The feeling of her heart beating became less of a feeling and more of an invasive sound in her ears as Eliza slowly began walking backwards up the stairs. Shakily, her hands were both full; a silver mirror in one and a slowly burning candle in the other.

It was only a fortnight ago when an ill looking man rode through town on horseback dressed in black from head to toe. A mortician, he claimed to be, with a tale he was to tell to all young women willing to listen. He stayed for only a day, and only told one girl his tale… But soon the story spread through the town like wildfire. According to the man, if a young woman walked up stairs backwards in a dimly lit house holding a hand mirror and a candle, she would see the face of the man she was destined to marry in the mirror once she reached the top of the stairs. However, a skull would appear in the place where the face was meant to if the young woman would die before she could get married. As the story spread, more and more young women were trying the ritual, many of them emerging blushing maidens for the face revealed to them was someone they were greatly attracted to.

All because of the silly story Eliza Laurens found herself making her way slowly up the stairs, a shaky palm causing the flame on the candle wick to shudder and shake. Initially she had thought the story was rubbish. She would know who her husband would be when her father told her. That’s how her mother met her father, and that’s how Eliza would meet her husband… But eventually curiosity got the best of her, so after her mother and father went to bed and the estate was dark and quiet, Eliza snuck out of her room and went into the main hall.

In all of her nineteen years on the earth, Eliza had never found herself doing something so silly, but the longer she walked up the stairs, the less silly it became. The house was dead silent except for the howl of wind outside the windows. The room was covered in shadows except for the small area surrounding Eliza. The mirror was barely able to reflect Eliza’s face back at her with the small supply of light the candle was giving off. What she could make of her reflection was ghastly. Her normally fair skin was pale as the moon, her brown eyes full of dread and fear, accompanied by dilated pupils. Her harsh jaw line was clenched, the amount of tension noticeable even in the dim lighting of the candle.

As she reached the halfway mark up, Eliza realized how silly her anxiety was. There was no reason to fear what she’d see in the mirror. She was a healthy young lady, no health problems ever burdened her except for a common cold here and there. There was no way she’d see a skull staring back at her…If she even saw anything at all! How could Eliza know all those stories spreading around town weren’t just absolute tosh? This would probably be a waste of time. Nothing more than a silly little game that was meant to tease all the love sick girls in town, and here Eliza was giving into it.

So with a smug look on her face, Eliza pulled her sleeping gown just above her ankles to enable easier movement and finished moving up the stairs. She held her breath for a moment, staring intensely into the mirror. For a moment, there was a silence. Her face was illuminated by candle, and in the mirror she could see her expression soften as the seconds passed.

It was all just a joke. Eliza went to all this work for a joke.

Or so she thought.

Suddenly a loud gust of wind slammed into the main hall windows, causing the shudders to fly open. The strong gust blew out the candle, throwing Eliza into darkness. She tensed up, dropping the mirror to the ground. The entire hall was quiet, so quiet Eliza could hear her heartbeat in her ears even louder than before. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw the glint of the silver and slowly reached down to grab it.

Don’t look.

Don’t look in the mirror.

Don’t look.

… Look in the mirror.

Unable to resist the curiosity, she shakily raised the mirror to her face.

And then she saw it.

It was behind her, completely still. Eye sockets hollow, jaw hanging slack open… It looked so real, and

Eliza couldn’t help it when she screamed. Dropping both the mirror and the candle, she fell to the floor suddenly feeling faint. Her head snapped around frantically searching the area that had been behind her only moments before falling to the ground. Nothing was there. No one was there! A trick of the mind? No. It was so real. It had to be real. The skull looked so real!

In a few moments, a dim light started making its way down the upstairs hallway accompanied by frantic footsteps. Eliza sat completely still on the floor and simply watched as her mother and father ran into the main hall, a look of fear on their face.

“Eliza! Dear, what’s wrong?!” Her mother exclaimed, moving to Eliza’s side. She held a lantern in her left hand while her right frantically searched over Eliza’s body for any sign of injury.

“Mother I-I…” Eliza stuttered, her eyes still searching the area for any sign of what she saw.

“What were you doing up this late, young lady?” Her father asked, a little less worried than her mother appeared to be. “Please don’t tell me you were doing that silly ritual all the girls in town are doing.” Eliza simply sat on the floor, staring wide eyed up at her father. She whispered a small apology to which he replied coldly. “That’s all just rubbish! You’re a lady of a wealthy household! You shouldn’t be participating in such beastly rituals! It’s nothing but nonsense.” Eliza’s mother opened her mouth to try and defend her daughter, but he cut her off quickly with a command for Eliza to go back to her bedroom.

So she did. Without a single word of protest, she stood up, brushed herself off, and went up the stairs to her room, pale faced and faint hearted.

