The cool, crisp morning air stings my nose as I jog through the park on a chilly autumn morning. I can hear my heart beating though my pounding music. The warmth of my face competes with the breeze as I push through my last quarter mile. I quicken my pace as I charge towards the fountain; my end marker that I’ve used for years. I gasp for the burning cold air to fill my lungs as I slow down to stop. I look down and smile as I notice that I’ve beat my record time. I grab each ankle one at a time from behind to stretch out my worn muscles. The tightness feels good as I tilt my head up to the sun and close my eyes to absorb the warmth of the early morning sun rise. After the stretch is over, I open my eyes to something unusual. Most people aren’t out this early in the morning, none the less two of them.

The two men stand a small distance apart. The man closest to me looks as if he just finished a run as well and he’s gathering his belongings below. He takes no notice of the man behind him. The second man stands as still as a statue. His electric blue eyes are fixed on the man as he reaches out his hand and touches the first man on the shoulder. Yet, the first man takes no notice. He grabs his things and jogs up the stairs to the street. The second man is still standing there looking up at the man, with a facial expression somewhere in between a smile and a grimace. He still stands there without any emotion as if he were waiting for something or as if he were frozen.

All of a sudden, there was a large crash from above. The man is no longer standing frozen but gives his head a slight nod and silently glides effortlessly up the steps. I bolt up after him, frantic to see what happened and then I freeze. A brand new black BMW was crashed into a telephone pole, trapping the runner I saw no more than two minutes ago. I look around and the second man was nowhere to be found. It was as if he vanished into thin air. I hear the piercing noise of police sirens. Before I know it, I’m bombarded with questions concerning the accident, but all I can do is shake my head. I’m not sure what happened, but I kept what I saw about the second man to myself. Soon after, the police let me go.

I went home and prepared myself for the day. Thursdays were the only days that I didn’t have class, so I treated myself by going shopping into town before my friends and I go to the lake tonight. The streets are alive with people enjoying the last bit of the warmth before winter strikes. I find myself going into my favorite coffee store to get my morning pick me up. As I leave, I glance across the street. The second man from the morning was standing there, staring at me. I look around, and people are flooding around me, but he never takes his eyes off of me. He raises his hand and wiggles his pale fingers slightly in a small wave. Perplexed, I wave back. His eyes widen and his mouth tightens into a thin line.

His hair moved slightly in the breeze, but other than that, he was motionless. We stood there for what seemed like forever. I studied his pale face, searching for answers. His blue eyes were as deep as oceans and they were lined by thick, black lashes. His hair was as black as night; the straight wisps tickle his eyebrows. He’s exceptionally tall; towering over most people. His clothes matched his hair as they hung on his lean body. I took a step towards him, but he shook his head and disappeared into the crowd. I dropped my coffee and ran over to the other side of the street, pushing people out of the way. I scanned and searched, but he was nowhere to be seen, just as before, he had vanished into thin air. I shake my head and decide I need to lie down. I jog to my dorm and lock myself away. Exhaustion overcomes me as I collapse onto the bed.

A few hours later, I’m being awoken by my roommate. She tells me that it’s time to go to the lake. My veins feel like they’re filled with sludge as I trudge out of bed and into the bathroom. I look into the mirror and stare at my sandy blonde hair. It’s a mess, so I sigh and put it up into a bun. I put makeup on over the dark circles under my cloudy grey eyes. My golden brown skin glows under my white tank top. I hear a knock at the door and I know that it’s time to leave.

My friends and I hop onto the bus that’s taking us away in celebration of the three day weekend. The crowded bus finally arrives at Lake Casus and all the students pour out of it. My friends Liam and Noah start the bonfire as everyone else jumps into the lake, filling the area with screams of joy. After a while, everyone separates into their usual cliques. The jocks and popular boys stand in the field opening with the sorority girls not far away. Everyone else clusters around the fire or lays on the towels and blankets we all laid out. Tables with food and drinks create the perimeter around the lake.

I get up off of the blanket and reach for the clouds as I stretch. I look over the jocks and see the man again. He stands there silently with his hand on one of the jock boys’ shoulder. His eyes are on the ground as he’s saying something to himself. Oliver has no idea what’s going on. He’s laughing and flashing his bright white teeth. I stare with my mouth open until Charlotte taps me on the shoulder.

“Hello? Earth to Lux. Stop drooling over Oliver,” she says to me with a wink.

