This was originally a work of fanfiction that I lazily converted into an original piece for a a creative writing class. It turned out harder to convert than I originally imagined but in the end I feel this is a much better piece than the fanfic. Up to that point I had only written two stories in my life so uh I guess this is the third LOL

Enjoy

Chamber of Thanatos Greece:

He couldn’t see beyond the range of his flashlight, so he fished a flare gun from his backpack and fired it into the air. For what felt like decades, he watched it fly upwards. Eventually it hit the ceiling and illuminated the area. The most strenuous few days of his life would soon be coming to an end. Not long ago it had all been so bleak. His very future seemed destined to be one of extreme loneliness and despair. But he had found a way to fix it, to make it all better. He grinned. It was the grin of a desperate man on the verge of salvation.

A quick glance around the chamber revealed that it was about fifty meters wide with a doomed roof. If he had time to browse, he would have seen the images of the underworld and it’s rulers that covered the walls. But he wasn’t here to sight-see. He made his way deeper into the room dragging a large dark bag behind him. A wave of unrelenting shame swept through his body. She shouldn’t be treated this way, being dragged through the dirt like trash. It was wrong but he had no choice. At the far end of the wide chamber was his destination. A large altar made of pure gold. Beside the altar stood a massive bronze statue, the legendary statue of Thanatos, the God of death. Placing her body carefully on the altar, he unzipped the bag to reveal her face. For what may have been the tenth time in as much hours he cried, he cried over her until his tears collected on her lifeless face. The tears rolled across her nose, past her light blue eyes, and down her cheek. I won’t give up on you. I’ll never give up on you.

Stiffly he backed away from the altar, and removed a plastic container from his backpack. The container held the ancient text that was needed for the ceremony. He took extra care not to damage it when he unfolded it next to her body. He was going to return it to the museum sooner or later. From his right pocket he pulled the dagger of Hades, an object that was hard to find, even harder to steal.

He stopped and reflected; this was obviously madness. After a moment’s contemplation it dawned on him that he didn’t care. He recited the first verse of the ancient text out loud and placed his hand over her body. He looked up at the statue of Thanatos, it’s arrogant, overbearing eyes glared down upon him. He spoke the final verse, just as the flare went out. In the darkness he braced himself before slashing the dagger across his wrist. He bit down on his own tongue while warm blood flowed down his arm.

A cold breeze washed into the room catching him by surprise. The force of the brisk wind increased until it blew him away from the altar. He screamed in horror because even in the darkness, he could feel that he was no longer alone. He would learn soon enough that the ceremony had been a complete success.

******

It was about ten in the morning, Cynthia Rose had just gotten off the bus, and she was on the verge of tears. The flash flood of grief overwhelmed her quickly. Her eyes clenched shut, she stood perfectly still at the bus stop and she rode it out. Her eyes flickered open and right before her was her destination for the day. Looming across the street was Alberta General Hospital. Her disdain for hospitals quickly made its presence known. God only knew how much she didn’t want to be there, but her best friend Jake Moretti was there. He didn’t deserve to be there, but he was, so she would be there with him. The logic was sound.

The second she stepped off the curb, a strong gust blew the Bluebirds baseball cap right off her head. Her eyes became saucers as she watched her treasured hat roll into the middle of the road. The same season that Jake had brought her that cap the Bluebirds beat the odds and snagged themselves their first championship in fifty years. She sprinted after it, dodging and weaving through incoming traffic. When she had her hands on the cap; when she felt the dirt and grime between her fingertips, a pair of rough hands clamped onto her shoulders and pulled her backwards as a taxi cab jetted past. The instant shock took all of the air out of her body, and it took half a minute before it dawned on Cynthia how close she had been to being road pizza.

“Oh god…” was all she could manage to choke out.

“Now that was close wasn’t it?”

She turned towards her savior. He was a thin man with glassy hazel eyes and unruly sandy hair that was styled short and businesslike. He appeared to have ten years on her, thirty two or thirty three tops. Yet if you were to judge by his smile you may have thought him a toddler. The smile contradicted his fashion, consisting of a long black overcoat, and matching black pants and shoes. He had dark on from head to toe.

“Thank you so very much. I don’t know how I could ever repay you.”

“Cynthia Rose?”

“Uh yeah.” Cynthia said with surprise. “How do you know my name?”

He gazedinto her face; it was a piercing gaze that somehow left Cynthia feeling naked. A shameful red crept along her face. In contrast a Cheshire cat-like grin came to his. “It’s awkward isn’t it? When someone knows you but you don’t know them. But I digress. I was just about to visit Jake. He and I are work buddies. One day I happen to catch sight of a picture of you two he carried in his wallet. I being true to my nosy nature asked him about the girl in the picture. So there you go, I’m cursed to never forget a pretty face.”

