Deathcrawler

Bright lights showed through the holes of the darkroom. A silhouette stands in the center, Dazed and confused. The person looks at the new light shining through the vents of the room.

CRASH!

The sound made the man jump from his spot and tried to scream, but no words were formed.

The sounds crept closer and closer to the spot. Then out of the light came a silver, circular disk. The man looked at it confused and leaned in. Then the disk popped up and formed into a tear-like form of light.

The man leaned in and examined the light more. It seemed to be the source of light from the vent before. Without warning the light grew a pair of eyes and mouth.

The Light stretched and floated more. Light looked around and spotted the man who was frozen in fear.

The scrawny-looking man stood out from everything. His brightly colored Hawaiian shirt and bright orange slipper clashed with saggy sweatpants. His orange curly hair covered his pale cheek to disguise the dirt on his face.

“Well, you must be Mark Wishwell?” The light floated towards Mark, “You're an awful scrawny to be a gravedigger. And that fashion sense. Just horrible.”

Mark opened his mouth to reply to the hurtful comment, but still, nothing came out.

“You can’t speak here unless given your voice. Which will take about…” She looked at her watch and then points towards Mark. “NOW!”

“Listen here you little sewer rat!” Mark charged at the little thing. “My fashion is my fashion. Plus I was at home so it didn’t matter.”

The little light moved back quickly hurt by what Mark said to her. She huffed and floated on the other side of the room towards a podium with a giant book on it. She ignored Mark’s hurtful words and opens the book. She flips through the pages at the speed of light, until she abruptly stops on a single page.

“Markus Wishwell. Age: 24 Single. Lives alone in a one-story house next to the local cemetery in the outskirts of Ney York City. Died due to a car crash. A car hit you while you were receiving your mail on a very cold and icy morning.”

Mark stood there frozen at the information he was given. “I’m dead?”

The light slammed the book angrily. “Yes, and now you are a grim reaper in training by your choice that you made before you got here. Now shut up and sit down!”

Mark abruptly sat down in the air and stopped talking. The little light enjoyed this.

“Now we can get somewhere like this.”

She floated towards him. “My name is Illustris Moris which is the Latin word for Light Death from an old Latin tribe in 36BC. This name is only my short version of my long name, which is a name that is unspoken and unheard of for you humans. You only have the privilege to call me Moris.”

She floats around a bit as more objects appear in sight. She looks through the endless supplies of clothes from each generation. She scrolls through as she continues to explain what is going on.

“I am your guide for only one week so you can learn to become a successful grim reaper.”

She looks at Mark.”Well, a mediocre one at least.”

She gave up on that and moved towards the weapons of all sizes. “Right now I am making sure you get the proper clothing and weapon for this job. Since you are inexperienced you will have to start with the basic items.”

She finished looking through the endless weapons and placed some items on the table that popped up.

“To follow some questions you may ask. We are in a special room that Death creates for each newcomer, which happens to be right next to a sewer system by your house. I am not a spirit or a ghost. I’m just a ball of light that is created to help someone like you get their job done right. I am an imp but was transformed into this for the time being. You can not poke me to see if your finger will go through. I will stab you in the eye And yes, I know what I am doing with my job for I’ve been in this job for about 3000 years.”

She flys up to Mark and stops and smiles. “That should cover the majority of it. To answer more, read this book on your new reaping job.”

Mark felt a heavyweight on his leg and saw the book Moris mentioned. He flipped it open and the words flew from the book to his eyes in seconds. After 10 seconds the book close and Mark is left extremely dazed. Moris let Mark speak to ask questions or to let him express his emotions.

“So, I’m dead and a grim reaper? To choose to go to heaven or here, I have to reap a human soul? I don’t understand why I was chosen for this. I’m just a lonely cemetery caretaker whose girlfriend left for a CEO of a candle company. I’m nothing.” Mark slumps down into his seat more.

Moris slammed the book that was on the podium and flew towards Mark to grab the book.

“Look I don’t make the rules. Death does. I’m just here to help you reap one soul and I’m free from this stupid form.” She yanks the book away harshly and places it back on the shelves.

“Enough yapping.” Moris turns around. “Time for reaping.”

Moris snapped his fingers and the two popped in front of a hospital. It was small but it was active at this time.

Mark looked around at his surroundings. “How did you do that?”

“Reaper powers. You’ll be able to jump from one place to another to make your job easier. Right now I hold those powers until you understand your job.” Moris started floating towards the building.

Mark followed along but stopped at the door. Moris fazed right through, but Mark was confused about what to do.

Moris pushed her head back through. “Well come on. We don’t have all day.” She fazed right back in.

Mark took a deep breath in and exhaled. He hesitantly reached his arm out towards the door. The door sucked Mark in and spit him right back out from the other side. He landed with a harsh hit to the face. He got up slowly and tried to rub the pain away, but something stopped in his track. His nose was bent out of place.

“AHHHH!! My nose is Broken!” Mark screamed into the hospital.

