Light In The Shadows

A breeze crept across her body as the last of the void was washed out by the light. She was lowered down onto the softest grass she has ever felt in her life. Still, in shock, she laid still even as she could feel her body being released from whatever was holding it hostage. She felt relaxed by the feeling of the sunlight as it kissed her skin. It has been months since she had felt the sun on her skin. It made her think of the fact that Apollo had never seen or felt the sun. That was when a figure stepped into view.

"Hello, Greta." The figure spoke.

"Hello, Death." Greta spoke in a hoarse voice.

"I have been waiting to return to you, but this world has many souls to guide over. This is where you come into the plan." Death spoke with a smile as he told her his plan.

"I understand. I can get that done." Greta nodded as the world around her melted away revealing her bedroom.

The air around her warmed up as her vision became clearer. Her breathing became soothed as she recognized her surroundings. The view of her room brought her a sense of safety. She couldn't go back to sleep after her meeting with Death. She had a lot of work to do and it would require a radio. This thought made her search every room in the house looking for the radio. She finally found one in the building behind the house. The only problem was that it was broken. She inspected it and found that it needed a new power cable.

"I am not a fucking electrician but I need to try." Greta whispered to herself as she inspected the frayed cable.

She made her way back to the house with the thought of where she could find a replacement cord. The idea hit her when her eyes feel one of the home's many radios. After grabbing a screwdriver and the radio she poked and prodded until she found out how to safely take the cord out of the radio. To her dismay night had fallen by the time she had gotten the cord out of the radio in one piece.

"Well, that took longer than I wanted it to." Gretta said as she walked away from the table to her room.

She makes her way to her room stopping only to check on Apollo. When she peaked in and saw a large shadow standing in the corner looking over the child. She thought about freaking out until she noticed that it was Death keeping an eye on Apollo. It brought her some comfort to know that Apollo would be safe, but she still felt nervous now knowing her mission. She continued onto her room and slowly drifted off to sleep. Her dreams had been filled with the image of the farm turning into a small walled town filled with people.

"You need to save as many souls as you can. Not everyone that is in this world deserves to die. Contrary to how people tell stories about me, I don't take joy in having to take care of souls."

"Bring them to the farm."

"Build them a new home please."

"Bring them peace."

"I will." Her own words echoed through her mind as she drifted off to sleep.

Gretta was shaken from her sleep as she felt her house shaking under her. She ran down the steps to bring Apollo to safety, but as she got further down the steps the house shook less. This confused her as she walked around and inspected the house for any cracks. After she felt satisfied with what she saw, she grabbed Apollo from his crib and went back to work with the cord. It took her an additonal two hours to get it back to the radio in the shed behind her home.

A big smile crept across her face as the red light flickered to life. Slowly she picked up the microphone pressing down the transmission button. She recorded a message that she set to repeat every hour on the hour hoping that someone near by would hear it. Satisfied she walked back to her home knowing that for now her job was done.

"Well, Apollo, we will have some guests in the next few days." She tickled his belly as she spoke.

His giggle brought an even bigger smile to her face. She couldn't believe how fast he was growing right before her eyes. It felt like yesterday was the day she had saved him from the collapsing house. She still thought back to that day trying to see all the ways that his mom could have been saved, but only coming to the conclussion that saving her would have caused them all to die. Mimicing the sound of an airplane she put Apollo in his highchair knowing that his mom would be proud of how big and strong he had gotten.

"Apollo, would you like some fried carrots for breakfast?" She asked as he gave a smile in response.

She new that Apollo was extremely smart mostly because of him picking out his favorite foods. She just didn't know how to further his thinking into other forms of communication. It just reminded her of how little she knew of being a parent. Sometimes she felt like Apollo was speaking real words amongst the gibberish that he normally spoke, but she pushed that to the side thinking that she was crazy. It always made her thinking if she was able to carry out building up a town with every look she took at how she was doing as a mother.

"Apollo, you bring a lot of joy to my life." She sat across from him with a big smile on her face.

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In a nearby town the sound of Greta's voice echoed out of radios all around. To the people that have managed to stay alive so far it seemed like a message of hope. Many of them started to think about going to the farm and trying to live a life that was safer than the one they already had. This was the response that Death had wanted people to have to her message.