“Why so glum?” the question shook Sam out of his mindless self-reflecting and brought up his eyes to once again gaze upon the individual standing across from him.

The person wore the blackest of robes, which looked rather heavy, and seemed to hang loosely from a crooked and stooped over frame. A large hood covered the persons head and face, leaving no clue as to who or what they were.

The person’s arms were always moving. They held a pole which was continuously being placed into the inky black water beside a rickety wooden boat which the person was standing on, and who Sam was sat opposite.

The pole made the barest of sounds as it was gently pushed into the water, before gracefully thrust backwards in a manner that seemed to gracefully push forward their little boat. Sam could not be entirely sure they were moving however, as no reference points could be seen on the horizon. The boat seemed to rest on a calm lake, on a night with no stars, seen with a light with no source.

Sam could not remember how he got onto the boat. One moment he was... somewhere, and then he was here. It was as though he had awoken here from a heavy night’s sleep, but could not remember going to bed. He had cowered in fright at the person opposite, he had asked, then shouted and demanded to find out where he was, but the figure in front of him had not uttered a single word, simply pushing them both gently forward, to a destination unknown.

But now he spoke. Had asked Sam a question even. “Why so glum?” the figure in front repeated, with utter calm and a curiously faint voice.

“What?” Sam blurted out before continuing, “Why am I glum? Perhaps it has to do with me being kidnapped by whoever the fuck you are!” Sam’s voice rose until he was shouting again. “Who the fuck are you and where the fuck am I?” Sam demanded, though his voice had an edge of panic to it that slightly undermined this demand, turning it more into a rather loud and desperate plea.

The figure did not reply, it simply continued its gentle movements, pushing them both onwards. “Why won’t you answer me?” Sam begged, abandoning any attempt at demanding anything from this person, as his voice became quiet and reeked of desperation.

“You already know these answers.” Came a gentle reply. “My words would have no purpose, nor effect.”

“Instead, tell me who you know me to be. Tell me also where you are.”

Sam looked at the figure silently; he glanced around for some sort of escape and found none. He let out a shaky breath as he returned his gaze to the person in front of him, before answering.

“You are death... and I am... on a boat.” Sam blurted out, looking again at the water surrounding them.

“Correct.” Death responded, “More specifically you are on the river, the eternal river, the place where all sentients’ are destined to traverse from the beginning of creation until the shattering of time and the ruination of space... though you are indeed on a boat.

“My boat.”

Silence returned as Sam blankly stared at the figure in front of him. Death said nothing more, simply continuing to punt in a slow and methodical way.

“I... I don’t know what that means... What any of it means” Sam stuttered before looking down at his feet. “How can I be dead?” He asked himself quietly.

“You’re only dead, it happens to everyone sooner or later.” The quiet voice spoke bluntly. “Why so glum?”

“Why so glum?!” Sam replied rhetorically, glancing up angrily “I’m dead! Why do you think I would be happy about that?”

Death sighed.

“You humans have gotten so miserable recently. You used to greet me with open arms, welcome me as the inevitable end, even paid me for the trouble of ferrying your souls!” Death ranted. “I used to look forward to meeting you, always had interesting tales to tell. Now all you tell me is how much fun you find staring at a small glass box...”

Sam instinctively reached into his pocket to find his phone, feeling relieved as he felt its reassuring form between his fingers. Sam’s eyes widened, he still had his phone! Eagerly he pulled it out of his pocket and gazed at the screen. ‘Damn!’ he thought, ‘No bars!’

“Hmph!” he heard Death exclaim, before the precious was knocked out of his hand by a hard object, sending the phone flying over the side of the boat. Sam’s head spun around just in time to see it plop into the water with a small splash. It was gone. Sam’s mouth lay open in shock, his emotions falling from happy to devastated in an instant, then to slow burning rage as he glared over at Death, who had returned his pole to the water and was nonchalantly punting away.

“Why on earth did you do that?!” Sam demanded angrily.

“We are not on ‘Earth’ and you already know why.” Death replied smugly. Sam did nothing but grind his teeth as he tried to calm down.

“How did I even have it here with me anyway?” Sam asked suddenly. “Has Huawei opened up a branch in the beyond as well?”

