The Sight of Death
A 'Shadow Gospels' Short Story. Keiran Frost knows when and how everyone will die. At the end of his tether he begins talking to a therapist through email.
04/05/2015
My name is Keiran. I will die in eleven years, stabbed to death by a stranger who will one day mean something to me. I do not know why.
I walk the streets of my hometown and see the fates of everyone. The man who will drink drive his way off a bridge in four months. The woman who will die of cancer in thirty years’ time. The child in his pram who will be forgotten, in the dark, in six days.
I wasn’t born like this. I was normal. Happy. I had a mum, a dad. All the friends a kid would want.
But in my early teens, I had a nightmare. A shadow falling over my bed, smothering me in darkness. It was cast by a figure without form, a man made of shadows. He spoke to me in a language I have never heard, words I will never understand. Then he laughed. A cruel sound filled with self-serving passion.
I woke in a bed damp with sweat and urine. I woke to a life forever changed.
Although I quickly learned to keep my visions to myself, I did sometimes try to intervene, though never to any success. These events were fixed and no amount of convincing or aid could change someone’s outcome.
My mother, in her depression, caused by my new obsession with death and prophetic warnings, overdosed on sleeping pills.
Adam, my best friend through school and college, still forgot to look both ways when crossing the street.
My grandparents, who never believed in the carcinogenic effects of asbestos, died in neighbouring hospital beds.
I had no power.
Wading through my tormented life, disconnected from everyone, I found myself choosing my friends based on their long lives and quiet deaths. Even if their personalities clashed with mine, I took comfort knowing they would go peacefully many years in the future.
I pitied the people who would die sooner, especially if it came about through no fault of their own. They had the balm of ignorance.
I have mourned so many already. I could not bear any more friends going into the ground.
In the first few years, I was surprised to find so many of us would die old and peacefully. When you watch movies, TV, or even the news, you start to assume people die young and die violently. Reality is so much calmer.
Drugs and violence are still present, of course. but if I saw more of that than I did, I would have been driven insane.
It is only through this relief that I have been able to maintain this much sanity.
Thank you for taking the time to read my story, Doctor Scott. I hope that you will be able to talk to me again soon. I am glad you agreed to communicate with me like this; I do not wish to taint our sessions with the knowledge of your own destiny.
Yours sincerely,
Keiran Frost
#
26/07/2019
It has been several years since I first contacted you, Doctor Scott. I remember when you told me that I was not alone in my encounter with the Man of Shadows. The confirmation that he was real took a heavy weight off my shoulders. Sometimes I wonder how many there are, tormented, lost. Alas, that is not the purpose of our messages.
I have something far more important to tell you.
I met my murderer last month. She is beautiful. Her name is Jane, and we met at a party thrown by a mutual friend; who I know will die in hospital, at the age of one-hundred and two, surrounded by his family.
Her smile lit up the entire room and she spoke with the clearest confidence I have ever experienced. I cannot fathom why she would one day take my life, but maybe this is one thing I can change.
Jane will die of cancer, only four years after killing me. It will spread from her breast to her lungs without her ever knowing. Too young. For the first time in many years, I want nothing else but to be able to change one person’s destiny. Maybe I can save both her and myself. I must be able to save someone.
You were able to give yourself the assurance you needed, when you saw your older self in his office. Maybe this is my version.
Despite my vision of the future, I decided to ask her out. She said yes. We met the following week for coffee, spoke for hours and shared stories of our friend. It was probably the happiest day of my life.
Before you ask whether I told her about my knowledge of everyone’s fate, I did not. I am not so disconnected from reality that I would risk coming off as crazy on the first date. Such things are usually left for the third at least. Which for us is tomorrow. I won’t tell her then either of course. Maybe avoiding the subject will help change what happens.
I will keep you updated, I promise. But right now, my life is looking brighter than ever.
Best wishes,
Keiran Frost
#
25/10/2024
Doctor Scott, I am in great need of your advice. As time ticks by I am feeling renewed determination to change Jane’s future. After the last five years together, I have decided the time we will have had isn’t enough, I want to spend the rest of my life with her.
I plan to propose when we go on holiday to Ireland next week.
We have been wonderfully happy, and the dark shadow draped upon my life by that infernal being has found itself penetrated by the light she casts.
You will be pleased to hear I have found myself a job, finally. No longer reliant on benefits. I work for the local council, filling in potholes and similar such jobs. It is nothing fancy, but the feeling behind it and what it symbolises is. I have, at last, a sense of stability.
