She Dared To Live

She Dared To Live

by Michael Reyneke

The wind, the wind is blowing.

Samantha staggers to her grave and collapses. “I must be the only ghost that totters and falls to pieces,” Sam announces to the graveyard. She turns to rest her back against the crumbling stone. “I am told to wait, so I wait.” She looks around this forsaken corner; no one visits her stone. Roots and vines play on the headstones while rotting leaves sniff ammonia.

With a gnarled hand, she touches the vegetation on her headstone. The green creepers and brown roots wither and die to reveal the inscription “Sam Dared to Live.” Below it, the dates are May 1924 – Jan 1940.

“Why did they not put a day in May and not a day in January? Did my days count for nothing?”

At the far corner, she spots a light. At last, someone comes.

Through the graves, the wind is blowing.

She twists. She watches the approaching apparition. The light from a lantern fades and brightens among the headstones. She shudders, tumbles across her grave, and waits for it to come closer.

“Freedom will soon come, Samantha.” She feels the words pass through her.

“I wait for Him. Who are you, and why do you dress like that?” Samantha shivers. “And what’s with the scythe?”

“I am Death,” He breathes over her shriveled ghost lying on the grave. “I have to look the part,” He shrugs.

“That’s silly.”

“Do you know why I’m here?”

“No. I’m sure you’ll tell me.”

“Your crippled ghost has walked, no, staggered and stumbled, the earth long enough. Today, I took the last person who knew you. All who knew you are now dead. So, your ghost returns to the grave to be content and happy. Your body will find a new life. Live it well.”

“It’s about time, Death. What took you so long?”

Samantha gives up her body and ghost without a whimper.

Then we’ll come from the shadows.