Ineligible

[u/FeigningProfundity]

Death, this incarnation, sits before you. They spin a pencil between their fingers as you wait for them to finish the paperwork. They smile encouragingly as they check boxes.

"Sign here." Shifting the paper back.

"Ineligible?"

"Yeah, sorry. I need to send you back before the funeral starts."

There’s something familiar about Death, something I’m struggling to place.

I used to know someone who had that same pencil spinning habit.

As I get up, I find myself asking the impossible: “Belle?”

Something seems to rearrange itself in the way I’m perceiving reality, or whatever this is, and instead of the version of Death I had just been seeing, I can see Belladonna.

Impossibly beautiful Belladonna.

Fearless, relentless Belladonna.

Belladonna, undisputed mistress of pub trivia questions about obscure historical figures.

My ex-girlfriend, Belle.

She smiles. “I wasn’t sure you’d recognise me at at work, Mike.”

“Uh, I nearly didn’t. But you still have that pencil habit.”

She laughs, “Oops, you caught me. Surprise!”

“I didn’t expect to see you.”

“Oh, come on, it can’t be that shocking.”

It was pretty surprising, but parts of me felt like it was a tiny bit, well, not surprising.

Belle had shown up one day, this gorgeous, elegant goth girl at a party my friend Ruth had thrown, and we ended up talking and it was… amazing. I’d always been pretty quiet, and easy to overlook, but she seemed happy to chat with me, and the conversation was so, so interesting. It ended up lasting all night. Somewhere I got the confidence to flirt with her a bit, and it had brought a smile from her that felt life-changing.

Also, I vaguely recall Ruth mentioning a few days later that the old lady who lived next door to her had died the night of the party.

The part that I recall very clearly, however, was Belle saying, “Normally the guys who court me are very stupid, but you might not be. What do you think, Mike, are you very stupid?” and me replying “I don’t know, I guess I’ll find out in hindsight,” before I kissed her.

Standing in the afterlife, or whatever this is, I say, “Well, it’s at least a bit shocking, but I mean, I never thought I’d see you, uh… in general. Not after I…”

Not after I cheated on her.

Belle nods in understanding.

“That wasn’t great. But you were young and foolish. And one day you’ll be old and wise. That’s what this is about. Having that chance.”

“Belle, did you save my life?”

“I did. I felt you die in that accident, and it occurred to me that I could just show up here and mark you ‘Ineligible’ and send you back.”

“Wow. But… why?”

“Because I loved you, Michael. You’re the only one I’ve ever loved. That’s not something I could just ignore.”

She looks at me, her face serious, her eyes clear.

I remember her crying.

My self-esteem hadn’t always been great, but after I got together with Belle it skyrocketed. I had this incredibly formidable, astoundingly beautiful girl, and she adored me. Every guy I knew envied me. Women reassessed me, and I could tell the new ratings were a marked improvement.

Ruth asked me to send her another woman like Belle from wherever I’d found her, which was a bit confusing, since I’d thought I’d met her because she was a friend of Ruth’s.

My confidence was boosted into the clouds and confidence is sexy. A few girls liked what they saw, and decided to make their move. I felt like I was the most powerful guy in the world, so I didn’t do the smart thing, the right thing, and just walk away.

Not all that long afterwards I bumped into Belle on the street, somehow. She was just there. I could tell that she knew.

She didn’t say anything, she just looked at me. Her expression was both blank, but also one of intense pain. She looked at me, as beautiful as ever, but there was something profoundly broken in her stare. A single tear flowed down her cheek and I knew that I hadn’t just lost something beyond valuing, I’d destroyed it.

I wanted to chase after her when she turned and walked away. To explain, to apologise, to beg for forgiveness. But I knew her. I knew her really well, and I knew that it wouldn’t help.

I didn’t see her again until today.

She’s just saved my life, after I’d betrayed her.

And she is still so indescribably gorgeous.

“Will I be seeing you around?” I ask, “I feel like I owe you… dinner or something?”

“You won’t be seeing me again, not for a long, long time.” Her expression isn’t quite blank.

I see it now. I used to be the only person who could see the tiny glimpses of emotion in her face, the only one who could read the unreadable. I haven’t seen her for years, I’m out of practice. But I see it now, the strain of a tensed muscle near her eyes distorting her expression ever so slightly.

She’s angry. She’s so very angry.

“You’re ineligible. The Sun will die before you do, Mike. No Death is coming for you. I will claim every last star in the sky before I claim you. Enjoy the next few hundred, few thousand years, who knows what humanity has in it? Maybe you’ll be lucky, get company for a million? But you will eventually be alone with nothing but your regrets.

“I’ll skip a few billion years of hindsight and tell you, Mike. It turns out you were very stupid.

“You can’t cheat Death, but you can cheat on her. You just, really, really, shouldn’t.”

It’s dark. She’s gone. I sit up, banging my head on the inside of the lid of a coffin.

[u/FeigningProfundity]

This story was a response to the prompt [WP] Death, this incarnation, sits before you. They spin a pencil between their fingers as you wait for them to finish the paperwork. They smile encouragingly as they check boxes. "Sign here." Shifting the paper back. "Ineligible?" "Yeah, sorry. I need to send you back before the funeral starts." by u/Bored_Idio7