Hello, there child...

\/\/|-;() /-\/~ɛ -/()|_]?

Oh? I go by many names. However, you may know me as Death.

O|ɛ/-\-|-|-;

Don't be scared my child, nothing can hurt you now...

o|() -/()|_] |0/~()|nn|}ɛ

I promise. Now why don't you follow me...

()|<..

See there is nothing to fear here...

|-|-} }() |0/~ɛ-|--|--/

Yes it is quite pretty...

|o|_]-|- \/\/|-;ɛ/~ɛ /-\/~ɛ \/\/ɛ?

This is your new home...

/~ɛ/-\|_|_-/?

I wouldn't lie to you. Now go on my child your family is waiting for you...

O}()()o||o-/ɛ |nn/~ o|ɛ/-\-|-|-;!

Goodbye..

Dong…

Dong…

There I sat, feet dangling, looking out at the city I once knew

A soulless collection of people who only saw you as an obstacle

It stared back at me as if it had never seen me

As if our memories together had been stolen and buried thousands of feet underground

I looked out at the tall buildings reaching, grasping, for the sky

As if trying to find someone’s hand to pull them out of the water they were drowning in

I glanced up at the smooth black starless sky, looking for that hand

Instead, I saw a void that was lonely without its small bright friends

Then I heard something, a small cry that the lights below would soon cover and hide you to

I looked back down at the streets to see if others heard the cry.

I only saw the black pavement shielded by what looked like moving colors

The honks and sounds of the moving vehicles seemed like a small whisper from up here

I looked at the sidewalk next, and it too was scattered with moving colors

That’s all people were from up here

Small moving colors on a dirty white strip of canvas

Each seemed so useless, but when put together, made much more

Like a drop of water in a murky endless lake

To my right sat someone, or rather something, a creature with a humanoid form

Nearly nine feet tall unless you counted its horns, which made it closer to ten

It wore a glitching, shattered mask that hid whatever lay beneath it from the rest of the world

Its long tail curled around me, pulling me closer for comfort

I sat there for what seemed like seconds before the clock struck the next hour

Dong…

Dong…

Dong…

And I jumped

It was a dark and stormy night.

The thunder overhead rumbled ominously, rain pattering against cracked cobblestone paths. A lonely traveler found himself in an old village, desolate wooden buildings creaking precariously in the wind. Perhaps, the man thought, he could seek refuge from the storm here.

He climbed the nearest house's stairs, the planks beneath him groaning their dissent. Ignoring it, the traveler pulled at the door, wincing at the rasping noise.

Inside, the house was battered and worn, yet cosy. Putting down his meager belongings, the man checked around the abandoned building.

Minutes later, he was fleeing the village in terror.