The Grim Reaper's Girl

The Musing

The Grim Reaper went to the place he mostly knew as home.

He liked to rest at a quiet and peaceful waterfall away from people. The waterfall gave him something to look at, while the remote location meant that he didn't have to hear the constant chatter of people around him. He came here as much as he could, whenever he wanted to take a break. 

The Grim Reaper could traverse in time and space. It was how he could reach all the souls of everyone who died, in the entire history of the world, while still remaining a one-man team. He could stop at any time he wanted, and continue his job at any time he chose. It did mean that he was alone and spent most of his time talking to himself. 

Unlike the souls he delivered, he did not form attachments to the transient things. He had to once explain his existence to an inquisitive soul he delivered. He had likened his presence to a star. A star did not care whether there were people looking at it or not. It existed because it simply did. It was a part of the universe, and was not affected by anyone thinking if it was good or bad. It was there before them, and would be there after them. Regardless of what anyone did, the star will still exist, and so will death. 

He did however take offense when the soul questioned why did he collect souls. The Grim Reaper has not, and will not, collect souls. He simply delivers them to the next stage of their existence, like a well-meaning courier. He was not some perverse being who took joy in watching souls cry and keeping them locked up in some pocket universe for his own enjoyment. 

He was perturbed by the soul's follow-up question - why. Why was he doing this. Who gave him this task, and to whom were the souls delivered to. 

The Grim Reaper had never once thought of this question before he met the soul. He didn't even knew how he came to be in existence. As far as he knew, he had always existed, and this was what his job was. There was no question about it in his mind. He could recall telling the soul that a star does not question why it was there, but only that it was. Then he shut up and hoped his answer would give the soul something to think about and not continue with this line of questioning. 

He did, occasionally, think of this soul and the question. To be completely honest, he had no idea who was pulling the strings behind life and death, and the grand scheme of things. He didn't know where souls went after he delivered them, and he didn't feel the need to question why, until then.

Once, he had tried to follow a soul into the light, only to find out that he couldn't. There was nothing stopping him physically, and there were no barriers. He could see the light, feel its beams play across his hooded robe, but he couldn't bring himself to take another step into it. He did not want to go into the light. It was similar to his immutable job of delivering souls, and he felt like he was not meant to question it. Even thinking about it gave him a slight sense of guilt, like he was caught stealing money out of a blind beggar's jar. 

He did know that everyone deserved death and deserved to move on to their next stage of existence. It was a non-negotiable fact, and one that made his job much easier. Having seen billions and billions of people die and their individual reactions to their death, he could understand what they were pleading for and how to make them accept their deaths. 

His ability to show the souls moments in their lives where they welcomed death was something he was built with. He could choose different moments to make the transition easier - from a killer's crushing guilt when they made their first kill, to a worker who lost his job after working for five decades at the same company, to a teenager who just fell out of love for the first time in her life. Each of these moments came with feelings that overwhelmed their desire to continue living, and he could amplify these feelings so that the souls would beg to be taken to the next stage of existence.

He wondered how long more would he be doing this for.