Death's Life

by B Latif

  ***

  The Koran and the Bible.

  Rose had read them several times, but without translation. She had asked me the meaning many times, but I always refused, saying that I would explain when it was the right time. It involved humans. I didn’t want her to know yet.

  Meanwhile, after a day’s break, Rose decided to go to the forest again.

  “Mama?”

  I was combing her hair, “Hmm?”

  “I was thinking…” She began reluctantly, “Will it be okay for me to go in the forest again?”

  When I stopped combing. Rose looked back at me.

  I know humans would expect me to imprison her in a tower just like in fairytales and a prince would come to rescue her.

  Sorry to disappoint you: wrong.

  I’m not a human, I don’t create fairytales. I am Death, and I have my own reasons to let things happen.

  “Of course, Rose! It’s your home, why wouldn’t you go there?”

  “But I’m scared.”

  “Oh… that bushmaster, it won’t bother you again.”

  “No,” she held my knees, “I’m scared of those new animals, Mama. They were strong and… and…”

  I smiled and held her hand.

  “Trust me, Rose. You trust your mama, right? I’m always with you. Always.”

  Curling her lips, she turned her face away, and I began to comb her hair again.

  “And you’ll finish the sketch of the spider monkey too.”

  Rose laughed, “Mama, did you know I can climb trees like one too?”

  “Really? Since when?”

  “Some days ago. It’s more fascinating to see the forest from up there. You know, I can teach you. It’s not that hard.”

  “Shut up, spider monkey!” I laughed, “I’ll ask you when you fall and break your leg!”

  And it happened.

  I couldn’t leave her alone until I was sure those men had left the forest, so I spied on Rose. First, she searched for the spider monkey and completed its sketch in two hours. Then she placed the folded paper in her book and put it in her pocket. Purple was so her color.

  There was an anteater with an injured leg. She spread a paste of herbs on the wound. After a general promenade, Rose chose a huge tree with abundant branches and began to climb it. And how she managed to climb it wearing a gown, only I saw, and it made me laugh. It was hard to control my laughter!

  But I appreciated her effort. Soon, she wasn’t visible.

  After a while, I heard voices. Oh no, not again. That Henry couldn’t stay away, could he?

  “I think we need to rest,” a man’s voice. They were speaking Portuguese.

  “Paulo, you look as if you’ve run a marathon!”

  I looked up at the tree, wishing that she would either stay or come down that instant.

  Neither happened.

  “Did you call your father?” It was Daniel’s voice. The steps were growing loud, crunching the leaves beneath boots.

  “No,” it was Henry, “I didn’t bring my mobile with me.”

  Now they were under the tree. Maybe Rose was up there and couldn’t hear their voices? She must have reached the top by now… what if she slipped?

  “Okay guys,” Paulo said, putting his bag down, “I’m stopping here… why? I didn’t even have a decent breakfast!”

  “You should have thought about it before agreeing to come on the trip, Doctor,” Daniel smiled.

  Henry also placed his bag on the ground along with his bow and cornucopia of arrows, “We should get some rest.”

  While the other men began to chat, he remained silent, looking perturbed. Standing akimbo, staring at the trunk, he was lost somewhere.

  “Henry, your mother called yesterday. She said your dad is still upset about you leaving…”

  THUD.

  Rose fell right on top of Henry. The other two jumped to their feet suddenly, looking at the unexpected visitor. Henry lay with his back pressed to the forest floor and Rose lying on his chest.

  Placing her palms on the soil, she propped herself up and stared straight at Henry’s face. He looked back, frowning.

  Terrified, she swiftly sprang up to run away, but this time, Henry was faster. He clambered up just in time and chased her.

  The men stood frozen in place.

  Rose was running fast in a panic and Henry was following her with his frown deeper than usual, his jaws shut tightly and hands in fists.

  He won. He grabbed her arm, twirled her around and held her to his body, her back against his chest, face at his side, and a dagger pointing at her throat.

  Rose seemed as if she could hardly breathe.

  “Para de lutar ou eu vou te matar.” Henry whispered in her ear.

  Stop fighting or I will kill you.

  She didn’t understand, but his whisper was enough to terrify her.

  “MAMA!” Rose screeched, “MAMA!”

  Henry placed the dagger in his belt and covered her mouth with his palm to silence her.

  “Ande, ou eu vou cortar o teu pescoço assim como eu fiz à cobra.”

  Walk, or I will cut your throat just like I did with the snake.

  He began to walk with his arms around her, imprisoning her. They reached the tree like that. As soon as they did, Daniel whispered.

  “Que… diabos?”

  What the… hell?

  Henry whispered ominously in her ear again, “Eu vou te deixar ir, mas se chorares para a tua mae eu vou te matar.”

  I'm gonna let you go. But if you cry for your mother, I am going to kill you.

  Rose didn’t respond.

  Very slowly, he let go of her and then, holding her arms still, he led her to the tree and made her sit by the trunk.

  With his jaw twitching, Henry stood over the poor girl with his arms folded like a military officer, staring down at her.

  Tentatively, Rose looked up once, then twice and held her gaze on his face.

