I swung my scythe, watching the chain shatter into a million pieces before dissolving. The man stared at me.

"Huh, well, looks like your lucky day. You're probably not going to-"

Loud rumbling interrupted me. The floor cracked and split apart. Large gates draped in chains rose up. Rust coated most of its surface. The chains fell away and the gates swung open. I covered my ears as screaming filled the room.

"Guess I spoke too soon!" I yelled over the noise. "Have fun in Hell!"

I turned and walked away, humming. I pulled out the list and crossed off Jackson Whitney.

"Hey, Death! I'm done!"

"Took you long enough." He appeared next to me.

"Says the guy who takes longer than me in the bathroom," I said. "We taking a break or what?"

He laugh and pulled his hood down. "Yeah, but you don't get another one for twenty years."

"You're kidding, right?"

"Nope," Death said. It was hard to tell if he was kidding or not. Take a seat, you've got five minutes."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to go get coffee."

Before I could stop him, he disappeared. I sat down and leaned my head back against the wall. I closed my eyes.

"Here."

I opened my eyes. Death held a cup towards me and I took it.

"Is- Is it cold?" I took the lid off and steam rose through the air. I took a careful sip. Warmth spread through me, making me the warmest I had been since my death. "I dislike that."

"First you insult my scythe and now you're insulting my favorite cafe? I think I made a mistake taking you on."

"I could have told you that."

Death chuckled. "I know I didn't make a mistake, I had my reasons for picking you."

"Like what?"

He never answered me. Tapping his wrist, he stood. "Break time's over. Let's get a move on."

I reached up for help. Death looked at me. With a roll of his eyes, he turned away.

I sighed and got up. Coffee sloshed out of my cup and onto me. I should have closed the lid before getting up.

"Do want the rest of your coffee?" Death asked.

"The rest of it is on me." I tossed the cup to him.

"That's such a waste of coffee." The cups disappeared and Death pulled his scarf over his nose. His face disappeared in the shadow of his hood.

My hand closed around the piece of paper he gave me. I didn't bother looking at it until he left.

Names and distances neatly lined the page, the ink dry and smudge-free.

My scythe dangled loose in my hand as I read through the names. I tightened my grip and ran through the hospital.

I made a few quick stops to murder people before heading outside. The light hurt my eyes, but I didn't let that slow me down. My feet didn't make sound as buildings passed in blurs.

I made a right and slipped through an open window. My eyes locked onto the small soul looking around and I swallowed.

"Susie?" I crouched and rested my scythe on the floor. "Hi, sweetie."

Her eyes widened and she shrunk back. "Who- who are you? How'd you get in here?"

"The window was open." I said. "Though I could'ge came through the doggie door if I had to." I slowly moved towards her, pausing when she started shaking.

"I'm not going to hurt you. I can't hurt you."

"Then what's with that?" She pointed to my scythe. "It's scary."

"It's not to hurt you. I promise." I smiled and pulled down down my hood.

"You look funny," Susie said. "Are you sick?"

"Well, there goes my self confidence." I said. She reached out and took my hand. I stared at our hands, at how they contrasted. My skin had no color other than a dull gray. Hers hadn't lost any of its color and if she didn't have a chain in the middle of her chest I could have mistaken her as being alive.

"You're so cold," she said. "What are you?"

"I'm- Well, I was human."

"You aren't anymore?"

I shrugged. "Don't know if I count or not. Do you lose your humanity when you die? Almost every zombie movie says yes."

"When you die you go to heaven."

I smiled, but it didn't reach my eyes. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

I reached for my scythe. My hand wrapped around it, the rough wood was sure to give me blisters at some point. As I lifted it from the floor, I swallowed.

I positioned the blade to strike the chain and swung. Susie threw herself back. Her screams pierced the air.

The scythe struck the wall as my palms hit the linoleum. I couldn't do it. Not to a kid.

I crawled to Susie and hugged her. Her small frame quivered, but when I didn't attack her she stopped.

As I held her, I pulled out my list. Death would have reaped at least five pages worth of souls in the amount of time I spent talking. He would come looking soon. I had to reap her and get out, but, no matter what I told myself, I couldn't bring myself to shatter her chain.

"Okay, kid, what's taking you so long?"  Death appeared in the middle of the room, hood down. He narrowed his eyes and walked towards me. "You better tell me that you're comforting her and not that you couldn't do it."

I tensed and looked away. Death mumbled something and I looked at him. "Wha-"

I yelped as he swung his scythe, shattering Susie's chain. Her body glowed and turned into sparks before drifting away.

Death grabbed the back of my cloak and hauled me into the air. My feet didn't touch the floor as he stared me in the eyes.

"You can't do that. You have to reap them, no matter how young they are."

"They're kids!"

"So were the firstborn sons I had to kill for God. This is a job, kid, and we have to do it. Or the Apocalypse happens and we have to kill everyone anyway."

"You know that doesn't make this better right? You're not mortal, and you don't understand what this kid's parents are going to go through, what my parents are going through."

Death dropped me. "You're right, I'm not mortal. And technically you aren't anymore either. This infront of me? That's your immortal soul. Immortal. So you better get over any attachments you have to the living. It's not going to help you and it's not going to help me either."

He ran a hand through his hair, fluffing it up, before pulling his hood up.

"It's not like I had any choice in this," i mumbled. I shoved my hands into the pockets of my cloak. Rough material scratched against my knuckles. I frowned and pulled it out. "Would it have been that hard to make sure there wasn't trash in this before you gave me it?"

Death didn't say anything. He didn't have to. The child zoo leash fastened around me said enough. I grabbed my scythe from the floor before giving in and letting him drag me outside.

I walked with my head down and I gather the material of my pockets in my hands. Death would never know how it would feel to lose someone.

"Kid, if I wanted someone who would mope I'd have kidnapped a lesser angel."

"I'm not moping."

"Said every teenager ever."

"Maybe I'd be a little more talkative if I wasn't wearing the backpack again."

"It's a cute tiger, there's nothing to be complaining about."

"You know that's not what I'm talking about."

"Until I know you're going to do your job I'm taking precautions."

"Oh, like this is going to-" I flew towards him. He caught me and covered my mouth with his arm. I tried to ask about what he did, but having an arm pressed against my mouth made it hard.

"Sh," he hushed me. I huffed and stood still as he looked around. His grip on me tightened. I didn't see what he put him on edge. Cars traveled along the streets and people walked on the sidewalks, occasionally running across the street and having close calls with the traffic.

As my attention moved from the pedestrians to the crosswalk signal, pain surged through my stomach. The scenery blurred until it came to a sudden stop. I groaned and stumbled out of Death's grip.

"What was that?" I said, bracing myself against a bench. The pain in my stomach remained and unlike the pain from the impact, it hadn't dulled.

Death summoned his scythe, he waved a hand to get rid of my backpack, before reaching into the shadow of his hood to fix his scarf. He looked at me.

I looked past him. A lady with dark skin and dark hair stared at us. Even with the distance between us, her brilliant purple irises were clearly visible. A white dress hung from her figure and with every step towards us, the plants in the area perked up and those that could bloomed.

"Better question, who is that?" I asked,  wrapping the arm not holding me up around my stomach.

Death turned his head to look at her. He didn't look at me when he answered. "That's Life. She's-" he paused, "-kinda my big sister."

Chapter: 1,585

Book: 12,094

Welp, so much for trying to update this a lot this month

Anyway how'd you like it?

I'm going to make a grilled cheese

See yah