Have you ever thought about death? Where it comes from or how it happens? Is it really the end? Is there an afterlife? A heaven and hell? Is reincarnation possible?

What about my death?

Did you ever think about it, talk about it? Did you imagine your last moments? Maybe it was a peaceful end; your soul slipping out of your body while you sleep. Or rather a romantic farewell; surrounded by your loved ones, holding your partner's hand, ready to go without a regret. What about an honorable death, compromising your life to save another?

Lorelei did. She had a fascination for death, or more specifically, about the limitless possible ways one could meet his end. And boy, she was not shy about it, oh no. There wasn't a single human who crossed her path that escaped her lethal imagination, from total strangers which had the misfortune of picking her interest, acquaintances she'd had barely known or talked to, her entire family -the ones she knew or heard about, even the dead could not be spared- to her closest friends. The latter probably suffered more than most, since they had the bad luck of hearing all about it, her endless rants and scandalous stories, including their own - especially detailed - demise.

Her curiosity wasn't new, nor was it evident at first, at least not to her. She was somewhat of an airhead, not realizing the extent of her interest, how she'd pay special attention to the death scenes in movies and grab the smallest of details, or how invested she was in those descriptive lines in books. Little by little, it became too obvious to go unnoticed. The moment she was conscious of it, her imagination widened and she let it roam free, eager to expand it to no end. Determined to explore her latest discovered hobby, she did a lot of research -as diligently as she could for the lazy human that she was - of the many ways one could die, natural and unnatural, and tried to build a fitting story to go with it. Everything she saw or heard could be made relevant. The "main character", her subject of study whose fate had been sealed, wasn't the only one with a rather extensively constructed background, but s/he definitely was the center of all attention, of her attention, for as long as she deemed it entertaining enough, before eventually moving to the next victim.

Soon, just death wasn't enough, what came after was a greater mystery to prey upon, The Afterlife. She had a particular affinity towards Greek mythology and frivolously used the underworld as a meeting space for most her victims, sometimes extending their fate to another lifetime, another cycle of birth and death. She wouldn't be restrained by it though, creating myths of her own as she goes. Eternal peace or punishment, immortal soul, reincarnation, magical beings, aliens, galaxies, other worlds ... Her imagination knew no bounds and she wouldn't have it any other way, abiding by physical laws when she pleases and defying every universal ruling according to her whim. She was in control, for once, and she was intent on taking full advantage of it, because however imaginary, however far from reality it might be, it was true to her, even if only in her mind.

It all sounds a bit much for a simple way to pass time, doesn't it? It was. Lore had this sort of obsessive personality, clinging to things, to people, to ideas more than necessary. She clearly had issues -we all do - and a method to deal with them, ignore them, or tame them down, accordingly. Whether it was a trait that helped her stay sane, as she claimed, or on the contrary, was making things worse, it was there to stay. Perhaps it was one of the reasons she was slow to find out the truth, too busy distracting herself from things, from life, from everything.

All caught up in her schemes and scenarios, she was far from guessing what it really was, let alone the consequences of what she thought of as a silly obsession. I don't think anyone really could. The universe was mysterious like that, hiding little secrets in plain sight, bringing it down on us without notice when we fail to see - or maybe refuse to- what was right in front of us, what we realized a little too late.