"I don't want to die…"
He sat there, unmoving as he laid his bare back against the cold walls drenched with his memories, his white blood, with a shard of a broken knife buried deep into his neck, his limbs ripped from his torso and his entrails scattered about like this entire situation was a remnant of a fleshy pinata party that was held not long ago. Jason took a long yet shallow breath while gazing at the picturesque sight of people crowding over his coffin with tears on their faces and somehow, he managed to do the same thing. That single tear that came from the corner of his last remaining eye went down through his black, beaten, and cracked skin as it joined the pool on the ground even before he could utter his next word.
"And yet, here we are," Mary scoffed, raising up her chin towards the ceiling to let out a heavy sigh, followed by a sharp breath that made her smile as she closed her eyes.
Jason didn't give her a response and instead, he continued to let his vision wander across the people beyond him, wanting to peer through and grasp this seemingly distant world full of vibrant colors that left his heart cold and heavy as if he was looking at them through a screen. Nevertheless, seeing their faces filled with grief and shock as they looked at him caused his cheeks to stretch, carving a burdened smile on it as his chest began to burn with a sense of weakness and pain.
"See?" Mary wiped the blood off of her face before lowering her head to look at him with a tired and irritated gaze. "None of this would've happened if you had the balls to live through whatever the hell others would say."
"Ahhhh—"
"They didn't even realize what they had done. All would they know is that their cheerful son died," Mary added, breaking into a laugh just a moment after. "Man, you did get their attention but that went away too fast, you didn't even get to make a point!"
"I… don't want to die," he replied, with his gaze and beaten smile still fixated on the group in front of them.
"They haven't found it yet but I'm sure that this little suicide note of yours that you wrote to be as vague as possible won't help it either," Mary continued. "Well, at least you enjoyed it, don't you? You liked the way they took notice of every little thing that you had done. It made you feel good, right? Except for the time when they didn't and noticed your faults instead..."
"Ma…" Jason whispered, with a tone that resembled a call for help under his weakened breath as life started to slowly fade from his eye.
"You had to do it again and again, thinking that if they noticed it before, they would notice that something is wrong. You must really have had a wonderful time," she went on with her voice carrying a sarcastic yet caring tone. "It went on and on, creating a perfect recipe of a dead man, only caused by the words, 'everything would've been better if you were dead.' But really," she sighed. "I am truly the victim here."
Jason's tired eyes that were about to close began to widen and seeing this, Mary leaned forward to look at him with a smug grin. "So you could understand me after all. That's good since I have to make it a point that none of this would've happened if you had the balls to tell them what was happening instead of spiraling to become a self-seeking bitch that wanted to be unique while still being hung up on what others tell him to be."
"Sorry…" he whispered.
"And that further proves my point, even at the last straw, when you're about to die and your memory fragmented, you're still trying to make me look at you," Mary said, hesitating to poke his bloodied head after she raised her hand before doing it anyway. "Just go, man, just go… I have an appointment after dealing with you and I can't go there looking like… well, this."
"Hey… re-reaper," Jason said, letting out a heavy long breath as he closed his eyes to separate himself from the seemingly bright picture of his visitors looking at his dead body. "Tell me… tell me what I am… why…"
"Fine," she sighed, combing her hair with her fingers and letting the back of her head rest against the wall a moment after. "Fine, I'll tell you what you are. You're a spirit that I was sent to deal with because If I'm not here, these people would be dead because of you. You're like a peacock, yeah that, since I wanted to omit from calling you a firework... ah, whatever, either way works since to you, you wanted to be something but you lived your life solely depending on how others saw you. Yeah, a goddamn peacock-firework, that's you but for your name, screw that, I'm terrible at that shit, so you do you."
Jason fell silent, feeling defeated as ever but after he was just about to fade, he felt a slap hitting through his beaten jaws. He used his remaining energy to push his eyes open and there, he saw Mary in front of him, glaring at him with a sense of warmth that instead of making him smile, it made him feel a pang in his chest that made him even more tired.
"Don't go yet you little shit! I haven't behaved like a big sister in a long while so we're going to do this now. You're giving yourself a new name, and I'm not letting you go before you do," she shouted.
"Why…" he asked weakly with his shoulders twitching as he tried to open his mouth.
"This might not be the first, but considering what happened and glossing over the fact that I made you do it, let's have you decide on something yourself before you go. Borrowing your words earlier, let this be like your congratulatory gift for holding this long and dying this early." She then moved over him and cupped his chin with her fingers sinking into his bloodied cheeks. "So, tell me your name, you little shit."
Jason looked away and after pondering for about a minute, he gazed into her eyes with a small triumphant grin. "I've always wanted to be called Juanito."
"Hah." Mary's expression went stiff. She tightened her grip around his chin and pushed him down, kicking his back after a second that ended up with him letting out a soft laugh as she turned around. "Sounds like you're off to sell some churros at the side of the street but eh, that's fine, so—"
She turned her head to look at him with a smile but then, after meeting a moment of silence, she noticed that he's already gone.