The Boy Who Encountered Death (2011)

The Boy Who Encountered Death
(Short Story by Ryan Silberman on October 2011 for English class)

He was an ordinary boy. He was a boy that is not unlike everyone else. He was in
8th grade, and he was always very curious. The boy always wondered where certain
things come from, what they do, or why are they within his sight. But little did he know
that there would be something out there that would change his life forever. It was
immortality. But how could he ever manage to receive such a gift? It was an accident that
led him to it.

Every day was usually the same for the boy. Once he goes to school, he would
have received a fair amount of homework, talked with his friends during lunch, and go
home by walking down the same sidewalk he had always ventured across. One day,
however, when the 3:00 bell rang, one of his friends chased after him to say something.
"Dude! I overheard a couple of kids talking about digging up mysterious treasure in the
woods," his friend had told him. "I don't believe in such things," the boy replied. "But
those kids are the most honest in the school! They've never told a lie before," his friend
snapped back. "The problem is that people always say something relating to this. It can't
be believable," said the boy.

Curiosity killed the cat, though, as that night, the boy stood awake. He couldn't
sleep knowing that it's possible there was treasure present in the woods. Could those kids
have been right? He set out into the woods to look for it. He was quite brave, so he
wasn't scared of anything that roamed the night. Eventually, he found a mysterious
fountain. It was a big water fountain with a sign in front of it. It said "Fountain of Age – Drink out of it, and you will stay your current age for eternity. Please note, though, that it will only work once in every 10 years." It must be a big chance to be able to have that kind of immortality, the boy thought. So, he pulled out a plastic cup (He carried it with him in case he was thirsty), scooped up some of the fountain water, and took a few sips.The next morning, the boy forgot that he even went into the woods, and just went
on with his day. Months had passed since then, and when the next school year had
started, he was surprised to notice he was going into 8th grade again. When the first day
of school started, he explained the whole thing to all of his teachers and the dean. "Don't be ridiculous," the dean told him, despite the boy still in 8th grade. "The fountain never really works. It's just a myth." But it was true, and he couldn't stand the fact that nobody would realize it. One day, he tried forgetting about it, and after school, he played the NES with his friend. The worst was yet to happen, though.


That very moment, there was a knock on the door. Not knowing who was at the door, the boy opened it. The visitor looked like a skeleton with a dark, black robe. Before they knew it, it turns out that really is a skeleton in a black robe. It was Death himself. He said to the boy "You! Young one! Are you the one who drank from the Fountain of Age?" nervously, the boy said "Y-y-yes, sir…" The boy's friend was lost of words. His jaw dropped, and he failed to pull himself together. Death then talked again. "Apparently,
you are bypassing the rules of life. You see, child, when decades come and go, you
should die eventually. Your immortality is breaking that rule," he hissed. "Which is why
I decided to set up a little deal between you and me. I will let you live if you let me kill your friend. If not, then you will die instead."



It was a very boggling situation for him. Should he let his life go this very
moment, or can his friend take the sacrifice? "Go on. Make your choice. You can always
make more friends, you know," Death teased. Either way, he would never be able to see
his pal again. "Here. You can let me pass away," his friend decided. "Besides, I've
always wondered what it would be like." But the boy remained quiet, with tears dripping
down his face. It was too hard to choose between the two decisions. Unfortunately for
him, he eventually said "I know what t-to do now…"



Suddenly, he couldn't help but notice an ant crawling across the floor. The boy
then had a cunning idea. "How about you kill the ant instead?" he asked. "Besides, you
do want one of us to die. So why not kill the ant?" He crossed his fingers behind his back, hoping this would work. Believe it or not, Death confirmed the deal, and he marched out of the boy's house, with the ant's soul within his grasp. Just before Death dived into the underworld, he waved to the dean, who just arrived to talk to the boy about the whole
"8th grade" situation! As the dean walked in, there was an awkward silence. "Let's
pretend this never happened, okay?" he asked the boy. "Only if I can move up to 9th
grade." The dean agreed.Twelve decades later, the boy looked out of the window of the Foster home. Oh, the fun times I've had with him, he thought as he was thinking about his old friend. Fortunately for him, all of the other boys were very nice. It wasn't hard for him to fit in with the crowd.