“Oh I see.” It was true Jake did have a picture of the two of them together in his wallet. Cynthia had taken the picture herself.

“May I ask the name of my Good Samaritan?”

“Mike Litoris” he replied.

Cynthia’s right eyebrow cocked up high up into her forehead. “Excuse me?”

The stranger laughed it was a deep hearty laugh that managed to snag a smile from her puzzled face. “Sorry I couldn’t resist breaking out that old gem.” He wiped a false tear from his eyes. “The name’s Harper, Harper Peers.” He gestured towards the hospital with his thumb. “Shall we go?”

********

It was only a week ago that Cynthia and Jake had made plans to spend the weekend together. But then came one of life’s little “surprises.” A case of bacterial meningitis landed Jake in the hospital. Further tests had placed his chances of survival at slim to none. All anyone could do for Jake now was to make him comfortable and wait for the off chance that his treatments took. Still it didn’t make any sense to her; it all seemed so random and so wrong.

“Is it better to have loved and lost or to have never loved at all?”

Cynthia batted her eyes. She had been pulled from her haze of grief to find herself back at the hospital. She turned to Harper. “What did you say?”

“I just thought I’d throw something out there. We’ve been standing in front of Jake’s door for like a minute and a half.”

“Oh I’m sorry.”

“Hey you go on ahead. I’m going to try and see if I can get a cup of coffee.”

Harper strolled nonchalantly down the hospital corridor, while Cynthia brought her focus to the room door. Somehow she had known that Jake was on death’s door. There were no maybes involved; she would lose her best friend in the world since childhood. Cynthia shut her eyes; they could have been more then best friends. No, that wasn’t really true; the truth was that she wished that they had been more than best friends. But now; just being near him was enough. Placing her shaking hands against the door to Jake’s room she pushed herself forward. Once inside she was relieved to find that he was asleep. Yet tears flowed freely from her eyes by the time the door shut behind her.

************

She had taken a nap in the seat beside Jake and awoke a half hour later to a strange sight. Harper was standing over Jake’s body. In his hand he held what appeared to be flowers wrapped in plastic. On his face was what she would describe as a “Eureka” grin. Harper’s face lit up in a way that reminded Cynthia of when her grandmother completed a crossword puzzle.

“Excuse me. What are you doing?”

His glowing smile returned. He was seemingly oblivious to the fact that she had just caught him doing something weird to Jake.

“Oh this, I’m just offering a prayer, a Jewish prayer, I’m Jewish F.Y.I.” He bit his bottom lip. “But then again I’m more Jew-ish than Jewish. Honestly, I do enjoy the taste of swine.”

Cynthia nodded in acknowledgment. “Fine, but what’s with the flower?”

Harper opened his arms out wide. “What? A man can’t bring another man flowers without it being weird?”

Awkward silence rolled into the room like a tidal wave.

“I guess not.” Harper chuckled as he placed the flower on the counter by Jake’s bed. “Excuse me for thinking this was the twenty first century and we were past that sort of thing.”

Unusual. That was that was the word echoing through Cynthia’s mind as she stared at Harper. Not in a negative sense, but in quirky sense. He had a Ben Stiller-like charm to him. Ben Stiller happened to be her favorite actor and one of Jake’s as well. It made sense to her that Jake could have befriended such a person. We’ll never watch movies together again will we Jake?

“I bet you want to know what kind of flower this is.” Harper blurted out suddenly. They’re called forget-me-nots. They symbolize true love and remembrance. ‘Forget me not’ are supposed to have been the last words of young man who fell into a river and drowned while picking these flowers for his lover.”

Cynthia blinked at him. “I’ll be sure to mention that in my blog. People should know.”

Harper grinned as he made a beeline for the window. “Captain my scanners are detecting large amounts of sarcasm in the air”

Cynthia returned her attention to Jake and conjured up another fond memory. This one the senior prom, her date had gotten grabby so Jake kicked the guy’s ass. Then they shared the last dance, pissing off his date in the process. Maybe if she had pushed a little that night, things might have been different. If only----

“You know what we called Jake back at the office?”

Cynthia glanced at Harper who was still peering out the window. He turned to her. “We used to call him kitty litter because he brought in all the p-”

Cynthia forcefully cleared her throat cutting Harper off.

“I’m just saying he was kind of popular with the ladies” he countered.

