Deathly Seal

My neighbour said he saw death this morning and that it had dropped a letter that was sealed with thick blood and had a stamp of deathly royalty. He said he wasn't sure who it was written for because he left it unopened, more so he had no guts to question death. The envelope had no addressee & had the smell like that of a decayed mouse.

I blinked half a second, swallowed down a lump that had formed in my throat & calmly motioned on him to seat down on his sunken couch. He was a dope-head and had lost everything that could love & cater for him at age 55 & even beyond. I guess I was the only one whom he could now call family.

He raised his head upward whilst watching the awkward movement of his ceiling fan. I quickly kicked his senses back to reality and ordered that he grabbed this deathly news as a man. I flinched at my own advice but insisted that it was the best advice anyone with a letter from death needed to hear.

Just then, a silent knock came banging on the door. We both shuddered convulsively out of our seats in deep fear but what followed was trembling. It was another letter that seemed smaller than the first one and had been slipped through the doorway.

We both ushered ourselves to anyone who was brave enough to go retrieve the letter. My neighbor eventually opted to, while I cringed in panic. He walked boldly to the door post, picked up the letter from where it laid and tore it open.

After few moments of intolerable silence, I snapped at him, requesting he delivered what was stated on the letter as he stood like a lifeless tree in his 6 ft 9 inch height. He mumbled words that ran in the line of " The first letter! Where? The first letter!" He bounced back and forth looking for the first letter, only then had i realised that we hadn't known the true contents of the first letter thus, I quickly understood his chaotic behavior and picked up the first letter from its lying state.

I suggested he settled down while I did the reading because I wouldn't have the toughness like that of a man to rush him to the hospital if peradventure he fainted while reading and so I opened it calmly with wobbly hands and read out loud its contents. It said;

No chemotherapy will save you

Not even the mastectomy could save you

Death's Vengeance is presently attuned with your shadow

All that's left for completion is weeks away

Begin the regret of last years cancer celebration because it has come with aggression.

Beware as you Prepare!

My knees suddenly felt like jelly as i slumped to the hard concrete floor. The second letter was a reflection of the first, only this time, it was boldly addressed to me.

In the end, all i saw was stark darkness, all i heard were voices that seemed to mock my former fight against this disease and all I felt was a cold numbness to my world.