Black Heart

Death. It happens every day, wanted or not. Natural death is something that is written in your files. It’s your destiny, something that you cannot change, no matter how hard you try. Accidental death is something completely different. That’s caused by bad chance, that you can avoid and change.

I know this because I am Death. It’s not just me, however, there are hundreds of us out there, monitoring the people that we were given files of. We are called Death Guards. Watching people for months, and sometimes even years before we are told it’s time to set their souls free. And with that one touch we end that person’s mortal life, painlessly, and bring them into a whole new one.

In 1922, I was only at the age of twenty-five. Excitement was all over the United States. We were fresh out of World War I and women were just recently given the right to vote. One night, after attending a musical, my wife and I were walking hand in hand home. She insisted that we took a alleyway this night as it was a shortcut. I thought nothing of it until a man appeared in front of us, a gun pointed at my sweet, Rosie. Instinctively I pulled out my gun and shot, but he noticed me pulling it out and turned the gun to me. We shot and killed each other.

On my files it reads that I had an accidental death. Had I not taken that alleyway that night I would have lived until I was sixty-eight. A stroke would have been my cause of death, but I would have died painlessly, my Death Guard would have made sure of it.

After my death, I had a choice to join a world without fright or sadness, or make a difference and join the Death Guards. I made my decision on the spot and chose Death Guards. My Rosie chose the other. She died of a Natural death at the age of forty. Her heart gave out from grief and stress. I read her files over and over, always hoping I would be given her name to guard, but the head Death Guard wouldn’t let me no matter how hard I pleaded to him.

I remember him looking me in the eyes and saying, “You won’t be able to do it. Do you really believe that you could kill someone that you love so deeply?”

I walked out of his office without muttering another word.

I walked into the Sweet Gardens Nursing Home. I was handed the file of George Howards a few months ago. Every week now I come in to read to him, watching over him and making sure that nothing is done to him in the remainder of the time that he has left. We have a one week rule here. It's been told to us from the start of our training and on that in order to run everything properly you should see your person no more than once a week. There is only an exception when you believe that your person might damage themselves before their time. But in order to be able to do that you have to get permission from the head Death Guard. It is to keep us from getting too attached to our person. It reduces the risk of not being able to end your person's life when the time has come. For when you don't end it on the right time your person turns to dust, and goes missing to their family and friends. No closure, nothing.

George is going to die from the cancer that has nearly spread to every corner of his abdomen area. He’s going to die in exactly five months, two weeks, two days, five hours, twenty-two minutes, and seventeen seconds at the age of eighty-four.

I walked up the receptionists desk and signed my name, the lady looked at me and smiled, “George has been up and ready waiting for you all morning. He was giving the nurses a hard time when they had to move him to the dining room for breakfast and lunch. He was afraid he would miss you coming in today.”

I lifted the book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. “He’s really taken a liking to this one. He sits there eyes wide with every word I say. And if I stop for one second to even clear my throat he curses at me to go on.”

She laughed, “That sounds like George to me. Well, you have a nice day, sir.”

I tilted my hat to her and made my way to George’s room. Saying hello to each of the residents that I passed by on my way there. I peered into the bedroom. The bed was made and the two chairs were already facing each other the way I make them each time I come to read. George was nowhere to be seen however. I walked into the room and sat in one of the light green chairs.

I played with the pages of the book for some time as I waited for George. This isn’t the first time that I’ve waited for someone that I was to meet up with again, and it sure wouldn’t be my last. Some people have plans, some are forgetful, and some just simply don’t want to meet back up with me. I know how humans are and how they feel and act. I was one and during times such as this I reminisce on my past as a mortal. I was known for being late to events or sometimes not even showing up to it. I always thought that life was too short to worry about things that didn’t matter. Now, I wish I would have taken more time on those things that I deemed stupid back then. That way I might have had more memories to remember.

I leaned my head back and closed my eyes just as I heard screaming coming from the hallway, “I’m a grown ass man! I don’t need other people to bathe me. I am more than capable of doing so for myself!”

I looked towards the door as George came in. The few patches of white hair on the top of his head was wet down, and there were two nurses on either side of him, making sure that he didn’t slip and fall on his way back to his room. “You know that it’s our job to take care of you,” said the one lady with red hair, a little plumper than the other.

George waved her away as he saw me, “Goddamn. It took you long enough to show up today. I thought that maybe you forgot all about me.” He looked at the book as he slowly shuffled his way to the chair that was directly across from me, “I’m ready to hear the rest of the book.”

“It would surprise me if you weren’t,” I grinned at him as I opened the book from where we left off.