“Do you see the guy behind Oliver?” I turn to her and whisper.

“Who? There’s no one there, honey. Are you okay? You seem a little off today.”

I whip my head over to discover that he was no longer there. Am I going crazy? Does he even exist? This can’t be happening. My thoughts prance through my head at a million miles an hour. I close my eyes and take a deep breath.

“I’m okay. I’m just really tired. All that nap did was make me feel worse. I think I’m going to go for a walk.”

“Do you want company? I can go with you.” I shake my head. “Okay, let me know if you need anything. The bus leaves in two hours. Be safe!” Charlotte calls out to me as I begin walking away. I slip on my flip flops and head towards the trees.

Greenery encloses me in silence. There’s nothing here but me. The scent of pine smacks my nose with an unexpected force. I keep walking and with each step, the clouds are lifted off of my thoughts. I hear the slight roar of the waterfall. I push a few more low branches out of my way and I see the beauty that takes my breath away. The water cascades over the cliffs and plunges hundreds of feet below into a white mist. I hear rustle behind me, and I turn around to see him.

I gasp and let out a small scream. He puts a finger to his lips to silence me. A chill rushes down my spine that I can’t contain. He notices this and lets out a small chuckle. He steps back a little bit, and I let out the breath that I didn’t realize I was still holding.

“Who…who are you?” I stammer. He gives a small smile.

“You can really see me,” he sighs.

“Of course I can.”

“Well then how rude of me. My name is Nox,” he gives a slight bow with a wider smile. His voice was smooth like velvet. “I see that you want to be alone. I’ll leave you be now. See you around,” he turned away.

“Wait!” I called after him.

He stops and turns his head towards me. “I’d rather not,” and he continues on. I run after him, determined not to let him get away. I grab his arm, which in contrast to his pale skin, was extremely warm. I turn him around so he’s facing me.

“Who are you?” I ask him again.

“I told you, I’m Nox. Now the question is; who are you?”

“My name is Lux,” I said quietly, still not letting him go.

“That’s a lovely name. Now if you don’t mind, I have business to attend to. Adieu, Mademoiselle,” he jerks his arm free of my grasp, but as he’s about to leave, Oliver appears.

“Lux!” He yells. “There you are! Why are you out here by yourself? You could get hurt. Charlotte told me that you weren’t feeling well,” he rambled on. I try not to show any emotion as I feel Nox by my side. His warm breaths gently move my hair.

“Let’s get back, okay? Let’s go home,” he walks towards me. I didn’t realize how close I was to the cliffs until he moved closer to me. Of course the cliffs are slippery as the waterfall slices through them. Oliver reaches out his hand and slips on a rock. He fell sideways towards the downward slope. I jerked towards him to grab his hand to help him, but Nox’s hand firmly grabs my waist so I can’t move to help Oliver. The last thing I see before I faint is Oliver tumbling over the side of the cliff. I hear my own distant scream as I fade away into darkness.

I jolt awake from my sleep only to see my dark and empty dorm. I’m drenched in sweat and panting. My eyes adjust to the darkness and I see a tall, shadowed figure. A long arm extends and hands me a glass of water.

“Welcome back,” Nox’s voice greets me. I take a sip of the cool water and feel it slide down my dehydrated throat.

“What happened? Where’s Oliver?” I inquire.

“Oliver slipped off of the cliff, and if I didn’t hold you back, you would have too. You passed out shortly after he fell. Your friends heard your scream and took you back here. Everyone is down at the lake looking for Oliver’s body. I’m sorry you had to see your friend die. Were you two close?”

“We’ve known each other since our freshman year of high school. We became friends when I tutored him in math. We’d practically been inseparable since then. Wait, why am I telling you this? You let him die! You could have saved him! I could have saved him! You didn’t let me. Who are you to determine who lives and who dies? You killed him,” I choked out the last few words as the hot tears spill over my eyes.

“Correction: he slipped and fell. I didn’t do that. As I said before, if you would have gone after him, you would have slipped and died too. Better one dead than two. If one is meant to die, no one should intervene, including me. It goes against the laws of nature. There’s a balance in the world; a balance that must not be disturbed. You understand that don’t you?” He glides over and sits next to me on my bed, wiping the tears off my face. I pull away from him and jump out of bed.

