I don't know what I expected. Maybe a reaper - something tall, shadowed, wearing an airy robe on a body of bones, complete with a scythe. Maybe a demon with hellfire climbing up a charred hulkish body. I had been told people cried when they bargained with him. I know they said it was horrible and terrifying. I don't know what I expected, but it wasn’t a simple man in a pale gray tailored suit.
When I opened the door into the room, the small man confirmed my name. I nodded and he offered me a seat. Death was roundish, but not fat. He was bald with glasses, and I knew if he stood, he would barely be five feet tall. He had a list to his left covered in notes. He nodded for me to begin but I couldn't imagine offering him he anything he hadn't already heard.
“Sir,’ I began shakily. “for you to collect all of us isn’t fair. We've so much left to do, so much potential.” He looked at me; I didn’t even make an impression.
I figured it was worth trying to beg. “I have a new baby with a young wife, I love them both.” He sighed and looked bored.
I tried rationalization, it was a last ditch effort. “Look, if you collect all of us now, You'll be done with this job forever.” Death pushed the pages of notes back. He hadn’t put a mark to the page.
“I've heard all that before.” He listed off on his fingers “No such thing as fair, you’ve had enough time to fill your wasted potential, everyone loves someone and I don't question my job, I do my job. Thank you, I think we're done here.”
“Bullshit!” My answer seemed to take him by surprise.
“Do you have something else to offer then?” “Damn right.” I no longer picked my words carefully. “You say you're just doing your job. If that was true you wouldn't be looking for a way out of it.” He narrowed his eyes but didn’t stop me. I touched on something, maybe human, in him. “You come in times of war, and starvation, and sickness. You see the worst of us, you know it intimately. But you know nothing of the good in us. You’re looking for something to convince you to pardon the human race. But you’re looking for something specific. What is it?”
He took a deep sigh. “I come in times of the white pus of pestilence, in the red blood of war, and the in black desperation of famine. While they make their way, I simply follow. I reap what they sow. People hate them, but fight me. People fear me doing a job I never wanted. I tire of all of it. And I do not see a reason not to end it now. Sure, the other riders will not be pleased, but I can simply crunch their time line,” He spread his hands wide apart alluding to a length of time. “Into my time table,” He brought his hands together. "At our expense?" "At your expense." At that point, I wish that I already had a plan. It would have saved me the rashness of literally trying to save the world. It was because of being at that point without a plan that I made him an offer. "What if it was only at my expense?" He looked up at me and there was a spark of life in his eyes, and his eyebrows raised. "What if i took this job from you. I don't want you to collect the souls and you don't keep collecting." I took a deep sigh. "What if I agreed to take this from you. Let you be me, let me be Death." The second I said it, I knew I had him. "I go home to your wife and baby and you answer to the other riders." I swallowed and nodded. Death stood and offered his hand. I took it and suddenly we switched. I looked at Death standing there in me. Death looked back at me. He smiled. I could feel the full weight of what I did as he addressed me "Well, I guess now we're done here." I nodded at him and he turned to leave. I looked at the list on the table, realizing it was the list of everyone. It was now my responsibility to bear. I collected it as he reached the door. I called out my own name to him. He stopped and looked back at me. "My wife and baby. Love them, love them well. He smiled sadly. "I already do. Why do you think I met with you last." He left.