"Daylight. I walked into the daylight, the piercing beams of the horrible sun blinding me temporarily. There was no one, a barren wasteland of manmade fixtures and nature's vile upchuck. There was only me, Khrona, a boy trapped in the aches and pains of reality. Disgusting, to say the least, but with no one around, a tad bit peaceful. I started down the sidewalk and a brisk wind flowed down the empty streets, all the way to the end of the block. I'd pay it no mind, the wind was a nice relief from the searing sun. I begin to cross the street and when I do, I am suddenly compelled to look up and I see... A girl.
She seems to be of my same age, but she as an oddity to be seen in these parts. Perhaps that is why I was attracted to her. She wore a lolita style dress with lace tied around her waist and crossed all down her stockings, down to her maid-like shoes. Her hair seemed to come straight from an anime, long an turquoise, and shaped into a normal, yet abnormal fashion. She held a single umbrella for who knows what reason. There was no chance of rain. We stared at each other for a couple of minutes, then started down the blocks parallel to each other, our eyes never losing connection. It was an oddity, indeed.
I couldn't help thinking 'Who is she? What does she want? Why is she following me? Why... is she so damn beautiful?' The sidewalk became more and more distorted as we got further down the block, but we did not seem to reach the end. Somehow, after 5 minutes, our sidewalks intersected diagonally from all of the distortion and we finally met up close. It was awkward, for we only gave blank, but malicious faces to each other.
Just as I was about to ask her my questions, she spoke, "Who are you? What do you want? Why are you following me?" I was too shocked to answer. Had she read my mind? no, no... those are general questions that everyone asked.
I responded, "Huh. I'm Khrona. I was taking a stroll through this wretched town, I had no intentions of following you. Now, same questions to you, missy."
She scoffed, then smirked, "I am Lolita. I'm just a passerby, not really heading anywhere. I'm not following you, either. You were just heading in the same direction, so I decided to take you with me."
That last statement confused me.
"Take me with you? We went nowhere. What the hell are you talking about?"
She snickered and shook her head, "You don't get it. That's the reason why you're here." She propped her umbrella upon her shoulder and stared into my eyes. This time, her eyes seemed to give off a demonic glow. I was immobilized.
There was then a flash of light and all colors became inverted. All I could concentrate on now was the searing pain in my head, and the voices... Voices? Never before had I heard voices. Usually, I only heard static, as if from a radio and the ticking of a clock. Looking at her seemed to make the noise clear, no more fuzzy static, but now horrific and overlapping thoughts that were my own, but not in my voice.
You're disgusting.
What is your purpose?
Fear. Depression.
Hate.
Hate.
Hate.
Hate.
Do you understand?
Can you comprehend?
Inferior being who does not understand.
You needn't know everything, yet you know nothing.
Sickening.
Disgusting.
Unfortunate.
Many more thoughts just continued, becoming more and more incoherent. I was no longer in control of myself... but was I ever? Am I dead? Am I alive? What has happened to me? What did she do?
I emerged from my abyss of questions and darkness floating in a pool in what seemed to be the middle of the street where I just was... but it was different. Everything was dark and gloomy, the trees were dead, the air was foggy. I liked whatever that girl had done.
"Is this what you desire most... Or is it what you fear most?"
I didn't understand it, but I paid it no mind. I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned and it was Lolita.
"I'll ask again, is this what you desire, or what you fear?"
I smiled and looked to her, "This is what I desire!"
Her face became dismal and she raised the tip of the umbrella to my neck, which was strangely sharp, metallic and pointy. Bloodshed. She had thrust it through my neck, and it seemed to pierce through my flesh and esophagus like tissue. To my surprise, I was not dead. I was in severe pain, I could not breathe and I could not move, but I was not dead. I wanted this superlative pain to leave my body. Lolita gave a wicked smile and grabbed the umbrella with her other hand, "And now... BEHEAD!!" She slashes the umbrella through my neck, leaving my head connected by a tiny piece of muscle and flesh which soon gave out and let my head fall to the ground. Blood spilled from my beheaded body, spurting into Lolita's face. She licked it and laughed, most likely at me, but laughed all the same. Everything grew dark.
I remained calm and cool, but ultimately confused. It felt like a liquid surrounded me, but this liquid was like none other that I had felt. I was pulled out by a grim figure that was very frail and skinny. He had no legs, a long, tattered cloak and a large, spiked oar. An oar? what was this? He threw me to the edge of his nicely carved canoe, then continued rowing. I landed on my ass. Wait, my ass? Wasn't I beheaded? How did my body come back? I didn't care, I was just glad to have it. After a while of waiting and looking, I noticed that the liquid we were floating on was cold, yet fiery at the same time... it was made out of what I made out as souls, but what did I know? I looked to the figure and asked "Who are you and where am I?" The figure raised his head so that I could see his face, but he didn't have a face for me to see. It was blank. I flinched out of surprise, but got closer out of amazement and curiosity.
The figure finally spoke, "I am Charon, courier of the dead over the River Styx." He did not want to say more to me, and I wasn't going to as. I knew what was to happen next. Ironically, he did speak again, however it was an odd inquiry, "Do you fear death?"
I promptly responded, "No. Does it look like I fear death?"
Charon rose his head to me and stared with nonexistant eyes, "Let me rephrase the question... Do you fear the Reaper?"
I responded again, "No. I am quite fine with the fate the reaper has for me, no matter what it is." Just as I said that, the boat docked. I exited and Charong swiftly turned the boat around and headed back upstream. I turned around, seeing nothing but a field of darkness, despair, gloom and death. The ground here was made of the bones of the dead, some still with rotting flesh about them. I was fine so long as an insect or arachnid did not emerge. I pressed forward, somehow excited to mee the Grim Reaper. I walked for what I thought was miles and miles, endless bones and corpses being my only company.
"Damn, how far is it? Maybe I should take a rest..."
The instant I said that, a large, boney throne jutted from the ground. On the royal bed of flesh and deathly objects, there was... The Grim Reaper. He had a cute, round face, a cup of tea with a skull in it, and a jar of souls labeled as 'Delicacies.' He was no more than 5 feet high. He was not threatening at all, except for the blood stained scythe behind him. It had fresh, dripping blood on the tip. The Reaper stared peacefully at me and I felt a bit awkward at how non... deathly he was.
He sipped his skull blood tea, "Well, well, well... Another soul for my jar. I eats these, ya know. They are most delicious." He raised his scythe and placed the handle in front of him in a broken skull in the ground, then placed his elbow on the blunt side of his scythe blade, "So. How do you want to do this?" He gripped the handle with his other skeleton hand, ready to strike. My soul shuddered out of anticipation, happiness, excitement, and what I thoght to be a slight bit of... fear.
I answered, "Do what you have to... I mean, I'm already dead."
The Reaper let go of his scythe, "... What? You have no care for your soul? Nothing?" The Reaper pondered... I wondered what was stopping him. He smiled, "Alright. I know that's a lie. You are not being truthful to yourself or your emotions. I can sense your anticipation, your anguish, your fear, your regret, and your mournful happiness that you try so hard to hide." The Reaper stood, pulling up his scythe. He cocked back, "You don't understand this. You don't understand anything, nothing of yourself or what has happened around you. You never died in the first place, and until you understand your emotions, but more importantly, yourself, you will not know the glory and freedom of death. Get a grip on reality..."
Before I could react, the scythe was brought down upon me and with another flash of this time, a red light, I was with Lolita again in another place.