Death prowled the streets as usual. There was another round of constant ringing in his ears, telling him that it was almost time for another soul to start a new beginning.
He weaved between the people on the streets. They were busy on their phones. He still remembered the past, where the people chose to speak to each other instead of walking next to each other with their heads glued to their phones. It seemed like a better time, but he couldn't argue that technology had improved the lives of these humans.
The ringing was steadily increasing in tempo, as it typically did when death was drawing near. But with such a tune, he knew that there were still about some weeks left. He walked and walked, until finally he was behind the unfortunate girl.
The girl was fairly large, and it took only one look at her to know that she had high standards for everything. Her nails were perfectly polished, and there was not one crease on her suit. Her hair was stick-straight in a way that only a flat iron could produce and her lips were perfectly lined with red lipstick. Her white heels had not one dark mark on it, and her bag was from Gucci.
Death stared at the wavering date of death above her head. Not too long from now. He walked after her, making sure to follow her for the next few days closely to ensure things went as planned. However, as she stopped and he followed suit, the next thing that happened struck him hard.
"Jane, my bestie!"
Coming up to her was the girl from before, the one with the beggar, called Ginny.
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Jane was her best friend, and she would be dead within weeks. He had been Death for long, and for someone to encounter multiple deaths of people who were close to them was rather rare. But that wasn't the only thing that stood out about her. Somehow, he felt as if her bubbly exterior hid a wealth of pain underneath.
So, he removed a book from a shelf at the library and walked over to a desk. He pulled a chair out and sat in it, then flipped the book open. He slipped a flyer between some pages and pretended to read from the book.
Ginny stared at him every now and then, smiling to herself. As Death, he had the freedom to choose his appearance and as expected, he chose to look great. After all, it certainly made his job all the much easier. But he made sure to not look too great, however, since that would only become a hassle in the end.
He spent about thirty minutes reading before her in his tangible form before he closed the book, then left his seat, along with a borrowed receipt next to the book on the table for her to find.
❃❃❃
Ginny entered the festival gates. She had encountered a mysterious, handsome man not too long ago at the library, and he picked a book which intrigued her, since it was the exact same book she was reading. He had taken the seat minutes before with another book and left shortly after, only to return with the exact same book she was reading. Somehow, she was moved by the entire thing.
Alas, he left abruptly. He also left his book behind and after three hours of him not returning, she picked up the receipt next to it. He had clearly forgotten about his book, and she picked it up while wondering how she was going to return it to him. She flipped the pages, and out came a flyer that dropped to her lap.
She lifted it and saw that it was a flyer for a fireworks festival that would be happening a few days later. And so now, here she was, looking for the man she saw the other day. She wanted to talk to him, to know more about him. But as she wandered around, she found herself helplessly lost.
Tired, she went to a drink stall and bought a pink lemonade before she decided to head to view the fireworks, since it was about time for it to start. When she was at the river bank, several people had their mats out, sitting on them with their heads lifted towards the sky. She removed his book from her tote and headed into the crowd.
Then she saw him.
She walked over and bent down. "Hi, I'm Ginny. I saw you a few days ago at the library, and you left a book you borrowed behind. I found a flyer for this festival inside and I was looking for you to try and return the book to you."
He looked up at her and smiled. From close up, even in the darkness, he looked unnervingly handsome. His hair was dark and tousled, but his eyes were a very light brown. His skin was pale and his lips a masculine pink. "Ginny, hello. I'm Bale. Sit down next to me," he said, patting the seat next to him on his mat, which was a solid dark rosy mauve colour. He had good taste too.
She took the seat. "So, you borrowed the book you saw me reading."
"Well, it looked interesting," he said. "As did you."
She blushed. "Oh," she said, her mind blanking. "I hope you like it."
"From what I've read, I do," he said and in that moment, a streak lit up the sky and light exploded from it. Ginny stared up at the sky after him as she sipped from her pink lemonade. It sure as hell felt like this was a date. And she hadn't dated in so long. She was loving this.
"So, fireworks, huh?"
He put a hand against the black of the sky and watched as the light peeked through his fingers. He smiled peacefully. "Don't you think that fireworks resemble life?"
"How?"
"They're so beautiful, yet so short-lived. One breath, they exist, and in the next, they're gone forever."
She stared hard at him. He wasn't handsome. No, he was beautiful. And the more he spoke, the more beautiful he was becoming. "You sound like a philosophical person."
"Well, when you've lived a while, you start thinking about what everything means."
"What do you think is the meaning of life?"
"Futility."
Ginny laughed. "I beg to differ."
"Why?"
"I think life is all about love."