The Premonition

"No, please. Have mercy! Please, I still want to live!" the plea from a man crouched on the ground with his hands covering his head in an alleyway resonated through the rough concrete walls. He was trembling with fear as blood continued to flow from his stomach. He had just been stabbed by a man from a rival gang. Of course, the suspect ran away and left him there to die.

Only now did this man want to change his life. Only now did he actually want to live. "Please..." he begged again in between sobs, his dry lips trembling.

Just then, a figure's shadow hovered over him. The man winced.

He was too bewildered at what he was witnessing. He nearly lost consciousness earlier when he noticed someone... or something resurface from the shadows. He couldn't exactly make out the face of the man that stood before him but he was sure the said stranger was wearing a black hooded cloak.

The hood he wore over his head was long enough to have covered almost half of his face. And judging by the scythe that he held in his hand and the fact that this stranger's feet weren't touching the ground, he knew he or IT was anything but friendly. The figure moved, lifting his arm that held the scythe.

"No... No..." the man's voice croaked as he pressed himself further against the rough concrete, as if it would help hide him from the figure, nearly wishing the impossible for the wall to just swallow him and protect him from this... thing.

A wide smile spread across the figure's face as he lifted his arm and stopped in mid-air. A voice so deep and icy then uttered, "It's time." Before the man could plead any more, the figure swung his arm. "Despicable hypocrites."

***

"Heaveeeen~!" yelled a female's voice the second she stepped foot into the library. This rewarded the said girl a glare from the librarian behind the counter and a firm "shush." The girl only giggled at this as she bowed in apology while walking.

She had long, dark hair tied in a neat ponytail as strands of her hair fell over the sides of her face. She had oval-shaped light brown eyes and her cheeks were naturally rosy due to her already smooth, ivory skin. Her eyes darted from side to side in the as she searched for her friend and a bright smile spread on her face as she spotted who she was looking for. As if on cue, the girl, who was hunched over reading a book, slowly lifted her gaze to meet hers.

"Jill!" the girl, known as Heaven, happily whispered. She pushed a lock of her wavy, shoulder-length hair behind her ear as she tried to blink the tip of her bangs away from her eyes. "You really shouldn't be too loud in the library, sheesh," she whispered lowly as Jill sat across her.

"But what's the harm? Nobody is here but y-"

"Shhh!" interrupted the Librarian which resulted to the two girls breaking out in small giggles.

It was true, though, the only students there were just Heaven and Jill. This was to be expected since Heaven really loves reading and then there's Jill who is the complete opposite. This was a pretty common contrast between best of friends. Heaven shook her head, "I swear, if we both get kicked out because of you, I am not treating you to an ice cream later."

Jill gasped in a dramatic fashion, "Oh no! But I need ice cream for-" but then got distracted as soon as her sight fell on the book Heaven was reading. This made Jill lift a brow as she tilted her head to the side, "You're reading that creepy book again."

"It's not creepy," Heaven defended, her eyes still on the page she was on.

When she heard Jill snort, she glanced at her friend and then back at the book, questioning herself if it was really creepy. This made her close the book to look at the cover again-- the hardbound book was black with a silver withered tree on the left side of it. Written at the bottom in silver, cursive letters were the words 'Those who fetch the souls' and without the name of the author. As worn out as the pages were, it was a wonder why the cover of the book looked brand new.

When Heaven found this book stacked away in the storage room during the time when she was an assistant in the library, it just hooked her. She didn't know why the book was interesting to her--she wasn't the type to read anything that included the supernatural. She didn't believe in any of it. Even her best friend, Jill, found it strange as well.

The book talked about Death Angels-- the ones who fetch the souls. This made her question why there would be angels with the word death attached to their labels if they were taught that all angels are good? It made her wonder that if ever it was true that this kind of angels existed, are they as good as the real angels? Are they pure, too? How different are they from the devils who cause a lot of misfortune?

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"No, get out of your thoughts right now."

Jill's voice interrupted her trail of thoughts as she lifted her head to look at her. Both of Heaven's brows shot up, "What do you mean?"

"I know that face you were making earlier," she pointed out with a small frown. "Seriously, I thought you don't believe in such things? Why are you reading a book like that? Why is it even in the storage room, anyway?"

Heaven sighed, a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips, "Trust me, I'm just as confused as you."

Jill could only shake her head, "You are so weird. The good kind of weird, though."

