ANGEL OF DEATH

By Marcus Fernandez Grade 6

Chapter 1
The Dreams

Hal was pushed into a large chamber. He could tell that it was night but the chamber had an eerie glow. Mysterious bony hands shoved him inside. He dropped on his knees, as he heard a loud crunch - the crunch of bones, not his bones. He looked… down and saw a blanket of skeletons. “Hal can you hear me?” a voice pleaded. Hal bent forward and saw his best friend Tom. Tom’s image faded and was replaced by that of a dark figure.

It held a staff with a piece of sharp glinting metal. “Hal, please help me”. Hal turned around and saw his brother in the grip of the dark creature, the staff raised above its head, ready to strike the boy. “No, please spare him,” Hal pleaded. The figure brought the staff down and struck James. Hal screamed and flung the bones he was kneeling on, at the figure; but the result was only echoing laughter from the depths of hell…

 

Hal woke up drenched in sweat. It was raining hard outside and the window had been flung open by the furious wind. He felt his shirt; it was soaked in sweat. He didn’t bother about his shirt or the window that would soon break free with the raging wind. Instead, he stared at his shivering hands. This was the third time he had the same dream. Three days in a row, each dream in more detail. He just realized how dry his throat was. He slowly got off his bed and made his way to the kitchen for a glass of water. Walking past his brother’s room he was tempted to check if he was fine. What if the figure was in James’ room ready to strike? Then he slapped himself, “I’m becoming paranoid; it’s just
a dream. It must be a scary film I watched that’s giving me these nightmares.  Yeah, that must be it!” Deep down, Hal knew that it was not a scary movie that provoked these dreams. He tried to recall the last horror movie he had watched; and he remembered - the movie was so pathetic that at the part when the ghost of some old house attacks a human, Hal was already sound asleep. He tried to shove such thoughts out of his head and focus on that glass of water.

 

Chapter 2
Mors

It was seven thirty in the morning and Hal was glad to get out of bed and go to school, leaving behind all thoughts of his dreams. He jumped out of his bed; the same one he had used for seven years. He went to a large mirror near his bed and looked at himself. His shaggy black hair was well over grown, spread out in all possible directions. His eyes were sunken and looked hollow. Hal knew it was the lack of sleep for three days that made him look dreadful. He had broad shoulders and was tall for his age. He had long strong legs and was an excellent athlete. Taking his eyes off himself, he glanced at his watch - a Timex digital watch. “Today’s the eleventh of January, four days to my birthday and with these dreams it could be the worst birthday ever.” He could not keep the thoughts of
those horrible dreams out of his mind.

Hal sat at the end of the breakfast table. There he was with a bowl of cereal in front of him. His mom, Julia, had noticed his lack of energy and sunken, transparent eyes for the past three days but she hadn’t asked him anything about it. Today she couldn’t help asking him. “Hal, are you all right?” she asked in a concerned voice. He just nodded and continued eating his breakfast. Julia knew that her son was not all right at all, but knew if she asked again, the answer would be the same. Hal finished his cereal and got up. Slinging his school bag over his shoulder, he walked straight out the door, bidding his mom a brief goodbye.

Hal stayed close to his school and always rode his bicycle to school. He had got his bike on his last birthday. He was rather an expert when it came to cycling, riding very fast without losing control. Usually Hal pedaled over ramps with ease, but today he wasn’t feeling too good. For the first time he felt nervous crossing roads. Suddenly, he felt dizzy - all the objects around him seemed to fall
out of place. A loud sound jarred his ears. He had no clue where it came from. Out of the corner of his eye, suddenly he saw a red blur. He turned his head to see a massive truck gaining on him. He pressed the brakes hard, but the bike refused to oblige. It was time for action. He jumped off the bike with amazing speed and skill and landed on the sidewalk as he watched his bike being bent and crushed out of shape by the truck. He let his head rest on the sidewalk, as a voice rang in his head - a voice somewhere between a shrill scream and a wolf’s howl: Mors, Mors, Mors…

Chapter 3
The Truth

Hal got to school only by lunchtime, because of all the fuss over the accident that had just occurred. He was given a choice to stay at home, but decided against it. He sat next to his best friend Tom. After a brief explanation to Tom about the accident Hal asked Tom a question. “Do you know what Mors means?”, “It means, well… death in Latin.”