“Erm no...” Death replied, unsure of any sarcasm which might possibly have happened. “You were probably buried with the damned thing. Or at least had it on your person when your soul moved on, and were unwilling to leave it behind for one reason or another. I remember a time when you humans would bring things like swords and tools that really mattered with you. Not so long ago it was...” Sam mentally blanked out the ramblings as his fragile psyche struggled to get past the part about him being buried.

There was a part of him that did wonder though, if he passed over with his phone, is there anything else he might have brought with him? Reaching his hands into both his pockets, he began to rummage round. ‘Keys!’ he mentally exclaimed feeling the sharp metal edges with his fingertips. ‘Never leave home without them!’

‘What else... my wallet is missing, is that a paperclip, and a tissue? Also a penny? What kind of burial did I have?’ Sam wondered. He looked up at Death whom had stopped his rambling when he noticed Sam was no longer listening.

“Do... Do you know where I was buried? Were my family there?” Sam asked hesitatingly. Death's arms, which moved the pole, paused ever so slightly. In that moment Sam felt an intense feeling that he was being watched, as though there was some sort of omniscient presence that blanketed him. Then the moment passed and the feeling with it. “I’m not sure you were buried properly.” Death replied, “At least judging from your attire.”

Sam looked down and saw he was in jeans and a red shirt. ‘No not a red shirt...’ Sam realised. ‘A white shirt turned red...’ He saw a hole in his shirt and in his chest. He saw a red stream. A bullet. A flash. A gun.

Sam gasped and grabbed his head, shaking it until the colour of red was drained from his vision. He looked down at his chest again and at his... clean white shirt. Sam raised his eyes to Death, who said nothing, continuing his endless pull, push and thrust. Silence governed the little boat as Sam absorbed what he had seen.

“So do you have any stories?” The quiet voice enquired, breaking the silence which had lasted for a few minutes, or days.

“Stories?” Sam repeated, snapping out of his thoughts. “What Stories?”

“Your life stories!” Death said, as if it was obvious. “What exciting things have you done with your life? What achievements have you made? What challenges have you conquered?” Death asked, some anticipation bleeding into his calm and quiet voice.

“Achievements? Challenges?” Sam parroted Death, before suddenly becoming flustered. “Well I haven’t really... erm... well...” he mumbled.

Death said nothing, as though still expecting an answer.

“Well... I err... my teacher always said I was her best ever student...” Sam said, trying to sound proud, thinking it best not to mention he was home schooled and an only child. Even in his ears it sounded hollow.

“I also... err... was made employee of the month at my job!” Sam continued. It still counted right? Even if he was the only other worker employed at his uncles liquor store.

Death still said nothing, though somehow Sam felt that this silence had an air of judgement about it.

Sam sighed, letting go of his bullshit and his fear. “I was nobody.” Sam confessed, staring out into the lake as he reminisced about his crappy life.

“I don’t have... didn’t have, any friends. I grew up alone with my mother in the middle of fucking nowhere. I have no qualifications and had no money to go places. The only job I could get was working for my crazy useless Uncle, and he only hired me because my mom begged him to...”

“You were happy with your lot?” Death asked in Sam’s pause.

“Hell no!” Sam exclaimed. “I only took that job so I could get out, so I could make something of myself someday. I was going to take all the money I made and go on a course, get a better job. A better life. For me and my mom, away from all the shit that piled up and held us down.

“Now it’s all pointless. All that effort was meaningless, it didn’t change anything. And I’m dead. Dead before I could even get started on where I wanted to be.” Sam held his hands tight against his eyes, trying to ignore the sick feeling of loss that engulfed his stomach.

“But you are right.” Sam said, wiping his eyes and once more gazing out across the surface of the water. “It doesn’t matter anymore.”

Death was silent.

“Hey, what is that light?” Sam asked. As he looked across the river’s surface he could see an eerie glow coming from a patch of water far in the distance.

“It is the aurora, the portal that separates the living realms from the dead.” Death replied. “A soul is passing.”

Sam leaned over to get a better look, he thought he might have seen some sort of mist rise from the water, but that was it before the light began to fade.

“Why aren’t you ferrying that soul as well?” Sam asked.

“Maybe I did and you just couldn’t see?” Death replied cryptically. “Not all sentients are as slow as you humans... or take up as much of my time...” Death complained silently, though Sam detected a hint of genuine annoyance in his voice.

