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She kicked gingerly at the hooded figure collapsed in front of her. It didn’t move. She wasn’t sure if this was a temporary state or if she should be more concerned. She looked up and down the street, but nobody was around. It was late at night in her sleepy town, so she wasn’t surprised. Apparently, she was the only night owl in town. Possibly, the night owl of death.
Finally, she felt the tiny mirror swimming in her purse and grabbed it. She knelt down to hold the mirror near its mouth, well, what she thought was the mouth. There was no sign of life. She wasn’t sure in this case if that meant anything.
Her leg stung a bit from when the scythe nicked it when Death collapsed. She’d have to get some peroxide on that. As she started to realize what she had done, her heart sped up a little. She was usually so good at dealing with chaos, but this, well, what did one do when one managed to kill Death?
In her defense, it was not her fault. He (or she) had been staring down at a phone. Really? Was there an app for that? Meg had been outside practicing her energy work. She had been focused on life energy as she went through her meditation. That certainly was not a hazardous activity, but when you throw out life energy and it hits Death, the effects were quite surprising. Death had collapsed as if struck by a car.
Meg kind of hoped that Death would just disintegrate, like in a movie. No, Death was inconsiderate and the body remained in the street behind her house. She would have to deal with it. She went to lift the body, but it was too heavy. Meg looked up the street again, still empty. She went back inside to get the rolling palette. She dragged part of Death onto the pallet and it was enough where she could move the body, barely.
She rolled Death into her yard. Many times she had joked about burying the bodies but didn’t see this coming. It took her hours to dig a hole deep enough. She rolled the corpse in and covered it up with the loose dirt. That didn’t look right. She quickly put her lawn chairs on top of the fresh mound and hoped for the best.
She was exhausted. She had planned for a couple hours of deep meditation and instead, she got her own crime show. She went inside and decided to get some sleep. Yeah, she could sleep. When she wanted to sleep, nothing would stop her, including unfortunate accidents involving Death. Her kitty curled up next to her and she drifted away.
When she opened her eyes the room was bright with sunlight. She heard her cat meowing asking for food. She got up, used the restroom, and fed her kitty. She flipped on the news and grabbed a muffin instead of the protein bowl, hey, it was a rough night she deserved a few carbs.
Everything seemed fairly normal. She watched the news stories. There was an apartment fire, but everyone made it out unharmed. There were a few car crashes, but again, no fatalities. She got ready for work and her day proceeded normally. See, it was no big deal.
The next day was fairly similar. That plane crash that everyone survived was sure something. Her mind started to connect the dots. Uh oh. She wondered how long it would be before this became noticeable.
That night Meg put on her Speed Racer pajamas and cuddled in bed with her new book, her cup of tea, and her cat. This was going to be a great night. As she started Chapter 1 she heard a sound like wind. She unwrapped herself from the covers and walked to the windows, all shut. She checked the door, also shut. Weird. She went back to bed and the lights went out. Maybe there was a storm out there. Before her stood a being of light, like a ghost. Her eyes were wide and she cowered under her blanket.
“Meg, you have been very bad,” the being spoke in a deep voice like a stern father.
Really? All she did was move a little energy. It was no big deal. She was less afraid and more annoyed. “It wasn’t my fault!”
The being shrugged, “I don’t really care, what I DO care about is the result of your actions.”
“They weren’t my…”
“Shhh, you will listen now.”
My mouth was frozen shut, I really didn’t like that. I will not be silenced!
“You shall temporarily fill in for Death while we find a proper replacement.”
Oh good, my mouth was unfrozen, “Black is dreary and I haven’t been trained.”
“This is not a request!”
I looked under my covers and I was wearing a black cloak. Adorably, so was my cat.
“You start tonight.”
I started to protest, but found myself out of bed and heading for the door. The being was gone. I wanted to go back to bed, but my body didn’t agree, apparently we were going out.
“Thanks, Death.”
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