The Place In Between

My head feels detached from my body.

My vision is smeared.

My hands are cold.

That’s when…I see you.

I look up from my hospital bed and in comes a man. Just a man, that no one else seems to see.

“Who are y-“

“‘Who am I?’” He says, while causally strolling into the room.

“Yeah, yeah. Ya know, if I had a dollar every time I got that question, I could probably find a new profession. Eh, nothing? Tough crowd I guess.”

“What is happening right now.” I say, dazed by the bright lights and freezing frame.

“Dude, look around, what do you think is happening?”

I move ghostly eyes around the frantic room with almost a motionless glare.

He pulls out a clipboard from his back pocket and grabs a pen from behind his ear.

“Let’s see, I took your grandma on the 17th of June. Your mom on 12th of January (last year). Anddddd, what’s today?”

He checks his watch before clicking his pen again.

“Alright, so today’s the 25th of February. I just need your John Hancock right on the dotted line here.”

I grab the clip board and pen; examining them, like they were other worldly. Looking to see if they were real.

“C’mon kid, I’m really busy today. You’ve used a pen before right? Oh no, you’re not brain dead too are you?”

He laughs as if he just told a joke that would save the world.

“You really are a tough crowd, geez. Lighten up.”

I continue to fixate my eyes on him without saying a word.

He puts his head in his hand and sighs.

“Okay, okay. I guess you really got me doing pleasantries now. I-“

He bows, prematurely.

“Am Death. At your service.”

“You’re what?”

“Death…ya know, I show up when it’s time to go and I sweep ya outta place?”

I raise an eyebrow and continue to stare.

“Ohhhh, I get it, you were expecting to see like a really spooky robe. Oh, and this super long…what do ya call that thing?”

He snaps his finger and face palms.

“Damn it’s on the tip of my tongue.”

“A scythe?”

“Yes! That’s it, kid! One of those things. And I bet you also thought I’d be like some kinda skeleton too right? Right?”

“Well, if I knew you were scheduled so early today, I would’ve had my makeup artists in my Hollywood trailer to get me dolled up for the occasion.”

“How long?”

“How long…?”

“How long ago did I die? Does anyone back home know?”

“Well, kid, that’s up to you. Did you call anyone?”

“I mean, I thought I did.”

“Okay, one second.”

He walks over to an antique, black phone plugged into a wall in the hospital and picks it up.

“Hello, I would like to notify the family of-“

“The wire isn’t connected to anything.”

He looks down at the receiver and sees wires sprayed about. And he laughs again, slamming it back down.

“Kid, don’t you get it, this is the astral world. You, are dead. You think I or anyone for that matter can-“

He uses air quotes.

“Contact your family?” “You’re gone, the curtains on this performance, be it shit or great, are closed.”

“So, with that being said, I just need you to use that writing utensil in your hand there and sign your name, so we can get out of here.”

“Where is here and where are we going?”

“Listen, I know you’re dead, but you’re not deaf too. That’s physically impossible here. Like I said before, this is the Astral zone. The dead are spirit figures here, void of tangibility. This zone is just past the living world. That’s why we can see the shit show that is this emergency room.”

He cups his hand as if he were talking through a megaphone.

“The guy’s dead folks, stop your scrambling. Geez, amateurs, am I right?” He says pointing at the doctors around my body with his thumb.

“After you sign, we can go beyond this life and then it’s outta my hands from there.”

“No.”

His eyebrow raises and his head cocks to the side.

“What do you mean, ‘no’?”

“I mean, I’m not going to sign this.”

He laughs, but this time is more from frustration.

“Alright, you don’t have to. But just know that if it’s not you then I’ll have to take someone close to you. Is that the game you want to play here?”

“You’ve berated me this whole time. You took away my mother. You took away my grand mother. You take and take and take with no consequence and I won’t stand for it any longer,” I say, now raising my head from the floor.

Death, who has been leaning against a wall, reading a book with glasses, looks up.

“Oh, so you’re done now? I got through another chapter waiting on you, kid.”

“You think this is a game?” I scream at the apparition.

“No, but obviously you do.”

“What?”

“Look, sign it or not, this is your time to reflect on what little life you have left before it’s left your corpse.”

I drop my head, like a limp tree branch.

“Oh.”

“In every facet of your life, you’re introduced to my family. At birth, you meet my sister, life. Every second that you spend on this earth-“

He points at a clock hanging above his head.

“You experience my brother, time. And everyday, while you sleep, you brush with my cousin, sleep.”

I sigh.

“Your point?”

“My point, is that this whole life is mapped out for you. You all go through a process: a process with which can’t be tampered with. Don’t pay attention to movies about your final Destination or songs that rap about how much they hate me. At the end of the day, I, and the rest of my family are here to stay. We keep the order.”

I pick the clipboard back up and click the pen.

Initial and sign below to confirm new employment status.

My eyes widen.

“The Harbinger of life. It’s got a nice ring to it. Wouldn’t you agree, brother?”