Two people came out of a building.
'One coming from a library, the other coming from the cafe across the street.' The entity had observed.
The person coming from the library was a lightly tanned woman with blonde hair and green eyes, looking somewhere between her late teens or early twenties, wearing khaki pants and a sky blue t-shirt with an open, gray, cotton jacket over it.
The person coming from the cafe was a pale-skinned man with black hair and blue eyes; he looked to be around a similar age to the women, wearing jeans and a black t-shirt with an apron on top of it.
Both were heading towards each other. The woman, reading while heading towards the crosswalk, and the man, carrying a trash bag to the garbage can by the sidewalk.
Once the man got to the garbage can and put the trash inside, he noticed the women.
The mystery woman wasn't paying attention to her surroundings and was entranced by whatever it was she was reading, as a consequence she had failed to notice the oncoming semi-truck that, as things were progressing, would hit her.
'Soon.' Thought the entity with certainty.
That was fate's decree.
That is how things would commence. That is how they always commenced.
"HEY! Get out of the way!" The man yelled at the woman, worry and desperation in his voice.
The loud shout snapped her out of her reverie causing her to take a step back in confusion…and avoid the speeding semi truck.
'What?'
…She wasn't hit.
Fate had been avoided.
Death… had been avoided.
Someway, somehow she had avoided an event that was announced to be her undoing by fate itself…and lived. While it was unknown why or how it was done the entity who viewed the incident was aware of who had done it.
The man suddenly ran across the crosswalk up to the woman.
¨Hey are you alright?¨ He asked, his breath ragged and eyes knitted.
"Y-yeah…I..I think I'm fine." The woman replied while trying to calm herself down. After all, a near death experience is quite adrenaline inducing.
"Thank you so much for warning me. If you didn't…."
She left the implication to hang.
"No problem, I'm just glad I was able to get your attention otherwise…well..yeah. Anyway, I'm Frank, Frank Grayson." He told the woman, with a wry grin, his hand outstretched.
"I'm Lisa, Lisa Ainsley. Nice to meet you." Lisa replied with a smile while shaking Frank's hand.
'…What a strange way to meet.'
As the years passed, the entity continued to observe the ones who had defied and changed fate.
He watched and saw as they became friends and grew closer and closer, and he saw how eventually their closeness blossomed into something…more.
"L-Lisa." Spoke Frank with a nervous crack in his voice.
"Hm?" Lisa responded as she turned around on her heel, her pink sundress and blonde hair flowing in the wind as the sun set over the horizon—behind her—beyond the view of the mountain on which they stood.
"We…we've been friends for a long time, and… I have something I need to tell you. I've finally built up enough courage to confess that… I love you… and I know you might not feel the same but I jus-"
"I love you too." She told him with a smile on her face and certainty in her voice.
"...What?" He blinked.
"I love you too. I've been wondering when you'd tell me. You're not very good at hiding it."
She giggled.
"S-so you-"
She nodded.
"I'll be your girlfriend." she said, her eyes glistening as she gripped the edge of her dress.
"Woohoo!"
Frank ran up to her before she could react, lifted her with ease, and spun her around till she was dizzy, and as her feet touched the ground, he kissed the thoughts out of her.
Once they'd separated they simply stared into each other's eyes.
"That was amazing." Frank said, a breathless smile adorning him.
She nodded, sharing the same look, as well as a slight hunger in her eye.
As the entity continued to observe, it wondered why they were so emotional about this.
Why was Frank so nervous to confess?
Why was Lisa so relieved he felt the same?
Why was simple close proximity enough to fill them with joy?
Why… why couldn't it feel those same things?
Why couldn't it feel nervous or scared or… joyful?
The entity was confused.
As the entity continued its observation, it saw how their… love… continued to grow stronger and stronger until eventually they were to be wed.
It was a beautiful ceremony.
Frank and Lisa had reserved a park for their wedding and invited everyone from both their families. They had beautiful snowdrop flower wreaths hanging from some of the decor they had put up and petals of red roses spread about.
By the time the ceremony had ended, everyone was in tears. Everyone on both sides of the two families, now unified, agreed that Frank and Lisa made a beautiful couple and were very happy for them.
The entity continued to observe.
While at first it was only out of curiosity of the anomalies that had altered fate, now, it was to understand the emotions that humans possessed that seemed to fluctuate between understandable, reasonable, or completely nonsensical; Frank and Lisa were the best specimens for observation.
The entity continued watching.
