A visit from the Grim Reaper

I can offer you a number of things such as peace, solace, or an end. However I cannot offer you a second chance. That is not in my job description. I am unbiased in my approach. Everyone is treated equally.

I am death. I am the Grim Reaper.

At least I was for one day.

I took many souls at the wrong time. It was not by my doing but theirs.

As we traveled away from this world, they always wished for another chance. I could not grant one. I left a wake of misery and pain for the ones that I left behind. All of the heartache could have been avoided…but it wasn’t.

On a day such as the one that bears my name, students were represented the lost by white paint. However, those students could go home and wash off the paint. For others, the paint is permanent. Their presence is no more.

As I entered each classroom to take a soul it would get quiet, and the look of fear was on many faces that were smiling moments before. That day I took 41 souls. It was only for a couple of hours; yet, symbolically, it was forever.

And forever is a long, long time.

Forty one is the number to represent the 41 lives that will never be fulfilled. That will never go off to college. Never live on their own. Never have children. Never experience anything else that comes down the road of life. All because of a destructive decision that could have been prevented.

I can’t offer a second chance, but I was able to offer a warning. A reminder of the possibility of finality. I just hope my presence was worth the time I spent.

I’ll always be close by. Just around the corner. As every beginning must have an end. Just remember this: that end doesn’t have to come so soon.

Sometimes you have no control of your own fate. But when it comes to making bad decisions, that is entirely in your own hands.

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