I am an ugly truth.

I remember that night we finally met, she was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. Me and my buddy Jack Daniels were once again trying to kill each other, a process that had been on repeat for the last 3 years. Half past 1 am old Jack hit me with everything he had and I black out. That's when it started happening.

When I came too I was shivering cold, unnaturally cold, like walking into a deep freezer soaking wet with your shirt off cold. I didn't like this feeling at all. I tried for an hour to warm myself up but nothing worked. I couldn't explain it; with my body temperature I should have died. I felt frostbite in my hands and feet, yet they showed no symptoms. I started jogging in a last effort to get warm. And that's when it hit me...I wasn't in my living room anymore. I noticed I was in a large field of beautiful green grass. In the distance the field met with the forest and even farther the forest met with the mountains. Even though my body was colder than an ice berg, I had to admire the beauty of the night sky. There were more stars in that sky than I've seen in my entire life, all guarding a brilliant beautiful full moon. Something in my gut told me to look down at the ground. As I did I noticed there was a black feather at my feet. I went down to pick it up and felt some unnatural power working through me. A golden aura gathered around the feather, and then I knew...I knew the presence. "Death?"

The moment I uttered the name my heart stopped completely. I felt the blood circulating throughout my body also grind to a halt. Thanks to the moonlight I saw my own skin begin to pale. Something in the sky was blocking the moonlight casting a shadow over me. When I looked up that's when I saw it: A figure in the sky with a golden aura around it. I backed up slowly as it descended down like a hawk and shook the earth when it landed in front of me. It stood up, staring me down with its beautiful golden eyes. Those menacing, malevolent, breath-taking eyes had me at a loss for words. I fell to my knees, submissive to this unknown creature. It reached it's hand out and touched my forehead and I could see it clearly as day. It wasn't an "it" at all, it was a woman! The beautiful creature was a woman! Her brilliant black hair glowed in the moonlight. In the front her hair covered her forehead but stopped short of her eyebrows. I could tell it was long because of the way the moon reflected off of it past her shoulders. She was just as pale as I was if not ghostly white. She had high cheek bones, dimples, and plump round lips. She was a woman with curves, and her black sleeveless dress complemented that beautiful curviness. I noticed as well she was barefoot with many golden glowing anklets around her...well...ankles.

"Rise." she said to me. Like a dog I obeyed her. This woman, this alluring figure was huge. If I had to guess she stood a good 9 feet tall. "D...Death?" I whispered in amazement. She leaned down, put her right hand on my cheek and smirked. As I gazed into her glowing eyes I knew everything was going to be okay, my body no longer felt the frostbite nor did I feel any pain or worry. I was completely relaxed around her, I felt as if I had known her my entire life like a close friend. She said in an melodic voice, "I've been waiting for you to call." I was still lost in her eyes as she was walking backwards, still leaning towards me. I moved forward with her, still staring into her eyes I forgot to walk and landed flat on my face. "But I wasn't expecting your call under these circumstances. Oh well." she said while shrugging. She turned her back to me and faced the moons rays, now casting a dark shadow over me again. She looked up into the night sky. "Beautiful night isn't it? Your brother used to take you out here with his telescope. You guys would sit in the fields looking at the stars and planets till dawn. Remember that? It's a shame I had to claim him so early in his life. War is no place for young men." I paused in astonishment, how the hell did she about my brother? "I know many things. Don't be alarmed." She said as if reading my mind, and she probably was! "Have you been watching me?" I asked her. Death looked back at me, giggled, gazed back at the moon and said "I don't follow any being. From the moment you are given life to the moment you return to dust, I remain with you and every living creature. Seen or unseen." Or unseen? I wondered what she meant by that, but I didn't ask.

"So you know everything about me?"

"You could say that, sweetie. Well, it's time to go."

"Go where?"

"Your after life. I believe your father is also where you are going."

"Where is my brother?"

"That is not my place to answer, sweetie."

I loved my dad and he was good to me and my brother, but he was far from a good man. Was he in hell? Why did she not mention my brother? If they were both in the same place why wouldn't she mention them both? It hit me like a freight train. I walked around her question her face to face.

"Death, my fathers in hell isn't he?"

She looked down at me and her whole demeanor changed. The beautiful woman was concealing the malevolent being I had sensed before. She tilted her head up to the sky to where I could only see her neck. When she looked back down I nearly pissed myself. Her beautiful golden eyes were now completely hollow and she had a Glasgow smile. The freezing feeling from before came rushing at me like a tsunami. It hit me so hard and so fast I fell to the ground immobilized with pain. Death pulled out a sickle from thin air. "Don't fight this sweetie." she said in a now completely menacing voice.

"What happened to the woman? Why does it have to be this way!?" I shouted in pain. Death paused for a second. She looked back up at the sky and the face of the beautiful woman returned. Her weapon disappeared and she helped me to my feet. As she touched me the pain went away again. "What was that?" I asked her in confusion. She saw the honest curiosity on my face and hit me with a genuine smile.

"Sweetie, what you saw was the real me. Well, apart of the real me."

"No offense but the real you kinda scary."

She giggled.

"Sweetie, I am a scary thing. The thought of dying, the fear of the unknown is a scary thing. I have been around since before the first human walked the earth, yet I still do not understand you. You humans fret greatly about your own mortality, you do not enjoy your lives until it's too late. Life is a beautiful thing that many never have the chance to experience, nor get to experience again. But I am an ugly reality that ALL must face. But sweetie, as you see now, I do not always have to be an ugly thing. I am what you make me."

She spoke truth in her words. There was no point in pleading with death. I could tell in her face it was going to go the easy way or the hard way, whichever route she decided to go. Honestly I'd rather not see that face again; I'd rather take a lifetime in hell than look at it again. Without any further argument a gave her a nod to let her know I was ready. Death spread her wings and began to hover a few feet off the ground. She smiled and offered me her hand. "Take my hand. Come with me." Death demanded in a melodic voice. Before I took her hand a glowing figure appeared from thin air stood between me and Death. This figure I could not see because it was so bright but it also had black wings but its body was glowing white. It and Death began to have an argument.

"Death! There has been a second judgment!"

"There are no second chances Life! Let us be!"

Her voice had the menacing tone it carried as before.

"This mortal is an exception, Death!"

"There ARE no exceptions! He has accepted his fate!"

"If you do not believe me, then maybe you will listen to those who have given the second judgment?"

Death pauses, looks at the glowing being and then looks at the ground. The Glasgow smile was slowly forming back but she tilts her head up towards the moon. Without looking down she says "We will meet again." in her melodic voice. Without removing her gaze from the moon she lifts off into the night. The glowing being turns around and looks at me, and without a word it touches me.

I woke up sweating bullets in the middle of my living room floor. It was day light outside and Jack Daniels was staring at me from across the room. "Almost had me there Jack" I joked to myself. That day me and Jack never spoke again. I got help from friends and family and after a turbulent road to recovery I became a better person in the long run. I did all this not because I wanted to better myself, or for my friends and family. I did this because of that black feather I found in my pocket when I woke up. It scared the hell out of me finding that in my pocket. Sometimes I sit and wonder why it was there in the first place. Finding this made me a person that I'm proud of, a reliable and dependable human being. Did Death really want me? Was she warning me? Or is this all coincidence?