Wishing for Death

Who knew finding a pocket watch would cause so much Death?

"Where did you find that?" 

The young girl immediately hid the silver pocket watch behind her back, clasped in between both hands. "Find what?" 

"Don't play innocent with me, you worthless pile of space," the elderly woman hissed. "Now tell me where you found that pocket watch which you are failing miserably to hid behind your back." 

The teenager stared down at her beat up sneakers. "I found it in the woods," she muttered. 

The terrible woman wrapped her hand around her throat and shoved her against the lavender wall, successfully trapping her. "Do not like to me, child. You know the consequence, Alethea." 

The young girl continued to keep the trinket in her hand while her other hand attempted to peel the chilly, bony finger away from her compressed airway. "I'm not," she barely rasped out. Her pale face was now turning numerous shades of blue. She miserably inhaled a deep breath, trying desperately to fill her empty lungs. Her wide eyes rolled into the back of her skull, pupils disappearing. 

The vile woman squished the slender throat a little more. "Give me one good reason as to why I shouldn't end your worthless life right now. You were born evil, and nothing has changed in these last seventeen years, and I expect nothing ever will. Your birth brought the end to my gorgeous daughter's promising life. The mere existence of you reminds me of how your first action in this world brought death." 

"Please," Alethea mouthed. 

The grandmother dug her pointed claws into the flesh, piercing the skin, before releasing her grip. 

The teenager collapsed onto the wooden floor. She sputtered and coughed, struggling to inhale the much-needed oxygen. She lifted a hand to her throat, brushing over the bleeding scratches. "I was only a newborn! How was I supposed to stop myself from being born?" she choked out, attempting to control her breathing. 

The bitter woman swiftly brought her pointed heel into the ribs of the young adult, successfully knocking out the little bit of oxygen that had managed to sneak back into her lings. "Because you are a vile, ungrateful child who was forced upon me after my daughter's death which you caused!" 

"Then why did you take me?" she croaked out. 

She sneered. "Just look at yourself. I pitied you as an infant, and I couldn't fathom anyone wanting you." 

Tears silently streamed down Alethea's colorless face as she clutched the pocket watch to her chest. She stared at the ground, hurt and wounded, lungs empty. 

The grandmonster grasped a handful of the helpless teenager's dark blonde hair and pulled her to her feet. 

Alethea shrieked in pain as she stood hunched over, one hand still clasped around the silver time keeper. 

The old woman dragged her up the carpeted steps quickly, causing Alethea to stumble but not fall due to the hand gripping her hair like a vice. "You're going to your room and do not expect to be allowed to leave anytime soon." She pulled her down the long hallway and up another flight of stairs. They entered a spacious room that was covered in a thick layer of dust. 

There was a large, musty mattress laying in the far corner of the room. A wardrobe with doors padlocked with a thick, silver key lock sat in the center of the back wall. Numerous loops made of metal were attached to the floor in various places. A toilet was resting in the corner opposite of the mattress. A small, round sink stood next to it with a large, rectangle mirror pasted above it." 

"I will notify him now as soon as he arrives home for your punishment," she informed, void of any emotion. 

"No! No!" Alethea shrieked. "I'll do anything. Just don't let him come in here please! I promise I'll behave!" 

The old woman tossed the teenage girl into the room. "You caused this, child. This is your consequence for disobeying me and disrespecting me. This is the path you chose for yourself," she said before slamming the metal door shut. 

Alethea rushed over to the door and desperately threw her body against the unforgiving icy metal. Her shoulder crunched, and she let out a cry before sliding down the door. She slowly stood up, cradling her shoulder. Her feet dragged her body towards the cracked porcelain sink. She stared at her cloudy reflection in the mirror. She carefully placed the round pocket watch on the rim before wiping away the thick layer of dust, seeing her pale face more clearly. Her emerald eyes greatly contrasted against her colorless skin. Her cheeks clung to her skull, appearing empty. Her ashy blonde waves hung past her shoulders, framing her sullen face. She then stared at her abused neck. She brushed her fingers over the black and blue ring around her neck with thin streaks of dark red. Tears silently slid down her pasty cheeks, her eyes shining like glass in the sunlight. 