A lady holding a newspaper in the waiting room let the newspaper drop a bit as she looked around, but she gave up after not finding anything.

Moris rolled her eyes floated towards Mark and pulled his nose back into place. A loud crack echoed in place of the scream.

“There fixed. Now let's go to the soul and get this done.” She floated towards the stairs.

Mark touched his nose in amusement and quickly followed after Light. They ascended the stairs together and traveled down the hall.

“So, what’s this soul reaping like? Do we get this cool scythe that rips at soul like a pendulum in the palm of my hands?” Mark swung his arms around like a child would describe their day at school.

Moris did not care about his childish antics but still had to answer his question. “No. You’ll have to convince the soul to sign a contract saying they accept their fate. If not they will be sent to purgatory and will be reborn again.” She looked at Mark angrily. “Didn’t you even pay attention to the book? It was programmed into your brain.”

Mark shrugged. “I was too fascinated at the flying words that I guess that it just didn’t stick.”

The conversation was cut off very quickly with the sound of someone crying.

“Mommy! Please I want a hug! Mommy! Please answer me!.” The little boy screamed into the lady's arms on the chair. The lady was fast asleep after crying for too long.

Mark violently turned and glared at Moris. “OH HELL NO!” He started storming off towards the other side of the hall.

“MARK!” Moris followed behind. “Where are you going? You have a soul to reap.”

Mark stopped in his tracks and turned once again. Tears streamed as his blue eyes shined with the salty waters. “No family should have to bury their child. Let alone a small one like that!”

“He’s just another soul to reap. He got into a bike accident and hit his head too hard. Now, Mark, get back and do your JOB!” Moris fought back.

“HE IS A CHILD!” Mark got up to his face a bit.

“HE IS PAPERWORK!” Moris filled the hole more but grew in size. “Now get back or you will be sent back into the void for another two years before you can ever see the light of day ever again!”

Mark stood his ground firmly and waited. He looked into the black void of eyes, hoping for a different change in the little creature's face. After a couple of minutes and distant crying, Mark sighed and looked away. Tears remained in his eyes.

“Fine. I will try to help this child pass to the other side, but after this, I’m going straight to heaven with my father.”

Mark didn’t give the creature a chance to talk as he pushed him aside and walked towards the room. The creature went back to his normal size and huffed in annoyance.

Once in the room, Mark was on the opposite side of the room, not wanting to get closer to the child. Moris pushed him closer to the child more. Mark looked back annoyed and then turned to see the child looking straight at him.

“Ummm. Hi, my name is Markus but you can call me Mark.”

The boy wiped away his tears and looks at the strange man. “Are you my strange uncle mommy hates?”

Mark got nervous about the answer to give. “Well no. I’m here to help you be with your little doggy in heaven.”

The boy got sadder. “I never had a doggie. My mommy said I’m allergic. I can’t see doggies in heaven, I’ll die.”

This made the situation even worse. Mark scratched the back of his head and crouched down to the child’s eye level. “What’s your name?”

“Samuel, but my mommy calls me little Sammy.” He paused. “Mister am I dead?”

Mark held back the tears in front of this child. “Well Sammy, yes you are. I’m sorry to say this but you have to go to heaven now.”

The child stood back towards his mother more. “No! I want to stay here with mommy. I’m her everything.”

“Sammy?” Mark tried to start but was cut off by the child.

“No! I want my mommy!” The child backs up behind his mother more as she started to stir.

The mechanical machines started to go off. This freaked the child out even more as tears continued to stream down his eyes.

“Samuel. It’s okay. It’s just the machines. Just focus on me and my funny shirt.” Mark tried some more, but another failure.

“You are getting a hang of this.” Moris sassed towards Mark.

Mark turned around and yelled. “Well, I don’t see you trying! You stupid floating nickel.”

The stupid floating nickel huffed in anger.

Doctors came rushing in with different medical supplies and machines. Mark had no idea what was happening. All of the sounds and the people were too much for one guy to handle.

Mark quickly got up and started walking out of the room.

“Not again.” Light whispered to herself. “Fine, I’ll get this done with.”

Moris started heading towards the boy, but the boy started fading in and out. Moris stopped and just stared. She knew exactly what is happening. The child was going back to his body, which meant there was no soul to reap here at the moment. She left the room without another word.

She caught up to the orange hair who was sulking on the bench by the entrance of the building.

“Don’t say anything. I don’t want to hear it from a lousy nickel.” Mark pulled his legs closer to his body as he did not want his face to be seen.

“Let’s take our time next time. I’ll take the lead, so you know what to do.” Nickel sat down in the seat next to him.

Mark was silent, which was fine. It was hard to handle these types of problems. The one about taking another person’s life.

They sat there in silence, just accepting the heaviness that this job brings.

“You ready to go?” Nickel asked.

“Yeah.” That was all that Mark said as he stood up from his seat.

The next two days they tried to get that one soul to reap, but each time something goes wrong and the soul either gets away, gets saved, or Nickel finishes it. It was not looking good for poor old Mark.