–

The next couple of weeks that passed were not easy for Eliza. Everywhere she went was a new opportunity for her to meet her doom. Paranoia set in quickly after she saw the skull in the mirror reflection. and it affected her everywhere she went. Every single object in a room became one that could hurt her. Every person in a room became someone who could hurt her. Everything in every room could hurt Eliza and that terrified her to no end.

It was a cold afternoon when one of her friends convinced Eliza to go out for tea. It took a lot of convincing, but they did it and managed to get Eliza out of her estate and into town. She was jumpy and paranoid the entire time, but she did manage to enjoy herself. That being said, arriving home was a huge relief. She felt safe, away from all of the dangers of the world.

But something was different… It was… Quiet. Especially quiet for this time of day. Around now Eliza could always expect to hear her mother playing the piano…Or the violin…Maybe even the harp. It was a constant, an always. No matter what happened, Eliza could always count on the sound of one of her mother’s

instruments being played at 6:30. Yet, there wasn’t a single cord coming from the music room that Eliza could hear. Placing her purse down on a table in the main hall, Eliza made her way to the music room in the east wing. The door was ajar slightly, a stream of light seeping into the dimly lit hallway. Eliza approached the door slowly, placing a light hand on the wooden door. Slowly, she pushed it open, only to see her mother passed out on the floor with a strange figure knelt in front of her.

Eliza stood, petrified as she saw a gloved hand reach out to touch her mother’s pale face. “S-Stop!” Eliza cried out, her entire body tensing after realizing what she had done. Slowly the figure stood. his body thin and lanky. He stood tall, closer to seven feet than eight. From behind, that’s all she could gather of his looks, but as she turned around she could gather more. The button up beneath his overcoat was opened, revealing his ribcage. His actual ribcage. As in, exposed bone and nothing more. Looking up slowly, Eliza saw that the face beneath his top hat wasn’t a face at all… But instead the same skull she saw behind her many nights ago in her hand mirror.  

A scream escaped the girl’s lips as she stumbled backwards, into the now closed door. Somehow, a look of worry shone on the skeleton’s face. His brow bones furrowed in concern as he extended a long leg to step towards the girl. “Please, do not be frightened.” His voice was gentler than you’d expect from such a horrid creature.

“Frightened! I’m more than frightened! Who are you and what did you do to my mother!?” Tears stood in her eyes, threatening to spill over at any moment.

“I did nothing. Your mother simply fell over and hit her head on the corner of this grand piano. I am but here to collect her soul.” The man gestured back to her mother’s body, a sympathetic smile spread across where his teeth aligned.

“Then you’re-” He nodded before she could finish speaking. “And she’s-” Another nod, this one a bit smaller than the last. The tears in her eyes spilled over, streaking down her cheeks like raindrops. A loud sob escaped her lips. and she buried her face in her hands. All she heard was the shuffling of footsteps before she felt warm arms wrap around her.

“Do not worry, child. She lived a good life, and will be given a good spot in the afterlife.” The Reaper’s voice was soft and careful, almost like he was attempting not to frighten the girl.

“You promise?” Eliza whispered softly, looking up at his face. Somewhere in the hollow eye sockets, Eliza could sense warmth. Sincere warmth. He nodded before releasing his arms from around her.

“I promise.” He whispered before moving away from the girl and back to the mother. He pulled a vial out of the pocket of his over coat and opened it. A pink cloud of mist escaped her mother’s lips and made its way into the vial where it fit perfectly within. “It would be best if you ran along now, called a doctor. She deserves the best burial money can afford.” And then he was gone. No trace of his existence or his being there. He was simply gone. Was he simply a figment of Eliza’s imagination? She couldn’t be too sure… But her mother’s lifeless body was real. Eliza moved to the body, knelt beside it before letting out a scream to alert the help. She wasn’t as upset as the scream let off, for she knew her mother would be in the afterlife watching over her, but for the sake of her sanity she had to act as though she was.

–

The dark embrace of night became more and more appealing to Eliza after the confrontation with death himself. It was after her mother’s funeral that she found herself getting less and less sleep, staying up instead to sit in her window sill to listen to the sounds of the night. It was a night just like any other. She had told her father she was going to bed, only wait in bed until everyone else went to sleep to light a few candles on her vanity to light her room.

Many of the nights went undisturbed. leaving Eliza to her thoughts. This night became a little different, however, at the strike of twelve on the clock. As the grandfather clock in the hallway went off, the door to Eliza’s room slowly creaked open. This was the least alarming thing that had happened in weeks, so Eliza simply stood and went to close it. However when she neared the door, the soft sound of Nocturne op.9 No.2 registered in her ears. Curious, Eliza leaned towards her vanity and grabbed a candle to walk down the halls with.