The door banged open, causing Alethea to jump out of her skin. She stared at the door, and her heart was racing faster than a horse's. Her lungs trapped the air, effectively stopping her breathing.

 
A few silent moments later, she exhaled strongly. Her entire body was shaking with fear. The tears ran down her cheeks faster than a Niagara Falls. She wrapped her hands around the edges of the porcelain bowl, knuckles turning white. She began to wheeze as her chest rapidly moved. Alethea stared at her panicking reflection. Her tears left tracks in her face before landing in the sink. She shakily raised her hand, closed it into a tiny ball, and brought it behind her head. Her eyes clamped shut as she continued to shake. Her fist crashed into the mirror, shattering the glass all over her hand along with the sink. The skin of her hand was shredded and had pieces of mirror reflecting the blood pouring from her head. The damaged hand grabbed a large, triangular piece of glass while her other grabbed the silver pocket watch. Alethea slowly stumbled to the huge steel tub. 

She threw one leg over the tall side that came to her upper thigh. She momentarily sat on the edge in order to regain her balance. Her other leg met the one in the tub, and she sat down on the icy bottom, carefully holding onto both the side and the pocket watch. Alethea leaned back and rested her spine against the curve. 

Her finger barely pressed the button, snapping the watch's cover open and revealing the intricate clock. The longest hand ticked away each second; tick, tick, tick, but there was no sound, only movement. She stared at the three, black hands that sprouted from a raven's eye in the center while the rest of the head took up the remaining clock. 

Alethea watched the time fly past her. She brought the sharp piece of looking glass to her wrist, tears falling steadily. She dug the point into her arm which broke the skin, and blood began to bubble around the point of the mirror going past her skin. She slowly started to pull the makeshift knife towards herself. 

Suddenly, the metal door slammed open with a terrible bang. "Hello, hello," a deep voice resounded off the bare walls. The tall man whose skin clung to his bones strolled over to the female. "Oh no, you're not getting out of it that easily." He snatched the improvised blade out of her hand. The watch clattered to the bottom of the tub. He grabbed her profusely bleeding arm, dragging her across the floor. "You are such an ungrateful child! Your mother gave her life for yours, and you are simply wasting it. He tossed her onto the musty mattress. "Don't you dare move, you piece of s**t." 

Alethea curled up into a ball in a desperate attempt to protect herself. She thoughtlessly watched the thick, red liquid pour from her inner arm, staining the yellow clothing.

"You have no idea what I have in store for you this time." He began to sift through the contents of the malicious wardrobe after unlocking it. 

Tears started new tracks down her colorless cheeks. 

The man chuckled menacingly. "You have really outdone yourself this time, and all for a dumb, little timekeeper. You obviously stole it anyway." 

Alethea did not bother to defend herself. What use was it anyway?

Unexpectedly, a blood-curdling scream came from the other side of the door. 

The man turned his head towards the noise. His eyes were the size of the moon, and his eyebrows met his hairline. 

The teenager barely picked her head up off the mattress before setting her head back on the moldy polyester. Her strength was diminishing as she lost more blood, causing the new stain to grow even larger. 

Suddenly, the metal door flew off its hinges and swiftly tumbled towards the man. It crashed into him, pinning him to the floor effectively. He groaned and tried to push the steel off himself, failing miserably. 

A man strolled through the doorway and had to duck through in order to not hit his head on the border. He had a ghastly white complexion which was even paler than Alethea's. His hair was the color of a raven's feather, void of any color but somehow kept a shine. He wore an ashy three-piece suit with a black pocket square resting neatly in the right breast pocket. He glanced around the bare room and spotted the man struggling to get the door off of him. The enormously tall man snapped his fingers with a roll of his eyes, effectively causing the man to go silent and still. "Your race never ceases to disgust me; there's rarely ever a pure one anymore." His deep voice rumbled from his chest with an accent thickly laid over it. 

