I Am Become Death

I watched as the dark clouds gather ominously in the sky, the groans of wanted release of the rain as the droplets squirm inside their cage. The sun that was shining brightly a while ago was reduced to a gloomy dim, threatening to be extinguished. The flowers that grew in the garden so neatly kept, drooped lower and lower, the leaves turning brown, signs of life ceasing. I stood at the end of the ridge, drinking the sorrow in, heaving a sigh as I knew what has become.

I enter civilization and watched as the citizens hurried to their destinations. Each of them donned a black suit, an unpleasant sight like one you would see in a funeral. Even the children were dressed so darkly with matching black sneakers, silently making their way through the crowd. I stopped at a coffee shop and ordered an iced mocha. Closer observation revealed the bags beneath the waitress's eyes as she served my drink along with a black book for my perusal. I recognized the book.

It was wrapped in black but that was just so that the original black cover of the book was not tainted. The wrapping was merely a copy of the what the cover should have been. It had a silver scythe in the middle, the blade soaked with the darkest of red that was human blood. I recognize the book not because of the cover, nor the dark void that the book seemed to emit. It was for a simple reason.

It was his book.

This was the book that had most of the ideas and thoughts that he had wanted to eliminate or never wanted to see ever again. It was a book only he and I could have access to.

A flash of lightning, followed by a roar of thunder as the rain was unleashed. A young boy cried in his mother's lap as the sound, no doubt, shocked him. I slowly drank my coffee as I read the book. Outside, the rain continued to pour.

I reached the final written page of the book. The lines that covered the page were heavy and its weight pulled on my heart. At the end of the last sentence, there was a quote.

"I am become Death. I will be the scythe that cuts through the soul.

I will be the recorder of the final moment, the piano that plays the final note, the air that takes the final breath. I am become Death"

Right on cue, as i finished the last word, there was another flash of lightning. This time, the thunder that followed was unlike any other that came before it. It was a roar of grief, a howl of pain, a cry of despair. The young boy let out a scream of pain as he failed to shut out the noise in time.

And that was when all hell broke loose.

First, the sound of breaking glass.

Then, the dropping of the boy's body on the floor followed by a gut-wrenching shriek by his mother.

Next, came the choked scream of the waitress as she clutched her face in horror.

Then, the sounds of cars colliding, the uprooting of the trees, the ripping of papers, the demolition of buildings, the splitting of the earth.

It all happened in a matter of seconds and I was too stunned to move.

Too stunned to even notice the ceiling falling on me.

There would be no better time than this to wake up and brush it off as a dream.

But this was not a dream. This was reality.

The turmoil that is about to happen is real.

The scythe that was once shackled, unused, now burst into life.

The reaper that lay dormant, has awaken.

The final barrier has collapsed. The box has been opened.

He has come.

He has become Death.

HD

The Undefined Darkness

*****HD*****

I walked aimlessly around the busy streets of the city, aimlessly I said but in fact, my mere perambulation was but a way to remove the worrisome thoughts that clouded the entity of my mind. I looked at every building, every vehicle and every human that walked past me. I looked at the layout, the infrastructures that stand so proudly in the heart of the city. As I witness a few tourists eagerly snapping photos at god-knows-what, I blot out the thoughts in my mind.

*****CCW*****

I followed my mother to the hypermarket today, obtaining the items I required to be brought to my room in my uni. As I waked, I observed the happy, sad and angry expressions that were on the faces of the people that walked past me. And then, I saw my own face. There was nothing of that sort on my face. It was lifeless. Eyes without the slightest sparkle. There was neither a frown nor a smile. There was no wrinkles of anger nor depletion of eyebrows to portray despair. There were only dark bags underneath my eyes, an empty shade for eyes, an emotionless facial expression. I looked dead.

*****HD*****

I was offered a brochure by one of the promoters in the shopping mall I had decided to trespass on. I politely declined and continued on my aimless stroll. I catch sight of kids running around and screaming, oblivious to the world, ignorant to how life can change in just a snap of fingers. A small boy nearly rammed into me as he laughed at being chased by his younger brother. I looked at my watch. A few minutes to midnight. I heaved a sigh and exited the mall. Driving back in the night was not going to be a pleasant one.

*****CCW*****

I felt a sharp pain as I drove back in the night. I was slowly picking up more speed as I shifted gears, overtaking car by car. 90..100..110...120....130...140...i was reaching the 150 mark on my old Honda City when I jolted to my senses. I calmly stepped the brakes and slowed down before stopping at a traffic light. I took a deep breath and gazed into the night.

This is only the beginning of another chapter.

But it was the never the end of the previous one.

This is only the stage between the folds, the calm before the storm, the ripple before the wave.

But the pain is there, and so is the determination.

This is the only way forward.

But I will not back down.