Tada! Another prompt. This one is also long. Surprise.
Characters: Kat, Moses
My job is involuntary. I see things I do not want to see. Of course I always have to be at the location five minutes before it happens.
Sometimes it's surprising. It'll just be a lovely stroll between two lovers, then, five minutes later, BAM! One of them is sprawled out on the ground.
Sometimes it's gory, sometimes it's quiet. I don't like it either way.
My name is Kat. What job would be so terrible for me to rant like this? Well, most of you refer to me simply as "Death".
I roam the earth, collecting souls from the state of California when they pass.
Every.
Single.
One.
Don't ask me how it works, I don't know. I can stall my collecting, but then the load piles up.
I'm thinking about getting some Reapers to help out.
But anyway, I've got a story. For a while, I followed a human. I don't exactly know how it started. I think I had just finished a collection round, when I saw him. He had curly brown hair and green eyes. He was tall and lean. It looked as if he had just woken up from the way he dressed, but I suppose that's what was popular at the time. He was also struggling with some groceries, biting his lip in frustration and wrestling with the door handle. I feebly reached my non-occupied hand out in an attempt to help, but of course, I couldn't. He turned to me and grinned. "Haha, I've got it thanks!" He looked just as surprised as I felt. He couldn't see me, right? He blinked a couple times, then resumed fumbling with his keys as if nothing had happened.
"What?" I asked.
"Wha!" He shouted, dropping everything, and staring at me in surprise. "Where'd you come from? Who are you? Wait! You were reaching! What?"
I shrugged, and picked up three of his bags. "I'm Death. Nice to meet you."
He paused for a moment, then rolled his eyes. "For real."
"I'm not kidding! Here look, this is my scythe, here's my hood, what proof do you need?"
He put the keys in the door and turned them, unlocking. "But that can't be your real name, right?"
"It isn't. But you don't need to know it. Frankly, you shouldn't even be able to see me."
He smiled cheekily at me, and I had no idea how he was taking it so easily. "Ok. Wanna come in?"
I stared at him, dumbfounded. "You just found out that the mysteriously appearing girl who's now helping you with your groceries, is actually Death, and now you're inviting her, me, in? I don't even know your name!"
He opened the door. "I'm Moses. Sorry about the mess."
I shook my head in disbelief and walked in.
I should probably pause here and explain a few things.
I only collect the souls of California, so obviously I'm not the only one with this job. But still a LOT of people.
Also, as Death, there are boundaries with mortals.
Rule #1. They're not supposed to be able to see me. Moses is "vision impaired" so he wears contact lenses. Apparently in his case that means he can see me? I don't know.
Rule #2. If a mortal were to touch me, they would immediately die. Or if I touch them or whatever. This is a blessing and a curse. When I'm doing a collection, the deaths can be really cruel and gory. So I can end the suffering of the souls pretty soon up. I'm not allowed to straight up kill people though, like mass murderers and stuff. Which sucks.
Rule #3. I'm only allowed to keep three souls, and I have to have their permission. So I'm pretty much only allowed to have three friends. I'll elaborate. When I'm done with each collection round, I bring my bag of souls to the huge Judgement! America's Soul Sorter. That's where they get put into an afterlife, blah blah blah.
Rule #4. Never tell a mortal your real name. That's pretty much just a guideline, saying not to get attached. For your sake more than theirs, because if a human with the wrong morals manipulated someone with my job into helping them, that would be... Bad. I know because it happened to one guy in Colorado. Not a story I take pleasure in remembering.
Those are pretty much the four major rules, the rest explains itself. After I'm involuntarily teleported to the death scene five minutes early, I sit and watch till said person/s die, then I go tap the bodies and grab the souls, shove them in my bag, and wait for the sickly pre-teleportation feeling to climb up my spine, the cycle restarts. It's not a lot of fun.
In a said case where I would come to a mutual with a mortal friend where I'd get to keep the soul, instead of putting it in my bag, I'd open a clasp in one of my three necklaces/lockets/things and let it flow into there instead. I've always wanted to do that, but who'd want to be stuck with me for eternity? I don't know. Probably all of no one.
Anyways, Moses and I became friends I guess. We hung out at his house (which was super weird at first, so we kind of ignored the fact that I was an immortal being playing video games with a twenty-six year old.) and ate mortal food. I slowly explained my powers and boundaries to him, and he just grinned and told me that my job was SO COOL. Seeing Moses quickly became the highlight of my day.
Of course, it was hard for a number of reasons. There would be times when we would ALMOST touch (Moses is pretty touchy-feely.), and I'd have to awkwardly laugh and remind him why we couldn't do that. We got used to it though.
I remember once, we were lying down on our backs, on top of a building (unbeknownst to people below) and looking at the stars. I knew all of them by heart, along with every single constellation. I still do, but for your sake I won't recite. We'd been friends for about three years at this point, so he was twenty-nine.
"Would you..." I began, unsure how to broach the subject.
"Death?" He asked, rolling over to face me. I inwardly smiled at the fact that he still called me that. Not that I had told him my name, but y'know. Whatever.
"Do you care where you go in the afterlife?" I blurted suddenly, mentally smacking myself.
He chuckled. "Not really. I didn't even think there was an an afterlife until I met you. I'm not gonna let myself care though. You know, while we're having this existential talk, I think I'll just tell you this now. I was really lonely before I met you. Or rather, you randomly popped up to help my weak self with groceries. I don't know where I'd be if you hadn't stopped by."
I couldn't help but grin at his kind speech. "I was really lonely too. I'm glad I met you."
We both exhaled softly at the same time, drifting off to sleep.
Time flew by for two months, three days, and twelve hours after the rooftop. I had just finished two particularly bad collections, when I popped up in Moses' house. He leapt up, surprised, from his couch.
"Death! Hey! You're early."
I immediately knew what this meant. In five minutes, Moses, for some reason or another, would die. What was I supposed to do? Tell him? Lie?
I'm weak. I couldn't help it. I couldn't lie to him.
It all fell out then, the stupid fact that he was going to die, and this was the last five minutes we'd get together. I was a crying mess. I didn't want to say goodbye to him! We'd had so much great times together over the past three years! I didn't want to let that go. I just babbled all of that to him, and he took it in solemnly.
Before I knew it, we only had one minute left.
"Death!" He suddenly shouted. "Your locket!!"
My eyes turned into saucers. "Moses..."
"No. I already told you, I don't care about any afterlife. You are the only one I've found happiness with, and I will do anything to keep it that way. You have my permission."
My eyes watered with tears. Here, I had found a true friend. I nodded numbly.
Then, before I could stop him, he kissed my forehead. And crumpled to the ground.
Time works in strange ways. I know that just as much as I know that Moses is a forgetful turd. If I had been able to leave the room just then, Moses might not have died. He also might still have, as to later examination, I found a precariously balanced vase in his mantle. That didn't matter right then though. I was too busy trying not to giggle as I let his soul flow into my locket. He had killed himself by KISSING my FOREHEAD! Oh, I was gonna kill him.
That thought sent me into a fit of laughter, all the way past when Moses' new form came through.
He coughed a couple times and blinked at me.
"You jerk!" I wheezed. "You forgot you can't touch me!"
"Well I was gonna die anyways. Now I can fly!"
I rolled my eyes.
"Oh and Death-"
I interrupted him. He could know now. "That's not my name."
"... Oh yeah. What is it really?"
I smiled. "Kat."
"Kat," he nodded slowly. "I can dig it. Kat and Moses."
"Moses and Kat."
My job is involuntary, but now it would be voluntary anyways. Because I've got one specific goof to spend the rest of eternity with.
