“The stolen glances. The scandalous elbow rubbing. The lip biting. It is all proof of his undying love for you,”
“Oh come on Sofie!”
We have been sitting here for half an hour debating on whether or not Death likes me. We haven’t even touched the dang computer. Sofie isn’t done with her hypothesis. “He was miserable before he employed him. M-I-S-E-R, um, you know the rest. Anyway, this is what he call Death season,”
“Death season?”
Sofie sighs and rolls her office chair closer to mine. “Death season. Whew, where do I begin?”
She drums her fingers on the table. “So, like, um. Well, once a year Death’s dad comes around to check on the company. Death gets really, how do I say this respectfully? He gets uptight and bull-like. He fires more employees this month than any other. I’ve been fired a few times actually,”
“He rehired you?”
“Nope, I just showed up and he forgot about it,” Sofie says, her fox-like eyes sparkling “It works every time,”
I tilt my head taking in the information. “But Death’s dad. Why would that cause him to be bull-like?”
She takes out a bagel from the box on the table and takes a bite. She waves her hand around with her mouth full. “Oh, it’s nothing really. His dad used to run this company. You know, OG Death. Scythe Death. Boney Death. Except he isn’t boney, he’s just really skinny. The humans over exaggerated how much,”
“Oh,” I say, beginning to feel guilty.
Death didn’t tell me these things. It kind of feels like an invasion of privacy but before I can say anything Sofie starts talking again at the speed of light like a professional gossiper.
“So, like, OG Death had the company a certain way. We reapers had to go to each individual person to get them to move on. It was so hard, y’know? Death changed a lot of things. He innovated things and made things more efficient. You would think his dad would be proud, right?”
“I-”
“Wrong! He hated the innovations. He over-inspects every little thing and nags the hell out of all of us. Not my words, it’s the words of the people. Anywho, Death had the emotional density of a corpse during this time. Now, this time is all different. He smiled at you before he left for his meeting. He SMILED! And he’s nice to you,”
I roll my eyes. “Sofie, he is not nice to me.”
“He treats you like an actual being. He doesn’t fire you and he doesn’t yell at you. He likes you. Don’t be a half witted mortal when you aren’t. See the signs girl. Did he do anything out of the ordinary?”
Out of the ordinary.
Nothing comes into mind at first but then I remember. The soup. The apology. We’ve been a lot touchier lately.
My face must show what my mind uncovers because Sofie squeals.
“I’ve seen him grow up and I never thought I’d see the day!” Sofie clutches her heart. “HE LIKES YOU!”
“Who likes who?”
We all freeze at the creaking of the door. We both turn our heads to the direction of the door, taking our sweet time doing so. Death stands there peering at us while setting down his thick binders.
“You know, everyone has a crush on Anwen,” Sofie blurts out.
Death raises his eyebrows. “Really?
“Yes really. Almost everyone is head over heels for her,” She says like she’s fishing for something.
Death’s face goes stoic before raising his hand “Interesting. Anwen, let’s go. I need help with scheduling a meeting with Communications. Sofie, be on your way,”
“Yes sir, ummm, Sir are you prepared for the Reaper Formal? You told me to remind you to get things together,” Her eyes flicker to mine “You also told me to remind you to get a partner to go with you…”
Death face falls. “I completely forgot. Thank you for the reminder. Please excuse yourself,”
Sofie scurries away and Death becomes overtaken with his thoughts. His large hand slips into my hand while his mind is somewhere else.
“What’s up?” I ask, looking up at him.
Death stares ahead. “I am just trying to figure the reason why so many people like you,”
“Why wouldn’t they like me?”
Death scoffs as our surroundings whizz about. “‘Why would they’ would be a much shorter list,”
A knife to my heart.
I actually entertained Sofie’s shenanigans. I really thought that there might be some truth to those fun gossiping things we were talking about. I deluded myself just for a moment to think he actually liked me.
But why do I care? I don’t like him anyway.
I furrow my brows and take my hand out of his. He’s no good. I lower my gaze to the stone floor and don’t even try to figure out where I am.
“What’s the next step?” I murmur.
“What?” Death says, turning on the lights to the old cobblestone room. The smell of wet stone and moss are familiar. The smell reminds me of Axel.
“What is the next step, Death?” I say with more power “Like you said, you want to get rid of this inconvenience as soon as possible.”
____
Death. You messed up. BIG TIME.