The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Never Tell Death I Love You
by Melissa R. Mendelson 

His hair was long and white, his body a stick.  His hands trembled along the chair, and his feet kicked.  But his eyes were sharp, almost as if they could pierce through skin and circuitry.  He switched between mute and verbal, and when he spoke, he chose his words very, very carefully.

“Are you hungry?”  I asked as I listened to the buzzing of his chair moving from the living room to the kitchen.  “Could I get you something?”

“Water,” he said.  “Just water.”

His fridge was filled with liquids.  Cold soup.  Jell-O.  Pudding.  Cream cheese, but that would be hard on his digestive system now.  Tons of water, and he grabbed a bottle out of the fridge.

“You could do an IV,” I said.  “You would get fluids better that way.”

“I have no veins left, boy.”

I felt amused.  He called me, boy.

The chair popped.  It reminded me of a firecracker.  I watched him lean over, trying to reach for the lever in the back, but his hands shook too much.

“Here.”  I grabbed the lever, moving it up and then down, and suddenly, a jolt raced through me.  I shook it off as the chair revved up.  “You need a new one.  This one is ancient.”  I caught the look on his face.  “Out of date.”  Another look.  “Old.  The chair’s old,” and I was surprised by his curt laugh.

“I like you,” he said.  “You’re not like the other Caretaker.”

“Yes.  I heard about the other Caretaker.  He shut down.  No explanation as to why.”

“Maybe, his batteries were running low.”  He whizzed past me, moving fast for a man in his condition.

“I don’t need batteries…”  I searched for his name, but my mind ran blank.

“Jim,” he said from the living room.  “Name’s Jim.”

“Jim,” I said.

As I stepped into the living room, an image rose up into my view.  A woman dressed in white.  A veil over her face.  She was beckoning to me.  The space around her was dark, something on the floor.  It reminded me of a web.

“Something wrong?”  Jim asked, turning his chair around to face me.

“No,” I said.  “I thought I just saw something.”

“A woman?”

I was surprised, and he noted my surprise.

“The other Caretaker saw her too.  Must’ve been the shock from the chair, and I will tell you what I told the other one.  Don’t say those three words.”

“What words?”  I asked.

“I won’t say them.”

“Why not?”

Jim looked afraid, but his fear quickly passed.  “She and I have played this game for a very long time now.  Do you know how many Caretakers I have had before you?”

I searched my mind again.  “Six,” I said.  “They all shut down.  No reason as to why.”

“Yes.  She took them.”  He stared down at his hands, trying to steady them.  “If she can’t have me, she will have them.  Until I tire of this game.  Maybe, I am finally tiring of it.”

“But I am not human,” I said.

“Do you think that Death cares?”  Jim asked.  “Now, I would like to take my afternoon nap.  Can you assist me, Caretaker?”

“I will assist you, Jim.”

My records showed that Jim slept like the dead, but he was far from it.  Was he responsible for the demise of the other Caretakers?  As I shook that thought off, I saw her again, but I couldn’t see her face.  I just felt a pull, a need to follow her, and she beckoned to me.

“Say those words.”  Her voice was a melody.  “Speak them, and follow me.”

I remembered Jim’s words, but the pull was strong.  Why was it so wrong to say those words?  Surely, Death could not kill me.

“Will you join me, Caretaker?  I will come for Jim soon enough, but now it’s your turn.”

I couldn’t get her voice out of my head.  As I spun around the living room, I saw her.  She was standing in a doorway, a soft mist falling outside.  A trail of webs, maybe vines curling around her.  She wasn’t going to let me go, and I didn’t want her to.

“I,” but I caught myself.

“Yes,” she whispered.

“Love.” I pushed my mouth shut.

“Yes,” she whispered again.

“You.  I love you.”  If I had a heart, it would have burst.

“Thank you.”

A heavy thud hit the living room floor.

“One day, Jim.”  She faded away.  “One day.”  Her words drifted down the hall and through the open door to Jim’s bedroom.

Jim rested in his bed, a smile across his face.

“I.  Love.”  He smiled again and closed his eyes.

.

Fiction © Copyright Melissa R. Mendelson
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com.

About Author Melissa R. Mendelson:

Melissa R. Mendelson is the author of the Sci-Fi Novella, Waken.  She also has a prose poetry collection called, This Will Remain With Us published by Wild Ink Publishing.  Her short story collections, Better Off Here, Stories Written Along COVID Walls, and Name’s Keeper can be found on Amazon/Amazon Kindle.

If you’d like to learn more about Melissa, you can visit her accounts here: www.melissamendelson.com