I felt my heart sink as I saw him standing there in the far distance, his Revolver pointing right at me. He looked crazy, he looked like he was protecting me from something else, someone else, even with that gun pointing in my direction. I blinked, and blinked again, and kept blinking away the hot rivers. "Go back, go back; go away, go away; this isn't real, this isn't real," I murmured.

I noticed the stains around his underarms and neck; he was sweating like all hell has gone loose! "Why? Why are you in such a fright? Why aim that cold steel in my direction? I don't understand," I huffed. I saw the hunger in his eyes, his nostrils flaring, his strong stance; a soldier during sleepless nights of war. He closed his eyes, I blinked once more and heard the loud gunshot as something painful pierced below my rib-cage. Everything was in camera clicks, flashes; click, click, click. The night sky, the walls of broken buildings, the rough dirt against my spine as I tumbled to the ground.

Clenching my side I coughed; coughed up blood, coughed hoarsely, however, that's when I noticed it. I gasped as thin black smoke left through my mouth, out of my body and disappear into the stars. I saw the bearded man, the man who pulled the trigger, appear in my field of vision, he applied pressure to the wound, I winced. He kept repeating, "Come on, come on, stay with me, stay with me. Not today, not today, come on." He seemed to be assuring himself that Death will not come to my doorstep tonight.

I blinked and just for a minute I noticed a man dressed in black, scythe in hand, peering over my helpless body like a predator hunting for it's prey. I closed my eyes, opened them and the man was gone. I opened my mouth toward the man holding my body. I let out a shaky breath and apologized to the man. I told him that I understood, his purpose, why he shot me, why he pulled the trigger. I thought, "Maybe he thought I could be saved once the ghost in my body left my soul. I guess he was wrong after-all."

I chuckled softly, coughed up more gooey blood. I saw the smile under his rough beard once more, closed my eyes and re-opened them to an endless darkness where Death greeted me with a warm welcome. . .