AWARD WINNING LITERATURE: THE ENCOUNTER

I sighed and took a deep breath.
“time for my morning jog” I whispered to myself. I would rather be in bed but I had made a resolution to exercise more this year so I had to stick with it. My parents were still sleeping but some of the farm hands were awake, getting ready for the day’s work.

I left my house and started jogging. Most people were still sleeping or just waking up so it was quiet. I loved the quiet. Only the sounds of birds chirping could be heard. I kept jogging until I got to the woods and then took the road through the woods. I would come out at the next farm and check on old Mr. Snape. I jogged past the Weasley twins and waved at them. They waved back and smiled, Identical smiles. I had watched them grow but still couldn’t tell the difference between them. I jogged past another guy wearing a hoodie and carrying a black bag but I didn’t pay much attention to him. Minutes later, I turned back and he was following me. I frowned, I touched the pepper spray in my pocket, to be sure it was there.

“excuse me. “he said “I’m lost”
I stopped jogging and waited for him to catch up. “sorry if I alarmed you. I’m looking for the Snape farm.” He said
“oh, it’s this way, you just go down this road and when you get out of the woods, it’s the first thing you see” I said.
“oh, I must have missed it on my way. Thanks” he said and smiled. I still felt uneasy so I decided to go back home.
“okay. Well bye” I said.

The minute I turned back, he grabbed me. I started to scream but he covered my nose with a handkerchief. It smelt strange, I dug my elbows in his side with as much force as I could muster. His grip loosened and I struggled out of his grip and stumbled forward. I was starting to feel dizzy.

“what the hell was on the handkerchief” I thought. I brought out my pepper spray and aimed it at his eyes as he came towards me. He screamed and fell back. I could feel my consciousness start to slip away. I started crawling and brought out my phone to dial 911. Next thing I felt this sharp pain in my head and blacked out.
When I came to, I was in the woods. Blood was flowing from my forehead and it hurt like hell. I groaned and moved my head a little. The guy was there, he was putting down what looked like a cooler. He picked up a scalpel. I started crawling away but he noticed and he walked towards me and pulled me up. I was gasping for breath, frantically looking for a way to escape. I didn’t want to die like this. He hit me across the face and threw me to the floor and smiled. He was enjoying this. I decided to accept my fate. He knelt down over me and cleaned the scalpel with his clothes. There was no way out of this, I was already losing consciousness already. I saw a man wearing standing in the shadows. I blinked but no one was there. Then my hands fell on something hard hidden in the leaves.

Another day at work. I had finished all my jobs early so I was helping another work colleague. I was new to the job so I was given all the easy, depressing jobs. He had told me to wait in the woods for the next job. Hadn’t told me who it was. He was mischievous like that. So, I sat down on a tree stump close to the road passing through the woods. Two girls who looked like each other passed but I could tell they weren’t the ones. Then a guy wearing a hood passed, he looked suspicious and a woman jogged by. The guy in the hood turned and started following the woman. He stopped and started up a conversation.
“guess I would have to wait for a while before I get the job done”

Then he grabbed her and put a handkerchief on her nose. She was able to break free and pepper spray him but in the end, she got hit in the head by a metal rod he had hidden in his bag and was knocked unconscious.
“I guess this is it” I said to myself. Although I hated the scene playing out in front of me but I couldn’t do anything to stop him. I t wasn’t part of my job.
He dragged her into the woods and I followed. He brought out a cooler he had hidden in the woods and brought out some surgical tools from his bag.

Hmm so he was going to harvest her organs. I sighed and started to look for something else to keep me occupied. I didn’t have to see him kill another person so he could sell her organs on the black market for cash he would most likely spend on something useless like drugs or gambling or a fancy boat. Humans, capable of so much good and so much evil.
The woman groaned and started crawling away slowly.
“Oh, she might not be the one after all.” I thought.

He noticed though and he pulled her up and hit her. I could see the fight leave her and felt her accept her fate. She looked at me but I doubt she could see me. Too bad. I had been rooting for her. He knelt down and was about to begin the harvesting when she pulled out a rusted butchers knife from beneath the leaves and swung it into his neck. Right in the carotid artery. He screamed. She pulled it out and blood poured out and splashed everywhere. He made weird gurgling sounds but still tried to grab her. She struck him again in the ribs and he fell on her, dead.
She pushed him off her and crawled slowly to his phone and dialed 911. Crying, trembling and covered in blood. I smiled. She was a strong woman, she would probably be scarred for life by this experience but she had been faced with death and she had emerged victorious. And now I knew whose soul I would be collecting. Being a grim reaper who collects the souls of the dead isn’t easy but at least this time an innocent person didn’t die.

Thanks for reading.