Cynthia chuckled inwardly. Popular didn’t begin to describe Jake and the opposite sex. Of course Jake had the looks but that was the appetizer, his great personality was the main course. People were naturally comfortable around him

“I am aware of Jake’s popularity” she stated.

Harper shrugged. “Thing is I don’t think he really loved any of those girls.”

Cynthia felt her heart skip a beat.

“Still as far as meaningless things in life go, meaningless sex has got to be the best.”

“I suppose.” Cynthia announced coolly. “Oh by the way to answer your question from earlier it is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved before.”

Harper glanced over his shoulder and their eyes met. “Lots of people say that. But lots of people have never really lost.” Cynthia looked on as Harper’s eyes went to her sleeping friend. For a moment sadness flared up on his face, then it was good. He looked up at her, his teeth gleaming.

“You look hungry, how about lunch?”

“Um” the hesitation in Cynthia’s voice would have been clear to the deaf.

“Come on, there’s a diner across the street. We’ll talk about Jake some more. We’ll help each other cope.”

Though she had pledged to spend the afternoon beside Jake, Cynthia said yes. Before she knew it she was following him out the door and down the hospital corridor into the elevators.

************

Cynthia watched quietly as Harper savored the taste of a meatball sandwich. She still wasn’t entirely sure why she had accepted his invitation to lunch. She knew very little about Harper besides the fact that he was Jake’s friend, and he did save her life.

“This sandwich has everything you could possibly want” Harper declared while licking his lips.

“Including the recommended daily dose of Chinese lead.”

Harper appeared amused. “You want a bite?”

“I’m a vegetarian.” Cynthia answered.

He nodded. “I understand I for one respect an animal’s right to be tasty.”

She chuckled softly. “That is so wrong.”

“Yet you laughed.” Harper gulped down the rest of his sandwich. “Anyway do you and Jake go way back?”

“Yep, all the way back to the second grade” Cynthia bragged. “This one time in the third grade, some of my classmates were teasing me, so I hid in the closet of my classroom. Jake follows me into the closet; he hugs me and starts telling me dirty jokes. Y’know dirty jokes as far as third grader knew. Anyway he ended up beating up the boys who were making fun of me, which got him suspended.” She ran a finger across both eyes. “Funny, I had forgotten all about that.”

“So you two were close friends.”

“The closest!” She exclaimed. “Even when he got really popular in high school we still hung out together. The other girls were always asking why he kept me around. Sometimes I’d ask myself the same thing.”

At that time Cynthia took note of Harper suddenly eyeing the jukebox in the corner of the diner. “So why didn’t you two ever date?” He asked abruptly.

“Excuse me?” she said slightly taken aback.

His eyes on the jukebox Harper continued. “If you don’t mind me saying, you’re an attractive girl, he’s a pretty cool dude. Why didn’t you guys ever hook up?”

“Um, because we were good friends” she said with incensement. “Hooking up might have ruined everything we had. A guy and girl can just be friends you know. Plus I don’t see how any of this is your business.”

Harper scanned the face of his watch. “Excuse me.”

He got up from his seat, walked over to the juke box stared at it for a moment than he tapped it roughly with his fist. To Cynthia’s surprise music suddenly filled the room, Harper turned to her with a smile while forming a thrust-forward double thumbs up. “Aaaaaay!” He crowed with what most would have considered a passable Arthur Fonzerelliimpression.

Returning to the table Harper found Cynthia swaying to the song and singing along. “Oh, I see you approve of my selection.”

“I love this song, Van Morrison is so choice” she said. “This reminds me when we were in junior high, he invited me to go swimming and I almost drowned. He felt so bad about it, that he gave me his entire Morrison collection, at the time they were like his most beloved treasures.”

Clearly amused Harper deftly glanced at his watch once again. “That sounds…”

“Uh-uh” she interrupted. “Do not interrupt the chorus.” The seemingly possessed Cynthia Rose remained oblivious to the stares from the other patrons of the diner. “You know he apologized for an entire month. Can you believe it? Apologizing for something he had no control over.”

That’s when Harper struck. “So Cynthia why didn’t you ever tell Jake that you were in love with him?”

Cynthia froze. “What?”

“Let me throw another question out there. If someone told you that Jake was in love with you, would you then confess?”

“I’m confused, what is this about?”

“Hardest things to say easiest to hear right?”

“You’re crazy.” She wanted to get up and leave but her legs felt like stone. How could he tell she was in love with Jake?

“Honestly I wouldn’t do anything. Second hand information is not enough.”

“Why not?” Harper inquired.

“I wouldn’t be sure.” She replied quickly.

