there was no sound of a dog barking like mad like there usually is, which is good I guess.

That was when I saw something or rather someone.

A dark, hooded figure was coming towards my house. Every inch of white land it stepped on became black. It was Death.

Without another thought, I ran. I ran as fast as I could.                                                                     I did not know exactly where I was going as there was just one disturbing thought lurking inside me then. I could not escape Death this time but at least I could try.                                                          I ran past houses, parks dodged barriers right in the middle of the road.   Good thing I was completely alone but that was probably the only advantage of being alone at that point. I ran straight into the woods. The trees were covered in snow and so was the ground which made it hard for me to run.                                       

I fell, got up again and ran.   From the corner of my eye, I saw darkness spreading. Big puffs of darkness zoomed right passed me.

  I looked back. I realized that I should definitely not have looked back because everything was terrifying. Everything was pitch- dark. What once started as just a few metres had now spread miles and miles everywhere. I looked ahead. The tiny fraction of hope that I had left, flashed away. The horizon ahead of me was dark. The horizon behind me was dark. Everything was dark and I was left standing on a small patch of snow.   This was it.    I knew this was coming and it was pointless in running away but there I was left standing alone, shivering in the cold in darkness. The sky was grey, the ground was black and the trees were black. There was no sign of life anywhere.  Not even an insect.

Then, I saw him.                                                                                                                                      Death, with his black hooded cloak, bony figure, more than 3 metres tall but what stood out the most, were his eyes. His face was covered but only revealed two, bright, cold, purple eyes. And then he spoke.                                                    

  “So finally we meet. Finally I can take what is mine”, he said. His voice was deep but gentle and sounded beautiful. Not what most people would expect.

  I was terrified. I was frozen on my spot. I could not think of anything to say and there was a  deadly silence for a couple of seconds but I finally managed to speak. “You do not own me”, I said.

“Oh yes I do”, said Death. “Not directly, no but I am your ultimate master. The ultimate master of life is Death. Most of life die slow, painful deaths, leaving their loved ones shattered, leaving all work and achievements behind and moving away from Life. Moving on. Why wait? Why make others cry? Why make all your life worthless when you have the chance to leave and move onto something better, bigger and more mysterious? This is an act of mercy”.

“Because those are the things that make life worth living, because every achievement, relationship, friendship and experience we have are what makes us have hope. To have hope and make it grow because hope is the only reason why life exists. To understand the world. To look back and be free of any regrets. To complete the first stage well before moving on to the next one. To be proud of oneself and then not running away from Death, but greeting Death as an old friend”. I was pretty proud of my speech but just a second after stopping, I was terrified again just this time, it was much, much worse. I should not have said that, I should have kept quiet.

My eyes started to water.  No, I was not going to cry. I would not cry at any cost. I could not give Death the satisfaction.                                   

So we stood there.                                                                                                                                Everything dark, no sound except silence shouting in my ear and a pair of purple eyes staring at me. Why was he not saying anything? This was probably the calm before the storm. Then he spoke.

“You may have reasons to live but death forever knows where you are. Death is always watching life and life cannot escape it but Death also has patience. When you play the game, Life always loses to Death, but Death likes a skilled opponent.”  With that, he vanished.

   A small ray of sunshine came through the clouds making it like a spotlight where I stood. I looked around. The darkness was going away and I could now see the snow. I could hear birds, animals and people from a distance. I sat with my back on the trunk of a tree and looked at the sky. My lips were not smiling but my eyes were. I could smell water, pine trees and all the lovely smells of winter. I closed my eyes.

 “So this is life”, I said.

  I was jerked back to reality as a mad dog started to bark loudly. I sat up on my bed, drank some water and was just silent for a couple of minutes.                                                                            Just a dream but sometimes, your imagination is better at life than you will ever be.