Death's Apprentice

Lily and Arno looked around. They were standing on an empty street in front of a little house in the middle of the country. The wind blew through the green fields and trees, and there was not a cloud in the brilliant blue sky. They looked towards the little house.

“Do you think that’s where Death is?”

“Hopefully…”

Slowly, the two of them approached the front door and knocked. A familiar face opened the door.

“Hello. Can I help you?” a younger version of Sarah asked as she tossed her dark hair over her shoulder.

“Hi Sarah. Do you remember me?” Lily asked.

The woman looked down at the little girl in confusion. “Um...Sorry, but I don’t think I do.”

“Ok… Is Jeremy here?”

“No… He’s at work, but he should be back soon… Do...you two want to maybe come back later?”

“Uh…”

Arno looked around at the expanse around them, unsure of what to do.

“Did you guys walk here?” Sarah asked, looking around for a car of any sort.

“Kind of…”

“Well I suppose it wouldn’t hurt if… Well, would you like to come in then?”

“Only if it’s no trouble.” Arno said politely. Sarah smiled warmly.

“Of course! Come in-I’ll make the two of you something warm to drink.”

Lily reached up and held on tightly to her Guardian’s hand as they walked into Death’s house. She looked up to see a wedding picture on the wall with a young man with blonde hair and twinkling blue eyes with his arm around a beautiful girl wearing a glowing white wedding dress. Little metal horses were mounted on the walls, galloping through an imaginary field. The house had a nice warm feeling to it that reminded Lily of chocolate chip cookies.

“Lily, let’s play this a little delicately ok? It’s probably going to be very hard for them to accept what is supposed to happen. Let me do most of the talking.” Arno whispered, eyeing another wedding picture on the wall.

“Ok.”

He squeezed her hand.

Once they were situated on the couch with cups of hot chocolate, Sarah eyed the two travelers with interest.

“Um… excuse me, but… where do I know you from again?”

“Uh… Work I believe.” Arno said a little nervously.

“You work with Jeremy?”

Arno didn’t know what else to say accept, “Yes…”

“Oh. Ok then. How far have you two been traveling?”

The girl and her Guardian exchanged glances as they sat there nestled on the burgundy couch.

“We’ve come really really far to see De-I mean Jeremy.” Lily told her carefully with a slight approving nod from Arno.

“Wow. Where did you come from?”

“Er…Germany.”

“Really? All that way?”

Lily could tell that Arno was starting to get uncomfortable as she asked all of these questions.

“How long have you and Jeremy been married?” Lily asked, changing the subject. At this, Sarah donned a rather dreamy smile.

“Oh, about a year. It’s been so wonderful.”

“How did you two meet?” Arno asked, jumping on the opportunity to talk about something other than him and Lily.

“I was working at an ice cream shop and he came in every day to get a smoothie until he could work up the courage to actually talk to me.”

At that moment, someone came through the door-a young man with blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. The boy Lily remembered seeing in the death vision.

Death himself.

He stopped dead in his tracks as he saw the visitors in his home.

“Oh...Uh… Hello…”

“Jeremy, this is Arno and Lily. They said that they know us from somewhere. Maybe work?”

The man looked the two of them up and down. “Well I don’t recall ever meeting them…” he said rather suspiciously, putting down his bag and taking off his coat.

“Well, hello then er… Jeremy.” Arno said amiably, standing up and then awkwardly sitting down again. “We uh, wanted to discuss something very important with you and your er…wife. My name is Arno and this is Lily.”

The young man stared at them as Lily poked her head around her Guardian and waved at him with a smile. He glanced over to Sarah, and then back at his guests, trying to decide if he was going to sit down or stand.

“All right…” he said slowly and carefully, walking over to the armchair next to his wife. “What did you want to talk to us about?”

Lily wondered if Arno’s heart was beating as fast as hers.

“Do you two remember anything about the Inbetween?” Arno asked.

Lily thought she saw Death’s blue eyes flash, but then he merely gave a small soft smile as Sarah looked quizzically at him.

“No. I’ve never heard of it.”

“What’s that?” his wife inquired curiously.

“It’s where we go when we die.” Lily piped up. “Everyone has to work there for a time before they move on. There’s different realm places to work too-like the Timekeepers, and the Guardians, and the Dreamlanders and Reapers and and… Arno what other ones are there?”

“Don’t forget the Fates and Insanities.” Her Guardian said with a smile. “And the Earth Workings.”

