Waiting for Death’s Arrival

Seated at the counter, the bespectacled man sat in his seat while gazing at the entrance to the room. Staring at the clock on the wall, he lets out a sigh while tapping onto the wooden countertop; this situation was rather routine for him as this sort of situation had been occurring for what felt like an eternity. Well, it was probably more accurate to say that it was ever since their first meeting that this sort of situation became the norm; that wasn’t to say that he enjoyed waiting for her at all. Those sort of thoughts ended up passing through his mind as the sound of an engine pulling up filled his ear before the door was boisterously opened, the bell was removed ages ago since neither of them desired to bust their own eardrums. 

“You’re late.”

“I’m just making an entrance.” 

“You’ve made your entrance late.” Having gotten used to this kind of exchange, the bespectacled man keeps his composure as the girl enters the room.

“Well, you’re not wrong.” Arriving at the front desk, she takes an object from her bag and places it onto the table, to which the man receives and places it to the side. “So Umm…”

“What is it this time?”

“Do I really complain that often?” 

“Last time it was about getting paid for this work, which I have no idea what you’re going to do with that money so even if I could I wouldn’t, the time before that you wanted an outfit change from black to white, and the time before that you wanted your horse to be changed to a motorcycle”

“His name is Ferry.”

“All of those requests were within the last month.” 

“Well Ferry is quite happy with his new form now.” The revving of the engine outside showed less excitement and more tired rehearsal, as if she had made it practice this action just for this particular scenario.

“You’ve gone to many places right?”

“Of course, a part of my job description is to be everywhere.” She says with a proud expression.

“Did you ever find a single person that asked?” She makes an upset expression.

“Gee, Temperance you sure are sassy. Where’s you learn things like that from?” 

“Since you’re late on every assignment, I’ve had some free time to ‘get some culture’ as you do rudely suggested a while ago.” 

“So you did take my advice.” Putting up her chest, the man rolls his eyes at the girl as she gloats over him. “Anyways, back on topic.”

“I didn’t know you had it in you to have a topic.”

“Haha, very funny.”

“Thanks, I do my best.” Ignoring that last statement of his, she turns his attention towards the object she put on the desk a while back.

“So what exactly happens to the souls.”

“That’s not something in my authority to tell you.”

“The Angel can’t tell me about what happens in the afterlife?” 

“Yes Death, because you in particular tend to spend a little too much time talking with the skin to be deceased, and if you ever end up informing them of what comes after you hand their souls off to us, it could undermine the experiences of their lives.” Irked by his explanation filled with hostility.

“Earlier you said it didn’t matter what their life's experiences were.”

“That’s because you’re sitting there talking to them for hours and maybe even days at a time, trying to give their lives closure and meaning.” He retains his calm demeanor, but his words pricked at her sharply such that she could only view them as maliciously loaded.

“And there’s something wrong with that?” Slapping the table with her palm, the soul on the desk shakes a bit, causing her to panic as she quickly reaches to make sure it doesn’t fall off the table; by the time she acted though, the man’s hand was already there, stabilizing it in place.

“It’s not protocol.”

“And is that supposed to mean something to me?” She raises her voice while he just calmly looks back at her before shifting his gaze towards the soul.

“It means that what you’re doing isn’t authorized by upper management.” Taking a bottle out from under the desk as well as a glass, he started to fill it with wine. “Care for a glass?”

“No, I need to drive after this lecture.”

“At least you understand that.” He says bringing the glass to his mouth.

“Aren’t you still working too?”

“This is currently my scheduled break that you always arrive during.”

“Sorry.” Temperance nodded his head to her apology, mildly relieved that she apologized, but felt that he heard it too often to get his hopes up. Swirling the red liquid around, he takes a small swig, closing his eyes for a second in order to savor the taste as he places the glass back onto the desk before continuing on the conversation from earlier. 

“One, your extended visits result in delays which caused a backlog of souls for Claude.”

“Who’s Claude”

“That guy saw a game character that was upside down and thought it sounded nice.”

“Pretty lame reason if you ask me.”

“Is that how you feel Rider?”

“That’s Styx to you.”

“Anyways,” he moves on in the conversation since that topic will bring the two nowhere. “besides causing delays. What you’re doing could very well cause complications within the later half of the system.”

“But I’m doing them a favor.”

“You can’t be sure about that if you don’t know what happens later on.”

“Then tell me what happens later on.” 

“If I do that, you might cause complications.”

“More complications than what I’m currently doing.”

“The possibility is there,” Death wants to respond to his words, but can’t find anything that hasn’t already been said before, she just quietly looks towards the soul placed upon the counter before stepping back. Pushing up his glasses, Temperance responds.

“Human lives are very malleable and any influence at all can vastly alter their future in ways that aren’t easy to predict. ” Having finished the glass, he sets it back onto the table as he looks at her. “Which doesn’t seem to be the case for a certain stubborn Rider.” She opens her mouth to say something, but Temperance cuts her off. “I’ll see if upper management will be more lenient than you are, but don’t get your hopes up.” He says while handing her a sheet with her next assignment. “It would be in your best interest to spend shorter times talking.”

Surprised at his words, a smile arises back onto the girl’s face as she beams at him.

“Thank you.” She says taking the sheet while shaking his hand rapidly, and bouncing out the door.

“Make sure to keep it within the same day at least!”

“I’ll try!” Her excited voice was muffled by the sound of an engine revving up as she sent herself off. Returning a wry smile as the black robed figure rose off into the distance, Temperance turned back to his desk and looked back at the clock, seeing that his break had ended long ago. Sighing, he picked the soul up, and sent it along its way in order to make time for Death’s next arrival.