Death's Apprentice

The room they were currently in reminded Lily of her school auditorium, but bigger. The ceiling above them was round, like they were in a ball. Like most everything in the realm of Reapers and Greeters, the walls were a clean white, and there were lightbulbs strung in neat lines across the ceiling. Everything was lined in black and gold, and it was all so clean. She sat next to Arno on the front row, swinging her legs underneath her. All of this was so exciting! Death was standing on a type of stage at a black and gold podium, waiting for everyone to finish coming in and sitting down. Arno was looking around nervously.

As she looked around, she suddenly saw a familiar face.

“Edgar!” she said excitedly, jumping up.

The little boy’s face lit up and he ran to her.

“Edgar! Slow down! Wait for me!” someone else called. Lily looked up to see a plump old woman in a black dress and a crocheted black shawl draped over her shoulders. She stopped as she saw the little blonde girl. She smiled warmly.

“Who’s your friend?”

“Helen! Helen this is Lily!!” the little boy said happily. “Are you going to be a reap reap too Lily?”

The little girl shrugged.

“Is Helen your Guardian?” she asked curiously.

“No. She’s my reap reap trainer.”

“Oh. Well this is Arno. He’s my Guardian.” She said proudly.

“May I have everyone’s attention?”

Death’s voice echoed and bounced off of the round walls in the large spacious room, and everyone began sitting down. Lily patted on a seat next to her for Edgar, and he plopped himself down beside her. Death cleared his throat, quieting down the people in the room.

“I know many of you have been waiting anxiously, and the time has come for me to announce my new apprentice. The one that will eventually take my place over the realms as Death.

Everyone seemed to be on the edge of their seats.

“Arno? What’s a pentice?” Lily whispered.

“An apprentice? Basically you’ll be helping him out with things until you become Death.” Her Guardian whispered back.

“My new apprentice is…Lily Hoagen.”

Everyone looked around in confusion.

“Lily, would you mind coming up here for me so everyone can see you?”

“Ok!!”

With that, the little girl slid off her chair and bounced up to the stage to stand with Death.

“Hi everybody! I’m Lily and I’m five and a half years-.”

There was suddenly an uproar as several of the people dressed in black jumped up out of their seats. Lily stepped back in surprise. There were suddenly a lot of people yelling and pointing at her furiously. She stood there paralyzed with fear. The next moment, Arno was standing there next to her, making her feel safer because he was her Guardian. She wrapped herself around one of his legs and hid behind him, wondering if she’d done anything wrong.

“What did I do Arno?” she asked, tears in her eyes.

“You didn’t do anything wrong Lily-I’m not sure-.”

“SILENCE.”

The lights flickered, and the voices quieted. What was everyone looking at? A slight breeze picked up, and Lily turned to look at Death as the lights dimmed. The master of the dead stood there with his arms outstretched, his cloak blending in with the shadows. He seemed to get taller and taller, his face shadowed in darkness. He looked scary. Lily held on to her Guardian’s leg a little tighter.

“THE DECISION HAS ALREADY BEEN MADE.” He hissed, a coldness creeping up on them. After a moment, he started to tone back down to normal, and the lights flickered back to their full glory.

“All right.” He started calmly, smoothing himself out. “Now that has been settled, I’m going to need some of you to teach her the ways of this realm. She’s young I know, but as you all know yourselves, it’s easier to learn things here than it is in the living world. I know Lily is going to make a fine Death. We just need a bit of trust from all of you.”

There were a few mumbles and grumbles, but to Lily’s great relief, no one else shouted or yelled at her.

“Thank you. You are all dismissed."

Afterwards, Death turned Lily and Arno over to Helen, to be lead around and guided. Arno still felt a bit paranoid with all the ugly looks he was getting from the other reapers, and made sure to have an eye on the energetic five year old at all times. After making their way through the icy glares that were being thrown their way, they made their way to a room where Lily and Edgar would be getting new clothes.

“Look look!! We look like reapers!!”

“Yeah! Reap reaps!!”

Arno stood there unsure of what to do as the two five year olds ran around spastically in their new black clothes. They both had on black jeans and tee-shirts with new sneakers.

“Haven’t dealt with children in a while I presume?” Helen asked with a smile as he watched them jump up and down off of the couch.

“...Er...no…Not for about a century…”

“Children! Calm down now and we’ll go out and do some things!”

The two of them stopped immediately and ran over to them.

“Are we going to do reaper stuff??”

“Are we going to go to other realm places?”

“Do we get superpowers?”

“Calm down! Now. Death talked to me earlier, and he has some things to take care of, so Lily, you are and Arno are going to come with us and learn some things about being a reaper! Which you have to know anyway if you are going to take Death’s place.”

“Ok.”