They landed at their next stop, which was a young woman who got killed by a tree branch in her side of the car. The shocker was that she was the only casualty in the car of three. Her children survived by her smart thinking and ability to drive.

They popped in from a good distance away from her. Mark was exhausted from all the failed attempts.

“Why can’t this be easier to get? It’s just taking the soul of another human.” Mark sighed as he looked at the lost soul wandering to and fro on the highway.

Nickel's small body floated off the ground as she got close to Mark’s face. “You need to pull yourself together. If you don’t get this, then I will have to work double-time because of you.”

Mark pulled up his hand to block his face from the floating ghoul. He noticed his hands were turning to just bones as ticking time passed. He sighed in annoyance.

“Great now my flesh is decaying as well. Could this get even worse?” He closed his eyes a bit and leaned back against the nearby tree. He did not want to be there at this very moment. The ghoul was not giving up on this grim reaper. Nickel ruled up until her holographic sleeves and huffed to get herself ready to get the lazy bag of bones up.

Nickel went behind and grew in three sizes and pushed Mark up from his spot with guilt. Mark screamed in the process. This caught the attention of the spirit roaming the streets. She looked at the man with such sadness and confusion it would create a hole in Mark’s soul if it was not already taken by the head grim reaper, or death himself.

“Hello?” The woman started.

Mark brushed the nonexistent dust off his grey New York sweatpants and a Hawaiian button-up shirt. The woman stopped in her tracks and looked the guy up and down stunned at what she was seeing.

He twisted his curly orange hair as his head turned full 360 in the process. He ignored the frightened woman and stared directly towards the floating ghoul by him.

“Nickel! You could’ve severely hurt me right there. I was stuck in the ground for a solid ten seconds.” He complained as he yelled towards Nickel.

“Well, that’s a new record.” Nickel sassed back.

They both huffed until they noticed the frightened woman. Nickel sighed more and floated towards the woman. She stepped back scared at the floating beast. What could this beast do to her and why was she seeing them here. Nickel circled her and looked up and down at her body.

“Surprising she has no marks on her that indicates where she died. Clean and polished, perfect for the other side.”

The women did not speak but just stood there instead.

Mark noticed her scared stance and could tell she wanted to run like the rest of them. This time Mark had a plan. He starts planning from the last two reaping that went wrong.

“My lady of beauty. May you follow me to the bench over there and have a quick talk on what happened and how to help you more.” Mark smiled at the frozen girl. Nickel’s jaw dropped at the difference of attitude the guy had.

He leads her over and told her that she was killed in a bad car crash resulting in her death. He also told her that her children were saved thanks to her quick thinking. She cried a bit at this information but soon stopped. She looked at Mark with confusion.

“What will happen to me?” She asked.

Mark pulled out a book and flipped over to where he needed to be.” AH there we go. You’ll get to go to heaven to visit a person called NANA. Wow it’s in all caps.” he scratched his head.

She smiled as tears ran down her face more. “I want to go see her again.”

Mark smiled as she pulled out his pen as he wrote his name. He passed the pen to the woman. She looked at him confused.

“Sign your name on the dotted line.”

She grabbed the pen and signed. Without a second warning, she started to vanish into the air and towards the clouds in bright light. Mark smiled as he saw the girl leave. Nickel smiled along with him as he was proud that Mark finally did his job.

Nickel floated up to mark with a very confused face. “How did you do that?”

Mark stood up from the seat and smiled. “I notice a pattern with these reaping. Each person was scared and we only fueled the flame. What we had to do was to bury the flame little by little, so it’ll be easier to talk and negotiate with the poor soul. I knew it was going to be easier if I went calmly instead of forcefully”

Nickel huffed in amusement at the new reaper. He did his job without ruining the world in the process. Well, less than what he thought anyway.

They popped back into the void but a large force.

Nickel floated up to mark and smiled. “Now you must choose. Would you like to go to heaven as you requested? They have a place already and waiting by your father’s room. It’s a great view of the garden. You are even roommates with….”

Mark put a hand over Nickel's mouth to shut her up. “I’m keeping the job.”

“What! Why?”

“I guess I just love the chance to give someone else the chance to have a better outcome than me. Plus having that scythe tattoo would be cool.” Mark defended.

Nickel crossed her arms and smiled. “So you did pay attention to the books. And here I thought you were a dense person.”

“Nope. I just wanted to see your sassy face again. It’s cute.” Mark teased back which made Nickel angry.

A bright light was shown around the room and pointed towards the two.

“It was a pleasure to work with you, Markius Wishwell.” She leaned his hand in towards the middle.

“Nice to meet you too, Nickel light. Hope to see you soon.” He shook the creature's hand as bells rang around the room.

Nickel smiled as her light disappeared and traveled up towards Mark’s arm forming the scythe tattoo. Nickel waved good-bye and vanished into the dark, leaving Mark in the room alone.

A robe appeared out of nowhere and encased Mark’s horrible fashion sense.

He grabbed the book that was on the chair and smiled.

He took his small victory that he got a new job as a grim reaper of New York City.