I knew long ago that the chances I took was going to haunt me. I was 24 when i gave birth to my Lisa. She was beatiful however the year was four thousand and I knew the storys. I knew that death needed someone to take his place and I knew what I was risking, but why would it be my Lisa? Out of all the kids she was probley the shyest and most likly to you know, not kill. My mother told me that the chances where higher cause someone in my family had been picked before and that I should have given her up, but I didnt. After the birth she was nrmal. She sleept most of the day and was up most of the night and she didnt like shots, she was a normal kid. Then right around a year is when she started to change. A little bit a first but it was still there. she was talking alot more then her peers and she wasnt afride of anything, in fact the mer thought of spiders was fasancating to her. She didnt care about geeting hit by a car or stolen by a stranger. She would simple shrug it off and say that she didt need to worry about it. Then at about a year and four mounths we bought her this flower plant at the store. It was in perfect condtion and it was beatiful. Later that day when i wakled into the room to see if she made her bed it was dead. The leaves floated down to the ground and steam was brown and weak. I wsa concered not gonna lie but either way she was still my baby and not a future death. Later that smae year we got her a fish and when it died that same day we got her a hamster. About a mounth later I walked in to see her stepping on his head. I heard the desprit squeaks as she went down with more force. By the imeI got there it was dead and she wsa smiling." Mommy did you see, its dead, I did my job" I flipped and yelled, she got upset. I didnt want this, this girl was crazy but I loved her and I went outside to bury the hamster. that night she wouldnt go to sleep, she said she had work and daddy was gonna pick her up. Well not her birth day i can tell you for sure, in fact I have no idea where she even learend about fathers. Either way I said she needed to sleep and she didnt take very lightly to that. Just as I was about to pick her up a large black cloud came in thourgh the window and my baby was gone. i woke in my bed and ran to her room and she was sleeping soundly. I must have dremt it. The rest of her year went by slowly then on her second borthday I was bring her to bed and wehen i went inside her room I saw most of her things packed in a suit case. I asked her what she was doing and she said she was leaving tonight to live with her dad. I asked her what his name was but she didnt answer, she didnt know. She told methough of this figure that was black and cold but the coldness was comforting to ehr. She said he took her a few times to help him and she like his job, and now it wsa gonna be hers. She liked touching a person and being inviasble, she enjoyed seeing the bright light of the world beyond hers and the gates fo either heaven or of hell, Hell had scared her though but Her dad had protected her. He also said that she was never to go inside the gates cause they wouldnt open again. I starte to cry, my mother was right, she was the new death and in a few years she was gonna take over. she would be the one who took me to my slumber. A dark cloudcame in though the window again like it had last year and before Lisa stepped out she kissed my hand and said " Dont worry Mommy I will see you again soon" and with that she was gone.

Death has always fasinated me. The peacful passing of the soul from one part of it's life to the next, it was a calm and slow realease from the grasps of the concious state. From as far back as I can remember I've had posters of the grim reaper and of coffins and all other death related symbols lining my walls.

I've chased death my whole life, usually narrowly avoiding it. The poor reaper must be pretty happy to be able to collect me, when they do that is. So when they do they'll have to try a bit harder than normal with all of the research I've done.

When I was researching the reaper, I came across an old text book that seemed to have been written predating any sort of civilization. The pages were yellowed with time and the leather cover was soft. It looked like it could have fallen apart at the seams. The ink was midnight black and seemed to be shining, almost as if it had just been written.

I began to leaf through the book completly focused on finding something about death, maybe something to control it. I foun something much better, the selection of death.

Every two thousand years death must choose it's successor.

The successors parentage will have narrowly escaped death a multidtude of times, at least thrice.

The child will be two in the twothousanth year, and will be taken on the eve of the third birthday.

The childs parentage will be compansated with the removaale of memory of the child.

Signs will be shown of the training of death.

The child will be fearless, they will show an odd fasination with death, they will be hostile to their peers and superiors, and will refuse any sort of affection.

The child is not to be messed with as it will harm anything it deems to be a potential threat.

Be weary.

