The Day I Saw Death Working
The day I met Death, it wasn’t raining.
Movies always show rain when someone dies. Thunder cracks across the sky, dramatic music swells in the background, and everything feels heavy with tragedy. But that evening the sky was painfully clear, the sun still bright enough to sting my eyes.
The road smelled like hot asphalt and petrol. Cars honked impatiently. Street vendors shouted about discounts. Bikes slipped between traffic like they were competing in some invisible race.
The city was alive. Loud. Ordinary.
I was walking home from college with my headphones in, pretending to listen to music while actually ignoring the three missed calls from my mother. People brushed past me on the sidewalk, some in a hurry, others lost in their own worlds.
Everything felt routine.
Nothing felt strange.
Nothing felt wrong.
Until the crash.
A sudden screech tore through the air, sharp and violent. Before anyone could react, metal slammed into metal with a deafening impact. A black sedan had jumped the signal and smashed directly into a small white hatchback. The force of the collision spun the smaller car sideways before it slammed into the divider. Glass exploded across the road like glittering rain.
For one frozen moment, the entire street went silent.
Then chaos erupted.
A man rushed toward the car shouting desperately while pushing through the crowd. “Oh my god! Someone call an ambulance! Is he alive? Check if he’s breathing!” Another person leaned toward the shattered window and recoiled in shock as he muttered, “He’s not breathing… this is bad… really bad.”
My headphones slipped from my ears and hit the pavement.
I should have walked away.
I should have called for help and stayed out of it.
But curiosity has a strange power over people.
Instead of backing away from disaster, we step closer to it.
And that’s exactly what I did.
The white car looked completely destroyed. The front had crumpled inward like a crushed soda can, and thin smoke curled from the hood. Inside, the driver was slumped over the steering wheel while a thin line of blood ran down his forehead.
People gathered around the wreck, but no one dared touch the car.
Fear held them in place.
That was when I saw him.
At first, I assumed he was just another bystander watching the accident.
But something about him felt… different.
He stood a few meters away from the crowd with his hands inside the pockets of a long black coat. His posture looked relaxed—almost bored—like he was waiting in line at a coffee shop rather than standing beside a dying man.
Which made no sense.
The weather was warm enough to make people sweat.
Yet he looked completely comfortable.
His skin was pale, his dark hair neatly combed back, and his eyes… his eyes looked darker than anything I had ever seen.
But unlike everyone else, he wasn’t staring at the wreck.
He was staring at the driver.
Waiting.
Then the impossible happened.
A faint shape slowly rose from the driver’s body like mist lifting from water. At first I thought it was smoke, but as it separated further I realized it had a human shape.
My breath caught in my throat.
It looked exactly like the driver.
Except transparent.
The ghost blinked in confusion as it stared at its own body trapped inside the car.
Its voice trembled as it turned toward the strange man nearby. “What… what happened? Why can I see myself? This… this isn’t real, right?”
The man in the black coat suddenly grinned.
Not a creepy grin.
More like someone who had just walked into an interesting situation.
“Ah,” he said cheerfully, “that classic line. I hear it at least a thousand times a day.”
The ghost stared at him in horror. “Who… who are you?”
The man stretched his arms lazily before answering with a casual shrug. “Just someone picking up the leftovers.”
The spirit looked even more panicked now. “Wait! I can’t be dead! I still have things to do! My family—”
The man waved his hand dismissively while walking closer to the ghost. “Relax. Humans always say that part too. Honestly, you guys need new dialogue.”
The ghost tried to back away, but the man simply leaned closer to him like he was inspecting something invisible.
Then he sniffed the air.
Literally sniffed it.
His eyes lit up slightly as he nodded in satisfaction.
“Ah… fear,” he said with a pleased smile. “Fresh too. Not bad.”
The ghost stared at him in pure confusion.
“What does that even mean?!”
But the man didn’t bother explaining. Instead he grabbed the ghost’s wrist casually, like someone pulling a friend aside.
The moment his fingers touched the spirit, the ghost froze completely.
The strange man closed his eyes briefly.
And for a moment the air around him shifted.
Like something invisible had just been taken.
Then he opened his eyes again and stretched his shoulders lazily.
“Alright, job done.”
The ghost vanished like mist in sunlight.
Gone.
Just like that.
The man looked satisfied with himself.
Then he turned around casually.
And that was when his eyes landed on me.
For the first time since I had seen him, his cheerful expression froze.
His smile disappeared.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
For a single second…
His face became completely serious.
The sudden shift in his expression sent a chill through my body.
Then, just as quickly as it appeared, the seriousness vanished.
The playful grin returned.
His eyes sparkled with amusement now.
He started walking toward me slowly, slipping his hands back into his coat pockets.
When he stopped in front of me, the air around him felt strangely cool.
He tilted his head slightly as he looked at me.
Then he spoke casually.
“Okay, this is new.”
My throat felt dry.
“I… what?”
He studied my face for another moment before chuckling softly.
“You can see me.”
I stared at him.
“Yes…?”
He looked absolutely delighted by this.
“Oh this is fantastic. Do you have any idea how boring my job gets sometimes?”
I blinked.
“Your job?”
He leaned slightly closer with a mischievous grin.
“Collecting emotions. Mostly fear, regret, anger… occasionally love if I’m lucky. Humans produce such dramatic final moments.”
I stared at him like my brain had stopped working.
“You’re insane.”
He laughed.
Not offended.
Actually amused.
“Maybe. But if I were insane, that ghost back there wouldn’t have disappeared, would it?”
My stomach dropped.
Before I could respond, he straightened again and gave me a curious look.
“So… tell me something.”
His grin widened slightly.
“Why exactly can you see me?”
I had absolutely no answer for that.
He didn’t seem bothered though.
In fact, he looked entertained.
Very entertained.
After a moment, he sighed happily.
“Well, this just made my day a lot more interesting.”
Then he casually added with a playful smile:
“Congratulations, human. You just became my new source of entertainment.”
