[ WP ] You begin to have the sneaking suspicion that Death *likes* you

She was back again. I could feel her before seeing her, which is what I'd come to expect. Sometimes she brought a chill, or a silence that seemed too loud, but each time it was the air that gave it away. It felt heavier; older, like it knew something I did n't. 
 
 She had long since run out of family members and close friends to visit in order to get close to me. They were all gone now. She spent them all like a bad gambler at the casino. Now she grasped at straws. 
 
 When I felt the chill, I glanced around the room, failing to see who she had taken to justify a visit. It took me a few a minutes to find the spider lying still in the corner. 
 
 `` A spider is enough?'' I muttered weakly. 
 
 `` Not all spiders,'' came the playful reply. 
 I turned and saw her there, on the other side of the room. She was beautiful in a way that no human could ever be. It was an awful, and yet magnetic kind of beauty. She wore a flowing black dress, and her eyes looked like midnight. 
 
 `` But this one is special. He was the king of spiders once, and so I thought he deserved a visit. It was a happy accident that it was in your company that he finally relinquished his grasp.'' She giggled. Her laugh sounded like time. 
 
 `` One day you'll have no choice but to take me. There wo n't be any excuses left.'' I said quietly. 
 
 She smiled in a way that might have fooled some men into mistaking her for a human. `` I'm quite adept at getting my way.'' 
 
 Her smile turned serious for a moment. 
 `` I wo n't take you, Anthony. I'll take the world before I take you where I ca n't follow.'' 
 
 I remained silent for several moments before replying. 
 
 `` Do n't you have some kind time limit here?'' 
 
 She frowned at me with anger that slowly faded into sorrow. 
 
 `` You'll love me one day, you know. You'll stop seeing me as all of what you've been told before, and you'll love me so much.'' 
 
 I thought of my mother and father, and of Jake and John and Matt, and Rachel. Oh god, I thought of Rachel. 
 
 A tear rolled down my cheek. 
 
 For one moment, she stared at my tear, and just as a faint hint of empathy began to cross her face, she was gone, back into nothing and everything.
