Another Chance

It was a beautiful day, hot but beautiful.  Just the kind that the master of death liked.  He’d already extracted a 104 dead today. A busy day, so, to take a break, he was walking through a lively road. for now, he was a silent witness to the bustling crowd of the living. People with ambitions, with hope, dreams, with air still in their lungs, people who had something to live on for.

As he walked at a casual pace, rather unlikely for this particular road, a well-suited man stumbled into him.

“watch where you are going! I almost spilled my drink!”he said unapologetically and rushed forward.

The man had a meeting at 11 and it was already 10:55 the master knew that, he knew everything there ever was to know, but he couldn’t help the sudden anger he felt, so he kept walking forward, trying to calm down.

As he cornered onto a bright and colourful street, he heard a majestic laugh. He raised his head, and then he heard the laugh again.

His eyes scanned the crowd and suddenly stopped at the sight of her. Oh, she was still pretty, but now, with a speck of grey in her hair.with a shopping bag in one hand, wearing a beautiful red summer dress. She was on the phone, laughing. Her dimples now a mere part of the wrinkles on her face, her hair shorter than before. A lot had changed in her, but still, her laugh hadn’t aged a day. A smile spread across his face, yes, the master of death could smile. She was laughing with her husband.they had been married for 29 years now.

His smile widened as the woman walked closer. When she was close enough, he faced her and took a good look, she was in fact the girl he remembered as fresh as a second ago, even 53 years later.

In the fall of 1964, one fine day, He had been standing in an empty hospital doorway, waiting for a death, when he heard a laugh. It was the kind of laugh, that fills you with warm memories. The kind, that pulls people towards it. Even though he wasn’t a mere man, he waked towards the laugh to face a well lit room, with 4 or 5 people standing around a small bed, and there she was on the bed, a pretty 8 year old girl, laughing lke it was her last day.

Invisible to the crowd and smiling, he took a seat in the room, the girl had been laughing on some silly joke the father cracked. But it didn’t take a second look, to know she was in pain. The medicines on the side table were too much to count. Her family was grieving, but putting up a strong face. He looked outside and he saw a woman whispering with the nurses and then she started to cry. The master realized that it was the girl who was destined to die today. But one more look towards her and he knew she wanted to live. She wanted to have more time,more time to see the world. The girl had a crinkle of hope in her eyes, wanting to fight to live. She had the courage to fight for every last breath.

The master never liked extracting kids. It was painful, more painful than extracting the soul of a dead old man, who had lived his life to the fullest. their parents cling to the kids, unable to contemplate life witout their child. It was unbearable.

As he enjoyed the warmth of her laugh and the life she gave to the almost dead room, the master looked at his watch. It wasn’t any other watch. It was his watch. In the mere time he had enjoyed the warmth of this little girl, 15 other people were ready to be extracted from around the world. But he could wait. He had to wait.

Now, the watch was counting down to another death.he saw the watch counting down, a mere 5 seconds left . 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Soon the girl stopped laughing, and the master frowned, now missing the happiness.  She was choking on something and then, she coughed out blood. A horrified lady shrieked and called the nurses. The girl  started fighting for breath, discomfort and tears visible now. tears were now freely flowing down her mother’s eyes, and a nurse was trying to help her daughter, in vain of course. Her heartbeat, was going  fainter by the second. Now was the time, the master thought,  the time he was dreading.

He jumped towards the bed, and steretched his lanky arm out. But for the first time in a while, the master couldn’t do it, he couldn’t take her soul away. He just couldn’t  so he faced her, looked into her soul. A bright shiny colour. She shall live he thought. He met her teary eyes, whispered a soft “stay strong” in her ears, smiled at her and left without the soul.  

She was going to recover now, in pain but she was going to live. She had enough life in her to warm the master of death himself. Only  a few had that aura.

The master of death gave the girl a chance at life, a chance she deserved. The little girl had convinced the master to give her the chance.

And today, so many years later, he was facing her again. Contemplating what he did next.

The woman, once a dying little girl, now a strong and succesful women, walked forward and stumbled into the master.

“sorry …” she murmured and looked up.Suddenly, something clicked in the now, aged woman and she was  once again the little girl, the girl who convinced the master of death  that she was worth another shot. That she had to have a second chance.

She put the phone away and smiled. She worded a faint “thank you” and hugged him, he hugged her back, her warmth filling him once again. She stepped back, now visibly crying and then she walked away. She  moved on with her life, the life she deserved.