It had been an inauspicious Wednesday night and I'd been drinking again which always got me into trouble. I still remember her first appearance. Without a doubt, she had to be the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen; Black top and pants with hair as dark as the other side of the moon. Her skin was fairly pale and eyes as silver as the talisman around her neck. An ankh, I recalled, and it seemed to manifest some understanding that I was not at all used to. "So I'm…"

"Yup," she said with a cheery face, "as a doornail." At first her smile seemed kind of cocky but it was sadder.

"Wow," I whispered in a shaky voice, "So you're Death." There was no way to feign her surprise. I didn't know how I knew but it seemed kind of obvious then. She seemed to ponder about something, but the next instant she threw me off guard.

"I have others to see but would you mind coming with me," she asked with a mysterious smile. A feeling of longing pervaded my mind, but it was difficult to place why. It was a simple suggestion, still almost too good to be true. "Sure," I half-choked. She smiled again. "Take my hand…"

I did but nothing happened. Was there something I missed? She and I just stood there a second till a look of repugnance came to her face. Now it was my turn to be surprised. "Sorry," she sighed, "I guess we need to go here first." I turned around and found that we were in a home that was mine for a while, long ago. It now belonged to my good friend Alice. She suffered from short-term memory but was able to remember me cause we'd been friends since kindergarten. Sadly, I left under some bad conditions and we had a falling out some previous years before. I suddenly missed her and wondered where she was. I stared questioningly at Death but she passed me and knelt before a clump on the couch to my right. "You can come out now." A little boy with dark hair and blazing eyes of fire opal popped his head out from the clump. I couldn't stop starring into his eyes. They were exactly like mine. "Can I please take him now?" Death asked the little boy.

The boy smiled and shook his head. Death sighed, "Please, its my job and function sweetie. Can I please have him now?" But the little boy jumped out and pointed up the stairs and now tears were spilling from his flaming eyes. It nearly broke my heart.

"No! You took mommy away from me. She said she was going to get better. Then you came and took her. Now you want Daddy but I won't let you take him!" At that, he ran and hugged my legs. He was barely at my knee and his embrace tight. Death just shot me a smirk and a wink at me and walked the other way. Somehow I had beaten Death and all thanks to my son…