Hal finished lunch quickly and rushed to the library. He found the book he was looking for and opened it. The book was titled ‘The Dark Secrets of Different Cultures’, in which a paragraph read: “Mors is the Latin word for death. For many centuries people believed in the dark force of death that people only see through dreams. Legend has it that Mors was captured and trapped in human dreams forever until the chosen human dies. The chosen human gets dreams of Mors. If the dark forces kill the chosen human then Mors will be unleashed, but Mors only gets 5 attempts to kill the human….”

Hal shut the book and sat petrified. That explained the dreams, the feelings of terror and the accident, which was no accident at all.

Chapter 4
Second Attempt

Hal made his way down the corridor thinking: “If what’s in that book is true, Mors has already had one chance. Four more chances to go.” He took each step carefully, expecting something to lunge or jump at him. He had to be on guard. He went home walking because his bike was now just a heap of scrap-metal. His route home led through a construction site. This was a perfect place to die, all the construction equipment hanging just like deadly weapons. He was afraid to walk that path, yet there was no other way to get home. He would have to go through the building site. He said a silent prayer and then made his way through the site. It was a long building site. Usually on the bike, going at top speed, it took him five minutes to complete the trip. But with no bike and walking at snail’s pace
there was no way he could make it in even twenty minutes. Hal had walked about quarter of the distance when he started feeling more confident. One part of his brain was telling him: “It’s just a myth, it’s not real you don’t believe something because of a few dreams.” The other part of his brain was telling him: “ How does that explain the same dream, three times in a row?” Hal almost laughed at
his thoughts, but laughing when you could get killed any minute was a sign of insanity. He was nearing the end of the path when he heard a loud yell, “WATCH OUT”, from the top of a block. Hal looked up and saw a shower of metal rods headed straight for him. Frantically he looked for cover. He saw a wooden shed that could give him protection. He dashed for it, smashed through the door and landed face first on the ground. He looked behind him and saw the rods pierce the ground where he had stood just a few seconds ago. He surely had the luck of the devil. Devil! The thought sent shivers down his spine.

Chapter 5
Third Attempt

Hal took more than an hour to get home and was very exhausted. In his diary he
wrote feverishly:

• Mors will try to kill me
• He gets 5 attempts
• Tried 2
• 3 to go

He closed his diary and took out his homework – finally doing something not involving death cheered him for a time. While he was busy at his homework his Dad knocked at the door: “Hal, can you help me change a light bulb in the living room?”
“Sure thing Dad, I’ll be right there”.
Hal quickly wrote some answers on his math sheet and went to assist his Dad.

Hal stood on a stepladder and unscrewed the fused light bulb. He looked across the room at the chandelier with its menacing, sharp tip but knew that there was no way it could reach him when he was at the other end of the room. He screwed in the new light bulb and dusted his hands. “All don…” Before he could finish those words there was a big tremor and Hal was flung across the room, under the swaying chandelier. It didn’t need an earthquake to cause havoc, just a tremor would do. It cracked the ceiling and pieces of plaster rained on Hal. He was pinned to the ground by the stepladder. Hal’s Dad was already coming to help him, but it was too late. The chandelier was loose and coming straight at him. This was it - Hal’s end. But Hal’s brother wasn’t going to let that happen.
James who had just entered the living room flung a chair at the falling chandelier knocking it off course. It missed Hal by a few inches. Hal profusely thanked his brother who had just saved his life.

That night Hal wrote in his diary:

• Third chance failed
• Two to go

Chapter 6
Fourth Attempt

Hal had been lucky so far, but Mors had two more chances. The next day,he was at school early. He had the same dream but with some changes.

