The Many Faces of Death

“Good morning, Dad.” Shannon had come to a halt in the driveway of his father’s home. His father had rung him, asking if Shannon could pick him up on the way through to work. His new car had failed yet again to start. “You really are having some bad luck of late, aren’t you? I hope you filled in - and sent off - the warranty details.”
His father glanced at him, nodded slightly and sighed. “Son, I have seen a lot in my time, but this has got to be the most damndest luck I have ever come across. I was lucky when the branch came off the old elm and almost crushed me. Then I had the bad luck with the gas heater that decided to turn me into toast. And now this. Where does it end?”
Shannon tried not to look at the pink flesh around his father’s face and neck. The fire brigade had still yet to explain what had made the heater explode, showering his father in flame and almost taking his life.
“Well, Dad, I have some good news for you then. A change of luck, if you will. This morning I secured two tickets to that Halloween party the local radio station has been promoting. I begged and pleaded and they gave me two tickets. One is for you. What do you think?”
Shannon’s father stared hard at his son, a disheartening look creeping across his face. “Son, there is something I need to talk to you about in regards to this Halloween thing. You see...” he began.
Shannon pulled up to the curb. “Dad, we are here. I will drop you off then go around back and park the car. You can tell me about it on the way up in the elevator. Deal?”
The older man smiled, looked at his son with a cryptic glint in his eye and said “Ok, son. I will meet you inside the lobby. Don’t take all day chatting up Miss Kim in the parking stalls okay? She really is pretty but way out of your league.”
It was Shannon’s turn to grin. He let his father out of the car and proceeded to drive off towards the side entrance to the building. As he looked in the rear vision mirror, he saw his father patiently waiting for the lights to change when, suddenly, a car from nowhere slammed into the old man, sending him sprawling across the road, into the path of a huge semi-trailer. His father, if still alive after the first collision, had no chance with the second.
Panic and disbelief seemed to grip Shannon. He stared in the mirror, hoping he had been mistaken but from the screams of horror he heard around him, he knew that this was all too real.