Lily looked up hopefully at the couple in front of her, but Sarah and Jeremy merely nodded without any recognition. Arno took a deep breath.

“Look, what we have to tell you next is very important, and a lot is counting on how you respond to it.”

“Ok.” Sarah told him, a concerned look on her face.

Jeremy did not respond. Instead, he leaned forward and put his chin in his hand, raising his eyebrows at them expectantly and scanning them with those eyes that reminded Lily of the milk after she finished her Lucky Charms.

“A few hours after you two were married, you were supposed to die and go to the Inbetween. Jeremy, you were supposed to become the new Death, and Sarah was supposed to become the Spring Mother of the Earth Workings Realm. Unfortunately, a reaper named Helen stole a time orb and changed the past so you never died, and now your memories have been altered. The Inbetween is falling apart and we’ve come to help you come back.”

As Arno finally stopped to take a breath, Sarah coughed, still looking confused, and Jeremy raised a brow.

“And you… Expect us to believe this?” he asked skeptically.

“Yes.” Lily said obstinately.

“Well you came all the way here for nothing because that’s the biggest load of crap that I’ve ever heard.”

“Jeremy!” Sarah gasped, appalled. “Why-.”

“What? You want to sell us something? What’s the real reason why you’re here?” he asked, leaning back and folding his arms in a scowl.

“That… is why we’re here…” Arno said uncertainly, setting his empty mug on the coffee table.

“You’re sure? Now where did you say you were from again? Germany?”

“Well, yes…”

“Then why aren’t you speaking German? Why are you speaking English?”

“Well I uh…”

Lily narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Hadn’t Arno mentioned that he was from Germany before Death had come home? She couldn’t remember.

“You don’t remember the Inbetween?” she asked, interrupting the attacks on Arno.

“No.” the young man said firmly.

“Think about the other reapers! Do you remember them?”

“Nope.”

“Dreamland?”

“...No.”

“What about the Insanities?”

“Doesn’t sound the least bit familiar.”

The little girl was starting to get frustrated.

“Why don’t you remember anything?!?” she whined.

“I’m sorry, but that’s just how it is.”

Lily put down her hot chocolate and gave him a good long look. For some reason he did not look as confused as his wife did.

“Death-we came to put things back the way they need to be.”

“Don’t call me that!” he spat a bit angrily.

They stared at him.

“You do remember-don’t you?” Arno said quietly.

“Get out.”

“Honey-what’s going on?”

Lily gasped and jumped up out of her seat.

“You remember!! You remember everything! And you’re just sitting there in your comfy chair with your horses and-.”

“Get out!” he yelled, pointing to the door.

“Fine. Come on Lily.”

“But-.”

“He obviously doesn’t want us here.”

The little girl didn’t understand why Death was acting this way.

“You’re mean!” she said hurtfully, tears burning her eyes. And with that, she and Arno walked out the door. They stopped when they got to the road.

“What do we do now? If we don’t get Death back to the land of the Inbetween then…” the little girl asked, looking up at him as the tears rolled down her cheeks.

Arno sighed and knelt down to wipe her tears away. “I don’t know Lily…”

They turned around to see Death looking at them through the window. He jerked the curtain back when they saw him.

“Why is he acting this way?”

Her Guardian gave a good long look at the house, the answer suddenly dawning on him.

“Because he knows he’s supposed to die… And he doesn’t want to…”

“Well that’s selfish. I didn’t come all this way for him to say no.” She plopped herself onto the ground and folded her arms. Arno looked back at the house, shrugged his shoulders, and then joined her on the ground.

They passed the time by telling stories and drawing in the dirt. Lily made Arno a bracelet out of grass, and then put a flower on his head. He laughed, which made her extremely happy.

“I think Death’s like the enchanted princess.” Lily commented, pulling up another blade of grass and twirling it around in her fingers.

“Does that make us the nice brother who comes to save the day?”

“Yeah! And the leaders of the realms were like the ants, bees, and ducks. We were nice to them and helped them when they were in trouble. So when we were in trouble, they helped us back.”

Arno took a moment to think about this. “Huh...I guess you’re right.”

Their attention was diverted when they heard the door from the house open and close. They turned to see Sarah coming out to them with a little paper plate of sandwiches.

“Hi… Um… I wanted to apologize for how my husband acted earlier… I don’t know what his problem is. I hope you guys like peanut butter and banana sandwiches. I thought you might be hungry.”