Alethea stared at him with wide eyes but continued to lay motionless on the yellow mattress. 

The man stomped over to the tub and snatched his pocket watch out of the bottom. "Imbeciles," he mumbled as he wiped off the metal with his handkerchief. 

He suddenly stared at Alethea's bleeding body. His mouth momentarily hung open, but he quickly strolled over to her after composing himself. He squatted down and gently lifted her head. "You may think that I find your kind disgusting, which is true for the majority, but there are exceptions, and you are one of them," he softly spoke. "You fought and fought against these wretched humans until now, until you couldn't take it anymore." 

"Who-who are you?" she barely croaked out. 

His cold hand brushed a strand of hair out of her face. "Don't be afraid for I am Death." 

Alethea's eyes became as big as the sky. 

He stared deep in the emeralds that were her eyes. "I have the power to take a life, but what most of the universe does not know is that I also have the power to give it to someone, just not directly unfortunately." 

Alethea simply stared at him, slowly blinking. 

"I have only done this once in my entirety of existence. I am going to bring you to the Fountain of Life, but the only way this is going to work is if you trust me," he explained. 

"Why won't you just let me die? I am practically the same as anyone else, if not less. Nobody wants me. Take a look at my life. It is literally full of people not wanting me. My so-called family reminds me every day that I am worthless. The kids at school would literally act like I'm not even there. The-" 

Death placed a finger on her full, pink lips. "Stop. The human race is now full of idiots. It is full of people who enjoy targeting other people for either their personality or their appearance. Then other so-called geniuses would come up with solutions," he curved is fingers on each hand before draping them over his bent knees, "to these supposed issues. If something in your personality greatly contrasts when compared to others, you have a disorder that needs to be fixed by medication, so you can be at least relatively normal to the rest of society. If your appearance looks ugly to someone, plastic surgery can fix that." He snorted in disgust before standing and pacing. "Plastic surgery is just carving up another human being and pasting new stuff to them for money. It solely preys on insecurities, which are okay to have!" 

"Why are you so angry at the human race? Is it because they dislike you?" 

"Darling, the human race has almost always hated me since the beginning of time itself. I'm just a painful truth while life is just another wonderful illusion. Also, death is not a popularity contest because it's simply going to happen to everyone someday." He sighed before sitting on the hardwood floor with his legs crossed. "It's just a human's soul used to glow brighter than a thousand suns, but now, it can barely be compared to a candle's lit wick." He laughed but it held no true amusement. "You humans used to be so full of light, but now it's all darkness with only a twinkle left like a lone star in the night sky. It will so soon diminish just like the rest." 

Alethea painfully moved to where she'd be able to at least touch the intimidating man's leather shoe. "Then what makes me different compared to the rest of humanity? My soul is just like the rest if not less bright." 

He smiled which was so abnormal for him since he was Death after all. “Because yours is the brightest I have seen in ages, and it'd be a shame for me to reprieve the world of that so soon after she was finally freed.” He held out a hand after he had stood up and straightened out his suit jacket. 

Alethea took it and shakily stood up. She let go while blood continued to drip from her arm. Her knees buckled, but Death's arm swiftly wrapped around her waist. 

“Easy there. I see you have lost significantly more blood than I thought. I sincerely apologize for my specialty is in the dead, not the living.” He one-handedly dug through his pockets and pulled out the watch. He handed it to her. “Hold onto this. It should sustain you until we reach the fountain.” He gripped her a little tighter. “I’m not sure how air travel affects humans, but I guess we're going to find out.”

Alethea gripped the lapels out of his jacket. “What?” she screamed before the air fled from her lungs. 

Author's Note

This is not edited. Tell me what you think of it overall.