A Haunting Challenge
It's
Halloween, the one night I roam the Earth. It was my decision to leave this
world. I was sure it would solve all my problems. I was wrong. Regardless, one
fateful Halloween night, I walked into the ocean. Now I rise at 12:01 a.m. and
return at 11:59 p.m. every year on that same day, Halloween.
I pray
for the day my soul will finally be released, the day my problems will indeed
be solved, but that can only happen after I pay penance for my error.
You see,
suicide is wrong. It goes against all the laws of man and God. I knew this but
didn't fully believe it. So yes, I committed the ultimate sin.
Given two
options, hellfire for eternity or heaven, I chose forgiveness even though I knew a penance was due.
The devil
would gladly accept my soul, he's told me so, but I want to prove that I'm
worthy of God's grace, and the only way I can achieve that is to keep one
hundred other people from doing the deed I accomplished. Since I died on
Halloween night, it's the only night I can return to Earth to save like-minded
souls.
Not an
easy task as I am the way death has left me. Getting folks to accept a bloated
corpse, dripping with seaweed, sand, and saltwater is not an easy task even on
Halloween. My skin is gray-green, and I have open wounds caused by hungry sea
creatures. With hanging flesh, dripping hair, and blackened eyes along with
hesitant movements as I try to remember how to walk on land vs. floating in the
dark void of the sea, I frighten more than impress.
My only
salvation is that most of the world is also in costume. I get numerous
compliments, mostly from drunken partiers, but finding a suicidal person
willing to listen to my message is nearly impossible. I've been haunting
Halloween night for over seventy-five years, and I've only saved thirty people.
Not surprisingly, at first, I drove just as many to madness or death. Until I
learned a method to the madness that worked.
Of late,
I've heard through the rumor mill that I may get amnesty if I continue to do my
best and complete a hundred years of service to the cause, but I've also heard
rumors of an even longer punishment.
The task
is challenging, but I haunt on as I have a goal to achieve because the sea's
moist, icy darkness is much more palatable than Hell's arid burning brightness!
Please,
my dear sad and lost souls, consider your quest. Your penance may be much more
challenging and way longer than mine.
463 words
Yolanda
Renee © 2020
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