“Thank you.” Arno said graciously, taking a sandwich. Lily peered up at the plate and grabbed one, stuffing it into her mouth.

“Fank you.” Lily said with her mouth full of peanut butter. Sarah hesitated and then slowly sat down next to them.

“I don’t know exactly what happened back there, but I’m guessing that he’s not telling me everything. He won’t talk to me about it. He’s a good man-I promise.”

“We know he is.”

“Yeah…I called him mean, but he’s usually really nice to me…” Lily said regretfully. Sarah watched the two of them eat their sandwiches.

“So...Who exactly are you two anyway?”

“I’m his apprentice. And Arno’s my Guardian.”

“I didn’t realize Jeremy had an apprentice...”

The woman ran her finger through the sand, setting down the plate.

“What’s the Inbetween?”

“Like we said, it’s the place where we go when we die. Everyone has to work there for a time before we are able to move on.” Arno explained.

“And you’re saying that you knew us there?”

“Yes.”

“And everything you said back there was true?”

“Yes.” Arno said resolutely

Sarah stared at them with big brown eyes that held trust and compassion.

“I think…I believe you…”

“Really?”

“Yes. I mean-don’t get me wrong, your story seems very unlikely, but I can’t help but feel…I…I don’t know…”

Lily sucked the peanut butter from off the roof of her mouth and swallowed the rest of her sandwich as Sarah bit her lip.

“There’s something missing. Isn’t there? I know there is-I just can’t remember what it is…” She picked up a flower and fingered the petals.

“Sometimes I’ll pick up a flower or come out and lay in the grass and I feel like I’m getting closer to what it is, but it always eludes me…You said something about us not dying… What did you mean by that?”

“You and Jeremy were supposed to die in a car crash.”

“Well, we did have a close call not too long ago, but luckily we came out with hardly a scratch.”

She suddenly put a hand to her head and hunched over as if she were in pain.

“Sarah? Are you alright?” Arno asked, feeling worried. She opened her eyes.

“Nothing…It’s nothing.” She breathed, rubbing a hand across her face. “I just-I need to go talk to Jeremy.”

She rushed back to the house, leaving the two of them alone.

“Do you think she remembers?” Arno asked his young companion.

“I think she got a little bit of it. That’s what happened to me. I would get a few flashes of it. It was really confusing.”

“Hmmmm…”

The two of them lay back in the grass and looked up at the cloudless sky. Lily put her hand up to it, reaching out like she could almost touch it. Arno did the same, causing the little girl to smile. Their sky moment was interrupted when they heard muffled arguing coming from the house. The two of them sat up and stared at the rustic white door with apprehensive curiosity. A few moments later, Jeremy stormed out of the house and started making his way towards the woods.

“And don’t come back until you’re ready to start acting like a man!” Sarah yelled angrily. “I don’t understand why you’re acting like this-.”

“Enough Sarah! I don’t want to hear anything about it! I just need some time to-.”

“We agreed that we wouldn’t bring secrets into this marriage! You-.”

Jeremy put his hands up to dismiss her and stalked off towards a path in the woods, his icy eyes casting daggers at every unsuspecting plant and insect that fell in his way. Sarah gave a frustrated cry and slammed the door behind her. Lily and Arno sat there in the grass frozen by the argument they had accidentally walked in on.

“I feel like I’m intruding…” Arno muttered awkwardly. Lily pushed herself up, and then she and Arno hesitantly made their way to the door and knocked. It immediately swung open to Sarah’s enraged, tearstained face, which soon fell when she saw that it wasn’t her husband. Her lip trembled and she turned her face away from them and sniffled.

“Is…everything alright?” the Guardian asked delicately.

“Fine. Everything’s fine.” She mumbled.

“No it’s not! You guys just had a big fight!” Lily exclaimed, earning a disapproving look from Arno.

“What happened?” he asked.

“He won’t talk about it. He doesn’t want to hear anything about the land of the Inbetween. He obviously knows something that I don’t. ”

Lily looked off into the forest, where she could see the little walking path that Death had gone down.

“I’ll talk to him.” she said. And before anyone could stop her, she was running off into the woods.

“Death?” she called, looking at all the greenery around her. Birds chirped and a cool breeze caused the sound of blowing leaves. The crisp smell of the outdoors filled the air. She could hear a brook trickling nearby.

“Death!”

She continued on the path, when she saw off to the side, that he was sitting at the edge of the creek on a log, his back to her. She left the path and ducked under branches and around ferns and stumps. Lily sat down next to him. The man had his face in his hand.

