Death pays a visit

Josh was startled awake by a noise, and he looked up at his clock and saw that it was 2:46 AM. He looked around in the dark, but couldn't see or hear anything, so he shrugged it off and tried to fall back asleep. A few seconds later, he heard a knock at the door, three times. It was a slow, deliberate knock that was forceful and loud. He wasn't sure if he should get up and check who was knocking at his door at this time of night, but then a few seconds later, he heard the three knocks again, this time even louder. Josh got out of bed, grabbed his housecoat, and walked to the door. He looked through the peephole and saw a tall figure, standing well over six feet tall, who resembled a skeleton in a long, dark robe, holding a scythe, and smoke was surrounding the figure. The figure looked like the Grim Reaper. Josh immediately thought this was probably his friend Pete trying to scare him, as it was now the morning of Sunday, November 2, and Pete must have been at a Halloween party and was heading home. Pete was the only person he knew who was that tall.

Josh opened the door, not afraid, as he was sure it was just Pete in a costume.

"Pete, is that you? Nice costume, whose Halloween Party were you just at?"

"Josh Anderson, I am Death, and your time has come!"

"Josh Anderson? My name is Josh Daniels."

"You're not Josh Anderson?"

"No, I am Josh Daniels."

"This is not apartment 324 at 1240 Jefferson Street?"

"No, this is apartment 324 at 1240 Jackson Street."

"Dammit, I am at the wrong apartment! I must admit, you did not look 86 years old."

"86? No, I am 26. Are you Death?"

"Most people refer to me as the Grim Reaper, but yes, I am Death."

"Excuse me for asking, but how does someone in your position arrive at the wrong apartment?"

"Well, to be honest with you, I am new to the job and this is my first day on the job."

"How can this be your first day on the job. The Grim Reaper has been around since man has walked the Earth."

"Yes, but do you know how many people die every day? On average, over 170,000 people die every day on this planet. Do you think one person can travel all over the world and collect those many souls each day?"

"I never thought about that, but yes, that seems like a lot of work for one person."

"That's right, and the number of people who die each year keeps on rising, so they have to hire new people each year to handle the increased work. Additionally, there are days when we have more work than usual, or when other Deaths take holidays, so we have part-time workers, typically new employees like me, who handle the extra workload. I was just recently hired and completed the training sessions, but this is my first day on the job. I have already collected eleven souls, and Josh Anderson was supposed to be my last pickup for the day. However, I will now be late, and I will have to write a report tomorrow explaining why I was late for Mr. Anderson. Look at this list I have here. I was supposed to pick up Mr. Anderson at 2:48 AM MST on Sunday, November 2, but now I have to go across town to pick him up. I am screwed."

Josh looked at the list and noticed something. "You know, daylight savings time ended at 2:00 AM this morning, so technically it is now 1:48 AM, Sunday, November 2. I haven't reset my clocks yet, and neither have you."

The Grim Reaper checked his watch. "Shit, I forgot about the hour back thing tonight. Thanks, I still have some time before I have to pick up Mr. Anderson."

"Do you want to come in and have a drink?"

"Sure, I can use a drink right now. I have had a rough first night on the job."

"What would you like to drink, Mr. Reaper?"

"Just give me a beer, any beer, but don't make it a light beer, as I don't care about extra calories anymore, and don't call me Mr. Reaper, call me Al. My name when I was still alive was Al Martin, and we still use our given name on Earth after we die."

"Sure thing, Al, come on in and I'll get you that beer."

The two walk into Josh's apartment and into his kitchen, where Josh pulls out a couple of Coors Beers from his fridge. Josh hands Al a beer, and the two sit down at the kitchen table.

"You said you only have 12 souls to collect tonight. That seems like a low amount, since, like you said, over 170,000 people die every day."

"Like I told you, today is my first day on the job. They give newbies a light load their first time out. Once I get more experience, my workload will increase."

"So, how did you get the job as the Grim Reaper?"

Al takes a swig from his beer and then says, "I was a garbage collector when I was still alive, so I thought collecting souls would be similar, so I applied for the job."

"You applied for the job? You weren't just told what you would do for the rest of eternity after you died?"

"No, they don't force you to do any job here, and you are allowed to change jobs in the afterlife. If I don't like this job or if I don't get along with my boss, Mr. Wilson, I can apply for a new job."

"Tell me about your job, how does it work, and do you have any problems with people who don't want to go with you?"

"Well, my next pickup was supposed to be Josh Anderson, and as I told you, he is 86 years old. He is about to have a massive heart attack and die in his sleep. I am pretty sure at his age, I will not have any problems convincing Mr. Anderson to come with me. I did have one problem tonight, with a Sarah Knight. She was a 24-year-old, beautiful blonde who didn't think she should be joining me. I had to explain to her that a night of drinking and driving can sometimes end with a visit from me. Then she tried to bribe me with sex to extend her time on Earth, but I had to tell her that I was not allowed to change my list and that I had to bring everyone on my list to the Afterlife headquarters for processing."

"You can't have sex with her, but you are having a beer with me? What are the rules about these sorts of things?"

"I could have had sex with her if I wanted to, but after the traffic accident, she wasn't looking too well, and she was not as beautiful and sexy as she was before the accident."

"Does she end up looking like that for the rest of eternity?"

"Oh no, they will fix her up back at the Afterlife headquarters, but she wasn't looking so good when I last saw her."

"So, Al, what is it like in the afterlife?"

