Creative Writing: A Game with Death
A Game with Death
by Ryan R3C
“Hey, get up, do you have something for me?”
“What?” Lucas groggily responded while squinting his eyes at a figure in front of him, blinded by the man’s lamp.
“You have something for me.” The cloaked figure mumbled as he stood over Lucas, lightly tapping the grip of an oar he was holding at Lucas’ pocket.
Lucas reached into his pant pocket and found four gold coins which had a symbol of a snake on one, a pig on the second, a bird on the third and a torch on the fourth. He reached out handing over the coins to the figure that had a seemingly void for a face beneath his hood.
“Get up, walk with me.” The figure said while taking a step forward. Lucas could hear the rocky shore crunch beneath his feet while a deep and dank musk crept into every crevice of his nose. The surrounding darkness swallowed the landscape with only small glimpses of shimmering reflections bouncing off the glassy black stone that walled in the rocky shores.
“Where am I? I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck, who are you?”
“A train, actually, but you’re exactly where you should be.” The hooded man’s cold monotone voice felt oddly comforting. “I’ve had many names, but you may call me Death.”
As they walked along the shore, a small decrepit shack peeked its way out of the darkness and was illuminated with a torch above its door. As Death and Lucas stopped in front it, a window swung open making Lucas jump back, a grotesque amphibian like creature poked its head out under the dim torch light.
“Got a jumper today huh?” He let out a gravely chuckle. “The usual?”
“The usual.” Death sighed and flipped the creature the torch embossed coin. The creature threw a bag to the floor with a big grin, slamming the window shut.
“Pick it up, let’s go.”
Lucas grabbed the bag and did a quick inventory check for what was inside and saw a couple small pieces of bread, a key, and a small hatchet. Lucas’ stomach growled uncontrollably as he attacked a piece of bread like a ravenous animal.
“What will I need these for?” Somehow managing to ask in between shoveling food in his mouth and gasping for air.
“You may have figured by now that you are no longer apart of the living, and unfortunately your soul was left unsettled. We are going to have to play a game to decide which way your soul will rest. What is also unfortunate is this is not an easy or comfortable journey; these will help you reach the hall of judgement.”
Lucas nodded despondently, wiped the crumbs from his face, and stored the excess food for later. This place made him feel odd, he wasn’t scared but wasn’t comfortable, nervous yet not unsettled, it was like it pulled all his feeling in every direction so there was no heading for an emotional compass.
How did I get here? I can’t remember anything. Fragments of memories poison me. Hazy images of kissing my wife goodbye before leaving to work, my daughter waving at me through the window, the god-awful song on the car radio and the –
A strange but canine like bark followed by a whimper startled Lucas back into reality. He looked down and pacing in circles was a small creature with a stubby nose and back legs too big for its own good. He looked emaciated and sick, and he fought to keep his head looking up at Lucas from pure exhaustion. Lucas backed away, startled by the sight of this creature. He dropped his bag, spilling its contents in front of him. The creature sniffed at the bread, Lucas lunged forward smacking it across the nose to grab the bread. The canine winced by in pain, cowering its head between its shoulders and took off into the darkness.
As Lucas peered through the landscapes vacuum of darkness trying to spot the creature, he heard Death in a solemn mumble.
“Failed.”
Death took a small abnormal and deformed skull trinket out of his tattered dark robe and pulled the bird coin from his other pocket. He pressed the coin into the left socket of the skull, causing primitive tattoo like lines to light up and dance around the contour of the skull. It was at that moment that Lucas realized he was not heading to a place to play a game of judgement, he was playing now, and he was already losing.
“I charge two coins to get the hall, without full payment you will wander the riverbank till your body eventually becomes the shore.”
Lucas’ face ran as white as the bones he was crawling on, realizing these weren’t rocks and gravel at all. It had to have been millions, if not billions of people that passed through and failed to be able to cover these banks. Death motioned Lucas to get up, wiping the bone dust from his knees with his eyes staring down at his bare feet in shame.
They eventually came to a stop where a smaller river ran into the main one, Death place his paddle into a slot which raised a bridge of rocks from the river floor.
“The shore of hungry ghost, the home of those who long but can never reach and are unsatisfied with unsatisfaction. Keep your things close, and your wits closer,” said Death.