It saw fights and disagreements.
It saw the agreements they came to to solve said disagreements.
It saw when they came to the decision to have a child.
The idea of humans having offspring never really gave the entity much pause. After all, it had nothing to do with it or its duty. But, seeing Frank and Lisa discussing bringing a life into this world, to add another member to their family, with smiles on their faces, made the entity think.
If… if it could experience the company of another, would it? After all, humans were not capable of seeing it, not until their final breath.
This thought gave birth to the entity's first ever emotion: loneliness.
The entity now observed even more intensely. Both to understand this new feeling, and to witness the moment when new life would come into this world. For the entity had never seen, nor even attempted to witness, a birth.
It never had a reason.
However, it was after the birth when tragedy struck.
The child…the baby was a stillborn.
The emotion that surfaced from Frank and Lisa was not one the entity had ever seen on them.
It was sadness. No. It was sorrow.
While Frank and Lisa were mourning, the entity turned its attention to something else. Seeing the dead child was…strange for the entity. While it had seen countless deaths before, it had never seen one so…young, not personally. So young that its breath hadn't even left its body yet.
It left the entity feeling…guilty?
The entity was once again confused.
After the tragedy, the entity observed as Frank and Lisa came to terms with the loss and became happy again, and thus the observation continued.
10, then 20, and then 30, and finally 76 years had passed in a blink of an eye with the entity observing, yet still not understanding.
That's when it realized the time had come.
The final moment.
As the entity stood there, watching Frank and Lisa lay on their couch with their aged faces being the perfect picture of serenity and peace, he finally saw that light of recognition in their eyes.
They could see it.
As Frank gazed at the entity with his aged eyes, what he saw was…terrifying. Yet, it was also calming. It was a being of pure black, gray, and sprinkles of white here and there with no defined form. The more you gazed at it the more color seemed to vanish.
Along with its appearance, came a chilling cold. However, its presence also brought a safe feeling. Like he was by a fireplace wrapped up in his fathers arms again.
'I guess parallels do fit a being such as it.' Frank thought to himself.
"You're Death, aren't you." Lisa said. She had not formed it as a question, but instead as fact.
"I am." A voice that sounded young and old at the same time replied.
"It's our time isn't it." Frank said with a knowing tone.
Death nodded.
"I've been watching you both for a long time; I've watched since when you first met eyes, since Lisa Grayson avoided me." Death stated.
They both only seemed mildly surprised.
"I hope we didn't mess anything up?" Lisa asked, lips pursed.
"No. Death will happen, no matter where I may be."
Their shoulders fell slightly as tension fell from them.
"After observing you two for so long I have an inquiry."
"What could we possibly tell you?" Frank raised an aged, white brow.
"What are emotions?" Death asked.
The question had left the two bewildered, but after sitting there for a bit they decided what to say. Instead of giving him an answer, they would ask him a question.
"What do you think emotions are?" Frank asked.
Death seemed to tilt its head, or what Frank thought was its head, in confusion.
"I wouldn't be asking you if I knew."
"Then tell me this. You said you'd been following us since we met, so you surely were around when LIsa had her stillborn, right?" Frank asked.
Death nodded.
"Well, did seeing that make you feel anything?" Frank asked.
"Guilt. For if I didn't exist, then that child wouldn't have died so young. As well as… loss?" Death answered.
Frank nodded then spoke.
"Then what does that tell you emotions are?" He asked.
Death thought for only a few seconds.
"Responses to emotional stimuli?"
Frank nodded with a chuckle.
"That's true. However, emotions are much more than that. Emotions can hurt, they can kill, and they can drive people insane. But, they can also fill others with happiness, and heal people with comfort and sympathy. I believe emotions are a gift." Frank finished.
Then, he went silent and still.
Death, while seeming to understand a little, still seemed lost.
"Tell you what, if you truly wish to know what emotions are, or want to form your own opinion on them then listen to my suggestion. People on their final breaths can see you, right?" Lisa asked weakly.
Death nodded.
"Then go and comfort those on your doorstep and listen to their stories. Spread the gift of emotion. Maybe that'll give you the answer to your question." Lisa said.
And then…she released her last breath.
Death stood there for a while, pondering. Then finally, it came to a decision, and it smiled.
For the first time since the dawn of existence, Death…had smiled.
"Fine then. Let's truly dive into the mystery that is emotion." Death chuckled before vanishing.
'Two People Came Out of a Building' has since been one of Death's favorite stories.