I can’t wait to visit Ri-Ri’s house again. It’s a grey house with a black rooftop. Ri-Ri has a garden with all types of flowers. He says that they make the place more vibrant and that it contrasts the big black fog above the house. Even though I don’t know what contrast means, I pretend that I do because Ri-Ri seems like he is lonely.

When I first came to Ri-Ri’s house, I was terrified of the black fog. I saw the pretty flowers and ran to them. When Ri-Ri found me, he had tears in his eyes. He later told me that hundreds of years before I first came to his house, when there were fields of wild flowers, and a gigantic waterfall; he had a big family, but an evil person took them away. Ri-Ri said that that person cursed him to take people to the same place that his family had went.

I was always at Ri-Ri’s house for only a few minutes before I went back to the hospital, that’s what Mommy calls it. I call it the place-that-has-extremely-firm-beds. Extremely is a word that Ri-Ri taught me last time I came to visit.

Ri-Ri said that I was smart for a five-year-old. I wonder if he had a smart five-year-old before that evil man took Ri-Ri’s family away. I think Mommy feels that way everytime I go to Ri-Ri’s house. Whenever I come back, I see Mommy crying. Whenever I ask her what’s wrong, she gets up and embraces me like she thought I was going to die.

Last time I went to Ri-Ri’s, a scrawny, bald man came to the door. He was asking for a person that was due in the underworld a few months ago. Ri-Ri said that there was no one at our house for months. When I woke up, Mommy wasn’t there like always. She was talking to Dr. Kelly. “Melody is not going to get better.”

“But…”my mother stuttered.

Your insurance is not going to cover the cost any longer. I’m sorry.”

“Mommy? What’s happening?” Mommy embraces me like she always does. “Nothing sweetheart, I was just having an adult conversation with Dr. Kelly.” I can see the tears in her eyes dissolve into a happy smile. Mommy was great at hiding her feelings. Whenever Daddy left us, she put on a happy smile and pretended that she was fine. She was not fine. “I love you.” I said. “I love you too.” She didn’t show me her tears after that.

A few minutes later, I went back to Ri-Ri’s house. I’ve been going to Ri-Ri’s house more often lately. Although I love Ri-Ri, I don’t want Mommy to worry about me. When I got to Ri-Ri’s house, he wasn’t outside to greet me. I knocked on the door to his big house. No one answers so I go in.

I can hear Ri-Ri talking to someone familiar. I walk down the big corridor, playing hopscotch with the pattern on the floor. I follow the voices until I see two shadows.

“No one has came here in months . So leave.” Ri-Ri says to the skinny shadow. “Does the Grim Reaper, the King of Death, have a soft spot for a little girl? How cute.” Grim Reaper? Ri-Ri never taught me that word.

“No girl has-“

“Don’t lie to me! I’ll take the girl to the Underworld myself.”

“No, you are not going to take her.” Ri-Ri is always calm, which I don’t understand. If you lose your family, and are all alone; you should be angry and sad. Or maybe I am the reason he’s not sad all of the time. Maybe I let him be happy.

“What are you going to do to stop me?” The skinny shadow asks.

“I-I… I will sacrifice myself for her.”

“Ha! You’re willing to sacrifice your soul for a little girl?”

“Yes.” I peek my head in the doorway. “What’s going on?”

“I’ve got to go.”

“What do you mean?”

“I won’t be able to see you anymore.”

“Why?” Tears form in my eyes.

Ri-Ri sighs. “You’re Mom needs you. You need to go back to her.”

“B-But I thought you and me were going to be friends forever.”

Ri-Ri’s face is strewn with tears.

“Goodbye.” Ri-Ri and the bald man start evaporating into thin air.

“Wait! Don’t leave!”

That was the last time I went to Ri-Ri’s house again.