Grim Reaper's Bride

what I r

mmet downwards to the raging sea. The blue-blackness

o the abyss. There are no c

hael brandishes his flaming sword

his, brothe

ds before him. Razor thin. Pale as winter snow. He t

. The void yawns, grating its jowls. Its master smile

n." His voice is

ike a vise. The weakest crumple like smashe

wrath. He roars, and delivers the killing

whispers. He takes him by the heel. Lightning strikes fire as they embrac

kness. The void is sealed shut. They l

beg

h is

ld run, h

_

agged like ghosts in the wind. Muscles honed from years of training propelled me onwards as crisp autumn air filled my lungs, spiced with woodsmoke and loam. Ins

e!" coach had asked once in disbeli

ogs," I'

ques to the unimaginative, just like it was impossible to convey the sweetness of danger to the tamed. That beautiful fee

scrapes up and down my legs from the worn shingles. Thorns from the rosebush were lodged in my palms. Come morning, mom would float about in her dreamy state an

occurred to them to ask where my ever-growing collection of artifacts, feathers, and unusual stones came from. Parents could be oblivious, but mine were incredi

e path on tattered wings and soaring over my head. I reached into my jeans pocket and tossed a handful of dried Craisins its way. My offerings set it into a series of cackles as it swooped

urvival skills clipped from books and magazines. Pressed leaves and flowers dried

sited the forgotten lake and the ghost towns consumed by the woods.

girl. They think us defenseless, prey to rapists and murderers. Instead of teaching

isps and the smell of sweet, damp earth. Of what it is to navigate by stars an

time's eye. There were rusted belongings of Civil War soldiers, forgotten graves bordering an ancient basketball court. Even a small, secluded pond

t hopped over, defiantly plucking the food from my hand. I reached out and stroked its

reasoning in the world couldn't explain away. Tunes fluted in the dead of night, whispered voices that followed me down the winding paths. Ghostly eyes stared out from the darkness and

ing away thoughts of calculus tests and prison- or, as the polite called it, high

r snapped like the jaws of a lion as it burst into a pillar of flame. I'

stone foundation. The dead had outlasted the living; they greeted me with silent salutes, their worn graves

own to inspect a cracked stone angel. Her kudzu veil had been snipped away by phantom hands. Clippings littered the ground.

o one knew thi

acing its spikes and whorls. The church's ruins twined with trees at the fence's end, its mossy walls reaching a story into the s

w remained, masking the moon in the milky blues of a harping angel. A great granite slab rested at i

t. I could almost see the rotted pews filled as the

Virginians to church on Sunday. The clopping of hooves intensified and I tried to erase them from my m

t's why I wandered around the woods when any sane person would be asleep. Nex

, pawing the ground be

whispered, not wan

sprang off the rock, eyes shooting open. Through the stained glass I saw a black shado

e body and a tasseled brocade. Black curtains obscured its interior.

followed its reins to the hands that held them, but my vision grew dim when I tried to see what sat atop the sad

h the ruins. I felt his eyes burn my back, sweeping up and down as the rider studied me. I scampered over the boulder and ducked, peeping out o

ife, a lighter... there was absolutely nothing to defend myself with. Trembling, I clut

breath grew strained with panic. "I mean, c'mon. This is beyond all reaso

eadlamp like laser beams: the bulb sizzle

sighed, beginning to hyperventilate a

existent) hills? Pretend I'm a tree and hope his night vision sucked? Because I hig

y knife, at a loss for how to use it. "Crap, no. The handle goes this way

the rider would surely catch me. He'd have much more diffi

e rider's gaze rooted me to my spot. I felt his cold stare on my flickering

l. The horse stepped over the ledge, silver-shod hooves clacking on the grassy stone floor. I choked as

ones gleaming beneath its skin. It sniffed the air and whinn

mouth curling into a condescending smile that revealed sharp teeth. The rider pulle

eak, I could barely even breathe. The shadow-cloaked rider dismounted, stroked the horse and threw its reins to the broken window. They snaked through cracks in the

drils of darkness snaked towards me from his shadowy robe,

my hand, bringing it to the rider's outstretched palm. He examined it, tracing the blade, then closed it li

broke his hold on me and I

! What are you?" I cried,

y of a human's, pinprick pupils amidst pools of crimson. With pains

ce dr

sus," I w

te skull grinn

ove." It

over, in