Sam put his hands in his pockets and subconsciously tried to make himself smaller in front of Death. His fingers brushed against the hard edge of the penny in his pocket and he drew it out to have a look at it further. It was unremarkable, some spare change from some long forgotten transaction. It meant nothing to him, apart of course, from the realisation that of all the money he had scraped and saved over the years, all that he had left at this point was a single penny.

He looked up towards Death and held out the penny in his hand. “It’s not much.” Sam stated. “But is this enough to pay my fare?”

Death paused in his movements. He bent over and seemed to... sniff, the coin? Creaking, Death unhooked one of his hands from the pole he carried and held it out to receive the penny. Sam blanched as he saw the skeletal hand reach towards him and hover next to his own. Quickly Sam tipped the coin into the bone hand, letting out a small chirp as his little finger brushed one of the bones. He quickly drew his hand back and wiped it thoroughly on his trousers.

Death ignored Sam as he drew the hand with the coin towards himself and under his hood. A moment passed before the faint sound of chomping and grinding could be heard, accompanied by a sloppy mushy sound as though someone was squashing a slug into their own eye before swallowing both. Once the horrible sound finished, Death returned his hand to the pole and without a single word began to again punt his little boat onward.

Sam closed his half open mouth and tried to wipe the disgust off his face, thinking he could have kept the penny and spared his ears a final nightmare. “I don’t have any more” Sam mentioned to Death, “Sorry...” He was not sorry.

“It was enough.” Death replied quietly. A silence governed the boat afterwards. Death continued to make slow methodical movements, whilst Sam returned to a period of self-reflection as he tried to adjust to his new circumstances. Even with rapt attention however, Sam would not have noticed the incredibly minor course change their boat made as Death shifted its direction ever so slightly.

*

There was a light on the horizon.

This was not like those other lights, the ones in the water, no this light was coming from slightly above it. Their boat was headed straight towards it!

“What is that?” Sam asked frantically, fearful of any change in his new unlife. “Will we pass it by?”

Death remained silent.

“Seriously, what is it?” Sam asked again, unsure why Death did not give any response. “Where are you taking me?!” Sam half shouted.

Death remained silent. Sam looked around the boat, there was nothing in it that he could use or gain inspiration from, just the hard wooden seat he currently perched on. ‘Why is he quiet?’ Sam asked himself, his mind racing, ‘he was so chatty earlier...’

‘...after he essentially told me he wouldn’t answer questions he thought I already knew.’

‘I already know this question... we are on a boat... we are moving, going somewhere... and that’ Sam turned his head towards the light. ‘... is our destination.’

“What is it like?” Sam asked, staring as the light on the horizon started to get bigger.

“It’s not bad at all. I am told it is quite a serene place.” Death replied. “You don’t have to worry about anything or anyone, you won’t have any needs and so there is nothing for you to take care of.

“An eternity of bliss, filled with positivity. A safe space of everlasting peace and tranquillity.”

Sam was forced to blink several times to clear his head of the flowery language. “But...” Sam responded. “Wouldn’t that get boring after a while? What is there to do?”

“Not really anything.” Death answered. “You won’t mind that though, not once you have had your memory wiped.”

Sam’s face drained of colour and became as white as the dead man he was supposed to be. “What?!” he spluttered, “How... why would my memory be wiped?! What?!” Sam began to feel sick at the revelation he was essentially about to be obliterated. His memories, the thing that kept him who he was, was about to be lost.

Sam stood up suddenly, causing the boat to rock. He once again looked around, searching for something that could help him, anything that could help him. There was nothing. Death had not even stopped his work and even though he wanted to, some instinct warned Sam not to try and grab the pole. Dire consequences and what not.

In a thoroughly panicked state, Sam almost yelped when a gentle glow seemed to surround the boat. ‘I’m there’ he thought, ‘this is the end!... but the light... it’s still in the distance.’

Confused Sam looked around once again, this time in the waters beside the boat. The water was glowing, a thin mist arose from its surface and with wide eyes, Sam stared at the sight beneath him. Past the shimmering green light he could see... clouds? A night’s sky seen from above?

Sam spun around to face death once more, but said nothing, nor did Death. He spun back around once more and looked at the light in the distance. With only a moment’s hesitation Sam leaped to his side, off the boat and plunged into the cool glowing water. Unlike regular water however, where he would have immediately bobbed to the surface, Sam was instead dragged under by some sort of current.

