Published February 17, 2014
I am known by many names; The Soul Collector, among them. Many believe I am the worst thing about living. Call me what you will, but one thing's for sure: I'm about the only thing you can be certain of in life. No one, rich or poor, is safe from my grasp.
Indeed, my power is very great. In the hopes of evading me, men have lied, stole, and even killed in cold blood. I bring out the worst in people.
You may see me near a graveyard, though I must impress upon you that I visit these tombstones no more often than any other man.
My sweeping scythe ends families and friendships, all driven to their wit's end. Some say that I am unfair and that I should not exist. They feel that their lives would be infinitesimally greater without me. Yet others counter that because I take my toll on the living, the life of others can continue. I am a necessary part of the great machine of Life.
Inside a butcher shop, where animals take their final breath, I exist. In retail stores, where trees have been slaughtered to make everything from paper to clothing, I exist. There is very little of life that has not been touched by me one way or another.
Whenever a war occurs, you can be sure that I will be on the rise. One day I may be at a strangers house, and the next I may be knocking at your sister's door.
Everyone knows to expect me, yet they are still anxious when I arrive. Cloaked or uncloaked, I will be taking what one often treasures most.
Some play it calm, and give it up with dignity. More, however, are fraught with horror at my figure.
"No, not now!" they cry, "I need more time!"
Though I am not unsympathetic to their plight, I have a job to attend to. In the end, all must yield to me.
There are those who fear me, who dress me in borrowed robes. They would have you believe I am not a taker, but instead an entrance into another world. Often, my visage is turned to a skull, and my body shown as bones.
Everywhere I am in society, people breathe their last. The grandest leaders of our world, the presidents, the governors, the mayors. Each one that has fallen to the ground and does not get up, has met me.
In the education system, they cover mathematics, physics, and even history, but never do they touch on me. I am such a pertinent part of life, but everyone simply expects you to "know".
Perhaps you already know who I am. Perhaps you have read about me in great works of literature. Perhaps I met with a beloved character of yours. Perhaps that character was Jay Gatsby, or Remus Lupin.
For years, people have been working to find a way to end me. Yet, in the end, I still persist. There has been no "Elixir of Immortality", or "Invulnerability", for that matter, that will protect you from my advance.
Misery and loss are unarguably a large part of me, but I hold other facets. Some find a dark beauty in the act of what I do, and still others savor the slow pain that I bring.
What I take can be used to help those who are suffering from abusive families, or those who are victims of a crime.
But most often, people fear me.
Some say I come on swift wings.
Everyone will face me eventually.
And when you do, I pray you are ready
I am the tax collector.
Points:
Time spent:
IP address:
Canary word: Present
Possible AI signals:
Original Text:
Are you sure you want to delete this comment? This cannot be undone.
Mark this comment as a review? Points will be awarded to the poster.
Your comment was posted, but it wasn’t long enough to count as a review. Reviews need about four complete sentences (at least 250 characters). Try writing another review that explains your thoughts in more detail — the author will appreciate it, and you’ll earn points for it.
140,396 Literary Works • 673,155 Reviews
This was great! I loved it, and the way you phrase everything is just incredible, how most people would say, that was deep haha just awesome
This was great! I loved it, and the way you phrase everything is just incredible, how most people would say, that was deep haha just awesome
Wow I really liked your narrative. Personally I don't see the humor in it but I do find a great deal of suspense. All I think you need to change is your sentence where you say "...people breathe their last..." I don't get that this part belongs or that there is something missing from it. other than that I only found a few places that could use some commas. for the most part it was very hooking. I really liked your first paragraph because it seemed to just hold my attention. In the end I really suspected it to be like guilt or maybe the grim reaper or something. I was really thrown off by what it turned out to be I was not expecting that one bit.
keep up the good work, good luck, and happy writing 
Thanks!
I loved it! I liked your choice of words. I love to read work that has meaning to it. Death is something everyone thinks about in some point of their lives. I liked how you pointed out the fact that death can be a good thing. I also liked how you made an open-ended ending.
LMAO. This is amazing. Review for you.
Okay, first of all, this story is really well thought out and also very intriguing at the same time. I felt like what you were trying to do was to pull the reader further into the narrative with each line and you did it flawlessly. It was almost like I felt myself being followed by the narrator and them getting closer and closer to me with every sentence. Your sense of diction was also very good. I loved the words you chose to describe the narrator and the metaphors and comparisons you made. Possibly the most profound aspect of this work was the running metaphor of the Grim Reaper or Death. By paralleling this figure with the tax collector, you not only made the story humorous but also awakened some very interesting commentary on human values these days.
By likening the tax collector to Death, you rose the question of the Human Cupidity Complex, which is the state of mind in which people subconsciously link the love of money or material wealth to emotional sensations such as happiness or fear. In these trying economic times, the Human Cupidity Complex is running rampant within each and every one of us. Our greatest desire becomes economic freedom, and our greatest fear becomes (Yep, you guessed it!) the tax collector.
In the same token, likening the tax collector to Death also works in another way. It likens economic freedom and money/material wealth to life. This is interesting because of the underlying satire on human interests and priorities. This story seems to say that "Perhaps there was a time when there was more to life that one's Cupidity Complex, but now, there isn't." Nice job there.
All in all, I don't really have much else to say about this story other than that it was definitely a fun read. I ORDER U TO RAISE YOUR RIGHT (Or left, whichever you prefer.) HAND AND GIVE YOURSELF FIVE GIGANTIC PATS ON THE BACK! Muy bien.
I love the further analysis you did! The piece spawned from an amusing thought I had, but not all of those implications were in my mind when I wrote it.
This was a long, well thought out piece of work. Fantastic details. It seems like you thought through this really well.
In the education system, they cover mathematics, physics, and even history, but never do they touch on me. I am such a pertinent part of life, but everyone simply expects you to "know".
Misery and loss are unarguably a large part of me, but I hold other facets. Some find a dark beauty in the act of what I do, and still others savor the slow pain that I bring.
What I take can be used to help those who are suffering from abusive families, or those who are victims of a crime.
< This is nice. I like how you compared education to part of life. I've never considered it that way, but in some way I guess it is.
Keep it up, really good work altogether.