The Tale of Death and the Green Eyed Man

The green eyed man didn't know what happened,
A flash of pain and all was black,
When he came to, he was in the sky,
Standing on clouds,
Facing a man in a black cloak.
Where am I?
The green eyed man asked,
The man in the cloak lifted his head,
Revealing a terrible, skeletal face.
The green eyed man drew back in shock,
You are between life and death, the cloaked man said,
Not quite dead,
Yet not quite alive either...
But that is about to change, he said, sinisterly,
For I am Death and I shall take you to the otherside!
The green eyed man was shocked,
He couldn't believe he was dead,
Death held out his skeletal, spider-like, fingers,
The wicked smile on his face showing his cruel intentions,
He was going to destroy the green eyed man's soul.
As he smiled, his red eyes looked into the man's green ones,
Waiting patiently to see the fear in them,
The same fear that engulfed all of his previous victims,
The same fear that would destroy him from the inside out.
It had always been that way,
His victims begging for mercy,
Pleading with him to spare their pitiful lives,
But he always took them in the end,
To where no one could hear their pleas...
But as red and green met one another,
The smile on Death's lips faltered,
As the green eyed man smiled, raised his hand, and shouted,
Take me then for I am ready to die!
Death was shocked and he whispered quietly,
You feel no fear?
The green eyed man smiled more broadly still and said,
I once knew a man that said,
Death smiles at us all,
All a man can do is smile back...
You are smiling at me now Death, he shouted,
So I shall smile straight back at you,
For my time has come and I'm ready to die!

They say the shriek of Death could be heard everywhere,
In forests, mountains and valleys,
As for the first and only time,
Death was cheated out of his prey,
By someone who tried to embrace him,
Instead of trying to flea him.