“Don’t you think this pencil skirt is a bit much?”
I struggle to keep up with this man’s pace. He doesn’t answer me, he just pushes himself to go faster. “We’re going to be late,”
He walks down a hall and glances down at his watch. “Fifteen minutes, alright not bad,”
I notice an influx of people buzzing around. They all peer at me eyeing me head to toe as I whiz by. I am still disoriented and confused. I was thrust into a world I wasn’t even sure existed until a few hours ago. I am only functioning off of adrenaline at this point.
“Now, you just stay quiet and pretend to take notes alr-”
Death looks at the person in front of him with a glare that can cut glass. He glances down at his coffee stained suit. The man trembles at the sight of what he’s done. He backs away. “I am so sorry,”
Death laughs. “This is what happens when you give one of your kind a chance, huh?”
The man gazes down at his shoes. “I’m sorry,”
“Is your sorry going to make my suit clean? I have a meeting due in twenty minutes,”
“I-I’m sorry, sir,” The man tells him “I can get you another suit and clean this one,”
“What is your name, half-blood?”
“Derek,”
“Derek?” Death says, sucking his teeth “Well, you are going to get me a new suit and bring it to my office. If you mess this up you’re fired,”
The other coworkers whisper and giggle at the situation. I want nothing more than to comfort him. I know what it’s like to mess up but I don’t think Death needs to be this harsh.
Derek sweats and wipes his brow. “Yes sir, I understand,”
“Go get my suit,” Death says before directing his attention to me “Let’s go to my office. I’ll text the meeting participants,”
Death walks off in a hurry again. I lag behind and give Derek a small smile. He blinks in disbelief but, before he says anything, Death is yelling at me to keep up.
I rush by his side as we enter his main office again.
“That guy man,” Death starts “What were you saying back in the hall?”
“Oh, nothing,” I reply.
We resort to avoiding each other’s glances and staring at the white walls. Death, then, takes out his phone and begins typing away. This is painfully awkward.
“So, I’m your assistant?”
“No, you’re pretending to be my assistant. You won’t do anything,” Death says, his eyes still glued to his phone.
“Oh, okay,” I say “Well, what do you do? I read that you oversee all soul management and all the reapers, right?”
He lifts his face from his screen. “Yeah… that’s right,”
The look on his face can be considered insulting. It’s not like I’m a whole idiot.
We just swallow spit and return to doing nothing. After all, we are strangers.
I am so internally grateful that a knock graces the door. I exhale as Death let’s Derek in. Derek is kind of pale even for Death’s helper. He has pasty white skin and light blue eyes. He reaches over, handing the tux with a long arm and gives Death his new suit. Actually, he’s all limbs. Long arms, long legs, but no torso.
He steals glances at me as he makes it across the room. He goes to the door and closes it with his thumb up. He mouths Good Job before going back where he came from.
“Weirdo, If he wasn’t a tech genius I would have dropped him a while ago,” Death mumbles, “Can you stand outside of the door?”
“Why?”
He points to the coffee stain on his dress shirt and then at his new suit that Derek got him. Realization settles and shows on my face as I make my way to the exit. I walk straight into an invisible surface. I stagger back, rubbing my forehead.
“Oh no,” I mutter “The barrier thing,”
Death seems to be more nonchalant about the situation. “Just face the wall and don’t look,”
I gulp and do as told. I hear some rustling and I have no problem keeping my eyes glued ahead. My mind drifts and I wonder what else can go wrong. I had no idea 300ft would be such a small space. How wide is 300ft anyways?
“I’m done…” Death says.
I turn around and my eyebrows shoot up.
“…with my pants,” Death ends.
Well, he is…fit. Very toned.
Death raises his hands and gasps once he notices me. “You Neanderthal! How long were you staring at me?”
“No, you said you were done,” I tell him.
“No, no, I said I was done with my pants but I bet you looked at that too. Goodness, you humans are so immoral. I specifically told you not to,”
“I’m sorry,” I say while Death puts on his dress shirt. It’s a little tight though. You can still see all those muscles underneath.
“Hello! Turn around!” Death says, snapping. He mutters curse words under his breath. My cheeks are heating up by the minute.
“Oh, I’m sorry!” I tell him
I bite my lip and face the wall again.
“I’ll tell you to turn around when I’m ready,”
“Turn around?”
“No, when I say turn around you turn around,” Death says, before repeating himself “Okay, when I say turn around,”
“Okay, I get it.” I say.
“Good,” Death says finally, “Alright, you can turn around now.”
“You sure?”
“Yes, you’re getting on my nerves now,”
I turn around and my suspicions are right. The suit is slightly too small for him. It still looks good though. It just looks like a fitted tux.
“Let’s go to the meeting,” Death says, handing me a notepad and a pen “Just pretend to write,”
“Okay,” I reply.
I walk close behind him as he walks on. I stare at the back of his head thinking about how much I screwed up. Why am I so slow? I wallow in embarrassment until we reach an entirely different area. The décor changes from high tech to a more homely feel.
Death straightens his suit. “Now, these are the people from Reincarnation Company. They want to have access to some soul info to expand their market. Just so you can know the bare basics. Don’t screw up,”
Funny, he said that. I have a knack for screwing things up when specifically told not to. Maybe this won’t be one of those times.
Not likely but I get points for wishful thinking.
____
I was in a serious slump, my guy. It just took some embarrassing banter reignite the flame.
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Yes, yas, Yas, YAs, YAS, YASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!