Sleep

I was just trying to sleep.

That’s all, just sleep. I was on vacation after all. It’s a human right to be able sleep fully and soundly on vacation.

Yet, that dog kept yapping. Every time it was a quiet my hopes waited only to be smashed by that YAP.

Eventually, I stared outside through the window. The white glow of the Christmas lights illuminated little beyond the balcony but the quiet gradient of the night sky was peaceful. Almost alluring. 

As soon as my eye started to drift, a loud sound crashed through the silence. 

It wasn’t a bark from that insufferable dog, but a black shape that had hurled itself at the window.

And then another and another. Each hit splintering the glass a bit. Until the whole thing collapsed.

But they didn’t stop then.

I couldn’t see anything past black feathers and couldn’t hear anything besides crashes and screeches. 

They were everywhere. Crows with beady black eyes filled every corner of my room. Some dead, some alive, some a wrong combination in between.

A figure appeared then. Not human and not animal but another mutation. It was unformed darkness with only three distinguishable features.

Eyes that expressed more exhaustion than my 3 AM self could fathom. 

Teeth, glittering and white. A perfect charming smile that shined through all of the black feathers in the room.

And a weapon of eloquent precision and pain. A scythe that reflected every fear currently running through my body.

It moved closer to my corner.

They say a body is cold after death, but with each movement I got warmer. 

Death was a flame that kept getting dangerously close. And with each moment my fears began to melt.

It wasn’t until I could see my reflection in Death’s pupils that I realized the finality of this moment.

Because Death’s eyes are human. They are inexpressibly exhausted, but there were black pupils and brown irises. 

They are eyes that you would not think twice about. It wouldn't turn any heads if you saw them in the street, just another person.

But those eyes are the last thing I saw when I finally closed mine.

I finally got my sleep.