I slammed the book shut. It's exactly what I needed to finally capture death. I'd need to raise death.

That was in 1994 it is now the year 1998 and I have managed to become pregnant via sperm donor, I've tracked down fifteen of the parents of children who have escaped death thrice. The daredevils have no time for a family and I offered to take the child off of their hands.

I'm due in August and will be raising thechildren all alone by keeping them in a facility with plenty of things to kill. I just can't become attatched. I've hired a nanny to avoid this with the thirteen I have adopted. I don't know if I'll be able to do so with my own child. I think I'll name her Delilah.

The children are supposed to be arriving tommorow. I have cribs engraved with the names Allyssa, Benjamin, Sarah, Myah, Evey, Nick, Cam, Ethan, Harry, Luna, Genaveve, Ralphie, Stevie, and Delilah. They will be loved just not by me.

Two years later

All the children are showing signs except for Cam and Genaveve, I've taken them out and made sure that they are well cared for by me. I've grown quite attatched to them.

Delilah's signs are the strongest but that is most likley because she is my daughter.

One year later

Delilah is gone. The children are worried about me as I seldom come out of my room. I wanted this just two years ago. I don't want this I want my little girl back. The memory compensation was nonsense because Delilah is gone and I remember everything.

This must be her own special brand of hell for her mother.

“I can’t tell her. If I do, she’ll hate me. Please. Please, forgive me, my love. Please . . . Forgive me . . .”

My friends and family were confused by my pregnancy since they had never seen me with any other man, but I was happy. I knew who the father was. I wanted this child to be born and see the world around him and live happily with me and his family. A few months passed and my little baby boy was born. I kissed my baby’s head while my family had pale faces. Something scared them. Do they know the child’s father? But why do they look at me with pity more than fear?

I named my son Ash because of his ash grey hair that he got from his father. My father then told me that my son was a bad omen and to expect certain signs of death. I asked him why, but he silenced his tongue from me. I don’t know what signs he meant, so I just focused on raising my baby boy. Ash was such a happy baby, but at the age of one he started acting strange. He became more quiet and would often look out at something. He points his finger behind me and tries to reach out, but when I turn around I see nothing. I thought he was looking at his toys, but his eyes were following something, something I couldn’t see. I began to feel a cold chill while Ash was calm.

Ash was quite the crawler, but you don’t know how many times he had given us a heart attack whenever something tried to hurt him. Mother was gardening while Ash was learning to walk when he follows after his ball and walks to the street. A car was driving as it heads towards Ash and my mother screamed. She runs for Ash, but then there was a loud crash. I ran outside and see Ash standing in the middle of the road as the car was smased right in front of him as though a solid wall was placed between them. Instead of looking at the car that almost killed him, Ash was staring at something else above him. Me and my mother run to him as I grab Ash and hug him tightly, relieved and scared. I take him back to the house while Ash stares over my shoulder and waves bye to someone.

Ash was a year and a half when he was curious about death. Not in a bloody, gruesome way, but in a more cultural sense. He was interested in how the grim reaper was described to the world and began reading many books that involved death in folklore. This was right after his first Día de los Muertos, which he loved and enjoyed, and mentioned he said hi to many relatives, which most of them I couldn't see. From the Egyptian god of death, Anubis, to the Greek god, Thanatos, to Hindu's god, Yama, to even the Banshee from Ireland. Ash loved to see death in different cultures and thought they all looked colorful. He even told me that all these figures were fair and netural and were not scary at all. The Banshee sings a mourning song for the dead, Thanatos was an attractive god of nonviolent death, Anubis protected the dead, and Yama judges if you should be punished, joined his palace, or be reborn. I never knew death had so many different personifications since I'm more familiar with the western version. And even his father wasn't anything like that.

Ash was two years old now, but something was wrong.

No one smiled on his birthday and he barely had any presents except from me. I had given him a locket with our picture from Día de los Muertos. Ash was happy to receive my gift and we were about to start his party when suddenly we hear a loud crash in our backyard. My family stayed inside the house, trembling and sweating, while me and my son peeked outside. We see strange figures standing in our yard, but there was one I knew most and Ash runs outside to him.