He grunted, “Don’t make a joke of me, fool.”

I smiled as I started reading, “The soldier with the green whiskers led them through the streets of the Emerald City until they reached the room where the Guardian of the Gates lived.”

I continued reading until I was finished with two chapters from the book. The second I closed the book he was all over me, “No, you can’t stop there. It’s not goddamn fair dammit. You could read at least one more chapter to me, you know.”

I stood up, “I am glad to see that you are excited for the book, but I’m sad to inform you that I cannot stay any longer. Plus, you need to get some rest now. I’ll be back in one week to read to you some more.”

“Fine, have it your way. At least send the nurse in to help me get into bed.”

“Certainly,” I said as I walked out the door. I walked up to the receptionist’s desk and signed my name out.

The young lady looked up at me and smiled, “Did George enjoy his reading today?”

I nodded, “I’m pretty sure that he was more upset about my leaving this time than the last. And also, George requests a nurse to aide him into his bed.”

She held her smile, “Good, I’ll get right on that.”

She stood up and left the desk as I walked out of the front door. The sky was a light purple. Night was upon Earth and the traffic has withered down to almost nothing as it has been earlier today. I walked quickly to a dark corner so now one would see me disappear in midair.

I opened my eyes back up after the short journey to get to the Death Headquarters. The building seemed so small on the outside, and appeared to be an old rundown, black and grey building. The name Death Headquarters was written above the small wooden doors. It was now covered in rust after the many years it has been attached to the building.

I walked up to the giant metal doors and they opened automatically in front of me. I walked through and peered around at the familiar view around me. People, all young, walked around about me. You see, when you die, Natural or Accidental, your soul in another world turns back into what it looked like at its most perfect time. If you were old and withered, your body would turn back into what you looked like when you were a young adult. If you were just a baby you would grow up and have the knowledge and capabilities you would if you had lived out your life. I look exactly as I had at my time of death when I was a mortal. Now I’m never aging, stuck in this young body.

I quickly walked past everyone, avoiding anyone who called out my name. I had work to do and I didn’t care about the drama that everyone would want to share with me. I walked up a small flight of stairs and into my small office, closing the door behind me quickly. Everyone’s office here is small and square, and exactly the same. In the middle of the room is a small wooden desk and an office chair on one side. The walls are painted tan and the floor a dark green carpet. On my desk I have several files laid out for each of my people that I am guarding. And right in the middle of the desk is a ball, like the one’s the gypsies use when they are reading your future. Except ours aren’t for reading futures it is to keep watch on our people, making sure that nothing is going wrong with them. Although, whether a Death Guard is keeping watch or not, if something should happen to his person a loud ringing sound goes off in their ear, and they are automatically taken to that situation, without a choice.

That’s only happened to me once. I was guarding a young girl; she was only twelve at the time. Her brown hair was always knotted and she always appeared dirty. Her parents never took care of her, never even cared to know where she was. The whole incident happened just after I left her. I was her arts and crafts teacher. And once a week a group of kids would meet up at the church after school to draw and paint. I taught them all a new trick everyday, and helped them all out, but I paid specific attention to her. She always drew a cat. An orange cat with green stripes, that was in the same sitting position no matter what situation or scenario she put him in.

After all the kids had left that day, I had returned to the Headquarters. I had just sat down in my seat when I heard a loud, shard ringing in my ears. I dropped the pen I was holding and covered my ears and closed my eyes shut. When the ringing stopped I opened my eyes back up. I was on a sidewalk, and in front of me was a crowd of people. I pushed through the crowd, and in the middle was that young girl laying on the street right in front of a car. The driver was distracted as she was trying to quickly cross the street. I crouched down next of her. She was bleeding so much, that death was right around the corner for her. I knew what I had to do. I opened up her jacket and touched her heart. I had to set her soul free before it was her time. Her name was Caroline Weathers. I was supposed to guard her for three more years. It was in her file to die from the leukemia that she was born with, yet her parents were too clueless and didn’t care enough for their kids to know that she had it.

I sat down on my chair. George isn’t my only person. I have two others. Zhao Feng, who is a middle-aged Chinese woman lives in her native country and is going to die in one year, four months, one week, two days, seventeen hours, fifty-two minutes, and forty seconds. Feng is going to die from kidney failure. She gave up one of her own kidneys not too long ago to her husband, who unfortunately died from the same cause none-the-less . She owns a small shop for tourists to come and buy antiques. She named it after her husband, 郭的礼物, (Guo's Presents). I visit her shop once a week and buy the same hairsen each time. It has a painting of a cherry blossom branch on it.

