Death's Embrace

She sits, as she always does, in the old wicker rocking chair next to the open fireplace. She has noticed that as each year passes it seems to take longer and longer for the fireplace to relieve her of that bone deep chill she has lived with for so long.
She sits and she ponders about the birthday that has just passed. She has now been ninety-six for over an hour. Her birthday was not celebrated with loved ones, cake, and candles, as most birthdays are. No, no loved ones for the old lady because she had outlived them all. Husband, kids, and even one grandchild.
The only company she had was the steady rocking or her chair and the warm fireplace she now sat next to. As she sat, with the old house moaning around her and the frigid wind whistling through the cracks in the boards, lost in her lonely thoughts. She suddenly wished with such bitter longing to be rid of the loneliness.
As she sat thinking the sad lonely thoughts, which just lately haunted her more and more, she felt a presence in the room. She could think of no one who would be visiting her and did not remember hearing a door open. She looked up to see what looked, at first glance, to be a plain looking man. However, a second glance told her this was not true, for this man had to be seven feet tall and he had a unnaturally long, pale face. He stood before her wearing an old black suit with a matching bowler hat, much as her father used to wear when she was younger. The smell surrounding this man reminded her of the old days when there was plenty of company and friends. Though not one to trust others easily, she was startled to find herself at ease with this stranger.
"Hello" he said in a voice that wasn't quite human, "I am death", he continued in a matter of fact manner. "It seems you have been wanting to meet me for quite sometime"."I am pleased to meet you" he said as he stuck out his hand to be shaken. The old woman too old and tired to second guess herself, took his hand and as she did she noticed the chill temporarily leave her body.
She let go of his hand as he once again began to speak in that low, inhuman voice "I have come to give you a hug, and my hugs are very special ones indeed". He continued, "They will take you away from this cold existence and into the company of everyone you have lost over the years, you will see the husband you loved so much along with your children." "Do you want that?" he asked her. Tears glistened in her eyes as she nodded her head and thought about all the happiness this man was taking her to. As he put his arms around her she looked into his face which and twisted and was now deformed with burning embers as eyes while she looked at the monstrosity she felt her sanity snap neatly in two. She had time to register two things before the blackness engulfed her. One was he no longer smelled pleasant he now smelt of brimstone. The second thing she noticed was the chill had been replaced with a deep, fiery, inferno within herself.
Paramedics found the body of the old woman weeks later and one look at the ancient face charred, with a look of mingled horror and surprise, was enough to make both of them lose their lunches.