People covered the shore, their dark blue cracked skin scraped and crawled over one another like maggots out to dinner. Their wailing moans were accompanied by the light jingle of chains that kept the limbs bound to nothing but the weight of themselves. Reaching out for something, anything that could possibly make them feel content.
Along the path was a man with a crude animal trap plunged into his knee. He didn’t look like the others, his skin was mostly normal besides a few bruises and cuts, long hair and beard that was stark white, but not from age but shock. Lucas slowed his walk as they approached, taking a step behind Death.
“Please, help me. I don’t belong here. It isn’t fair. I did nothing.” The man pleaded while placing his palms to his face, exposing his fingernails that were torn away to the base from scraping and clawing at the trap. Lucas peered around Death’s robe and a small keyhole on the trap caught his eye, he peeked up through the corner of his brow at Death and the void of Death looked back into him. He took a deep breath and puffed up his chest, while pulling his bag around his shoulder, digging inside to try and find the key.
This must be another test.
He inserted the key into the keyhole and with a rusty clank the lock came unhinged and the trap swung open. Suddenly, the man darted up and ran directly towards Lucas, knocking him to ground and unleashing a fury of punches and kicks, beating Lucas like a small child while laughing manically. Lucas couldn’t fight back the series of blows, feeling himself slowly slip into unconsciousness.
“I love you Daddy, please don’t leave.” The sounds of hospital equipment beeping slowed down to a cerebral thump, as a train horn blares and shattering glass jarred Lucas awake again.
“No good deed goes unpunished.” Death said as he pushed in the pig embossed coin into the skull trinket’s right eye socket and the markings on it started to glow blue.
“You knew! You knew he would attack me, wait, where’s my bag!” Lucas got up shouting in Death’s should be face on his tippy toes. Death stared back with his shoulders and chest moving up and down which could only be assumed as laughing, making no audible noise. Lucas fell to the ground.
So that’s it, I’m done. I can’t finish without the bag. I might as well pick a nice spot of the riverbank to turn into eternity.
“Get up, let’s keep going,” Death said.
The farther they walked, the shore of the river opened wider and wider where eventually the mounds of hungry ghost looked like a dead wheat field blowing in the wind. In the distance Lucas spots a small torch on a post and a small reflection bouncing off a wall. He took a few steps closer and he could see that river goes into a tunnel and the torch was lighting a dock and a boat.
“We’re almost at the end now, aren’t we?” Lucas asked, but Death took no notice. He collapsed to the floor as tears welled into his eyes, reminiscing over every memory of his old life. His wife, his daughter, the hospitals, and the bills.
If only I would have just made food at home, not argue about going out, everything would be fine. If only the guy didn’t drink and drive, my baby would be fine. My sweet Mary, I’m so sorry to leave you all alone like this, but we would be buried in bills for the rest of our lives. Now you and Angie can collect the insurance, get the best treatment you can get, pay everything off, and have a normal life like you deserve, at least whatever is left of it. It’s all my fault, I deserve to never see you again.
That same maniacal laugh in the distance breaks his somber mood and the feeling of rage boiled up inside of him. He sees the silhouette of the man leaving the dock and he takes off in a full sprint. As he comes within feet of him he leaps forward, tackling him to the ground and they go rolling. Fighting for control as Lucas lets out a series of blows to the man’s face and eventually coming to a stop under the torch light. Lucas gets a better look and sees him. The drunk driver, the man who ruined his life. He didn’t have the hair or the beard then, but the scar on his face was unforgettable. Lucas grabbed him by his ragged shirt collar and slammed him against the boat, the man’s eyes and smile widened. A cold breeze brushed across the back of Lucas’ neck as he felt Deaths presence beside him, his arm extended and the hatchet in his hand.
Lucas grabs the hatchet from Death and holds it above his head. He winds back and with one swift and ferocious motion, he turns and plunges the hatchet into Death’s head. A gust of wind rips through the area kicking up dust and sand as the maniac’s body disintegrates into it.
A black smoke envelops Lucas’ body as he feels his flesh being torn away from muscle, his bones break and rejoin repeatedly, feeling his body turn more beast than man. The smoke clears and he looks down and sees his hands cracked and torn. He reaches into his newly fitted robe, pulls the skull trinket and snake coin out and plunges it into the left socket, turning the skull a deep blood red.
“Now I will see my family, one last time.”
