Joshua Graham - Terminus

THREE SECONDS. THAT WAS ALL.

The man in the black leather jacket had looked down for just three seconds to read a text message on his phone. And in the interim, his five-year-old Houdini of a stepdaughter Chloe had unstrapped herself, climbed out of her car seat, and slipped out of sightnowhere near the doorway of the office where he was to meet his contact.

Just three lousy seconds!

His mouth went dry.

He scanned the streets, sidewalk, between cars, to the left then right then a quick three-sixty. Despite the thorough sweep, which took all of two seconds, he didnt see her.

Chloe!

She didnt answer, but he spotted her. Way down the street, her auburn pigtails bouncing with each step.

Chloe! Wait! He slammed shut the back door of his Focus. Didnt bother to lock it. Ran up the sidewalkfast. But the little stinker was fixated on a black cat luring her across the imaginary border that separated the gentrified arts district of Carleton Village and the slums of East Brentwood.

The cat bolted around the corner at the sound of the mans agitated shouts. Both hands outstretched, Chloe giggled and ran even faster.

Kitty!

He nearly tripped over an uneven seam in the sidewalk as he ran, his heart going faster than his feet.

A pair of SDPD squad cars with flashing red and blue beacons raced past Birch and came to a screeching halt somewhere around the corner of Lamont.

The little girl turned the same corner and vanished behind the red bricks of the apartment building. Straight onto Lamont.

Stop, Chloe! Hed gained but was still several steps behind.

The sound of a policeman shouting filled his head. Could things get any worse? He ran even harder.

It all happened within a matter of seconds.

Three lousy seconds.

Thats what it took for him to round the corner and make out the figure fleeing the pimped-out Honda Civic that had crashed into a hydrant. The gunman shot at the cops, who now stood behind the open doors of their angled cars.

The man in the black leather jacket leapt at Chloe.

Get down!

Over his shout, the shouts of the police, the screams of frightened pedestrians, came a deafening pop! whose impact toppled him.

Chloe screamed.

A sudden chill overtook him as a crimson pool expanded around his face, now planted on the cold concrete sidewalk. He tried to speak, stretched his fingers towards Chloe. Felt nothing but the cold pumping though his entire body.

Life didnt flash before his eyes.

He heard more gunshots.

The last thing he saw was Chloe lurching back, her pigtails flailing to the side. As though in slow motion, she was falling.

Falling

He never saw her hit the ground.

AS A REAPER OF THE THIRD LEGION, NikolaiNick, as he preferred to be called these dayshad attended to more human deaths over the last thousand years than he cared to. Countless lives and memories snuffed out like the wick of a candle. It had all become routine, meaningless.

Vanitasvanitatum.

The ability to traverse the entire planet in the blink of a human eye had long grown commonplace, its charm lost somewhere between King Malcolm IIs victory in The Battle of Mortlach and Guttenbergs invention of moveable type. These days he spent most of his time assigned to the northern hemisphere, one of the least active territories on earth.

As for leaving the planet, he typically only did that on days when he escorted a soul to the Terminus.

A day like today.

Nick waited while the OR surgeon continued trying to save the little girl from multiple gunshot wounds.

My husband was killed, the beautiful woman standing in the door said, her voice breaking. Shes all I have.

We cant keep her going like this, the surgeon said gently.

Shes not even five.

Im truly sorry. But its time to let her go.

No! The mother rushed forward, knocking over a metal tray and all its equipment as she reached out to her daughter. The nurse caught hold of her arms and held her back.

Please, dont let the last few moments of your daughters life end like this. Let her go with some dignity, the surgeon said.

Nick tuned out the mothers voice as she got hold of herself. Having to watch this sort of thing was perhaps the worst part of his punishment. Far worse than his demotion. Worse than when he was a guardian a millennium ago. Hed seen tens of thousands die horrific deaths on battlegrounds in the physical realmeven intervened and partaken in sanctioned kills himself. But at least hed been helping rid the planet of those whod deserved it.

This was much worse.

Nicks reflection didnt show in the mirror, but in it he could see the surgeon calling the time of death and switching off the EKG machine, the little girl lying pale and still, the lovely mother weeping.

And now the warm golden light that only Nick could perceive filled the room, enveloping the body. It was about to happen.

The little girls ethereal form sat up and separated from her expired mortal body. She looked to her mother, confused.

Mama? Whyre you crying?

Her mother didnt respond. How could she?

Callous as Nicks heart had grown over the years, these moments always wrenched it.

Its okay, little girl.

She turned to him and stepped off the operating table. Had she been older, she might have reacted with panic as most do when they see the blood on the sheets, the surroundings, the grief-stricken loved ones standing over their body. But she was too young to understand. She smiled and tried to touch her mothers head. Her hand passed right through it. She giggled and did it again.

Thats funny, Mommy.

Nick hated this. He should never have to take a child this young and innocent to the Terminus. He forced a smile and approached her.

Whats your name, love?

Chloe. Again she giggled, now prancing around the OR passing her hands through cabinets, walls, chairs, her mother. Funny!

Nick put his hand on her shoulder and her smile faded. This was the part he hated most. An expression common to people much older than Chloe replaced it. A look of recognition. Finality.

Shes too young.

She looked back to her mother, still weeping over the empty shell that had been Chloes body. Then she turned back to Nick with tears in her eyes.

Its time to leave, isnt it?

Come, say goodbye to your mum. Shell feel it, and itll make her happyif only for a moment.

Okay. She reached up, put her tiny hand in Nicks. Like an electrical current, a twinge that originated from the core of her spirit flowed into his. By now he should have been used to it, but he wasnt.

Come on, then.

Chloe didnt seem to pay any mind to the fact that her mother could neither see nor hear her. She leaned over and kissed her mothers auburn hair, tried to stroke it without her hand passing through.

Its okay, Mommy.

And in that moment, her mother stopped crying, sniffled, and looked up, her eyes incongruously hopeful.

Sweetie?

Chloe choked back a little sob and tried to wrap her arms around her mothers neck.

I love you, Mommy. Have to go bye-bye now.

Her mother blinked. Nick waited a couple of seconds, then gave Chloes shoulder a gentle squeeze.

The last bit, love. Go on.

She nodded, understanding what he meantspirits always seemed to know this instinctively when first separated from their bodies. Placing her forehead against her mothers, she joined her with shut eyes and poured out the very last of her mortal memories, the essence of their all too brief life together.