Penetrating the Pale Horse (1)
“Wake up,” a stern voice said, waking her from her slumber.
“What?” she opened her eyes… but it didn’t seem like they were open. Her surroundings were as dark as they would be if she had them closed. She looked up and staring at her was a white head… no face.
“Your time has come.” If they were in her bedroom, she would have been scared. But since they were in some mysterious place, she only had one thought in mind: death.
“But I promised…” she realized anything she could have said would be irrational.
“Yes, that was a very idiotic promise to make, especially because you could feel it coming.”
She nodded. “I know. I just didn’t want to see him cry.”
“Well then my offer to you is not going to be a happy one.”
She stood up, trying to seem more intimidating. But, it seemed as she stood she got shorter-or the reaper got taller- for she still had to crane her neck to see his high face.
“What do you mean?” she scratched behind her ear, something she did when she was nervous. Then, she noticed the hair was back on her head and fingers. She touched her eyes and they weren’t sunken anymore. And she wasn’t unbearably skinny. She felt wonderful.
“I mean that I’m going to make you an offer. This can either help or destroy you. You will have to be the one to judge that.”
“Okay…”
“I am going to offer to make you a God.”
“What?”
He started rising further and further into the air. Then She noticed that she was rising, too.
“What are we doing?” She looked up and there was a white light above their heads. After moments of silence they reached the light. She was hoping the light was bringing her to heaven, but instead She was on earth again.
“Earth,” he said, reaching out an empty sleeve and gesturing to the horizon.
“Yes, I know. I’ve lived here for sixteen years.”
“You have been alive on here for sixteen years, but you have never lived.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means that only children like You are given the offer to become a God. It is because I and other important members of the afterlife believe children like You should be given the chance to live. But, this grant comes with a price.”
She stared out into the horizon in awe. Instead of living people, starving and miserable, all She could see were happy children, smiling and laughing to themselves. “What exactly is this ‘price’?”
“You will not be able to talk to the living… You can see them but they can’t see you. You must live with all the suffered children in the life between living and death. You must make no contact with the living; You must not disrupt their lives in any way.”
“So what exactly can I do?”
“That is for You to figure out. I will say this though… don’t think You can break the rules. They are unbreakable.” He bent down a little so that He was only eight feet from Her instead of nine. “But they are penetrable,” He whispered. Then in a flash, He was gone.
“That doesn’t even make sense!” She yelled to the air where He had once stood. “I didn’t even agree! Why am I here?”
“Quiet down youngin’.” She looked around but there was no one around. “Down here.”
Below Her was a little boy, probably five years old. For some reason he didn’t look young, even though he obviously was; an ‘old soul’ perhaps? And yet, he looked somewhat familiar.
“Who are you calling ‘youngin’?”
He crossed his arms and shook his head. “You. Now are you just gonna stand there or are you gonna ask me somethin'?”
She looked around. “What am I supposed to ask?” She wasn’t really curious about anything, yet. She was on a hill overlooking her home town, surrounded by trees and rivers. She could see from far away that the town looked darker, like a permanent shadow was cast over it. The sun didn’t seem to hit the high clock tower, and there was no movement, other than the seldom ‘in betweens’ walking around. They, from what She could see, looked lost; like they were searching for something invisible.
