WATTYS 2023 SHORTLIST
Cara, a troubled college dropout, finds herself slowly falling for a handsome stranger - who turns out to be Death incarnate. But the arrival of a mysterious being puts Death's home for lost souls and his very existence at risk...
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The next morning, Louis makes a rare appearance at breakfast because he has something to tell all of us. All of us, meaning, whoever is left: Lisa, Death, Love, and I. It's the first time Death and I have been in close quarters since Halloween, and I can't bear to look at him from where I sit across the table. Except now I'm the one that must be cold and distant; I'm the one that must make the hardest decision of my life.
Louis stands in the center of the room and meets each of our gazes for a few seconds before calmly declaring, "I'm ready to go."
We all blink at each other for a few confused seconds before Death stutters, "G-go? You mean...?"
"I mean, I'm ready to leave this plane of existence and embrace what's waiting for me on the other side," Louis says slowly, as if explaining the concept to a particularly dim child. Technically, there is a child in the room.
Lisa's eyes widen as she understands what Louis is saying. "But you can't! What about your books?"
"Oh, my dear," Louis's ancient gaze turns gentle, and he grasps Lisa's tiny hand in his wrinkly one. "When Cara gave me that interweb device, I thought that I would be happy for the rest of time. New books – thousands of new books – added every single day? I thought it was too good to be true! But it was, and after a while I came to learn something. You can read all of the books in the world – a task I now understand to be quite impossible – and still not understand a single thing about this ridiculous experience we call life. I can read all I want about the South of France, or controversial horse training techniques, but what about the human soul? What are we made of? Where do we go? I'll never know until I find out for myself."
"But..." Lisa's lips shrivel. Her voice trembles. "I don't want you to leave like Sarah and Paul. And all the others."
Louis tightens his grip and nods at Death. "I suspect no one really leaves this place for good."
Lisa throws her arms around the old man, her shoulders heaving with sobs, and I swallow the sudden thickness that had started to gather in my throat. Meanwhile, Love observes the situation without a single show of emotion, and conflict flits over Death's face.
"Are you sure, Louis?" He asks quietly. "You're ready?"
"As I'll ever be." Louis nods again at each of us, as if he's imparting a blessing, and pats Lisa's head. "I want to do it tonight, when the sun is setting. That sounds quite poetic."
With that, Louis strides out of the kitchen, leaving a heavy silence in his wake that's broken only by Lisa's stuttering tears. If she were alive, I'd hug her close and take her out for ice cream.
I can't say I'm not happy for Louis, but all of this feels so wrong, so sudden. Especially when Love is sitting there at the head of the table, cold as ever. She doesn't care, and Death isn't allowed to. How is that fair? My conversation with Love the night before was clear enough: I can't continue like this anymore. I can't be with Death.
