“Until death,” sang a tiny voice from underneath the bench. “until death strikes us all.” The day was bright and pretty. Moments before, the clouds respectfully excused themselves and revealed the sun.

“Joshua, get from under there!” The boy’s mother scolded.

“And quit talkin’ all that nonsense.” His father added.

Joshua crawled from underneath the bench and dusted his pants. His mother walked over to him and wiped the dirt off his face with a damp napkin.

“I wish you would play with the other kids. It’s a beautiful day today, I think you’d enjoy playing in the water.”

Joshua’s attention was focused elsewhere. That’s the thing about him, his attention was always focused elsewhere. As a baby, his parents had a hard time getting him to eat because he was always distracted.

“Give him your phone.” His father said.

“He’s always lookin’ at a screen, Harold. He needs to interact with people!”

Joshua pushed his mother’s hand away and pointed up at the sky. “You see that right there?”

“The sun?”

“Yeah, it’s gonna come down and kill us all.”

The adults all looked at Joshua. His mother hid her face in her hands with embarrassment. Harold resorted to stuffing his face with more food.

“Let him do whatever the hell he wants, Alice.”

Alice looked at her son. In his eyes, she saw herself as a little girl but she was nothing like Joshua. She loved flowers, painting, and had more friends than she could count. Joshua was always alone and he was always talking about death.

“Josh—“

“I’m not just sayin’ it this time! Y’know that song we used to listen to?”

Alice sighed.

“Momma?”

“Yeah I know the song, Josh. But it’s just a song!”

“How does it go again?”

Alice looked back at Harold who was too busy drinking with his buddies to care about what was going on. She usually let him talk some sense into Joshua but maybe he just needs someone to listen.

Clearing her throat, she sang, “Now, he’s always watching. The people downstairs are always talking.. he says, you better get to walking..”

“‘Cause he sees it coming.. he hears the drumming..” Joshua joined.

“Until death.. until death strikes us all..”

“Until death.. until we get it’s call.”

“There’s no preparing for the fall. He’s gonna take us all.”

“O’ angel of death.. let us rest.. O’ angel of death… I better save my breath..”

The wind whipped his his tear-soaked face. He forced his eyes close. The day was beautiful and bright. Kids were playing and food was cooking. Now, it’s all gone. The sun has fallen.

“O’ angel of death..” Joshua whispers, his hands together and fingers interlocked. “let them rest.”