I had a dream last night but it was more like the shadow, too awake to delve deeply into its world yet still interesting all the same. It started at a party, an arisocratic event from the turn of the century.
There were lots of fancy dressed snobs chortling over jokes that were not funny who felt obligated to laugh at anyways and the music of a string quartet wafting from room to room. The focus of the occasion was a woman by the name of Sarah who was holding this gathering as a way to try and bolster favor from the politians and those with influence to support her cause (of which wasn't mentioned in the dream). All and all the party seemed to go over well and after her obligations to her guests were finished and the last group of stuffed shirt vultures left for the evening, she retired upstairs and flopped on her bed.
Her mind drifted to thoughts of her husband away fighting in the war, wishing he was here. If John was back from the war, perhaps all this pomp and circumstance with of these gatherings would no longer be necessary. It's tiring work playing pretend to a room full of people I could care less about, she thought while kicking off her shoes and stretching. There was an unexpected grunt from the darkness as her shoe struck something with a soft "thunk" sound. She sat up and strained her eyes to see what was there and to her shock something with dim glowing violet eyes stared back at her. The big dark thing shifted in the darkness and blinked. Her shoe skittered across the floor towards her. Unaware of herself doing this, she roseto her feet and felt frozen to the spot, her lips trembled caught between screaming and saying, what are you? Almost as if it read her mind a silky deep voice answered. "I'm sure you are wondering what I am or perhaps wanting to run away or scream. I assure you, I get that a lot." The creature slipped from the shadows and stretched. It looked like a large black dog with shaggy fur and a long tufted tail like that of a lion. It slinked into a red velvet squashy arm chair and reclined in it, hind legs crossed looking almost human. She watched him intently, catching a faint flash of what appeared to be bat wings, thinking to herself what a strange creature indeed! Without realizing it, Sarah was standing there stiffly clutching the ruffles of her dress over her heart with her mouth open as if still trying to scream or say something.
Her mind drifted to thoughts of her husband away fighting in the war, wishing he was here. If John was back from the war, perhaps all this pomp and circumstance with of these gatherings would no longer be necessary. It's tiring work playing pretend to a room full of people I could care less about, she thought while kicking off her shoes and stretching. There was an unexpected grunt from the darkness as her shoe struck something with a soft "thunk" sound. She sat up and strained her eyes to see what was there and to her shock something with dim glowing violet eyes stared back at her. The big dark thing shifted in the darkness and blinked. Her shoe skittered across the floor towards her. Unaware of herself doing this, she roseto her feet and felt frozen to the spot, her lips trembled caught between screaming and saying, what are you? Almost as if it read her mind a silky deep voice answered. "I'm sure you are wondering what I am or perhaps wanting to run away or scream. I assure you, I get that a lot." The creature slipped from the shadows and stretched. It looked like a large black dog with shaggy fur and a long tufted tail like that of a lion. It slinked into a red velvet squashy arm chair and reclined in it, hind legs crossed looking almost human. She watched him intently, catching a faint flash of what appeared to be bat wings, thinking to herself what a strange creature indeed! Without realizing it, Sarah was standing there stiffly clutching the ruffles of her dress over her heart with her mouth open as if still trying to scream or say something.
"I am Nezbeth, an incarnation of death. Scream if you would like don't hold it back on my behalf if it would make you feel better, I'm sure you would have rather preferred a sugar plum fairy." He looked up at her, almost expecting to hear a sound of some sort yet when none came, the creature Nezbeth's lips curled into a smile. With a flick of his paw, a puff of black smoke materialized a cup, saucer, spoon, and a small simmering teapot suspended in midair.
"You are Death?" she asked, finally finding her breath again to speak.
"Thank you for entering the conversation. No, I am not Death. I just exist as an incarnation of Him."
"I don't understand. What does that mean exactly?"
"Basically it means when someone is going to die and Death is too busy to do the deed himself, he sends me. I was made to serve Death."
"So... I'm going to die?" Sarah asked, almost too afraid to think it could be true.
"No, actually I am here for tea. If you were dying, I doubt I would ask if you would like one lump of sugar or two?" His violet eyes glinted with a hint of laughter.
Sarah's shock lessened, her stiff limbs and rigid posture eased up enough allowing her to sink to sit upon the bed. As she took a cup offered to her, she took a deep breath, the smell the tea melted her anxiety. The aroma of the tea smelled that of chamomile and nutmeg. She smiled feeling more relaxed, as if, having a big black dog of death in her room was something that happened every day. How had this creature known that this type of tea was one of her favorites?
"Could I have one lump of sugar, please?"
He was happy to oblige, his tail curled over the arm of the armchair twitched contentedly. Despite the initial shock, it wasn't often in his experience to find someone so willing to sit with him. Perhaps this was, as he looked into those eyes, a woman who had grown accustomed to death or was expecting ill gotten news. He watched her a few minutes more sipping his tea, considering what to say next.