“First, we’ll start with the basics. And we’ll go for some...uh...less gory deaths…”

Arno scoffed. “Good idea. I’m interested to see how this goes…”

“All right! Everyone follow me!”

The two children skipped out of the room after the Reaper, Arno trailing behind. Lily suddenly got the urge to beat her new friend in a race down the hallway, and zoomed ahead.

“Lily!! Wait!”

But she was going too fast now. She could see herself as a cheetah-running through the African plains… She skidded to a stop when a Reaper in a cloak and long black hair stood in front of her. His glare penetrated her oblivious five year old happiness, sending a jolt of tingles up her back.

“Arno!!”

She ran back to her Guardian and hid behind him-away from the Reaper’s stare.

“Lily. How am I supposed to protect you if you don’t stay with me?” he asked as she clutched his worn jacket. Arno gave the man in the cloak his own protective glare.

“Arno-don’t let the other Reapers get me.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t.”

“Oh hello Zachary!” Helen said cheerfully as they walked by.

“Hello Helen.” He growled a little less menacingly.

“Now you’re not scaring off my trainee’s little friend are you? She’s only five after all.”

“Of course not.”

“Good. See you later then!”

As the four of them left the scary man behind, Lily found herself feeling grateful for Edgar’s trainer. From that moment, every time a reaper seemed to come toward them or give them an angry look, Helen was there to stand up for her and shoo the others way.

The plump woman led them to a desk, where a younger man with red hair dressed in white sat filling out some papers.

“Hello Robert! I’ve got some training to do today. Do you have anything that would be good for beginners? Specifically for five year olds?” Robert looked down at Lily and Edgar and then gave a huge smile, showing his large teeth.

“Why most certainly!” he told them cheerfully. You would never have guessed he was about to hand out death orders. He shifted through some papers, and then came up with three sheets. “These three should be perfect for beginners! Pieces of cake!”

“Don’t be too easy on them Robbie-we’ve got the future Death right here!” Byron cut in, putting an arm around the man at the desk.

“Um...It’s Robert…”

“Loosen up.”

“Byron. They are five. Of course we are going to go easy on them their first time reaping.” Helen scolded, snatching the papers off of the desk. “Thank you very much!”

As they walked away, Lily began to have the feeling that a lot of people didn’t like Byron that much, and she began to wonder why…

The four of them soon came to one of the glass balls, which opened for them, and Lizzy felt the rush of excitement go through her as the black smoke enveloped them. Soon, the darkness cleared, and she found herself in a dark bedroom, silver moonlight shining through the cracks in the curtain and illuminating a heap of blankets on a very disheveled bed. Posters of aliens and robots littered the walls, and Helen had to stop Edgar for trying to grab a sword that was leaning up against the wall. Someone was snoring very loudly.

“Is he going to die in his sleep?” Lily asked.

“Yes. Something called sleep apnea. It’s something that makes it hard to breathe when you sleep.” Helen told them. Now I’m going to show you by example the first time-but the other two on the list you are going to do yourself-ok?”

“Ok.” The two kids whispered in unison.

“And you don’t have to whisper sillies. The living can’t see or hear us.”

“Ok!”

They watched as Helen meandered past crumpled pieces of paper, comic books, and pizza boxes towards the bed. Then she put her hand on his back, and closed her eyes-concentrating. Her hand slowly raised as a small white light lifted with it. The light dissipated and the man drew his final breath.

“Woah.”

“There. It’s not that hard. He should be showing up in the waiting room any moment now!”

“Will his family miss him?”

“Most likely. But who doesn’t? And it’s not like they won’t see him again. Well, off to the next place!” she said, bringing out a little bag of black powder. She took a little pinch out and then threw it to the ground. Dark smoke enveloped them again, and soon they found themselves in a park. A man slept on a park bench, bottles surrounding him.

“Your turn Edgar! This man is going to die from alcohol poisoning. Very good reapers are able to do the process quickly so the person doesn’t have to suffer. That’s why we’re starting with the ones who are dying in their sleep.”

“Wait-I’m going to reap this time?”

“Yes. Do what you saw me do-and concentrate on the person and their heartbeat. Slow down their breathing with yours, and then gently lift.”

Edgar swallowed. “Ok…”

“You can do it Edgar!” Lily encouraged.

The little boy hesitantly approached the bench. After taking a deep breath, he put his small hand on his chest and concentrated, breathing in slower and slower. He lifted his hand slowly, and Lily felt proud as she saw the little light rise up with his hand. The man drew his last breath and then died.

“Edgar!! You’re a natural!!” Helen said pleasantly, clapping her hands. Edgar’s face grew red.

“Thank you…”

“All right! One more! It’s your turn Lily…” She threw some powder down on the ground, and the darkness came over them again. They soon found themselves in a hospital, the soft light of a mid-day rainstorm shining through a large window. A bandaged woman lay in the hospital bed, breathing steadily as a machine beside her beeped.

