#grimereaper

Do you know that feeling when you are driving in your car, just a bit too fast when you hit a bump on some backroad? It sends your esophagus into your chest and gives you this sick tingly feeling? That’s how I felt the night my Dad sat the family down around the table, he had a grim look on his face which told us something was very wrong taking that he was always a joking, happy go lucky guy. He held my mother’s hand, gently resting her palm over his and laying his large right hand over hers. It was liver cancer he told us, Stage three. The doctors said there was a chance that the tumor hadn’t spread to any other organs, however I knew better. I always had a sense of how long things would last. When we got a new dog, I was able to tell it would only be a few months until it went missing or hit by a passing car. This was no different, I knew it was going to be short and I my gut was telling me to get prepared. His last few days were something that no son should have to witness. Seeing his father slowly deteriorate into nothing but dust and a skeleton. We would sit around the hospital bed, reminiscing about hunting trips, football games, family reunions. All of the stuff a family man wanted to talk about, it was all he could do for him to smile, much less chuckle. It’s small things like that, realizing you won’t ever hear that roaring laughter or watch him pretend his truck is a Nascar as he sped down the highway. “Dale Earnhardt passes Gordon on the turn!” He would shout, Dale was always his favorite. Those are the things that wear you down, the ones that burn you out and jade you. They make you realize how valuable, yet futile everything around you really was. His last night, he lied his hand down in my mother’s palm. She rested her hand on top of his, completely engulfing the bone and little flesh he had left.

When we got home the next day, we walked into the house, not hearing the “flop! Click!” that would go off when he plopped down into his chair before turning it onto football or Hawaii five-o, depending on the season. The dust was thick and you could smell it. My mom was a major neat freak, but in the little time we had home between hospital visits, she didn’t have the energy to nor did she want to ignore the time that she had left with him. The sun settled in through the window that was at the top crest of the door, just enough of the light passed through that you could watch the specks of particles float around in the air, I was entranced by it and everything was quiet for the rest of the night.

I woke up the next morning and it was a school day, nobody expected me to go and I had an internal affair whether I should go or not. I needed to get my mind off of him but would I be able to? I might be assigned homework just to forget about it and miss grades, something I couldn’t afford this year. I also didn’t want to leave mom with my younger brother so I decided just to keep her company. The three of us sat on the couch and she stared blankly at the television. Her eyes were void, soulless, and you could tell she had lost her light. I know it was a bit petty, but I told my brother to snuggle her while I ran to the local dollar store to grab a movie, popcorn, and some of mom’s favorite chocolate. I knew it wouldn’t have made her smile and she wouldn’t be happy, but she would appreciate it. My brother lied his hand down in her lap and I went out to my car, stepping in and turning the ignition. It took me only ten minutes to make it to the store and five to pick out “Steel Magnolias,” mom’s favorite. She was always too busy or unwilling to spend what little money we had on it. As I left the store, I saw one of my good friends who gave me their condolences and I left a bit teary eyed, with the subject still being tender.

Dale Earnhardt pass Gordon on the turn! I look up from my thoughts for a split second only to notice I was in the wrong lane with a Jeep only a hundred yards in front of me. I swerve off the road and into the water drainage ditch just off the shoulder of the road. The last thing I remember was my esophagus in my stomach and a brown blur.

               I was standing just in front of a telephone pole looking at the noon sun. I felt a breeze rush across the back of my neck making me turn around quickly out of sheer reflex and too much horror movie analyzing. My little tan car had its hood wrapped completely around the base of the pole, worn metal under the hood and the shiny metal that should’ve been inside the worn metal were both showing. I was surprised I had made it out alive, until I noticed the red covered glass. A hand was protruding from a crack and I could see the nose of my limp body bent up against the glass almost as if it was mimicking a pig’s snout for a child’s amusement.

               I felt a cold hand rest itself on my shoulder and I jumped forward as my sympathetic nervous system prepared for the worst. It was just an old man, he had this look of sorrow on his face. As if he was the most sympathetic person on the face of the Earth. His eyes were comforting and you knew he understood what was going on. His expression instantly made the reality hit me and hit hard, like a Babe Ruth lodging his bat between your chest and neck, breaking your windpipe. He said in a raspy voice “Son, your dad and brother are waiting on you.” A tear was brought to my eye when I knew I would get to see my dad again, yet I lurched at the thought of leaving my brother behind. Then I finally comprehended what he had just told me. “What do you mean my brother,” my heart sunk and my ears started to ring. “He is with your dad right now; you will be allowed to see them for a little while before work begins.” A million thoughts rushed through my head, what did he mean work? How did my brother get to be with my dad?

               The man turned around and waved for me to come with him, I was angry “I still have questions!” I yelled at him. “I have answers, if you will listen.” I figured arguing with him or being yelling wasn’t going to help this situation, if not just take a longer time getting the answers I so desperately needed. I started to walk with him, he asked if I went to church all that often. I told him I hadn’t, my family normally did however I didn’t want to waste the time on something I stopped believing in when I was fourteen, it all seemed a bit childish until I got to this point. “You are lucky you died at this very moment.” The old man said as he walked with a slight limp “I am getting so tired, I am going to need someone to take a few burdens and let me rest. I’m sure you are going to want to be with your father and brother, so I’ll cut you a deal.” I was dumbfounded, not only did I just find out that my brother was dead, that I was dead, and that my mom is going to completely lose it when she hears about both of us. “I’ll keep you out of the pits of Hades, if you take my job. If you give me a sort of vacation for a couple of centuries or so.” I told him of course I would, not only did I want to keep myself out of Hell, but I also needed to be with my family. My father, brother, and soon my mother by broken heart or… worse.

               He was pleased, I saw a smirk grow across his face. That is when I realized we were walking up my driveway. “We should immediately get started on the lessons. Step one, how to reap a soul.” He said as a dastardly grin enveloped his face, I was stuck. We warped through the front door when I saw my mom, holding a bloody knife to her throat as my brother’s lifeless body dripped blood at the neck.

Me: I miss you weirdo

Grimereaper: I miss you too Elder Weirdo