  “O que estas a fazer arvore?”

  What were you doing in the tree?

  “Henry! Es maluco?” Paulo asked.

  Henry! Are you crazy?

  “Cala te!” Asking Paulo to shut up, he didn’t take his eyes off Rose, and repeated his question, “O que estas a fazer arvore?”

  Rose was looking incredulously at him.

  “O Kellerman mandou-te para nos espionar?”

  Henry said and this time the other men also became alert.

  Did Kellerman send you to spy on us?

  No answer.

  “Okay... you have found us a mute,” Daniel told the others, this time in English.

  Rose understood and shook her head.

  They got it. She couldn’t speak Portuguese. Henry didn’t reply. She looked at them, one by one, lastly at Henry.

  “Recognize us?” He asked, “I saved your life a night ago when I thought you needed help. But now I get it, you’re a spy.”

  No answer, just a blank and scared stare.

  Henry sniffed and then crouched in front of her.

  This time, he asked softly, bringing his face close to hers, “Why did you run away that night?”

  Rose looked straight at his face and then, after a long pause, she croaked a whisper, “You animals... can talk...”

  “Huh! She talks!”

  Henry didn’t pay any attention to the others. He stared stoically at her, perhaps expecting something but she simply stared back into his eyes.

  “Excuse me, ma’am. First of all, you are insulting such notable people. Do you have any idea who are you talking to?”

  “Of course, she does.” Henry was talking to Rose instead of Eloy. “Don’t you? Tell me if Kellerman has sent you and I’ll let you walk away on your own two feet or... these animals you see are going to do some nasty work on you.”

  Tears filled her eyes.

  “Mama,” she whispered, “I want to go home.”

  Henry frowned. As he continued to stare at her, an argument broke out between the other men.
/>   “Let her go. She’s just a girl lost in the forest.”

  “Shut up, Paulo! She is Kellerman’s spy and if we let her go, she’ll tell him we’re here and he’ll kill us!”

  Henry and Rose were still sitting there, face to face, staring at each other.

  “Let’s go to the tent.”

  “Henry?”

  Without turning away his gaze, he said, “Give me rope.”

  Eloy handed him the rope straight away. Henry held it up in front of Rose’s eyes and said, “I’m going to tie you up. You have thirty minutes to tell me your plan and if you don’t, there’s going to be a lot of trouble here.”

  He wasn’t loud.

  He tied her wrists at her back and then tied her to the trunk.

  “You are scaring her, let her just go.” Daniel challenged him.

  Nobody dared say anything. Ignoring Daniel’s plea, he took off his watch and stood in front of her again. Then he admonished her, placing the watch in her lap, “Thirty minutes.”

  The four men sat at a distance, keeping watch, while Henry sat beside her, looking at her.

  She was sobbing silently to herself.

  Fifteen minutes passed.

  “I’m going to ask you two questions,” Henry said, placing his arms on his knees and scratching the soil with his dagger, “What are you doing in the forest?”

  Her lips trembled, “I... I... made a sketch and then... I climbed the tree to… to see the forest from up there.”

  “Okay, can I see your sketch?”

  “My pocket,” Rose whimpered, “in my pocket.”

  Henry frowned. He pulled out the book from the pocket on her waist, “A book. Wow. You study.”

  As he opened it, the sketch of the monkey fell at his feet. He took it and studied it for a moment.

  “A monkey? You really are convincing, girl.” His tone was sarcastic, “I’m keeping this book. There must be codes in it. Next question, why are you always in the forest?”

  “My... my... home is here.” Rose said in a whisper and looked at him with pleading eyes, “My mama is waiting for me... if you let me go, I’ll never tell her, and she won’t scold you. Please... I have helped all the animals and...”

  Henry was laughing under his breath, “Unbelievable... Kellerman has really trained you, hasn’t he? Once I let you go, I guess you are going to use your kung fu on us and overpower us. Do you think I’m stupid?”

  “No!” Rose was getting angry now, “Give me my book!”

  “You still care about your damned book?” Henry cast his eyes on the watch. Seven minutes were left, “Your life is at stake. Seven minutes and... you are going to die.”

  “I don’t understand. What you are saying?”

  Rose was irritated, but Henry was infuriated. He clenched her upper arm and squeezed it, bringing her closer to him. She had gained the attention of the other men too.

  “Keep. Your. Voice. Down.” He warned her, “Or I’ll take away these seven minutes too.”

  He opened the book and said, “Let’s see what is so important about it...”

  He began to scrutinize it, and Rose looked at the weird thing in her lap, the watch.

  The more he read, the deeper his frown became. He looked at her, discombobulated now.

  Again, he read the words and their meanings.

  “What’s your name?”

  “Rose.”

  “How old are you?”

  “Nineteen.”

  There was change in his eyes and his gaze. There was a pause then, “I’m Henry. Twenty-three. Do you know Kellerman?”

  Rose shook her head. It had seemed at first that she was following him, but the book said something else. He brought his hand to her face, but Rose said suddenly in fright, which froze him, “Are you going to eat me?”

  Henry drew back his hand. Before he could answer, there was a noise nearby, the breaking of a branch and chirping as many birds flew off.