Jane had been promoted, deputy head teacher at the school we both attended as children. She was a few years older than me, so we never met there. I am so proud of her, she is so passionate about the kids, their education and the futures they will build when they leave. I see how she may one day be a wonderful mother.
The fact that we both went to the same school is amazing to me. It’s funny how people can be so closely connected even before they knew the other existed. You and I are another such example, tied by our curses.
I only have two years left. I must finally break the cycle.
Keiran Frost
#
11/11/2025
The wedding was magical - Jane was angelic in her gown. After all these years together I have never, and will never, see someone, or something, as beautiful as her.
I think I have finally cracked why. It’s in her eyes, that bright spark of intelligence that burns brighter than any star in the sky. I envy her students who get to sit and listen to the wisdom that pours from her.
Jane’s family still find me strange, but are glad that she has found, in me, someone who supports her so completely. Though, if my plan to save mine and Jane’s lives fails, I pity the futures they are subjected to.
Jane’s mother will fall into an isolationary depression, throw her husband out and die alone in the cold and empty house.
Her father will flow through the motions of life without meaning. Devoid of purpose, he will accidentally cause a fire at work that will take his own life and that of two others.
You keep telling me that there is a chance that these things are inevitable and cannot be stopped, and as a result I must make the most of the time I have.
There is a problem with that way of thinking though. Jane is pregnant, two months gone already.
I cannot surrender to fate. As a soon to be father, surely, I have a duty to ensure this child has a future with both of its parents?
I wonder when its future will be shown to me. Will it be at the moment of its birth, or does the universe need time to plan? I do not know. I am woken in the night by nightmares of this child. I am afraid that I will not succeed, and they will be alone in this frightening world. I am afraid that I will die knowing how my child will follow me into the dark. I cannot imagine a more terrifying experience for a parent.
For now, all I can do is hope.
Yours sincerely,
Keiran Frost
#
17/08/2026
I have several things to talk with you about; I apologise in advance for the length of this message. My time is almost up, and I have sat down to write as much as I can to you before I find out whether I have beaten fate.
Little Sophie is three months old. She is the most incredible thing I have ever seen in my life. The same light blonde hair as her mother’s is sprouting from atop her head, and the eyes, so wide and inquisitive, like she sees things in this world, beautiful things, that we grown-ups cannot even imagine.
For those first few months, I was blissfully protected from her future. There was no vision, no countdown. Just her.
Then it came in the night. He came in the night. I awoke, blind in the dark. It took several seconds for my vision to adjust so that I could see Him, the Man of Shadows, standing over my daughter’s crib.
All those years since he last appeared at the foot of my bed, I had not relinquished a single detail. He was as horrifying as my memory.
I tried to shout, tell him to get away from her. But no sound escaped me.
I tried to wake Jane, but when I touched her side of the bed she wasn’t there. Peering through the shrouding darkness, I saw that she was flattened to the bed. A two-dimensional image of my wife sleeping soundly.
The Man of Shadows held a spectral finger to his non-existent lips, as if he was asking me to be quiet, as if he had given me any choice but to watch whatever he had planned for my daughter.
He bent down into the crib and whispered something into Sophie’s ear. I imagine it was the same language he spoke to me as a child myself. The horror that she may have befallen some fate like mine made my blood boil, and I once again tried to scream my fury at the malevolent being.
He simply laughed, the same cruel and self-serving laugh that haunted every nightmare in my life. Laughed over my silence.
As he approached my side I saw, by the crib, a second shadow. Just like the first, a man. His twin.
The first bend down over me, I prepared to hear the strange language again, but instead heard in clear English. ‘Soon.’
I do not remember falling asleep again, or how I even could, but jolted awake to the sound of my alarm. Jane was already dressed and getting ready for work. She has been coughing lately. I think I left it too late to warn her of her cancer.
Her nonchalance did not comfort me after the night’s terror. I rushed to Sophie’s side to make sure she was okay. She seemed as peaceful as the day before, unchanged. Yet when I cradled her in my arms, I saw her future. The day after Jane succumbs to her illness, from the safety of her grandparent’s home, Sophie will be stolen away by the shadow men.
This is what has pushed me into action. My time left was mere days. I had to find a way to stop the darkness from entombing my family.
Doctor Scott, you told me in your last email that you were recently visited by a man from Point Industries, who is aware of the strange happenings in this world: Simon Ilus. Well, I endeavoured to find him and see what he knew.