“So…?”

“So I want to be one hundred percent sure before I tell him anything.”

Harper blew out a breath between his lips. “That's like the Ocean wanting to be wetter. It’s impossible to be one hundred percents sure about anything especially things like love.”

Cynthia’s eyes frosted a little. “Excuse me Dr. Phil but on the good chance he didn’t feel the same way, I would have been crushed, and our friendship would have never been the same.”

Harper was silent for a moment.“It’s strange; you were good enough to be his best friend all these years. Why don’t you think you’d be good enough to be his girlfriend?”

Anger burned in Cynthia. “Don’t even begin to assume you know anything about how I feel.”

“Cynthia there was so many red flags in the hospital room, I thought we were China. I know love when I see it. When he ignores you and you still care, when he loves another girl but you still smile and say “I'm happy for you” but what you really want to do is cry. If that’s not love than its insanity, I personally prefer to believe in the former.”

Cynthia refused to be baited. “I’m out of here!”

“I can read the minds of people around me.” Casually Harper took a sip of coffee to allow enough time for the news to sink in for Cynthia.

“You’re crazy as hell.” she muttered.

Harper gestured towards the waitress. “She’s hoping the pregnancy test she used was defective.” He pointed to a man sitting by the counter. “He’s wondering if it’s only called a ménage trio when it’s with two women not two guys.” Finally he pointed at Cynthia. “You think this is bullshit.”

“Of course I do!” She exclaimed.

Harper rolled his eyes. “Fine, think of something no one else could possible know. Something totally about yourself.”

Cynthia shut her eyes and exhaled loudly.

Harper’s eyes went wide. “Wow that is kinky, with that much saliva?”

Cynthia couldn’t help but do her best imitation of a tomato. “No way, I’m not falling for this. This is too much.”

“He loves you Cynthia.”

“Don’t mess with me” she protested indignantly.

“I kind of combed through his mind this morning.”

“The prayer?” Cynthia gasped.

Harper nodded. “Do you want to know what he thinks about you?”

Cynthia placed her hands against the table as they shook uncontrollably. “No I don’t want to know.” She paused. “It’s a complete invasion of his personal space.”

Harper placed his pointer finger in the air. “And I quote “I don’t know if I’m making a mistake but I really don’t care. This weekend I’m going to tell my best friend in the world that I love her….read from the book of Jake.”

Tears cascaded rolled down her cheeks. “Stop it. You’re lying.”

Harper leaned across the table and grabbed hold of Cynthia’s trembling hands. “I’ve lied about a lot of things, but I wouldn’t lie about this. I am a believer Cynthia; I’ve done things for love that you can’t even imagine. I may be the biggest hypocrite in the world but I am a believer.”

Cynthia pulled her gaze away from his and brought it downward. Her tears hit the wooden table with a soft thud. That’s just it, he’s going to die! I know he will, I can feel it.”

Harper returned to his original seating position. “Is it better to have loved and lost or to have never loved at all?”

Cynthia sucked in a sharp breath. “I already answered that question.”

“Do you think Jake subscribes to the same theory?”

“I…I do.”

“Harper sighed. “Take the chance for both of you.”

She wiped the tears from her eyes and nodded. She jumped out of the booth got up from, pushed past a waitress and hurried out the door.

************

She pushed through the door of his room so hard hat she ended up tripping up over her own feet and crashing to the floor. Wincing in pain she clutched her kneecaps.

“You never change do you?”

The sound of his voice pushed all the pain from her mind. She rose to her feet while brushing the dirt of her pants and smoothing the wrinkles out of her shirt. “How are you feeling J?” she asked.

Jake sat upright in bed. “I’m doing better than I did yesterday.”

“Cool.” She said causally. He did appear to have a bit more color to his cheeks.

Jake glanced down at her knee. “You know I enjoy physical comedy C’ but you didn’t have to go that far to entertain me.”

“That um well that….actually” Chuckling nervously her eyes went to the floor. “I was rushing in to tell you something. But now that I have your attention I realize don’t know how to say it.”

Curiosity flashed on Jake’s face. “Are you ok C?”

“No, not really… Jake you know that song She by Elvis Costello.”

Jake nodded “I love that song.”

“I do too! It’s a great song! And uh y’know how the song goes “I'll take her laughter and her tears, and make them all my souvenirs, for where she goes I've got to be, the meaning of my life is She.” That’s how it goes right? Well, when I hear that verse, it’s not her it’s his, it’s not she it’s he. And the he is you, Jake. And I don’t just hear that verse when the song is on, I wake up in the morning, I hear it. I put my head on a pillow at night and I hear it. I’ve grown angry at it, I’ve even tried being indifferent to it, but no matter how hard I try I can’t turn it off. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to turn it off. Because deep down in my gut, I don’t ever want it to turn off. Even if it’s ruining my life and that is just the saddest; and most pathetic thing in the world.”

