The Job Offering

A snap of a finger, that's all it took to take me out of that mystic dream.

I bowed to give myself some shade to work with as well as enough time to get a peek around my surroundings. It's like waking up after a long night of sleep inside a dark bedroom. Everything seems too bright to see so there's nothing I could do when my eyelids forced itself shut as soon I bathed in the light before me. There I found myself glued to a chair in the middle of a white room that had an ever-expanding nothingness as it's walls. There was nothing else to see except the table in front of me.

"Hello, Mary."

I quivered at the sound that came just in front of me. It belonged to a man's voice that was so gentle and serene that I initially thought it was angelic. Any woman, especially my age, would already have their heads hanging to find the person where it came from but It's a good thing that I am a tough nut to crack. I kept my head down and pretended not to notice while I tried my very best to keep my eyes shut.

The thought that someone is watching me felt like a cold hand brushing up my dry skin. One may call that a feeling of fear but the burning sensation in my abdomen begs to differ. This makes me very uncomfortable but it gave my heart a sharp sting of satisfaction. Also, Mary? Is that me? I don't know why, but my body responded like it was mine. I don't remember anything and trying to piece everything together made it worse. A disappointing experience because it felt like scooping some sand out of a deep empty bucket.

"Mary. Can you hear me?"

His words went by past my ears like a whisper, yet it's loud enough to echo across the seas eternal void around me. I squirmed and bit my lips as I peeked forward to see if the person in front of me had moved but no, there was no shadow. I wondered about how long I could pretend and hold this position. Then it came up to me. A sudden burst of thoughts as well as the fragments of images flooding in my mind along with the questions; where, what is this and what am I doing here in the first place?

Are these memories? I whispered as I shook my head and blinked a couple of times. Peculiar images had started to appear in my head like a TV with bad reception. I got to watch bits and clips of a kid walking around in a small house and meeting a blackened image of what may be this child's parents. I tried to stretch out my arms and legs, I wanted to kick the ground but I still can't separate myself from this chair. I wanted it to stop but all I could do for now is watch.

"The file says you ain't deaf so there's a chance you can hear me… Wait? Did you even forgot how to speak?"

My arms froze and my shoulders began to shake after I felt his breath blast through my face. It bore the same gentle tone of a dutiful father while carrying the volume of a war horn. That feeling caught up to me and gave me a flickering hope that maybe he's not that bad and might agree to let me free. After I've fooled myself that I can do it, I raised my head in a snap to shower him with my blazing determination only to be frozen with a sudden realization.

"Ah greeaaat, took a while but nonetheless it's great"

The voice came from a pangolin. My left eye twitched as I tried my best to keep a smile to hide my broken expectation. I thought it was an actor hot enough to light a fire in my chimney but it was him, a pangolin. He just clicked his tongue and gave me a smirk with his cute mouth. He looked like a shiny brown jellybean with a tuxedo, it makes me want to try and get off my chair once again so I could just grab him and hug him till his back breaks.

"I am Death." The pangolin waved his little arms and pushed his name tag across the glass of the smooth dark table towards me. Around it comes a tall stack of papers on both sides with a respective space in between them making it look like a little bit of an exhibit. He paused to grab a cup which smells like brewed coffee before he turned his head back to me saying, "-and hold on before you say anything since I get this a lot. No, I am not a saint because those guys are staying in heaven. I am also not the demon, those guys are enthusiastic and they are at the back ready to welcome their potential new housemates and also, I'm not your grandma that deeply loves you."

"I-I can see that…" Our eyes had already met and I think it would be rude not to speak. I tried to open my mouth as little as I can and talk without breaking this expression of mine. I wanted to reassure him but he gave me a chilling look full of doubt as a reply. My cheek has started to itch as the silence between us started to swell on me. I wanted to cover my face but my arms are stuck with the chair. I want to bury my head into something and hide, but I can't move. All I was able to say is, "Y-you look very cute…"

"Piss off human, I don't swing that way!" The pangolin squealed as it averted its gaze. Me, on the other hand, took the chance to relax my muscles and change my smile into a more peaceful and a professional kind of grin, the usual face that I use with my bosses and the like. Death took a deep breath as he quivered his cute little nose in his little tantrum. He then turned back his head towards me and clasped his claws together like a businessman saying, "Pushing aside the idea that you might have a bone fetish, what do I look like to you? What does death look like to you?"

"A-a pa-ngolin?" I closed and tightened my lips in an attempt to not shred any other reaction. Death slammed his fist onto his table like a kid throwing up a tantrum. I know that this is not the time to laugh and I should follow up but he's too being too adorable that I'm too preoccupied at keeping myself together.

"Albert… That freaking rice-loving, bronze-skinned dwarf did it again" He bared his teeth along with this uncomfortable silence. My heart had started to beat like a drum in unison with the rhythm playing at the comfort of his breath and the fire dancing in his eyes. I clenched my fist and I swallowed my saliva. I have a decent clue on what was going to happen and I'm pretty confident because this was not the first time where someone lashed out on me. On that note, after he gave himself a bit of time to think things through, he got back his calm demeanor and followed, "Now that's out of the way. Miss Mary, do you know why you're here?"

"I can't say I do" I pushed my lips up to widen my grin, all of that work because he must not know that I'm panicking over here. I could ask for a lot of things but some are already ruled out. I'm pretty sure that I'm not that popular to get kidnapped or healthy enough to get my internal organs ripped out. If this is some kind of extortion? Well, good luck with that, my looks aren't that great as far as I can remember but wait. What do I remember?

"You're dead." Somehow, his words just blew a gaping hole inside my chest but I took it as if It's not entirely new to me. My instinct kicked in and it forced me to look at my wrists to meet a horizontal line made by my own flesh. It was a scar and I greeted it with my own sad weary smile. "I am fairly confident that you and the rest of humanity has at least a grasp of what happens to those who killed themselves. But I am not here for that."

"Then I-"

"It sure is fun to remind you that you're going to hell and watch you grovel and beg but sadly that's not my job anymore. It is now a privilege to my little working ants like Albert."

"Albert?" I squinted as soon as I felt a rush of pain accompanied by a glimpse of images as if there is a video player jammed inside my brain. I saw a man covered by a black haze and a white blank mask. The images became clearer and clearer by the time passes, I was able to feel his weight when he subdued me, I was able to hear his distant mutters and finally… I was able to feel his last words flowing through my left ear before he stabbed me.

"Well.. he is…" I met his eyes, he then loosened his shoulders and laid his back at his chair and said, "Well judging your reaction. It seems you already know who he is and there's nothing else I could add. Then again, you've been here for a while now so most of your memories should be back already."

"What?... What is happening? What do you want from me?"

"I want you to become a reaper." Death leaned forwards, resting his head over his fingers. His face was serious and straight, but his tone was mischievous and playful.