Molasses #2 - Wrong Side Of The Tracks with Whipped Cream
Author: etacanis
Challenge: Molasses 2 - Wrong Side Of The Tracks with Whipped Cream
Rating: PG.
Story: Among The Strays
Word count: 436
Summary: Vidkt's first meeting with Death.
Vidkt shivered as he took tentative steps through the knee high water. Once, the first time his mother had forced him through the barrier, it had been up to his waist. He wasn't really sure he'd live to see the day that he was tall enough for it not to bother him.
Bridges spanned the length of it, but the one time he'd tried to cross, he'd come away with nastier burns than the River gave him. They weren't for him. None of this was for him, but his mother snapped every time he mentioned that. Death wasn't for the living, but it was for the brave, and that's what she wanted him to be, right? A hero.
Personally, Vidkt didn't feel very heroic bundled up in his warmest jacket and still freezing. He didn't even have a body to freeze here, but the cold still bit at him.
"Hello." Vidkt spun around, water splashing up his legs. Nobody spoke here. Sure, there were screams, endless, endless screams. But nobody spoke. Nobody had spoken, if he was honest. Did cloaked skeletons floating in mid air count as somebodies?
"Hi." He tried to hide the fact he was shaking. He tried to blame it on the fact he was cold. He tried to resist the urge to run away screaming because he knew who this nobody was, but his mother had never warned him that they might meet. What fourteen year old was ready to meet...
"I'm Death." Vidkt had hoped he wouldn't say that. "And you're Vidkt, and a bit young to be in here."
"Mother insists..." He was talking to Death. If he had a body, he might have fainted.
"I don't believe I've seen your Mother in here." If Death had eyebrows, Vidkt thought he might have been raising one. "I like to keep an eye on things."
"She thinks it's creepy." Death turned his head, looking around him. The River, Death, was endless. There was nothing on either side, save for small banks and the many smaller rivers. Everything was shrouded in grey. The screams, the souls you could see in the river, the stronger murae who could walk...
"She has a point." Death turned back to look at Vidkt. "You might get sick if you're here for much longer. You best get home."
"I'll...do that." Vidkt nodded, his hand already reaching for his medallion.
"Farewell, Vidkt. Tell your mother I said hello." Death disappeared before Vidkt's eyes. Moments later, so did the River, and he was looking up into his mother's eyes.
"Death says hello," He managed to say. Then, he fainted.
Challenge: Molasses 2 - Wrong Side Of The Tracks with Whipped Cream
Rating: PG.
Story: Among The Strays
Word count: 436
Summary: Vidkt's first meeting with Death.
Vidkt shivered as he took tentative steps through the knee high water. Once, the first time his mother had forced him through the barrier, it had been up to his waist. He wasn't really sure he'd live to see the day that he was tall enough for it not to bother him.
Bridges spanned the length of it, but the one time he'd tried to cross, he'd come away with nastier burns than the River gave him. They weren't for him. None of this was for him, but his mother snapped every time he mentioned that. Death wasn't for the living, but it was for the brave, and that's what she wanted him to be, right? A hero.
Personally, Vidkt didn't feel very heroic bundled up in his warmest jacket and still freezing. He didn't even have a body to freeze here, but the cold still bit at him.
"Hello." Vidkt spun around, water splashing up his legs. Nobody spoke here. Sure, there were screams, endless, endless screams. But nobody spoke. Nobody had spoken, if he was honest. Did cloaked skeletons floating in mid air count as somebodies?
"Hi." He tried to hide the fact he was shaking. He tried to blame it on the fact he was cold. He tried to resist the urge to run away screaming because he knew who this nobody was, but his mother had never warned him that they might meet. What fourteen year old was ready to meet...
"I'm Death." Vidkt had hoped he wouldn't say that. "And you're Vidkt, and a bit young to be in here."
"Mother insists..." He was talking to Death. If he had a body, he might have fainted.
"I don't believe I've seen your Mother in here." If Death had eyebrows, Vidkt thought he might have been raising one. "I like to keep an eye on things."
"She thinks it's creepy." Death turned his head, looking around him. The River, Death, was endless. There was nothing on either side, save for small banks and the many smaller rivers. Everything was shrouded in grey. The screams, the souls you could see in the river, the stronger murae who could walk...
"She has a point." Death turned back to look at Vidkt. "You might get sick if you're here for much longer. You best get home."
"I'll...do that." Vidkt nodded, his hand already reaching for his medallion.
"Farewell, Vidkt. Tell your mother I said hello." Death disappeared before Vidkt's eyes. Moments later, so did the River, and he was looking up into his mother's eyes.
"Death says hello," He managed to say. Then, he fainted.