By: Mahathi Kattamuri ,12A

 The story won 1st place in Literati events

The wild, frenzied throbbing of the music behind Judy eventually faded into a dull pulse as she pushed past the doors to the nightclub. Humans, she thought with a shake of her head. They lived each day not knowing if it was their last and yet, the fear of death didn’t manage to snuff out the fires in their eyes, wrench the smiles from their faces, or steal the ease and grace from their bodies. She allowed herself a small smile--and then immediately schooled her features into a mask of unyielding indifference. Smiles were beneath a creature like her.

A creature born from ash and gloom and the swooping wings of the night. For she was a soul-catcher, collector of the other-worldly remains of living beings. It was her mandate, thrust upon her by Death Incarnate, and she spent her days prowling the Earth to abide by it--even though she craved more.
And yet...yet, she felt a certain kinship with these humans and their ridiculous lives; they lived unaware of when she would come for their souls but burned all the more brightly for it. Dashing off into the unknown, armed with nothing but a finely-honed sense of curiosity was something she held dear too. It was what kept her true to her morbid duties, what caused her to begrudgingly admire the humans as her own.
A sharp blast of the music from inside shook her out of her reverie and she turned to the sound. The doors had opened again, and a young girl stepped out from the splintered, shrieking lights. Judy glanced at her, at her pretty features and her nimble form, at the sweat that glowed with an odd sheen on her skin.
Her most recent quarry. How at ease she looked, this girl. How unfettered and unbothered. After all, she had no way of knowing that tonight would be her last dance. Her last glimpse of the moon. Her last breath. Tonight would be her last.
Judy forces her gaze away. The pain had not dulled, even after millennia of hunting the ones she was ordered to and, after they passed on, ensnaring their souls. Every time, she felt that pain when she reached for them--and she wasn’t supposed to. Creatures like her never felt anything and if Death Incarnate ever found out...No, she would stick to her duties, collect her souls, and explore the unknown that was the human race. So she forced her gaze away from the fated girl, who still had twelve minutes, and looked around.
The potholed roads were punctuated by bent streetlights, which cast a small halo of yellow light. A wind snaked through the street, hissing at the doors of the nightclub and entwining itself around the few passers-by. Judy looked at the skies--the glorious, triumphant skies--and knew that, in the end, at least she would have the skies to keep her company. Creatures like her weren’t supposed to feel but she did so much more than that--she lost herself in nightclubs, cried over the damning beauty of sunrises, poured her life out to the stars above. She had discovered many new things on this Earth, each one of them sustaining her like some heavenly elixir, but she craved more. Much more.
“Excuse me,” a voice said behind her. Judy continued her vigil of the sky--no mortal could lay eyes on her and she had never once been spoken to in millenia.
“Excuse me, miss,” the voice said again, more insistently this time. The fated girl stepped precariously into Judy’s line of vision and for a moment the world stopped.
And started. And stopped again.
For the impossible had happened. The fated girl had been speaking to Judy. Judy, who had gone unseen ever since she had been born out of that awful ash and gloom and night. Judy, soul-catcher, liege of Death Incarnate. And this girl…
“Yes?” breathed Judy, staring at her with an intensity she reserved for her next unknown. For she knew, knew what this could only mean.
“Do you know what time it is? My phone just died on me and I booked a taxi, and it’s supposed to be here in six minutes, but it’s been twelve since I’ve made it outside,” the girl said in one long breath.
Her words echoed in Judy’s head. Twelve minutes. She knew. The fated girl had to know.
“Do you--do you know who I am?” Judy whispered, her voice rough. She’d never had to use it until now. The fated girl stared at her like she was insane.
“Look, lady, I only asked--” the girl prattled on, but Judy didn’t need to hear any more. This was the moment she had been waiting for her entire existence. This fated girl, this mortal, had released her. She had been scared out of her mind when she had first been spoken to, but now...now, she was free. If the girl had seen her, that meant she was free.
Free to explore the last unknown that was left for Judy to explore. The only unknown she’d been craving for so long. The only unknown left.
Death itself.