16. Dolios—Death.

The evening was dark. Not just in color, because the glimpse of light from the moon peeked through from the arrowed tall trees, and reflected down on the ground.

The fire Melanie put on hours earlier had gone off, leaving Zuri with more mosquito bites and a free invitation to crawly insects, possible more dangerous (not crawly) insects and animals.

But even that didn't make Zuri move an inch. She was tired. She was annoyed.

"I could just die..."

And she should. What was her purpose anyway?

Life was filled with obscure happenings and most of the time, bad terrible things. Truly, Zuri's family casted her out when she was still so innocent. But the more she thought about it now, the more she realized that they might had been right. She was dangerous, not because she wanted to be, but because she had been born that way.

"I should just die..."

"What's the point of living?..."

"I should just die..."

All that filled her mind didn't terrified her. Zuri was prepared to face death. She knew she had been born by mistake, making not just her guilty of her darkness, but also her mother for having her. She would free the world of her threats, and mankind might actually live happily.

"I should die..."

Zuri soon became pleased in herself. At least for a moment in hours, her thoughts were becoming clearer. Something was filling it now. She should do it.

End her life.

She was strong, and for many years, even the strong wind of all cardinal points have praised her for her bravery, the hot scorching sun had applauded her for her strength, the coldest winter of all time too, praised Zuri's brave heart. All the animals in the woods, big and small, poisonous and less venomous... maybe only humans have chosen not to acknowledge her bravery, but it was enough for Zuri.

At least, when she dies, humans would feel something towards her. A feeling lesser than hate and disgust. Perhaps they would then show sympathy to her lifeless body. It was a risk she was choosing to take. It was better than nothing.

"I want to die. To end me. I want to die!"

The wind that night blew fierce and strong, it's all mighty roar filling the woods.

"I want to die!"

Zuri was speaking, trembling in anger and yelling, but her lips were not moving. She wanted to die not just for dying sake. She would use her last breath to save humanity. Gavil, other children like him, the elderlies, innocent lives, hundreds of thousands of innocent lives will be safe.

And if there was one thing Zuri had learned all her life, it was that you and only you had the power to end your life. She had survived all those years because she wanted to.

"I'm tired of this life! Kill me!"

Flashes of lightening lead way for the clouds to reveal its fear. The sky above her cried in terror as the sound of deafening thundering shook the earth.

"End me!"

She was crying, screaming at the top of her lungs, but her lips still wasn't moving. But they heard.

She needed not to open her mouth to spill the forbidden words before they knew that she was calling. She knew they heard her, so she kept on calling.

The voices in her head doubled their volume as loud cries of consternation overwhelmed her, and second by second, they kept increasing their screams.

It was the evil in her growing in ten thousand folds, and they wanted to take her with them.

Darkness was not the absence of light. It was the absence of hope. The loss of control, freewill and ability to make choices. Zuri was filled with the darkness from the very pits of hell, and because she had been strong enough, even when she was only eight, she mastered the art of survival. The art to choose to live. To love. To hate.

Now, all of that was about to change.

She was drowning and sadly, there was no one to save her. And maybe it was for the best.

The more she willed into that power, the better things became for her. She realized she wasn't struggling anymore.

Deep down, that choice of free will, to love, to care and to hate, all of it was gone.

She was happy. She was proud. Her eyes were opened so she could see clearly. And feel soundly. The biting wind had seemed to calm, and all other nature's creation followed in the same footstep. On the ground where she laid, her eyes weakly fell on a shining object.

Something she hadn't really noticed before. It was like a dagger. Perhaps Melanie had dropped it there on purpose for her to defend herself with. Or maybe it was one of the possessions of the peculiar twain. Whatever or whoever it belonged to, it called to her.

One jab at her chest, and she would cease to exist no more.

She took one last stare at the wicked blade in front of her, and without any further wasted time, crawled to pick it up. Heaving in deeply, she paused for a moment.

Why? What was that hesitation for?

Inhaling the refreshing air that floated around her, Zuri contemplated again and again. And again, until her thoughts became far from debating.

It was time.

Churning chantings in her head seemed to agree. But something wasn't clear. It befuddled her and made her to think twice at the last minute. At that moment, it was indeed too late. Blood was already pooling down, and her sight could now only make but one color—blackness.

She was dying, yet it didn't even pinch a bit. She was dying, yet a smile grew on her face.

In her final moments, it hit her. There was a man. A shadow of him so clear it revealed the silhouette of a tall huge man in long robes. He had an axe in his right hand, and in his other hand, a note scribbled in blood.

He was calling unto her. He knew her, and she knew him, for he was one of the voices in her head.

Dolios was his name, and he was also death.

Zuri would never be able to escape her fate. She had been chosen by some force greater than what mankind cannot ever imagine.

In that note was a letter to Zuri;

'DEATH IS NOT AN OPTION, YOU ARE ALREADY DEAD.'

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