“This woman was in a car accident. Are you ready Lily?”

“I think so…”

Lily crept up to the hospital bed, eyeing the sleeping woman, her hand hovered over the woman’s chest.

“Wait.”

Lily looked up to see Arno at the alert, looking around. The room was quiet except for the soft beeps from the monitor and the pattering of rain outside.

“Something’s off…” he growled. It was then that Lily saw something down the long room…

“What’s that?” she asked, feeling a bit fearful of the shadowy figure standing there. It was abnormally tall and skinny, with long arms that dragged on the ground, and the outsides of it were wispy-like it was made out of some sort of dark cloud. Two blank white circles that she guessed were its eyes stared back at them blankly. Lily felt some kind of tension in the air.

“Helen-what is that?” Arno asked warily, taking a step towards Lily. Helen’s face paled significantly.

“But-that’s impossible… They aren’t supposed to be here...”

The figure slowly started to come towards them.

“Arno…?” Lily said slowly, backing up a little.

“It’s a dark entity… They’ve been seen sporadically across the realms of the place of second chances. They are a little creepy, but they relatively seem harmless for the most part...”

The dark entity started to come a bit closer.

The four of them stood very still-hardly daring to move.

“Should...we...leave?” Arno questioned, inching closer to Lily a bit more.

“We can’t leave until we finish reaping our list… Very slowly Lily-go ahead...”

Lily swallowed, staring at the dark figure that kept coming closer and closer. She could feel the fear welling up inside her throat. She looked away from it and tried concentrating on the woman in the bed. She put her hand on her chest. She breathed slower and slower and then carefully started to lift her hand. Her concentration was broken when the shadow screeched. Lily jumped, and the light fell back into the woman. It was coming for them now. Lily screamed and ran in the opposite direction as the shadowy figure came for her. It stretched itself into the air and opened its mouth, black figures of what looked like teeth gaping wide with this faceless monster.

Lily closed her eyes and cowered-covering herself as best as she could with her frail little arms. She was suddenly aware of someone in front of her. She looked up to see Arno there, his arms out in a blinding light. The shadow was trying to get past him, but without success.

“HELEN!! REAP THE GIRL!!” He yelled, the dark entity pushing him backward. Helen ran over to the hospital bed.

“Arno!!”

“Don’t worry Lily! I’m here to protect you!!” he grunted, struggling under the push of the shadow. The creature snapped its large jaws at her. Suddenly, dark smoke filled the room, and Lily knew that Helen had thrown the powder. She closed her eyes and hoped that they would soon be safe. She felt the smoke dissipate, and so she slowly opened her eyes.

They were back in the large white room with all the other reapers. In front of her, Arno gasped and collapsed, breathing heavily from his new place on the floor. Edgar was bawling and holding on to Helen’s leg very tightly, and people were now coming at them, wondering what was going on. Lily crawled over to her Guardian.

“Arno! Are you ok?” she asked frantically.

“Man...that...thing...Bad...business…” he panted, shakily pushing himself off the ground.

“What’s going on??” a familiar voice rasped. Lily looked up to see Death making his way through the crowd towards them. The little girl started to cry as she held on to Arno.

“A-a dark entity!” Helen said in her frazzled state. “In the living world-it-it attacked us!”

“WHAT?”

“But-the dark entities have never attacked anyone before…” One of the Greeters said a bit fearfully.

“What are they after?”

“Why are they even here?”

“I knew we should have shut down the insanities…”

“SILENCE!”

Everyone stopped talking and looked to Death.

“Lily-are you all right?”

The little girl hugged herself, swallowed her tears and nodded.

“And how’s Arno?”

“I’ll...manage…”

“Good. Now. Everyone listen. I’m going to call a meeting momentarily to discuss this further in regards to an investigation. At the moment, everyone is to be called in for their safety until we can figure this out.”

This brought its own type of outcry.

“But-the lists!”

“This has never happened before!”

“Who’s going to reap the people?”

“What about the people who are dying?”

Death raised his hands, which quieted them all again. “Do not worry. I will call on the Time Keepers for assistance…” Then the master of the dead knelt down to Lily’s level. “Looks like you picked yourself a mighty fine Guardian my young friend. Not many people would have been able to stand up to something like that.” Lily sniffled and managed a smile as he helped Arno up off the floor.

“Keep up the good work soldier. I knew you could do it.”

Arno blinked, and then bent over with his hands on his knees, still breathing heavily.

“No...Problem... Just...Doing my duty…” Death nodded and then disappeared into the crowd of reapers. Lily looked up at her Guardian in awe.

“You saved me… Thank you.” she said softly. The corner of Arno’s mouth lifted into a smile as the little girl hugged him tightly.