My other person is Ronald Dempsey. Ron is only nine years old and is going to die in seven months, one week, six days, two hours, thirty minutes, and twelve seconds. He is going to die of an asthma attack in his sleep. I coach his baseball team, The Little Titans, and have practice, and sometimes a game, three times a week. He’s the only person that I break the one week rule here for. I lied and told the head Death Guard that one of the kids on the team told me that he said he wanted to kill himself. Ron is heavier than the average kid and is bullied a lot, so the head Death Guard allowed me to visit more often with him. I don't know what it is about him, but I have always felt he was my own. I cared for him almost as much as I did for my Rosie.

Right as I am about to peer into my ball for my nightly check in, there is a knock at the door. “Come in,” I yell as I sit upright.

The door opens, and it’s the file man. File men is what you are when you first start at Death Headquaters and are still undergoing your training. Every file man wears the same dark purple suit with a matching top hat. Then once you become an official Death Guard, the dark purple on your suit becomes black. He hands me a file, “Here you go, Ted. The Guard Boss sent you another person to watch.”

I took the file from him, “Why? I already have three persons. We aren’t allowed to have any more than that.” It was in our conduct, that if upon request that you ask for more than three it will be denied, no exceptions. That way you don’t lose track of each of your persons.

He shrugged, “I just deliver what I am supposed to. I don’t have any reason as to why things are the way they are. If you have any questions talk to the Guard Boss.” He starts walking away and then quickly turns around, “He said he might stop in to see you too, so you can talk to him then.”

I opened the file. The name that appears across the top is Madelyn Holmberg. She’s only twenty-two years old, and is going to die in six years, two months, two weeks, four days, nine hours, fifteen minutes, and four seconds. She owns a small café shop in a small town. I started thinking about how I’ll meet up with her. Obviously, I could just meet her at the café shop, but I want some one on one time with her. So, it would not work out if I just went in there and ordered a coffee once a week. If I did that, I wouldn’t get to know who she is and every little thing about her. I'm going to need to think of a better plan.

I got up and walked around my office. I suppose I could visit the shop at first, with noticing the time I'm going to have to wait until tomorrow. If I went now, I run into an empty shop. I sat back down on the comfortable chair that I've grown to know over the many years and leaned back, taking in a deep breath and closing my eyes. I'm not going to sleep; here in this world there is no feeling of fatigue.

Suddenly, the image of my sweet Rosie kept flashing through my head. I really took the trophy home when I managed to call her mine. She was the prettiest girl in town, and I’m not just saying that either. My friends would always tell me how jealous they were and girls would give her malevolence stares. But even with that, she was also the nicest and smartest girl in the whole world. Rosie had the hardest time finding something to hate about anyone, she always saw the best in every single person. And I loved her endlessly for that.

There was another knock on my door, and it wasn’t until then that I realized I had a tear coming down my face. I wipe it away quickly, “Come in!”

The door opens and the head Death Guard walks in. For a man of his power, he is the shortest person here. But as according to history, just look at Napoleon Bonaparte, he managed to conquer so much.

He walked up to my desk and sat at the chair that sat in front of it, taking off his black hat and placing it on his lap. “Ted, I’m guessing you have some questions for me?”

I sat back in my chair, “Just one in particular, sir.”

“Yes,” he nodded. “But first, I must ask you a few questions.”

“Okay, shoot.”

“Do you believe that you are good at your job?”

“I like to believe so.”

“Do you believe that you are dedicated to your job as a Death Guard?”

“Yes, completely.”
He sat forward and talked quietly, “Then what more do you need to know, Ted?”

“What I am doing is breaking conduct, sir,” I was bemused at this point. “It says that you can have no more than three persons. And if you-”

“I know what the conduct says,” he interrupted. “This is a test for you to see how much you can handle. If all goes well then I plan on making you head Death Guard. I miss my darling wife, and my five children. They mean the world to me, and since I've put in more than the mandatory three-hundred years, I'm finally retiring."

I paused for a moment, taking all of this in. "So you actually think I can do all of this?"

"I don't think, I know," he smiled at me. "And don't screw this up for me, I need to present someone for me to be able to retire." He stood up and started walking out the door. Right before closing the door he looked back in at me, "I can count on you, right?"

I nodded at him, and he closed the door. Without even thinking about the pressure of that situation, I grabbed my newest file. I looked at the picture clipped on the top right corner. She looked startling close to my Rosie. She had curly strawberry blonde hair just the same, just missing all of the freckles.

I recently fixed and added a few things, and would like some feedback before continuing with it.