Author: Lori Seligmann

I remember that hot summer afternoon like it was yesterday. I was six years old, and I had just woken from a nap to find my mother lying on the bed in her room. She wasn't feeling well, so she sent me back to my room to go entertain myself. Being the type to who was fine entertaining myself if need be, I went back to my room and climbed on top of my toy chest, under the large window next to my bed. I pulled the curtains back and peeped out. From the way the light from the sun was slanting, I'd say it was about four in the afternoon.

We lived in a triplex and our unit was in the middle. Looking down the drive-way, at the end next to the mail boxes, I saw a "man". The figure was completely black, almost like a black hole,a thick and inky nothingness, but still molded in the figure of a man.

I didn't know who or what it was, but he looked slightly familiar, even at that age, as if he were someone I should instinctively know. As the realization set in, I remember letting out the most blood-curdling scream. My parents came rushing for me, and I tried to explain what I had seen.

"It's Mr. Death! He's coming for me!"

My mother sighed and told me to quit the racket, it was only a nightmare. I tried to explain that I knew I had been wide awake and that what I had seen was most definitely real. Still, no matter what I said, they just wouldn't believe me. I kept looking out of the window, waiting for him to make another appearance, but there was nothing unusual at all. I began to think maybe they were right. I was only a kid, they were adults. What did I know?

So, I started thinking about that apparition from so long ago the other night. What had made me beleive it was Death? I racked my brains, but I couldn't think of anyone that I knew of dying around that time, did I?

And all at once, I came to a horrible realization.

My mother was pregnant at that time, but I don't have any brothers or sisters. The only thing I knew at that time was that one day there was a baby coming, and the next day it wasn't. No one ever said to me, "Lori, the baby died before it was born". I have some memories of my mom getting very sick (later that night or next day), the adults rushing her off to the hospital, my grandparents coming from out of town to take care of me and help my mom. It was never brought up to me again.

I thought Death was coming for me.

But I was wrong.