We found him by the river. His little hand was stretched out as though he was reaching for something or someone.
“Jonathan!â€? My scream felt like a whisper.
He turned towards the sound of my voice and as he turned he looked so happy. Just behind in the water I saw something break the surface. It was then that my knees gave out and I fell to the ground.
Thankfully, Ralph was closer. He swooped up Jonathan’s tiny body into his long arms. “You just scared us to death, buddy.â€?
I sat on the frosen ground and stared dumbly at my best friend and my little brother as they came closer to me. Suddenly out of the corner of my eye I saw what will be forever etched in my mind’s eye: the angel of death.
She was dressed in white with moonbeams for hair. Her skin was alabaster pale. Where her eyes should have been were two pools of dark emptiness.
There was no hood. There was no scythe.
Yes, Death was a she.
And the only two people I loved were just a few feet away from her skeletal presence.