[ WP ] Every morning she puts on her sweats , laces her shoes , downs some coffee , and goes running with a dead man .

`` Good morning.'' He said with a smooth voice. 
 
 `` Good morning.'' She responded, breathing hard, breathing out with each second step. She had ran past the tree and so there he was. 
 
 `` It is morning, yes?'' 
 
 `` It is. Sun's behind the clouds but the clouds are thin and I can see a pale yellow circle.'' 
 
 `` What about the smell?'' 
 
 `` Just like every day there is the fresh smell of morning, wet dirt from last night's rain. It's cold and there's a chill in the air. The cold wind bites into my skin, tingling my nose and ears.'' 
 
 `` Sounds?'' 
 
 `` Surprisingly quiet. No boats on the river today. No bicycles. Just my footsteps.'' 
 
 `` I hear those.'' 
 
 `` As always.'' 
 
 He fell quiet, leaving her footfalls to be the only sound for a few minutes. 
 
 `` And?'' She asked. 
 
 `` And what?'' 
 
 `` Your end of the deal.'' 
 
 `` Ah.'' 
 
 After a few moments of silence, he spoke in a more serious tone. 
 
 `` It will take between five to one million souls depending on their quality.'' 
 
 `` Quality?'' She slowed to stop, leaned on the railing and started to slow her breathing. She looked up behind herself and looked at him. 
 
 He was as always floating a few inches off of the ground, slowly floating towards her to stand beside her. He was wearing a long coat with a collar he had put up. He had short and tidy hair, and a serious face. If he was not ghostly white, see through, and floating, he could be a very serious, slightly creepy, but generally normal man. 
 
 `` Yes, quality.'' He moved beside her and hovered past the rail and floated over the rushing river. His eyes never leaving her face. 
 
 `` Explain please.'' 
 
 `` First, you explain your dinner.'' 
 
 `` My dinner?'' 
 
 `` You request information. It must be a fair exchange.'' 
 
 `` Very well.'' She thought to herself as she walked back and forth along the rail. `` I had a homemade hamburger for dinner.'' 
 
 `` Details please.'' His voice was soft and kind again. 
 
 `` It was slightly too well done so it tastes slightly bitter and charred on the outside. The bun was good, soft, and not too full of flavor. The cheese was almost imperceptible, the cucumbers were juicy and salty, the sauce was an almost perfect mix of ketchup and mayonaise. Good enough?'' 
 
 `` For your question, yes. The quality of a soul is dependant on several factors. Their good will, their good deeds, their importance, and their age.'' 
 
 `` Whose souls would I need if I were to need just five?'' 
 
 `` Only three of that quality exist on current Earth.'' 
 
 `` Current Earth?'' 
 
 `` If you would like their names, you must begin paying greater prices.'' 
 
 `` What prices?'' 
 
 `` My time here is close to ending for this visit. I will see you again tomorrow.'' 
 
 `` Wait!'' 
 
 `` Yes?'' 
 
 `` You tasked me with finding this.'' She pulled out a long and thin black dagger out of her belt and showed it to him, looking around herself to make sure no one was around. `` Why do I need it?'' 
 
 A small smile came to his lips. The smile a parent would give a child that is curious about everything. 
 
 `` That is your tool. How do you think you will use those souls?'' 
 
 `` So this is when the killing starts?'' 
 
 `` Yes.'' 
 
 `` When?'' 
 
 `` As soon as you empower the dagger with your own blood.'' 
 
 `` What?!'' 
 
 `` You ask for immortality, and you asked the world of the dead for immortality nonetheless. How exactly did you imagine the process?'' 
 
 `` How do I empower it?'' 
 
 `` Like so.'' he said. Then without losing his smile, he lifted his left arm, pulled up his sleeve, lifted his right arm and inserted an imaginary dagger deep into his left arm from the wrist towards the elbow. The look of horror on her face amused him. 
 
 `` Will it hurt?'' 
 
 `` Yes.'' 
 
 `` Wo n't I die?'' 
 
 `` No.'' 
 
 `` When should I do it?'' 
 
