Death was tired of his job, so when he came for my soul, I tried my best to make him stay.

Death was tired of his job, so when he came for my soul, I tried my best to make him stay.<br><br>“Hi, I’m death. I’m here for your soul.” He said it in a dry monotone voice, the same voice he probably used to tell people to hurry up and die thousands of times a day. Maybe more, who knew how long this guy had been doing his job. <br><br>I realized his words sounded repetitive. They sounded practiced. <br><br>“How long have you been doing this job?” I asked. “My name’s Mark by the way.”<br><br>I tried to sound casual as if I was just chatting with a mailman.<br><br>Death looked at me with sadness.<br><br>“Too long. Long before you were born, humans gave me a name. They personified me. Became afraid of me. Since then I’ve had to do this job. Can’t remember my real name, just death. I can’t even remember what the world was like before it had humans in it. Just cities, maybe. Maybe they didn’t even have cities. All I know is this job. It’s all I can remember and it’s been far too long for me to keep doing it. But I am death, the collector of souls. I am the one that finds your next soul to take, and nothing more.” <br><br>I had no idea death didn’t want to do his job anymore. The thought of him crying himself to sleep every night made me a bit sad.<br><br>So, I did my best to make him forget his troubles.<br><br>“Hey, I can’t kill you right now death. It’s not an easy time for me. I’m feeling a bit lonely, so I’m going to ask you for a favor. If I don’t die, you won’t have to do your job anymore, will you?” Death shook his head and I smiled.<br><br>“Great. If you’re not in a rush I have some pretty good beer in the fridge. Heck, I’ll even let you drink more than I drink. Then maybe we can have some cheese fries and talk about your day. Maybe I can make you forget about the stress of collecting souls. I’m sure your job is a real killer.”<br><br>Death’s eyes lit up.“Beer? I don’t think I’ve ever had beer, always been working too much. Cheese fries sound great too though. I can only imagine how good it’d look.” <br><br>“That’s probably because you’re a skeleton in a black suit. You don’t exactly look like the next big thing in food taste testing.” <br><br>He chuckled and walked into my kitchen.<br><br>We’re sitting down at my table now. He’s enjoying his beer and eating his cheese fries for all I can tell. He doesn’t look like he’s done this before, but that makes sense.<br><br>“You know, this is the first time in a while I’ve been allowed to do something like this. Most people try to get away from me when I show up at their door.” <br><br>I smiled. “I like to live life on the edge.” <br><br>He smiled back and I couldn’t see it. But I could tell he was happy. For the first time in thousands of years, death was probably happy.<br><br>I’m enjoying my beer and trying to do the same.<br><br>“Do you want any more fries?” I asked. I noticed that he had been looking at the bowl for a while, and once he finished his fries he’d probably just collect my soul and leave. <br><br>But when the bowl was empty, he smiled and nodded, as if asking for more.<br><br>I think he’s getting tired of collecting souls. <br><br>I don’t know who I’d go to in order to get him a day off, but I’m going to do it.<br><br>Or try my hardest, at least.