“Death? J-Jeremy?”

She stepped back slightly in surprise as the man she thought she knew started to cry. Lily had never seen him like this before. It was odd enough to see his usual wrinkles hidden by fresh young skin and blonde untidy hair to replace the slicked back grays. He had always seemed so put together and wise, but now…

He just reminded him of herself.

Slowly, the little girl shuffled around and then put her arms around him. After a moment, he hugged her back. She had no idea what to say to him to make everything better, but she knew that hugs always seemed to fix things.

“Thank you Lily…” he whispered, breaking away from her and wiping the tears off of his face. He looked sadly at his reflection in the water.

“I’m sorry. I do remember the Inbetween. I never forgot.”

“Then why did you lie?” the little girl asked, sitting down next to him on the log.

Death was silent for a long time, and then finally he heaved a great sigh.

“When things changed, I was back in that car. I was all in a panic for a moment, and then I saw her. My beautiful wife-young again-like I had never left. I’ve missed her a lot Lily. I haven’t seen her for a long time. I just wanted… I know it’s very selfish of me but I just…”

Another tear rolled down his cheek as he struggled with what to say next.

“I’m worried she won’t forgive me for being away so long.”

“I’m sure she will. You just need to say sorry. She’ll understand.”

The young Death picked up a pebble from the bank and through it into the gentle waters of the stream before them, scaring off some minnows.

“It’s hard for you to understand these things now Lily. You’re only five…”

“Death.”

He looked over to see her folding her arms and cris-crossing her legs on top of the rotting wood, her face regarding him almost like a parent catching their child sneaking cookies before dinner.

“I understand a lot more things now. I don’t have to ask what words mean anymore. I can read, and I made it back to the Inbetween and came here to get you. I think I’ve graduated to six years old!”

The man stared at her, and then began to laugh. Unlike Arno’s laugh, Death’s was like a bark-reminding her of her neighbor’s little jack russel terrier.

“Indeed.”

The smile faded as he looked back off in the water.

“And yet I still find it hard to go…”

“But the Inbetween needs you. Helen is turning into a dark entity and everything is going wrong. I think the Inbetween is getting broken or something.”

Death continued to stare at the water for a moment, and then looked over to the little girl sitting beside him. “How did you make the decision so easily? How were you able to make that choice to go back?”

Lily swung her legs off the log and lodged her heels into the sand.

“It wasn’t easy. It was hard. It made me sad. I didn’t want to die, but I knew I would see them again someday. And there were other people I missed. Like Arno. If I didn’t die, Arno would still be in the Insanities.”

He sighed. “I guess you’re right. I just… All I wanted was to grow old with my wife and be happy. Have kids. Have grandkids. Worry about taxes and math tests. I never wanted to deal with reapers and dark entities. I never asked to be Death.”

“I didn’t either.”

“Hmm… I guess not.”

The two of them listened as there was the sound of distant thunder.

“Death, sometimes things just happen. But dying isn’t the end. And neither is the Inbetween. I don’t know what comes next, but I’m sure it’s a happy place.”

“Lily Hoagen. You have wisdom beyond your years.”

She smiled. “It’ll be ok Death. Besides-you told me that your time in the Inbetween is just about over right?”

“Yes.”

She gave him a hug. “I’m sorry for calling you mean.”

“I’m sorry too… Thank you Lily.”

The little girl smiled and pulled him off the log, and they started back down the path hand in hand.

A few moments later, the two of them were coming out of the forest. Sarah ran to her husband.

“Jeremy-I-.”

“Sarah… I’m sorry… I lied. Arno and Lily are telling the truth. I was being stubborn and I’m sorry I yelled.”

He hung his head in shame.

“When you get your memory back, I hope you’ll forgive me for being away for so long. It was so something like this would never happen and I ruined everything and-.”

Sarah stopped him as she put a hand on his chest.

“Jeremy. I love you. No matter what you may do to frustrate me sometimes-that fact will never change.”

He smiled weakly and reached up to hold her hand.

“I’m sorry…” he whispered again.

Lily held onto to Arno’s leg, feeling sad for him and proud of him all at the same time.

“So what do we do now? What do we have to do to make it back to the Inbetween?”

“We have to decide to die. We have to think about what happened. Am I right Lily?”

The little girl nodded.

“Ok. I’m right here…”

They closed their eyes and the world around them faded away. They found themselves back in the car, and Jeremy squeezed the hand of his wife as the car swerved into their path.