The Time Keeper

The garden was quiet and still. Most had left it not realizing what was lying just beyond their vision. The sound was so soft and faint that none could hear it after all. There had been no cry for help, no scream of terror, or shout of desperation; just the soft rustling of breath exerting itself to come in and out of the body and slowly failing. A person would not be able to hear the sound unless their ear was almost next to its source. She, on the other hand, could hear it perfectly. It called to her, a soft plea that she could not resist even if she wanted to. It was what she did. She was not just a time keeper. There were many time keepers in the realm of men. They were mortals with clocks: some who repaired and some who sold, and others who broke them to pieces. She was something else entirely. She had never had the necessity of breathing air nor had her heart (if she had one) ever produced a single beat.

She didn’t have wings or fangs, horns or a tail like most would have expected. She actually looked very ordinary. She had plain black ballet flats, shoes that were broken in and slightly worn, but still in very useable condition. Black tights encased slender pale legs. The tights were covered with lacy, flowers designs in black giving them an odd texture. Her dress was two layers. Beneath, barely peaking in and out of sight with every step that she took was a deep navy blue skirt that brushed along the upper half of her thigh. Over it lay a white dress that barely came to the length of the dark skirt beneath it. Not a stain or defect could be found in the outfit, or a stitch in all its making. On her ring finger sat a small ivory cameo of a woman. Her hair fell down around her face and shoulders in simple brown ringlets. Her eyes, however, were striking marking her as different. They were gray eyes pale and cold surrounded by a thin circle of black. From her right hand hung a small clock, antique and yellowed with age. It pointed to the time 12:10 and remained there though it was already well into the evening.

She knelt down beside the body that lay hidden amongst the dense foliage of the garden. It was broken and battered barely recognizable as human anymore. Blonde hair was fanned around the head like a golden halo except where it was matted black and red with blood. Soft blue eyes sat half-open and full of a drugged and ebbing pain. The spark of life should have died by now and it made her curious. She tilted her head to the side not understanding how a human’s soul could remain inside such a broken shell after its time had been declared. A soft sound escaped from between the lips covered in dry and cracking blood. She wasn’t certain that she had heard right. She pushed her hair behind her ear and leaned forward until her ear was almost pressed to the mouth of the dying human. “Anna,” the soft sound came again. She had heard correctly. Her brow furrowed with confusion.

“Rose!” a young female voice called from the direction of the house. The Time Keeper became annoyed, an emotion that she could not claim she was accustomed to. This human should be dead and yet its soul clung stubbornly for something, for someone. She did not understand these humans. When it was a person’s time to die, they died. They did not remain. That was not the way of the world.

“Anna…”

“Rose! Where are you?” the voice became more frantic. The Time Keeper clenched her jaw. She would have to wait it appeared. Something she was not accustomed to. If she was one to feel admiration she knew that it would have abounded inside of her at that moment, but she could know none of it. Instead she stood waiting and watching. A small blonde head slowly emerged through the various bushes and shrubbery that consumed the garden. “Rose!”

“Anna…”

It was apparent the moment that the human girl caught sight of the dying one. The name Rose seemed to be ripped from the throat of the child and tears cascaded down the small, angelic face with a pain that was almost touching even to the Time Keeper. “No! No!” The girl begged of someone or something as she ran and picked up the battered body, pulling it into her lap.

“Anna…” a serene smile took the look of all the pain away from the dying one. Her soul began slipping out of her body even as the little human begged her to stay. “Anna…” she breathed as her soul finally let go and came to stand beside the Time Keeper. “I’m sorry…I had to say goodbye.”

She shook her head and held out her hand. Rose took the hand without hesitation. She had waited long enough. Her time was truly up and none can defeat death.