Chapter XLIII:

I have been seeing them everywhere. I see them even now. They are at their worst when there is a war. The Civil War was the first time I saw them. That old lady with the apples was one the first one.

No sooner had I gotten home, there was a someone standing at my door. I couldn’t make out who it was at first. I hadn’t seen Maddie since Christmastime. I doubted that she knew exactly where I lived.

I slowly approached my house. The figure lifted his head when he saw me.

“Who are you?” I asked. The figure didn’t respond.

“Hello?” I asked. “What are you doing here? Who are you?” A light breeze blew past my ears. I slowed down my steps. I held the apples to my chest.

“Can you please leave?” I asked. The figure didn’t move. By now, I got a better look at them. This figure didn’t have a face. There was a hood, but no face. I could see through the rest of the body. I took a step back.

“Who are you?” I asked again. They held their finger to where their mouth should be. I complied at first. But then I got angry. Who was this faceless person? Why the hell were they here?

“Excuse me! Who the hell are you?! What do you want from me?!” I asked. The figure put up their finger again.

“Don’t do that!” I snapped. “What are you doing here?!” The wind grew louder over my head. A pair of hands rested on my shoulders. Against my better judgement, I looked out of the corner of my eye. I could only see a teethy grin. Oh no… Not this again.

When I looked forward again, the figure was staring at me. It was then I noticed that the hands were pale and bony. Don’t tell me…

“Stand down,” a woman’s voice said. I whipped my head around. There she was again. Luna seemed to be floating from off the ground. She didn’t have any emotion in her eyes. I felt myself trembling with rage.

“Did you do this?” I asked. She didn’t answer me. Luna turned the figure standing at my door.

“It’s too soon for him,” she said. “He is not the one. Away with you.” The figure vanished into thin air. I turned to Luna.

“Who was that?” I asked.

“Death,” she said. “But I will not let him take you.” It took a while for me to get what she was saying.

“And not you either!” Luna shouted over my shoulder. I turned to see another old woman in rags dragging herself towards me with her cane. She stopped in place and disappeared. I turned back to see Luna smiling at me. She waved at me.

“See you around,” she said. Luna vanished into a smoky haze. I stared at the empty space where she originally was. A small flash of anger built up inside of me. She should’ve let death take me then. Those two old spirits weren’t going to be last that I saw during this war. It would only get worse with Maddie and her siblings. I just wished I could’ve seen it before it was too late. Maybe then, I could’ve stopped it in time. But things didn’t turn out that way, did they? Otherwise… Yeah…