The two girls laughed and decided to head home since both knew it was already a little late. Heaven had checked the book out of the library, putting it inside her bag as they both made their way out of the gates. The two stopped on their tracks when they saw someone standing under the tree that was right by the school gates. This boy had ash-blonde hair parted to the right. The silver stud pierced on his left earlobe winked at them when he slowly turned to look at the two. His light green eyes lit up as he grinned, waving a hand, "Hey! You two are finally out of that boring place!"

"I didn't know jerks were allowed here," muttered Jill bitterly which didn't escape the boy's hearing--making him laugh as he shook his head.

"C'mon, we're already teenagers and you still hate me?"

Heaven giggled when Jill rolled her eyes. "Xander, you don't have soccer practice today?" she asked as they walked together out of the gates.

This boy, namely Alexander, is a friend of Jill's and Heaven's that they met when they were in grade school. The three has been together since then and of course, they all enrolled in the same school up until Senior High.

The male shrugged as he shoved his hands in the comfort of the pockets of his slacks, "Yeah. I think the team captain's too confident we'll win this season," followed by a loud yawn.

Of course, Jill had to make a remark, "Ew, can you yawn somewhere else? I don't want to breathe in your air."

"Excuse yourself, lady. My breath smells like mint." To prove this, he leaned forward and blew air towards Jill that made the latter swish her hands in the air as she stepped away, her face scrunched in disgust. Xander just laughed his ass off whilst Heaven couldn't help but laugh together with.

"I just can't with you two," she said right after calming down from the laughter they all shared.

The three stopped by at a local convenience store, bought ice cream and ate it on their way home. None of them were to board any train since their houses were just a walking distance from the school. Only, Jill and Xander were in the same block and Heaven's was in the opposite direction. Her friends bid goodbye as they split up at the intersection and Heaven watched as the two continued their playful banter. She could only shake her head at that.

"Mmm... what should I cook for dinner today," she mumbled to herself, looking down at her shoes as she walked.

Her parents would be home late so she had to prepare dinner. She bit her lip as she thought about it, watching her shadow. The setting sun was behind her so she could see how far her shadow stretched on the ground.

She tilted her head to the side, her eyes still on the ground basked in the soft orange glow of the sun. Just then, she caught a glance on an old woman in worn out clothes right by the garbage bags. Heaven didn't like witnessing such scenes, it pained her. Her chest puffed as she heaved a deep breath and walked past the old woman towards her house.

She didn't waste a single second. Rushing to her room, she grabs a shoulder bag she no longer uses and went straight to the kitchen afterwards.

There, she opened several cupboards and tossed canned goods into the bag and some of their old utensils, as well, for the old woman to use if she was to eat. No longer able to put anything in to the bag that had already been stuffed with so much food, she walked straight back out towards the old woman who sat by the garbage bags.

The smell that reeked from the old woman didn't bother her as she crouched in-front of her and immediately gave her a sweet smile, "Good afternoon. My family thought we had so much food so..." then she slowly held out the bag, "...I'm giving these to you..?"

Heaven knew she was being unreasonable and she might even scare this old lady off by approaching her all of a sudden.

The old lady's face was covered by the worn out hood that she wore. When she didn't move, Heaven thought she might be sleeping.

Assuming this, she carefully placed the bag next to the old lady and was about to stand up when the old lady suddenly grabbed her by the wrist. This, of course, surprised her that it made her squeal a little as her heart pounded hard against her chest.

She quickly looked back at her, a confused look drawn all over her face, "M-Ma'am? I'm sorry if I distu- ow!" the old woman's grip on her wrist only tightened. "You're hurting m-"

"Too young..."

Heaven looked at her when she spoke. Her voice was crisp and dry. Slowly, the old woman lifted her head. Her lips were chapped, her teeth were deeply yellow, sharp and damaged, some were missing. The wind blew and it was strangely cold against Heaven's skin as her eyes widened upon seeing that the old woman had gleaming crimson hues. "You're too young to die..."

The female found herself unable to speak-- her breath got stuck in her throat. Cold sweat beaded down her forehead and as she opened her mouth to utter even just a single word, she blinked. The second she did, the old woman was gone. The bag of canned goods was still there.

She felt her knees weaken and slumped on the ground, her eyes still wide from what happened. Slowly, she lifted her trembling hand and touched her wrist that was held so tightly by the old woman from earlier. Both of her hands were as cold as ice as she felt her eyes heat up from the tears threatening to roll down.

The pace of her breathing was fast as her heart pounded violently against her chest and she could feel her head throbbing. She couldn't fathom what just happened.

"You're too young to die."

The voice echoed in her head, intent on burying itself into her mind.