"I should not be talking to you about the afterlife, since you are still among the living."

"Can you tell me how and when I will die?"

"No, I am not allowed to tell the living when they will perish or how it will happen."

"Can you give me any information?"

Al thinks for a second and then pulls out his iPad. "You did say you are Josh Daniels and that you are 26 and live at 324 at 1240 Jackson Street?"

"That is correct."

Al punches in the data and takes a quick look at Josh's file. "I can't tell you too much, but I can tell you that you are about to meet a Jody McMaster, and you will be immediately attracted to her and eventually marry her. When you meet her, run away, and do not get involved with her. This marriage will only end up messy for both of you, and you will end up getting a divorce, and it will cost you a significant amount of money."

"Doesn't giving me this information change my timeline and maybe how and when I die?"

"No, the time when you are to die is set in stone, and there is nothing you can do to change it. Not marrying Jody will change your timeline, but since you were helpful with me tonight, I thought I would try to improve your life in the future. It says here that if you don't end up with Jody, you will eventually find your true love, and you will be happy."

"Are you going to tell me who the love of my love is?"

"No, I will leave that as a surprise for you. But, I am sure you will figure it out when it happens."

"Ok, thanks, I guess. I was wondering, now that you told me all this information, can I tell people that I met Death and that he is quite a nice person?"

"No, it would be best if you did not mention what happened here tonight. For one thing, if you told people you met Death, do you think anyone would believe you, or would they just think you are insane?"

Josh thinks for a few seconds. "I guess you are right, as I am sure I wouldn't believe the story if someone else told it to me."

"Good. Is there anything else you would like to know?"

"You said that you get to keep your name in the afterlife and that Sarah girl will be fixed up after her accident. What about you? Do you have to look like this for the rest of eternity?

"No, this is just my work clothes. After I am done with work and am back at home, I get to change out of this costume and look like myself and wear comfortable clothes."

"I guess that helps out, as I would not want to look like that while I was not working."

"Yes, plus I was never this tall when I was alive, and it is tough getting used to this height and constantly having to duck to not hit my head. Plus, my new girlfriend is short, and she does not like it when I am in my work clothes."

"New girlfriend. What would happen if you were married when you were still alive? Would you have to wait until she also died before you can be with a woman again?"

"I was married when I was still alive, but we were not very compatible as a couple, and she will hook up with someone new soon. So yes, we are allowed to hook up with new people in the afterlife. But if you want, you could wait for your wife to die and join you in the afterlife. There are no set rules, and you are pretty free to change your life around once you die."

"I guess that is good to know. You mentioned something about vacations? So how does that work? Where do you go to take your vacations?"

"That is one of the perks about dying, once you reach the afterlife, you get to take vacations back on Earth. And you get to change your appearance so that no one would recognize you. You can pick any place you choose. You can party as hard as you want. Drugs, alcohol, gambling, sex, and whatever else you decide to do are all acceptable. Not only that, but if you make friends with celebrities or famous historians, in the afterlife, you can vacation with them and have a great time back on Earth."

"Wow, that sounds incredible. Almost makes you want to die and get to the afterlife."

"It is only this good if you qualify for the top-level Afterlife experience, like I was lucky enough to qualify for. Your file indicates that you are on track to qualify for this, as you have led a commendable life so far."

"How many different levels of the Afterlife are there?"

"There are three levels. The top level, or Gold level, is for honest and decent people. These are not perfect people, as no one is perfect; however, they have tried to live a decent life. The second level, Silver, is for individuals who may have made a few mistakes during their lifetime. People who committed minor crimes, not too many and not too serious. These people don't have it too bad, as they still have a decent quality of life here, but they don't get to vacation at the top spots back on Earth. Plus, if you were an alcoholic, or heavy drug user, or an addicted gambler when you were alive, you can't do that stuff in the afterlife. Then we have the third level, Shit, which is for the bottom-dwelling individuals. These are your hard-core criminals, your murderers, organized crime syndicates, drug lords, financial fraud criminals, and other skumbag jerks. These are the people who get the shit jobs in the afterlife. They don't get to vacation, and they don't get to enjoy any pleasures they may have had back on Earth when they were still alive. One of the great perks in the afterlife is that all those stuck in the Shit level, the people who suffered from their deeds back on Earth, can visit them, and they can do to them whatever they like, no questions asked, and there are no reports on what you do to them."

"That sounds interesting. So you are saying a serial killer that is stuck on the Shit level, the people they killed can visit and torture them, or even kill them? And they can come visit as many times as they please?"

"Well, they can't kill them as they are already dead, but they can cause a tremendous amount of pain to the individual, and yes, they can visit as many times as they like. They can even come in groups together to torture the individual or even visit groups of people who caused them harm. I should tell you that in the Gold and Silver levels, there is no pain. If you get drunk, there is no hangover, and if you participate in outlandish orgies, there are no STDs and no pregnancies. But in the Shit level, there is a lot of pain and torture and diseases."

"That is amazing stuff you just told me. I am happy you got lost and found your way to my apartment."

Al checks his watch and then finishes his beer. "Well, I should get going, as I don't want to be late again for my last appointment with Mr. Anderson. Thanks for the beer." Al gets up and heads for the door.

Josh follows, and as Al goes through the door, he says, "Thanks for the visit, Al. You're welcome to visit anytime, even when it is actually my time to leave."

Al waves back at Josh and then vanishes from sight.

Josh heads back to his room and wonders, "Was this just a dream or was it for real?"