 `` At midnight, in a circle of salt, in a room lit by candlelight.'' 
 
 `` Are you serious?!'' 
 
 `` Yes.'' 
 
 `` You never told me about this before.'' 
 
 `` You did n't have the dagger.'' 
 
 `` Should I do it tonight?'' 
 
 `` Sure. If you're prepared.'' 
 
 She looked down on the black dagger, seemingly refusing to reflect any light and casting no shadow. It tingled her fingers when she held it. She put it back in her belt and nodded to him. He faded away. 
 
 That night she sat in her room, a circle of salt around her on the wooden floor, four candles positioned in cardinal directions around her. She wore a beautiful glimmering red gown to emphasize the importance of the night. The first step she would take towards immortality. She had the dagger in a wooden case in front of her on the ground. A grandfather clock at the corner of the room approached ever closer to midnight. 
 
 `` Are you here?'' She whispered to the air. 
 
 `` I am watching.'' she hear him in her head. She jerked around, looking behind her. `` I am not there in person,'' he continued. `` But I am with you and watching.'' 
 
 Her heart was beating quick, her hands were shaking, a drop of sweat rolled off her forehead to her eyebrow, running down the side of her face. 
 
 `` The faster you do it, the easier it is.'' he whispered. `` The pain can cause some to stop half way. That could kill you.'' 
 
 She nodded and picked up the dagger, her eyes quickly darting back and forth between the clock and the dagger and her right hand. 
 
 To steady her hand, she placed the dagger on her palm. It cut instantly, pulling a tiny droplet of blood from her wrist. It slowly inched its way down her wrist to the other side and fell on the polished wooden floor. She looked up at the clock. It shifted its arms and showed midnight. 
 
 With the first bell she thrust the dagger deep into her arm driving it towards her elbow. Her wrist, her bones, her body, none offered any resistance. The blade cut true and quickly almost speeding itself forward. As it pulled deeper and deeper into her arm her vision blurred. Almost flickering, she saw the color drain from the world around her. The red candles turn white, their warm yellow light turn cold and pale, the wooden floor lose its color, the drop of blood on the floor turn black. Before her she saw him, standing far more imposing that she had ever seen him, hands behind his back, a self satisfied grin on his face. She saw the dagger in her hand, strangely not hurting, and she saw a river of white light spewing out of the hilt and towards him. 
 
 She only had to energy to faintly ask `` why...'' 
 
 `` Because mortal humans are far too gullible for their own good when it comes to easy power. It did n't even take a week to get you to kill yourself.'' He barked a laugh. `` A week!'' 
 
 She slowly slumped and fell to the floor, the dagger slipping out of the far too clean wound and falling to the ground. 
 
 `` Ah. What an unlucky soul. The dagger was n't in deep enough.'' he said, turning around and walking away. `` I appreciate your donation of a great portion of your soul. The rest will stay bound to the dagger. Enjoy the company of the other damned souls in eternal limbo.'' 
 
 She looked around. Past her circle of salt she was surrounded by darkness. The candles were no longer there. Then she saw them. A crowd surrounding her with sightless eyes and still bodies, all sat on the black nonexistent ground, staring into infinity. A single figure glowing bright white walking through them, occasional stepping on one that was in his way. He wore a long coat, short hair, and a victorious grin. 
 
 `` Why?'' she asked in a raspy tone. 
 
 `` You were useful as my eyes in the world of the living.'' 
 
 `` Then why... this?'' 
 
 `` You wanted more than I wanted to give. So I took your soul and will go on to find new eyes.'' 
 
 `` Why not just... tell me no?'' 
 
 `` With even the illusion of imortality present, do you think you would have taken no for an answer?'' 
 
 `` Yes!'' 
 
 `` Liar.'' 
 
 `` But why?'' 
 
 `` My own immortality runs on souls too you know.'' 
 
 And with that he walked off into the darkness, disappearing into nothingness, leaving her surrounded by he eternally damned. 
 
 -- - 
 
 Took a sharp turn into an entirely different direction somewhere there. Sorry about that.
