The minute he left the body his mind was flooded with thousands of images he had repressed, a miriad of hospital rooms, busy streets, prisons and dark alleys flickered through his consciousness, each one holding a different person, dying.
It took him a few seconds to focus himself back onto the bridge he had left. As a focused being he took the form of the body he had occupied, still dressed in the tuxedo Bill had lent him.
Bill, good old Bill. He had taken the body, whisked it away to some unknown corner of the world. Bill was the type of guy who deserved to be remembered as he was when he was alive. And his family was the type of family that deserved not to see their father's mottled corpse.
Speaking of Bill's family.
His eyes focused on Susan and his old host. They were together, walking down towards the crowed as the fireworks came to a finale, showering iridescent silver sparks down towards earth. Allison had outdone herself with that he thought, he hadn't seen a show this good since the rollercoaster crash in Disneyland.
Susan herself was still as radiant as ever, she watched, a thin smile of melancholic nostalgia and happiness tugging at her lips. She held his old body's hand as if it were an anchor, leaning against him as the last sparks faded into the night.
He would miss her. Her smile, her voice, the taste of her lips and the feel of her skin, the smell of her perfume, everything that made her Susan. Those few sweet memories he had, he knew he would keep with him forever. Every memory of this experience would be kept with him forever.
Those things, his first taste of peanut butter, kissing Susan, talking to Quince about love. They weren't just memories of his exploration into life. They were what made him more than ust death, they were what made him him.
Joe Black looked down at his watch. He should get going, those dying people weren't going to kill themselves. He turned walking over the old stone bridge he had been standing on.
It was a strange thing that happened next.
For a moment, as he walked down over the bridge, Joe thought, that just for a second, he tasted the faintest trace of peanut butter.
Odd.