This time, the creature slaughtered him. In his dream he got a glimpse of the figure’s face. It was a skull twisted, in a horrible grin. Hal snapped out of his dreadful thoughts and got back to school-routine. Five more minutes for the bell to go, he looked at his watch - Thursday, 12th of January. Sitting next to Tom, his best friend, he couldn’t withhold it anymore; he had to tell someone about his
problem, with Mors and death. Hal said, “Tom I’ve got to tell you something, you probably won’t believe me but...” Suddenly Hal felt a prickly feeling on his hand. He glanced at Tom and saw his face twisted in fear. “Hal, um… scc…scorpion!” Hal looked at his arm and saw a large scorpion. He saw its arched tail ready to strike - to sting and kill him. Hal yelped and knocked it off, just before it struck. Hal slipped and fell on Tom’s desk and watched in horror, as the scorpion scurried away.

Chapter 7
Fifth Attempt

Hal finished school and walked home with his hands in his pockets thinking about the scorpion - the fourth chance for Mors was over; just one more left. Hal wondered what it would be. As he was walking home he noticed a strange man watching him. He had something glinting in his hand. Hal looked at the man’s hardened expression - the expression of a killer. Hal tried to walk away from the
man but the man noticed his attempt to move away and lifted the glinting piece, a fierce hunting knife. In a flash he charged at Hal. Hal took to his heels. The man was fast and would soon catch up. In fright, he ran, not towards home but away from it. He reached a road crossing – the pedestrian stop signal was on and the traffic was rushing past. Now was not the time for rules. He ran across the street.  A Mercedes nearly threw him off his feet, but with Hal fleeing at top speed, he got past. Not the stranger. The Mercedes smashed into the would-be killer.

After Hal crossed the road he leapt with joy. “I lived, Yes, I lived, and Mors did not kill me”. Hal decided to call Tom over and tell him everything. He had to tell someone about Mors and his failed attempts.

As Tom and he sat at the kitchen table, he told Tom everything and Tom believed him! They drank juice and laughed at Mors’s attempts to kill Hal. Suddenly the lights went out. A voice rang in Hal’s head: “It’s coming - DEATH”. Hal fell off his chair unplugging a gas pipe; there was a hiss of leaking gas. “I’ll get a match. I always keep some in my pocket, in case of emergencies”, said Tom who had not heard the gas leak. Hal screamed, even as he breathed in the gas that was filling the room: “TOM, DON’T, GAS LEA…”

Tom lit the match and the house blew up in flames, burning the unfortunate
friends.

Chapter 8
Faded

A few days after the incident, at Hal’s school, Jason a young boy from grade 5 went to the library looking for a new book. He came upon a book he liked. “The Dark Secrets Of Different Cultures”, in which a paragraph read:“Mors is the Latin word for death. For many centuries people believed in the dark force of death that people only see through dreams. Legend has it that Mors was captured and trapped in human dreams forever until the chosen human dies. The chosen human gets dreams of Mors. If the dark forces kill the chosen human then Mors will be unleashed, but Mors only gets 5 attempts to kill the human….”

“That’s weird”, thought Jason. “I know about this myth but …” He walked over to the librarian and said: “Mrs. Watson, I recently read another version of this book which states that Mors has 6 chances not 5.” The librarian looked carefully at the number. “Oh I see, the number in this book is 6. It’s just that a small line has faded from 6, so it looks like 5”. The librarian took a pen and made
the correction. Jason then went back to his seat satisfied.

3 DAYS LATER…

The funeral was short as there was nothing to bury of Hal. His parents and brother weren’t at the house when the explosion occurred. They had gone to the mall. Little did they know that they would never see Hal again? His parents stood weeping at the grave. Without much warning, a downpour drenched the large crowd, which attended the funeral. In the crowd stood a tall lean figure, with a
black hood, with a staff. A flash of lightning revealed the face to be a skull in a twisted grin, even as a shrill cold laugh rang out.

Mors had an appointment to keep!

THE END