What seemed like a calm lazy river swiftly became a roaring tunnel. To his sides the aurora seemed to pulsate in their glowing as he was funnelled downwards, falling along a thin line of mist which strangely existed under the water, seeming to rise as he was falling.

Sam began to feel a strange sensation cover his entire body; it was a prickling, tingling feeling. Not painful but not exactly pleasant either. Sam felt himself uncontrollably shiver as something very odd was happening. A flash of white flew past his face, and Sam looked backwards just in time to see part of his shirt disappear into the darkness above him. He looked down at himself and saw the rest of his clothes begin to fall apart as well.

It was as if they were dissolving, breaking up and disappearing before his very eyes... Not just his clothes Sam realised with horror. His skin was beginning to shed as well. Sam screamed and tried desperately to swim upwards, however whatever strange current he was in continued to pull him down, even as he saw the rest of his clothes... skin... and body floating freely to the surface.

Sam was no longer screaming, he no longer had the ability to. He was not sure he even had eyes any more, though strangely he could still see. He continued to fall. Sam was unsure if he was even getting dragged through water any more, instead he felt like he was falling. The green lights of the aurora disappeared and the only thing the being that was Sam could see was the mist he was falling against, as well as the clouds and world that had opened up beneath him.

*

“Dammit Death what did you do? Did he bribe, you? I thought humans from earth had stopped doing that.”

Death raised his head from gazing into the water and stared at an individual made of stunning golden light that was floating in front of his boat. A pair of ethereal and blinding white wings kept the individual above the water; however a dark frown offset the angel’s majestic visage.

“I didn’t do anything.” Death replied, “He jumped.”

“And you just happened to steer right next to a portal just as it was opening?” The angel replied in a disappointed tone. “What was taking you so long as well? Wasn’t that just a simple human?”

“A very simple human” Death muttered. “Oh well, accidents happen.” he said louder to the angel, and began to steer his boat around. The angel waved his hand from side to side in front of him, causing a strange mirror like substance to appear in the air of which a voice originated.

“You won’t mind that though, not once you have had your memory wiped.”

The angel covered his face with both hands as the mirror disappeared. “In the name of god, why did you scare that human with lies? He was bound for Heaven and paradise and you condemn him to more pain and suffering.”

“He wasn’t done yet, and it is where he needed to go” Death said, punting back the way he had come, ignoring the angel that was now behind him.

“But he is from Earth. The world you condemned him to is governed by the construct. He would likely not survive a day... why did you send him there?”

Death paused as his boat came to a gradual stop. Turning towards the angel he lifted his hood slightly, showing the bleached bone of a skull with its ever present grin, of which small shards of copper penny could still be seen lodged between several teeth.

*

Sam’s fall seemed to speed up once he dropped below the clouds, there was barely enough time to see the archaic stone and wooden houses which covered the area beneath him, nor the thick walls which bordered them all. He had a quick view of a very fast approaching alley and a slumped over man, lying in a ditch beside one of the houses, before he slammed straight into the man’s body, his sight instantly turning black.

The impact which Sam expected never happened. His heart was still beating awfully fast in preparation though. It beat solidly in his chest, a strong steady thump, reminding him he was alive.

‘Hold on’ thought Sam, ‘but I’m dead... dreaming?’ Sam struggles to open his eyes, but they would not respond. A familiar tingling began to erupt outward from Sam’s now beating heart. It spread through his chest, out into his arms and down into his legs. With it came feelings, as everywhere the tingle passed through sent messages dutifully back to his core, letting him know it was very cold, and he hurt from resting against a hard surface.

The feeling spread upwards to his head, reaching his mouth Sam was able to open it and gasp. He sucked in all the air he could manage, relishing in the feeling. After a few breaths, Sam was able to twitch his left arm. After a couple more, he was able to move his hands to his face, each movement causing a rush of sensation as it felt like he was being stuck with hundreds of pins. Sam welcomed it.

Moments later, Sam had managed to sit up and raised his head as the tingling finally reached his eyes. He saw flashes of white, a multitude of colours in all shapes before it all began to fade to black once more. It was not a complete black however. As Sam’s eyes rose to the heavens, he could see thousands of stars in the night’s sky, the sight of each one causing a torrent of emotion to overwhelm him as he felt alive. Truly alive.

You are no longer dead!

“?!?”