Here in the Moonlight

*Ash*

“You really want to live, hmmm?”

“What?” Where… am…I?

“I said, you really want to live.” I identify the source of the sound. A Dark figure floats across from … me? Who… am…I?

“Ash Ketchum,” he says impatiently. “You’re on.. the brink.” Its lips curl up in a sinister smile. It can read… my mind? The figure gestures below me. I am… Ash.. Ketchum. The brink… the brink?

Suddenly everything rushes back to me, I was shot, and somehow I ended up … here? I’m on the brink of.. death. I look down to see where he pointed, to see a gaping maw.

“So that is.. death.” I say.

“Yes. Are you sure you want life? I’m quite impatient to take your soul, as you can tell, but I need your consent. Here. Let me give you a taste of … life. Huh.” It spits distastefully. “This is in case you.. forgot.” The darkness rushes away and is replaced by…

Pain!! Ahhh! Pain!! This is what it meant, perhaps death could be an option, to be free of this cursed pain. Half an hour later, the pain stops, and I feel.. nothing again… blessed nothingness.

“Thank you” I manage to say to the figure I know is there.

“Before you decide though, I am required to show you something, though I don’t know how it could change your mind… By the way, you may call me… Death, your guide to the pleasures of Hades.” His voice is like the sinister hiss of a cobra, venomous.

The surroundings shimmer from total darkness to the inside of a prison cell. Inside is a girl, sleeping fitfully. “Ash..” she whispers.

“Misty…” I say longingly. Seeing the one I love, confined thus, has changed my mindset. How could I have forgotten her?

“So..?” it asks.

“Life,” I say. “I want to live!!”

“Arghh!! I thought you were mine!” It screams. “But are you so sure that it will be unconditional?”

“No, I’m not, but I still want to live.”

“So be it.”

Ah! The pain, the pain returns, stronger than before. I can faintly discern voices, strange and disjointed. But pain is a sign of life, and I cling to it.