Insanely Beautiful

It was a bleak night. The kind of night that wasn’t really night because the sky shone a pale purple velvet and no stars were visible. It was the kind of night that people wouldn’t call night because the term morning always had a sense of finality to it; party is over, go home. Lights flitted in and out of the dark street as I made my way down it, the lights of houses being turned out and people laughing in cars as they slammed their doors shut heading home for the night. They didn’t see me, and they never would. The dark red suit, the gleam of my watch chain. It was invisible to them. It didn’t take long for me to find the door to a very large and haunted looking building just at the end of the street. The windows looked as empty eyes, watching over the city it was once part of. Now the front lawns were overgrown with weeds and the gate to its front drive padlocked with a large and rusty chain. The chain snapped as I approached, anticipating my entry. I pushed through the heavy doors, and found my way up several flights of stairs. In a single room, a light shown through an open door, illuminating the hallway outside of it but not much else. The shadow of a never-moving chair with a figure sitting as still as a statue crawled on the concrete floor in the dim light. I approached calmly and slowly. Not a sound escaped the room or the form slumped in the chair. “Claudia?” I inquired softly, breaking the silence, my voice reverberating against the empty walls. The figure did not make any notice it had heard me speak. I moved closer, entering the room. The single light source was an uncovered light bulb hanging in the center of the room. In a corner sat a dingy, broken down bed with restraints. My eyes traveled from this to the small form in the chair. A little girl with blonde curls with a red bow stared at the floor. “Claudia” I stated, a reprimanding tone to my voice. The little girl finally looked up at me with bright blue eyes. The eyes looked drowned, surrounded by days old tears. I reached in my pocket and took out my watch. I clicked my tongue as I shut it, and looked down at her. “Why come here, my dear?” I asked quietly, bending on my knees to eye level with the child. She looked me in the eyes. “I hate it.” she whispered, giving me the full hate in her stare. “Ah.” was all I said. I surveyed the room. Dingy and dirty, with cobwebs covering the ceiling. A new addition to the décor stated that Claudia was making her own statements here. Several insignificant, random words were scratched into the already chipping paint. “You know that’s not my fault.” I said lightly, standing to my full height. She hissed at me slightly and rose off the chair, grabbing a sharp, jagged piece of metal off the floor and continuing her scratching. “We haven’t got time for your works of art, Claudia.” I chastised, knocking the metal from her hand. She gave me a look full of venom. “You spent two years in this place when you were alive. I don’t see why you would come back.” I looked around with distaste. “Because they were here. You know this.” She narrowed her eyes at me. I clicked my tongue. “We have to be to the gate in an hour.” I informed her. She shook her head, her curls bouncing. She was a child demon. A work of pure evil. “You will come willingly or I will drag you. Either way, you’re entering the gate. I’ve had about enough of your antics these past few days.” I scorned. She crossed her arms defiantly, but as I started out of the room she slowly followed, leaving the light bulb to swing in its dingy, dark room alone. We made our way down the street, the leaves swirling around our feet as cars drove through us and past us, Claudia always 10 paces behind me. I heard her soft sobs as we made our journey. Just outside the town stood a dark hill with a white fence running down its center. I stopped at the bottom of this hill, and allowed her to catch up with me. By the time she met me at the bottom, her tears had dried up and only the faintest reminders remained on her cheeks. “Its time to go, my dear.” I said. Though the child was a wretch, I loved her. Maybe a small bit more than I loved most of my children. “Where am I going?” She asked faintly, gazing at the white gate. It looked nothing but ordinary, but she knew what awaited her just past it. “Something wonderful. Somewhere you can paint and draw and do whatever you would like. No one is going to feed you pills or force you to a bed, my dear. There will be no reason to scream.” She sniffled, and seemed to square herself. Without so much as a goodbye, she scaled the hill and pushed the gate open with one hand. She stepped through, and vanished. My Claudia. Insane, beautiful, and utterly loveable. I watched the spot for a moment, and then turned on heel towards the village once again. Laid out before me, the town slept beneath its steeple and its crescent moon, and as it did, its children slipped into my beautiful and loving embrace. Famine, accident, pestilence, and just the pure comfort of it all gave me my children. It was all in work of a simple night for Death.