The Gatekeeper's Sons

  Chapter Two: Thanatos

  Humans didn’t realize how lucky they were, Than thought as he took the woman’s hand. At least, if they were mostly good, they could live a brief life with some kinds of freedoms and then spend eternity in a dreamlike trance, unaware of the monotony around them.

  “Just this way,” he said to the woman and the man as they floundered above the abyss, disoriented, like all of them were at this stage of the journey.

  “What about Therese?” the woman asked. “Where’s Therese?”

  Than sighed. He couldn’t imagine the pain they almost always showed on their faces. He couldn’t imagine it because he had never felt it. At least it was temporary. The Lethe, the river of forgetfulness that flowed from the Acheron, would soon ease that pain, so long as these two souls were destined to the Fields of Elysium. The judges would soon decide.

  “It’s not too much further,” Than murmured. “Come along.”

  “But what about our daughter?” the man asked.

  The three of them now hovered up to the muddy bank where Charon waited on his raft. Than brought them down and allowed some of the water to wash up against their feet. It would help fog their memory until they reached the Lethe.

  “Oh, that’s cold,” the woman said softly. “But it feels nice.”

  “Very nice,” the man agreed.

  Than gave a curt nod. “Time to board.”

  Charon nodded back as he dug his slender pole into the mud to hold the raft steady. He rarely spoke, with his nearly bald head, long, white mustache, and pale, cracked skin, and seemed more a cog in the wheel than any of them, churning on and on, back and forth, up the river and down, in an endless cycle. Than supposed Charon’s existence was still worse than his own. At least Than got to travel the world. Charon saw the same sights day in and day out. His life never varied.

  Than put a hand on the shoulder of each of the passengers, knowing it would comfort them. Yes, he thought again, humans were lucky. A brief, exciting life trumped a dull eternity. As his father always said, nothing ever changed. A few details might, but the big picture always remained the same. Than realized that none of the gods was really all that different from Sisyphus who, each day, must face his rock.

  But what if things could change? Than wondered, not for the first time. He sighed and once again shook his head and waited as the raft approached the gate.