I went to the Point Industries London office, with my story. At the mention of the twin figures made of shadows, I was led into a bare room and told to wait.
There I sat, for what must have been several hours before Simon Ilus entered.
You mentioned seeing a ghost resembling him in death. My sight casts more confusion upon that. Everyone I have met in my life has a countdown, a single time of death that awaits them in the future. Mr Ilus’ has many. The closest, only a few months from now. The most distant, many years past what his own lifetime should be.
In the visions I saw creatures derived from fantasy and myth. Fairies, vampires, and strange ghoulish men. I saw the two Men of Shadows too and knew this was the man you told me about. Though strangely I did not see one where he received the injuries you described.
I told him about my connection to you and the messages we share. I raved at him about my daughter and the future I have seen for her. I begged him to find a way to save my family.
He was silent. Controlled. Almost robotic in his lack of emotion. Though in his eyes I saw the same pity I felt for those who I knew would die young. He knew I was telling the truth, and he saw no way to save my daughter.
He promised me that he would try and protect my family but he did not know whether these visions could be beaten. He told me what little is known of the “Shadow Twins”, the control they have over our reality. The fact we do not know why they do what they do. Why you, Doctor Scott, and I were chosen by these creatures for our respective curses.
I left with few answers, but one undeniable conclusion; the men of shadows, the “Shadow Twins”, had used us both for their own dark delights. I pity whomever they choose next.
With no other option available to me I sat down with my wife and told her everything. I even showed her the emails you and I have sent one another for the last eleven years.
At first, she laughed. Then I told her about her cancer and the exact date it would kill her. She had only that day received her test results, she had planned to tell me next week during our next trip to Ireland, a safe place close to both of our hearts. But I had known from the moment we had met.
I saw that this changed everything. She saw the truth of my deception, the lies I had sown throughout our lives together. I did not mention how I was going to die.
After a moment, Jane asked about Sophie. I told her.
She flew into a rage. Screamed at me for keeping this from her for all these years. That I should have told her about Sophie right at the start, even though I had only had the vision a couple of days before.
When she said that she was taking Sophie with her to her parent’s house, I refused. If Sophie is here, then her future cannot happen. We fought but I held my ground. Jane left and I kept our daughter safe with me.
I have not seen or heard from Jane for the three days since. I know she is with her parents. If she stays there just one more day, my cycle will be broken, and I will know that the future can be changed.
I worry that she will come back and use any means necessary to take her daughter away. I know I would, if I thought it would keep her safe. But in this I know best, I know what the future might hold, and this is the safest place of all.
As I have been writing this email to you, I have only an hour left to live. Jane may yet return. If you hear from me again, I will have managed to avoid my fate.
I am finding myself wondering about your death. We have never met and thus you are the only person in my life who I do not have that intimate knowledge of.
In fact, thinking over the last eleven years, you are the closest thing I have to a normal friend.
I hope I survive to know whether you consider me a friend too, being one of only a few who know of the ghosts who haunt you every day.
If I do not survive, I wish to say thank you. Thank you for the guidance you have given me all these years. Good luck in whatever life throws your way.
And, as a friend, I should also give you a warning. In the many visions of Simon Ilus’ deaths I saw, there was one with you. I do not know which time goes with this death, but I ask you to be careful around him. He is an anomaly in this world, and I cannot explain why.
I hope to speak to you again tomorrow my friend, Tom Scott,
Faithfully,
Keiran Frost
#
Simon Ilus report on research subject - Keiran Frost.
Keiran Frost was found dead in his home on the 17th August 2026. His wife Jane Frost has been arrested and will remain in custody. It was exactly as Keiran Frost had described it to me during his visit to the Point Industries, London office, 13th August 2026. His description of the Shadow Twins matched with other eyewitness statements, and their method of torment was consistent with their established MO. I have included above several of Keiran Frost’s emails detailing the torment the Shadow Twins put him through.
I will once again visit Doctor Tom Scott to organise the erasure of the emails and patient files of Keiran Frost from his computer system.
Note – Over the years they were communicating, Doctor Tom Scott demonstrated a sound ability in treating a patient with a more unnatural ailment. I recommend he be offered a place at Point Industries where he can assist our employees and research subjects.
Note – I wish to request to take the file on research subject, Sylvie Bow, with me for Doctor Tom Scott’s study. I believe she would benefit the most from his care, based upon my recent observations of her back in June of this year.
-End File-
Another chilling story from this author.