As she walked, the sound of the ivories being played only got louder and louder until Eliza was able to come to the conclusion that it was coming from the music room downstairs… So there she went. Down the stairs and into the music room. The doors were wide open, the room lined with lit candles. The furniture in the middle of was moved, nowhere in sight. The only thing in the room was the white piano her mother used to play and…

“You intrigue me.” His voice was soft and familiar, like a dream she couldn’t quite recall. He stood up, the same height, the same lanky figure, the same voice. He was a dream. A true dream. Even after standing, the piano was still playing. He turned slowly, a smile on his face.

“I intrigue you?” Eliza whispered softly, stepping into the room.

“You weren’t frightened of me. You found out who I am and you weren’t frightened of me.” His tone was a bit of a teasing one as he stepped around the piano bench and towards Eliza.

“You promised to take my mother to a better place… How could I be?” Eliza smiled, moving towards the inside of the room.

“Very easily. I am nothing but silk and bones after all.” A soft giggle escaped Eliza’s lips at this remark. “You on the other hand…Flesh, a heartbeat, emotions… Yet you feel no fear standing in front of me now.”

“You’re right. I don’t.” In only a few moments, the two were right in front of each other; Eliza looking up at the Reaper and him looking down at her.

“Would you care to dance?” He asked, holding his hand out to her.

“I’m hardly in the correct attire to dance.” Eliza said with a sheepish smile.

“So?” He said with a smile, using his other hand to guide hers into his. Without any protest, the two immediately went into a slow waltz along with the music. No words were exchanged after those, except for those able to be spoken through silence. Eliza beamed up at the Reaper, a glint of something special in her eyes. They danced and they danced to the phantom music playing on the piano. practically gliding across the music room’s marble floor.

“Tell me, where did the ruler of the underworld learn how to waltz?” Eliza teased, squeezing the boney hand in hers.

“You pick up things during eternity.” Eliza was about to reply when she heard footsteps in the hallway. Immediately she let go of his hands and went to the doors to shut  them, but before she could get there… Everything was gone. Or perhaps back. All the instruments were in their places, all the candles not lit… And she was alone.

“Ma’am?” A servant woman appeared at the doors, holding a candle. “Were you just playing piano?”

“Yes! I was! Don’t worry about it!” Eliza lied bluntly, a large smile on her lips. And so the servant woman left Eliza standing alone in the music room… Without the man who had just been there moments ago.

–

Weeks, then months, then years passed and Eliza only kept seeing him. He would show up at the most random times, most times when Eliza least expected it. The two grew closer and closer until eventually Eliza’s twenty first birthday rolled around. Her father was away on business and all her friends were across the USA, married, most with children. Yet Eliza was still the bookworm introvert she had been in her childhood, and alone on her birthday. Just like the year before, and the year before that.

Only, she wasn’t alone. Well, not for long at least. It wasn’t too long before he showed up with a bouquet of flowers in hand and a gift in the other. It was nice for Eliza, not being alone on her birthday. She was twenty one, and her life was slipping away.

And it was obvious the Reaper felt it too. He described the past two years as “a blink of an eye” in his retrospect of time, while the past two years felt like an eternity to Eliza. The two were so different. She’d live and die and they would never see each other again. It was only his job to fetch souls, not to watch over them. The thought killed Eliza. Spending an eternity without the reaper she’d somehow grown to love? She’d rather die and have that be it than spend an afterlife without him.

She expressed this feeling to him, and he sympathized with her. He would have shed a tear if he could have… And that’s when he handed her the gift. In the box was a vial of green liquid and a ring. A wedding ring.

“Drink this and wear this ring and we can be together forever,” He promised. “This vial contains liquid that will maintain your mortality forever. You can keep living on in this world. You can keep living on with me.” There was little to no questioning from Eliza’s side. She had been seduced by death himself, and there was no going back.

In only a moment she had the black, diamond encrusted ring on her ring finger and the vial in her hand.

“I love you.” She whispered softly.

“I love you too,” He whispered back.

And then she threw the liquid back into her mouth. It was a moment before anything happened, but suddenly she felt sleepy and heavy. Her words came out as heavy slurs and she fell into the arms of the man she loved. Lifeless, soundless, her cheeks pale and her heart still. Eliza Laurens was dead. But not really, no. Only asleep. Soon she would wake up, still the same old Eliza… Just minus the heartbeat. And while the Reaper feared she wouldn’t wake up, he held her body tightly, wishing with all his might for her to wake up and be reborn as his. Forever.

–

Many centuries passed, and Eliza watched as the ritual she performed twisted and morphed into something completely new. “Bloody Mary” she believed it was called. No one could quite figure out why it didn’t work, but they were simply missing a candle and a set of stair to walk up. And it took Eliza all those centuries to realize, the skull staring back at her in the hand mirror was not the indication of her death. It was the indication of her rebirthing, her rebirthing into a life she could live as the wife of Death himself.