“Tell me,” he said, his voice low and soft like rumbling thunder.  She could sense anger in his voice with a small amount of fear gripping his body, and she could sense it all too clearly.  Those were emotions that were too familiar to her.  She couldn’t bring herself to look at him in the eye as he held her there, pinned to the wall.  “Tell me,” he repeated, much less threatening time, as if all hope were drained from his body.

“Tell me how I die.”

She led yet another soul to the afterlife that day.  

This one was much more timid than usual.  It was a child, a poor child that had drowned in a pool with no one there to hear his cries for help.  She pitied him deeply as she held his hand, leading him down a road covered with the beautiful foliage of the cherry blossom trees surrounding the path.  A boy dressed in white was waiting where the path came to an end.  The child perked with panic and tightened his grip on her hand as they came closer.

“Who’s that?” he asked quietly.

She smiled.  “An angel,” she replied.  “Congratulations.  You’re going to heaven.”

“Oh, boy!” the child exclaimed happily.  He then stopped in his tracks.  “Wait, but what about my mommy?  What about Daddy and big sis?  Are they coming to heaven too?”

“In time, they will,” she answered simply.  Her heart ached at the small boy’s naivety.  Her natural d