Thursdays With Death

Thursdays With Death - Chapter 1 - The Diner

I sat uncomfortably in the diner booth, springs from the bench clawing at my glutes. Death sat across from me, staring.

“What are you looking at?” I asked defiantly. I knew why Death looked at me that way. But when confronting Death, you've got to put on a strong face. It’s like when you find yourself unexpectedly face-to-face with a bear. You don’t want to show your fear.
Death just continued the “stare”. If you have never had Death stare at you, you’re lucky. The glare coming from the blackness that you find in the general location of where you'd expect Death’s face to be is full of emptiness – actually, it's more like two bottomless pits for eyes that pull at you. And while you fight the urge with every ounce of your life, there is within that emptiness a wanton glance that, on some level, is appealing.

“I am pretty disappointed in you,” Death finally stated. “I thought we had an agreement.”
“We do have an agreement,” I said nervously. “It’s just that I’m having a tough time right now. I’m being pulled from so many directions.”

Death’s voice rose. “I’m having a tough time right now. I’m being pulled from so many directions,” it spat. Death sounded like my brother in our younger days when we would fight and he would repeat what I said in a high, whiny voice, just to push my buttons.
“I really don’t care about your problems," Death continued. “You promised me your castoffs. You promised you would be releasing deadness frequently. Doing it once every couple of weeks, or once a month is not frequently.”

I looked at that black emptiness and swallowed back my fear. He had me, and he knew it and I knew it. I looked down at the table in front of me. I didn’t remember it looking so old and rotted when I sat down earlier.

“You’re right,” I said dejectedly. I kept my head down. I was afraid to look up. “There are no excuses,” I continued. “I’m just a little more attached to the carnal than I thought I was. It’s a little harder giving up the comforts, a little harder giving up the unreal.”

“Loss is always hard, no matter what it is,” Death said quietly. My head rose in surprise at what I had just heard. This is not something you would expect to hear from Death. “But one cannot find without losing. There can be no light without darkness.

As I stared, Death rose and stood next to our table. I could feel the blackness getting blacker.

Death leaned in toward me. Instinctively, I pulled back.

“Don’t make me meet you here again,” Death warned.

"I won't," I said quickly, interrupting.

“Because the food here is terrible," Death said, turning and walking out the door

I sat there for a minute, staring at the door where Death had left. There was no denying it. The food in that diner was terrible. But it was cheap and quick and the waitress, Kelly, was cute and funny. And I think we had a little thing going. She seemed to flirt with me whenever I came in, and I gave it back. Nothing would come of this, mind you, just some playful energy to break up the monotony of the day. And it helped me to forget about my most recent conversation with Death.