  The men became alert. They got up and Henry put the book in his pocket.

  “What about her?” Daniel asked.

  “She’ll be safe here. Let’s go and see what it is... there must be jaguar or something...”

  The men walked away, Henry in the lead.

  I was glad they left. It would only be seconds before they would find it was just a broken branch. I had done it to create a distraction.

  Hurrying towards Rose, I grabbed the dagger and began to cut the rope.

  “Mama!”

  “Come on! Be quick, go home, I’m coming. I’ll make sure no one follows you.”

  She nodded and was gone.

  I stood in the open now, knowing she wasn’t there, and the men wouldn’t be able to see me.

  “Where did she go?” Daniel asked, looking around.

  But Henry stayed there as the others searched the area. The wristwatch was gone, and his eyes were on the dagger by the rope.

  He smiled, drawing out Rose’s book from his pocket, “No need, fellows. She’ll come back.”

  I left.

  Did I mention before, apart from being the son of a bitch, Henry was the son of the president of Brazil?

  Chapter 8

  “He wasn’t an animal, he was a human and so are you, Rose.”

  It was the second day. She had composed herself and now she was asking me questions. I sat down beside her, watching the waterfall. I asked her to keep quiet and listen carefully.

  “First answer my question. I gave a book to read.”

  “But how can I understand it, Mama. You said you’d translate it into English.”

  “I have brought the translation. If you accept what’s written in the Koran, you’ll be a Muslim.”

  “Okay,” she nodded. I opened the book of translation and read:

  “The day of noise and clamor. What is the day of noise and clamor? And what will explain to thee what the day of noise and clamor is? It is a day whereon mankind will be like moths scattered about and mountains will be carded wool.” (1-5 of 101)

  I looked at her. She was staring at the translation. After a long pause, she said, “I’ll read it.”

  She began reading that very day. She read continuously without pausing. I tried to coax her to come inside the castle and have lunch, but she skipped her meals.

  I left to do my job, I had to take the soul of a Christian who had never touched his holy book more than once or twice in his life.

  Before unlocking his soul from his body, I asked the old man a question.

  He was dying in an accident. The scene of the devastated truck changed, instead, there was emptiness all around. He looked at me with fear in his eyes.

  “How old are you?” I asked.

  “Seventy-five,” he said simply, sitting next to me on the bench.

  “How many books have you read in your lifetime?” I asked politely. even if a man of his age made me, his Death, look horrible to him.

  The more years a person lived, the more horrifying I appeared to him because he had had more opportunities to commit sins.

  “Two hundred, approximately,” he did the math.

  I stared at him, “How many times have you read your favorite book?”

  He must have thought the discussion was a distraction. It wasn’t.

  “Ten times, maybe.”

  I continued, “And how many times have you read the Bible?”

  No answer. His mouth remained open. Not even once, and there was regret on his face.

  I smiled. He fell on the floor on the embers, roaring like a tiger.

  His soul was stuck in his body, I closed my fist.

  OBSERVATION No. 16

  It’s a shame you read the books of human writers several times and forget to read the book of the master of all writers: God.

  This was the first time I had taken a soul with a smile playing on my lips, but still, it was a sarcastic smile. I only have one chance to mock humans and I avail it.

  When I came back, I was glad Rose was asleep with the book open in her
hand. I didn’t want to answer her questions until she had read it all.

  The next day, I left before she woke up and left a rose by her side. At least she would know I had come home.

  Actually, I was afraid.

  Afraid that I might fail to answer her questions. Assault with words is stronger compared to assault with the hands.

  Rose didn’t even go to the forest. She was obsessed with the book. The shocking thing was she never asked me about it. I didn’t know what she was waiting for as I watched her pronouncing the words quite wrong. She seemed impetuous about it, forgetting everything.

  Even me.

  Yes, there were no more roars of mama. The castle was soundless. I didn’t disturb her peaceful reading.

  Meanwhile, I found the elusive Henry Cavills and recovered Rose’s book. Henry would never know who took it.

  He had left forest with his mates three days after the incident with Rose and was in Brasilia with his father with no intentions of coming back.

  I didn’t return her book. First, I made sure there was nothing written on it, there was no page torn from it and then at night, when she slept, I quietly placed the book at her side with a rose on it.

  She would find it in the morning and then she would ask me where I found it.

  But when I came back, I was astonished as Rose asked me no questions. She kept reading the Koran with the book in her lap.

  I wondered what was going on in her mind. She hadn’t said a single word to me after our last chat. Was she upset with me for not helping her?

  ***

  It was the seventh day and I was beginning to get worried about her. She was sitting on the grass when I picked up my gray cloak to go to work.

  Her words paralyzed me because what she asked was totally different from what I had expected. My list of expected questions:

  1. What is a human?

  2. Why didn’t you tell me?

  3. Where can I see humans.

  But her questions didn’t involve humans. It was something I had told her days before.

  Something deeply related to me.

  “Mama,” she called and asked before I could turn to face her, “What is the day of noise and clamor?”

  The day of my victory.

  The day when every human will be able to see me.