The agent lay on the broken concrete, bleeding out from a gunshot wound. “He’s losing blood fast; we need to get him to the hospital,” said his friend to a comrade. “I, I, I…,” The other man couldn’t even get out his sentence before fainting to the same broken concrete.

Every minute slipped by in such a way that the agent’s friend never experienced as he watched one of his closest friends bleed out all over the road. 

He’s Dying

The agent’s eyes were starting to close, and his friend knew. He’s dying. It’s probably a matter of minutes. This wasn’t supposed to happen.

They were ambushed. The killer got away, and no one saw anything. No one else was around. 

The agent opened his eyes. Unsure of what he was seeing, he tried to focus. Bewildered, he needed a minute. Where am I? He thought. 

“Oh, no need to be concerned, you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be,” replied a stern, strong voice that boomed with authority.

The agent’s eyes came into focus, and he felt faint. He was staring at a large scale. 

“I have your heart. If I place it on the scale and it’s balanced or lighter than this feather, you may pass. If your heart is heavier than the feather, you will have a different fate,” said the authoritative, stern voice. 

The agent laughed. “Am I having some kind of fantastical wet dream?” 

“Far from it. It’s not a dream, it’s your path. If your heart is balanced or lighter than the feather, you have nothing to be concerned about,” boomed the voice. 

“Right. And lemme guess. If not, the boogey man is coming to get me. This is some fucking dream,” scoffed the agent. 

“Like I said, it’s not a dream, it’s your path. I only have so much time for you. Let’s weigh your heart,” stated the voice. 

A live human heart lowered onto the scale. In that minute, the agent felt a mixture of things he couldn’t fathom. He saw a human heart a few times on a screen but never face-to-face. The visual burned into his eyes. 

His heart sank the side of the scale like a brick. It fell so hard that the feather on the opposite side flew into the air with a violent puff. Before he could even process a new thought, he felt a gust of warm, wet air.

A large green-scaled arm with massive claws reached out slowly towards the heart. Some of the scales were peeling, and the crusty, dirty claws looked like the size of his forearm.

Out of the shadows, a massive face emerged, black eyes dead set on the heart. The creature picked up the heart ever so gently.

It let out a sigh, and the agent felt that gust of warm, wet air again. The beast opened its mouth, showing multiple sets of teeth, making Godzilla look like a baby. It lifted the heart in front of its face, staring at it, head on, admiring it. 

The creature took a look at the agent. He stood frozen in place, in utter shock, in absolute fear. The monster cocked its head, ever so slightly. Its eyes were pitch black, dead as night. Yet somehow they blazed with life, a type of immortality not understood by humans. 

The creature gazed back at the heart and lowered it to its mouth. It sank its razor-megladon teeth into the heavy heart. Blood of the richest, brightest, and freshest red poured down the creature’s face like a waterfall.

Blood spattered into the air, a large pool of it splashing the agent’s eye, the rest falling to the ground like raindrops.

The creature gazed back at the agent. It’s black eyes blazing.

“This is only the beginning for you. Goodbye,” said the authoritative voice, trailing away in a haunting echo. 

Images of broken families and violence against civilians flashed across the agent’s mind as he started to free-fall. Millions of arms were reaching out to him from the sides, and he felt a million eyes on him as he kept free-falling into the darkness. 

“Judgement visits everyone,” stated the voice with a kind of authority one gains over an eternity. 

The agent’s blood-curdling screams were heard by no one except those already gone.