Chuck was right things were hard after my mother died. My father who not long after my mother's passing told me that he was Death and that I was the hybrid of both Death and mortality, began teaching me to use my powers. It was long, hard work that only got harder as I grew older, less willing to follow blindly with no true purpose. And so like any child when I could I went looking for it on my own.
When I was nineteen, and freshly out on my own, I broke my arm. Now normally this was a simple thing to fix. After all, what was a broken bone, when I could both cause and reverse death? This time, unfortunately, at the time I was not alone, so off to the reaper paradise called a hospital I went. This is where I first came across a NICU. A place that was equally filled with death and hope.
The hospital I was in was small and there was only one baby in the room at the time. He was by all means, a normal looking baby with chubby legs and cheeks, however, even my untrained eye could see the bruises around his small neck. I could see it. His frageal life was waning, his soul growing dim, though every so often it would brighten as if he was fighting back his fate.
Looking around, I slipped past the nurse who was busy with a magazine in hand. The door was unlocked, but I guess no one steals sick babies, I thought slightly bitter. I don't know why but something in me wanted to take a good look at this little life. After all, he was all alone and in this moment, I felt that pain.
Picking up his chart I scanned over it and read:
Name: Jonathan Michael Reed Born: 10/19/02
Time of Birth: 3:35am
Nuchal Cord
Severe Birth Asphyxia
18 Minutes without Oxygen before Resuscitation
I read over the complicated medical terms until I came to the words I could understand.
Brain Damage
Likelihood of survival 2%
Slowly opening the icelet, after having put the chart away, I reached out for the baby as I spoke to him.
"A gift of God who is like God, boy your mom picked out some good names for ya, didn't she Jonny?" I smiled sadly at the little boy, gasping as I laid my hand on his chest.
Beep...Beep Beep...Beep Beep Beep...Beep...
I watched over a little girl whose heart struggled to keep beating. At 26 weeks she was not yet ready to be born. Yet here she was. Fighting a losing battle with a life she just started. She was so tiny that even after five years of working in the NICU, I almost didn't want to touch her.
The hour was late just after 1 am, most everyone had gone home, even this little angel's father. Her mother was recovering in her own room and most likely sleeping. She had no idea that in less than an hour she would lose the child she had yet to even name. It was never a thing that I wanted to watch, the suffering that death could cause. But it was not just those that were left behind that suffered, but the dying as well.
"I know your there, no point trying to hid it." I was still looking at the struggling baby girl sadly, even as I felt my father appear.
"Do you plan to do something?" He asked me.
My father, though he had never understood my want to work in a hospital, let alone as a NICU nurse of all things, had always been supportive. Or as much as man who enjoys the stench of the dying can. I think he somewhat understood my need to end others suffering in some way. And this was the best way I could find.
"What do you think I should be doing?"
We both knew I was well aware of what I SHOULD do, after all I am Death's daughter. Second in command of the reapers, with powers even I don't fully understand. I should wait for her death, or maybe even help it along a little to end her suffering. And oftentimes I did. I would run my fingers over a little head and feel a new little soul leave this world, unable to look up at the reaper that would deliver the soul. But there were times... Times when I could just see that it was not time for the little life to leave the world.
I laid a finger gently to the fragile chest of the child and planted a small seed of my own power. It wouldn't last long, a few weeks at most but it would slowly heal the small thing. Allowing the time she needed to grow in to her body.
My father watched silently. Not even so much as a twitch of his cheek to tell me what he was thinking. You would think I would have long since stopped trying to understand Death, but I guess that's just the mortal in me trying fruitlessly to understand Death...
"She had a future, don't you Gracie girl." I said as I held the now sleeping child's hand.
I closed the icelet she was in and turned to face my father. He was an intimidating man, not so much in looks but in the fact that he radiated power in such a way that even his sickly looks did not make anyone less fearful of him. However, for me he was my comfort and my home. My father, for all he is and what his name would suggest, was a kind and in some ways a gentle man. He did not like to make people suffer unless they had done something worthy of it. After all, even Death could not deny the beauty of life.
"As happy as I am to see you, I have to ask, why are you here?"
My father looked me over for a moment, in my cookie monster scrubs, as if trying to decide if he wanted to say what he had come here for.
"I have a mission for you..."
Just want to give a shot out to @Alena Ftantova for commenting on the last chapter and say once again that I'm sorry for only just now seeing it. I hope you like this chapter!