H is for Hour and Hourglass

The Symbolic meaning of Hour glass: Some say it is one of the items Grim carries  with him while on his daily chore of collecting souls.  
It also appears when the computer performs a function. Ancient Alchemist used this instrument as well.


I would like to share with you an excerpt from  a story I'm working on, Young Adult dark fantasy, Reaper's Novice. The girl in this story works for Grim... or Ernest as he likes calling himself. She got this job by trading her soul for the four souls of her family, after they were involved in an accident. Working as a nurse, I always wondered what happens to the soul. Therefore I came up with this story idea last year.

The hour started out as usual, one made up of compact minutes. Now it seems to have grown wings and flown by, leaving me with a handful of minutes. I've been sitting here, waiting for someone, anyone to come in and help her. Her life, her soul is mere minutes, then it's mine to collect. I don't want to. Not when I know she will forever be gone. I feel frustrated of my inability to help her because that would only conflict with my occupation. Soul Collector. How does one collect her best friend's soul? Can I make a deal with Grim to let her live?  What would I trade her soul for? I am a soul collector. I have nothing more to offer.


My eyes dart to the hourglass perched on the table in front of me. The sands of time sift through as if competing to reach the finish line. The clock strikes midday, still no one has come to save her, to stop the gunshot bleeding. Finally, the last of the sand sifts through. I exhale, my  eyes  sting with tears. Pain twists inside my chest as the shimmering red soul rises from her inanimate still warm body, and floats towards me, towards the soul vial clutched in my hand.


Afterwards, I snatch the hourglass from the table and shove it inside my coat, then place the soul vial carefully in the padded pockets of my trenchcoat. I wipe my eyes with the sleeve of my coat. With one last look, I leave the room.

Yeah, it's a sad scene, in the story, 
Oh, and another book I am really looking forward to read, hopefully soon. 

from Goodreads

For seventeen-year-old Emerson Cole, life is about seeing what isn’t there: swooning Southern Belles; soldiers long forgotten; a haunting jazz trio that vanishes in an instant. Plagued by phantoms since her parents’ death, she just wants the apparitions to stop so she can be normal. She’s tried everything, but the visions keep coming back.

So when her well-meaning brother brings in a consultant from a secretive organization called the Hourglass, Emerson’s willing to try one last cure. But meeting Michael Weaver may not only change her future, it may change her past.
Who is this dark, mysterious, sympathetic guy, barely older than Emerson herself, who seems to believe every crazy word she says? Why does an electric charge seem to run through the room whenever he’s around? And why is he so insistent that he needs her help to prevent a death that never should have happened?

Full of atmosphere, mystery, and romance, Hourglass merges the very best of the paranormal and science-fiction genres in a seductive, remarkable young adult debut.



Do you know any myths relating to the Hourglass? Have you read Myra McEntire's Hourglass? Ever wondered what happens to a soul once it leaves the body?