"Dada!" Ash runs outside while I follow him, but my family holds me back. I yell at them to let me go, but they had tears in their eyes and refused. They knew this would happen. I look back at my baby as he runs to his father, who smiles and hugs him tightly. His father was a handsome man, and only a man dressed in black, as he smiles lovingly at his son, who recognizes him. He then look up to meet my confused eyes and lost his cheerful smile.

"Please forgive me, my love . . ." he said as he carries our son in his arms.

"No . . ." I said as tears fell from my eyes.

"Mija . . ." said my mother as she pulls me away and tells me the prophecy of the grim reaper. I was shocked to hear that this was the year for choosing Death's heir and it just happened to be Ash since he was the strongest link to Death, being a blood relative and all. I look back at my lover and my son, who smiled innocently at me. I pushed my family away and ran to them. Now I know why Ash was never hurt. His father was there, watching him, protecting him. The other figures stopped me with a mere look and I felt a wall hit me as I fell down. I sat up and look at my baby and his father, who looked back at me. Ash turn to his father and whispers in his ear before Death nodded and smiled. Ash turns to me and said, "Mama! Sing our lullaby! I want Dada's friends to hear it!"

I don't know why he wanted me to sing his lullaby, but I nodded. I sang that ominous song from a children's show Ash watched once, which made him feel at peace whenever he hears this. Death smiles at me as he cradles Ash while the other figures felt at ease. Next thing I knew I felt Death wrapping his arms around me and Ash's warmth beside me. I hugged them both and cried and kissed them lovingly.

"Please, take care of him," I told Death as he nodded and smiled. "I will."

I smiled at them both before I let them go as Ash waves at me while holding his father's hand. "Bye, mama! I'll come visit you!"

"Bye, sweetie! I love you both!" I waved back as I smile with tears falling from my eyes. My baby boy was leaving with his father and the other figures as they leave to their realm while I fall on to my knees and cried.

Goodbye, Ash. I hope you smile for everyone and give them mercy.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nvkHgZHUwg)

“Look at her, she’s a natural!” The grim reaper says gesturing to my daughter who had her arms wrapped around a limp rabbit. “For the last time,” I take a deep breath “my TWO-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER is NOT going to take your place. Not yet anyway. Just because she kills everything she touches, besides me of course, does not mean she’s ready.”

The reaper looks at me with an annoyed smile. “It would be better for her to learn how to control it at an early age, rather than keeping her locked up and accidentally KILL HALF THE FRICKING WORLD CAUSE SHE DOESN’T KNOW WHAT THE HECK SHE'S DOING!” “I never said she wouldn’t be trained or that she'd be locked up. I’m just saying she’s not leaving to go around the world killing people with you.” “Then how do you suppose she is trained.”

*flashback ends*

“And that’s how I got the grim reaper to be my baby sitter.” Somewhere in the background I hear a frustrated screech “HOW THE HELL DID I GET STUCK CHANGING FUCKING DIPPERS!!”

“Language death man, she needs to kill not cuss.” “ILL SHOW YOU DEATH YOU EVIL SHE DEVIL, THIS IS YOUR DOING!” I let out a wicked laugh. “Hey your the one that chose her, it’s not my fault she’s a ‘natural’ and got her powers early.”

My friend who I was telling the story to had fallen off her chair, wheezing and hunched over slapping the ground. As soon as she got over her fit of laughter she looked at me wiping a tear from her eye. “Anyway now that I’ve heard that lovely story. Has he actually made any progress with your daughter on the, you know, death thing?” “Well” I begin, but we hear a thump on the ground behind us before I answer. “Aww there goes bob 2.8, man he was my favorite so far.” I sigh as I watch my daughter crawl past a now dead pig. The reaper appears behind her tears in his eyes “I’m trying! I’m sorry! I don’t know how kids work! I haven’t been one for over two thousand years, GOD JUST LET ME FAIL IN PEACE!” Tears start streaming down his face as he picks up my now laughing daughter and trudges back into the house. “Ya, it’s not going so well.”