Her fingers intertwined she inhaled deeply. “I love you Jake. I’ve loved you for as long as I can rememb--”

Through half shut eyes she saw furtive movements in his room. Jake was no longer in bed. Cynthia turned and gasped when she realized he was right beside her. She backed away but his hand reached out and grabbed her arm.

“I love you too C,” he said weakly.

“That’s…..cool.” She nodded a second before rushing over to embrace him. They cried, kissed and cried again.

“Excuse me?”

Cynthia and Jake pulled their lips away and turned towards the voice. There at the door was Jake’s doctor, and he sported a beaming smile that could be seen from space.

“Mr. Moretti I have some very good news.”

************

Visiting hours were over, but Cynthia had one more person to visit before the day was done and she was hoping he would still be waiting at the diner. Her face brimming with unbridled joy she stepped out of the hospital and immediately spotted Harper across the street standing beside a stoplight. He looked towards her and gave her his brightest smile. She focused on him. “Hey!”

She had the urge to tell him everything that happened, to thank him for all he had done. When she had cut the distance between them in half, she noticed his smile was gone. His down-turned eyes flickered upward and his face appeared cadaverous, icy and pitiless, it was the face of one who knew nothing of compromise. Frightened she stopped in the middle of the street, Just about then she saw something coming in fast through the corner of her eyes. A scream bubbled in her throat while her bruised knees strained to move. The only thing that flashed through her mind was the question “why?”

************

The smile on her face had made him feel so good. The best he felt for awhile, but unfortunately it was short lived. It was hard to stay happy watching her joyful face slowly turn to one of pure horror as the station wagon hit. Parents on the streets covered their children’s eyes. Others crowded around, just for a glimpse of the tragic scene. The driver scrambled out of the station wagon and pleaded to all who would hear that it wasn’t his fault. Harper walked past them all. No one could see him now; he was just an icy feeling on the back of someone’s neck on this cool September evening. He walked around the front side of the station wagon and there she was. The expression on her face showed an equal measure of pain and surprise.

Cynthia looked up at him. “You’re not really Jake’s friend are you?” Harper knew that they would always come to understand in the end. “Is it better to have loved and lost or to have never loved at all?” he asked.

She clutched the bloody Bluebirds cap tightly against her chest. “I can still fell his lips on mine.”

“You were scheduled to die today. I was supposed to take you earlier. But I figured maybe you’d be happier knowing, and so would he. Tell me am I wrong?”

Cynthia’s body twitched sporadically as blood leaked pass her lips. “I’m glad I know and I’m happy he knows. I just wish I could apologize for leaving so suddenly.”

Harper ran a hand through his hair. “You shouldn’t apologize about something you have no control over.”

Cynthia smiled. “I told him though, I told him, I held him and I kissed him. I held and kissed him liked I’d never see him again. I…just wish….I wish…..” Cynthia’s voice trailed off as she let go of her last breath.

Harper knelt beside her. “Don’t worry Cynthia you’re one of the good ones.”

************

Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you react to two consecutive weeks, Jake would wake up sit in his living room and stare at the flowers; the forget-me-nots that Harper had left at the hospital. He would stare at them flowers and then he’d watch home movies featuring Cynthia for hours. Harper would be there. Sometimes he’d even whisper words of encouragement in the dead of the night. He wondered what he would whisper tonight. That it was her time; that everyone dies? Que sera sera?

I hope you have not forgotten our arrangement.

Harper turned to the living room window to see a lone crow pecking fervently at the window. “Oh no Thanatos I remember clearly, a hundred souls for the price of one.” It had been almost a year since Harper had begged and pleaded for the return of his wife. Almost a year and he had taken fifteen lives. Harper reached into his overcoat and pulled a wilted flower from his inner pocket. He studied the blue petals as it twirled between his fingers. He no longer asked himself if he were being selfish. His actions weren’t based on a valid motive. They were a continuous emotional response. He had come to believe there was no right or wrong when it came to emotional responses.

Delays can occur, but a single failure will not be allowed.

With that said the crow took off, leaving dark feathers and a mocking cackle in its wake. Harper pocketed the flower and rose to his feet. He took one last lingering look at Jake before leaving the house.

Hopefully you enjoyed. If you don't mind leave some feedback it's essentially for a budding writer XD