“How did you even get into my room? Get out! I don’t care about the balance of nature! He was my best friend for years! Now leave me alone! I don’t want to see you again!” I scream. I closed my eyes and faced the window until I heard him move off of the bed and hear the click of the door closing behind him. I crawl back into bed and pull the covers over my head and sob myself to sleep.

When I wake up again, it’s light outside. I roll over and see a letter sitting on the pillow next to me. The handwriting is beautiful. It’s almost as if it was typed rather than written. Each letter was carefully written and is identical to the others.
Meet me at the courtyard tonight at midnight. I’ll explain everything.








-N

Should I let him explain? There’s something about him that I can’t describe, but I want to know. I get out of bed and pull my running clothes on. The running will clear my head, I know it will. I open the door and head down to my normal route.

From then on, the day went on to be as normal as it could. Everyone was still searching, but I couldn’t bring myself to join them. I practically locked myself in my room to study and do work all day. Eleven o’clock rolled around and I knew that I had to make a choice of whether or not to go meet Nox. He felt vaguely familiar, and deep down I understood that if I didn’t meet him, I would find him lurking in the shadows of my dorm again. I throw on warm clothes to prepare for the coldness that the night brings. I look at my watch and head downstairs to the courtyard.

I see him right away and slow my pace. He sees me and smiles slightly in the dark.

“I’m glad you came. I realize that everything must be confusing. As in why you are the only one that can see me,” he smirks at the last part. “Believe me, it’s rare. As in, few can see us.”

“Us as in who? What are you? There are more of you?” I ask incredulously. I can see him nod slightly.

“You most commonly see out types as something dark and wicked. Usually, they are skeletons and cloaks, carrying a scythe. Only the elders are like this. There are about 3 of them left, hence why I’m here.”

“Wait…you’re Death. As in the Grim Reaper.” I felt as if I was going to faint again. He was instantly by my side, holding me up. I shake and push him away. “So it is your fault that Oliver is dead. You’re the reason why I won’t see him again. Don’t give me anymore of this ‘he slipped’ nonsense.”

He shook his head. “I don’t choose who dies. I follow orders. As I told you before, there’s a balance. Unfortunately, some people get the short end of the stick and end up on the negative side. There’s nothing I can do to stop it once it has been ordered. Even if I wasn’t the one to complete the request, another one of us would, and then I would get into trouble.”

“I don’t care, you’re a monster,” I said icily. I turn around to flee, but he’s in front of me again and looks down at me.

“Aren’t you curious why I seem familiar? Why you can’t quite place where you’ve seen me? Something else you can’t quite explain that draws you to me?” I freeze but nod my head once.

“I age just like everyone else. I’m as old as I look, which is why the elders look like skeletons. I grew up with you; across the street to be exact. We were best friends up until I was in a car accident our freshman year. I was given a choice, to live and do my duty to keep the balance of nature, or to die and take my chances. I chose this, not quite grasping what it was. When I accepted, every memory of me was erased. I vanished from existence. No one can see me. No one can see any of us. You’re the exception. Only those with such a strong connection before one of them die can see the other. Even with a strong connection, it’s rare; practically a myth. If someone were to walk over here, you’d look like you’re insane, standing out here by yourself, talking to yourself.” He chuckled. I could feel the warmth radiate off of him as he reached for my hand and put it in between both of his.

“I know that it’s a lot to take in. I have to go soon. Duty calls, you know,” he smiled, showing his perfect white teeth.

“How does it work? How do you know who you’re assigned to?” I asked him.


“I don’t know who I’m assigned to. You just know when you have someone to go to. You feel this tug as if you have to leave and then you let yourself disappear and be pulled towards some outside force. And then all of a sudden, you’re behind the person you have to kill. I have to place my hand on their back or shoulder and say an incantation that let’s nature know that it’s her turn to take action. That’s all I do. Nature does the rest. She decides how the person dies. I must go now,” he placed a small kiss on my forehead and then disappears into the night.

Since that night, we saw each other often. Our relationship is a secret that no one would ever know. There’s nothing we can do to make this easier, but I slowly fell in love with him. Deep down we knew it would have to end so we lived every moment together to the maximum that it could be.

I found myself in a parking garage looking for my keys when I felt someone behind me; a relatively small distance. I turned around slowly to find Nox. His eyes shattered the moment he saw my face. My mouth hung open and my body turned to ice.

“Save me…please,” I whispered as matching tears fell down our faces. That was the last time I ever saw him; Nox, the Prince of Death.