I
Zoe opened her eyes slowly and found herself under a gray sky. It wasn’t gray because of the clouds, as there were no clouds and, despite it looking like day, she didn’t see the sun anywhere in that sky. That’s when she understood she wasn’t in her room like always.
She realized she was lying down and got up to find out where she was as she ran her hand over her neck. She looked around and saw that all around her were people lying down a certain distance from each other and stretching for kilometers out of sight. There were people of all ethnicities, body types, genders, and ages. They seemed to be alive, although they didn’t move at all. Not even to breathe. They lay there like mannequins on the ground. They weren’t dressed, but they weren’t naked either and their bodies didn’t seem to be injured.
Above them, other people flew with a gray cloak covering their feet, these also had gray skin and Zoe noticed that most of them had their eyes closed. They flew in a straight line and came from one direction, passing a few centimeters above the sleepers. Zoe thought she heard some of them talking to each other. She didn’t recognize any of the people lying down or those flying.
The whole environment was composed of gray tones except for the people who were positioned in a single position on the ground as if it were a huge warehouse with soldiers who died in some battle. While watching the place, one of the people who flew stopped in front of her and floated. This was physically identical to her, but completely gray and with a smile that seemed strange for such a morbid place.
“Hello, we meet then.”
“Who are you? What place is this?”
“I am your Death. Welcome to my world!”
“So it’s all over then…” said Zoe crestfallen and then continued: “Well, what are we going to do here? How is ‘life’ here?”
“Over? Why are you talking as if you were already dead?”
“... And I’m not?”
“No. And although I am closer than ever to fulfilling my mission, you may survive.”
“Dammit... It was supposed to be…”
“What?”
“Nothing... It’s just that I remembered I planned to do something before coming here… So... you talked about your mission. I suppose it’s to take me away from that world definitively, right?”
“Yes. I ‘live’ only to take you away from your world.”
“And what prevents you from taking me away right now?”
“I don’t have a will of my own. I can’t take your life when I want. See the distance at which we are?”
Zoe paid more attention and saw that she was about three steps away from death.
“Yes, I see.”
“It’s not me who shortens or lengthens it. I don’t move. And I don’t know if you noticed, but you can’t too far either”.
Zoe tried to walk forward for the first time, but couldn’t. She didn’t leave the place despite being able to move her limbs.
“What a strange thing.”
“I’m used to it.”
“So what are we going to do? Are we just going to stand here?”
“We will wait for me to move closer to you until I touch you and fulfill my mission. We can only talk in the meantime.”
“So this place must be boring.”
“I can’t feel that sensation. I can’t feel any.”
“And this happy face you have?”
“This is only an image you see. I don’t feel joy, sadness, boredom, or anything. I can only see, speak and hear... and also I can imagine how certain things would be. If I take too long to fulfill my mission you will certainly feel bored, just like those times you stayed in your room doing nothing, because here you can still have the same feelings you had on Earth.”
“Wait. You saw what I was doing?”
“Yes. But I…”
“So you saw why I ended up here?”
“No, I can stop seeing what you’re doing when I want and talk to other deaths that are here or simply do nothing during my walk. I had stopped seeing what you were living for a long time when suddenly I was brought close to you very fast. I was very far away. You don’t remember how you ended up here?”
“... Well... I don’t remember either... I know I was in my room and I don’t remember anymore…”
“…”
“It’s interesting that you can talk to other deaths. Can you also see what they see?”
“No. Only by conversation. I found out about many cool things that other people lived, I imagine how the places that their deaths describe would be... I found out about some bad things too, of course. It seems that everyone in your world has bad moments.
“Some have more than others.”
“Yes, I know.”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“And then, did you have any good moments while I wasn’t watching you?”
“I don’t think so, I don’t remember the last time something good happened there.”
“Not even with that your friend... Asher? It seems that he was a cool person there in your world.”
Zoe lowered her head.
“He was..., but he’s already been taken away from that world. All the good moments I remember I had he was with me. But it’s already happened and I can’t change it, weren’t you watching me at that time?”
“No.”
“It’s been a long time since you stopped following me. It seems like it wasn’t just for me that my life was boring.”
