Page 29 of Living with Death

I’m sure you can have any body type you wish if you’re Death.

I groan, covering my face. “I’m so sorry.”

He laughs. It’s deep and genuine, showing his teeth, and his eyes glow. I scrub my hands down my face as he places the towel around his neck, holding on to the ends as his smile falls. “Does your mother normally act that way toward you?”

I sigh. “That’s how our relationship has always been.”

“That’s unfortunate.”

“That’s my reality.” I take the steps down, and he follows. I walk down the hall, grabbing the food out of the trash. “How was the shower?” I ask, opening the freezer door to replace the frozen items.

“Amazing.”

“Bucket list worthy?” I remove the pizza from the box and grab a container from the cabinet before placing it in the fridge.

“Indeed.”

I rub my hands together, smiling. “Wanna go write down our goals?”

“Sure.” As we walk into the living room, I slide the box back into the trash bin.

He sits on the couch, and I grab a piece of paper and a pen. I write down both of our names, looking over at him. “So, what’s the first thing you’d like to do besides shower and pizza?” I grin.

He thinks for a moment. “Read a novel from start to finish.”

“You’ve never read a book?”

“I don’t have much leisure time, and the time I do have, I spend it doing… other things.”

“Okay.” I shrug, writing downread a bookunder his name.

“What’s something of yours? You said you’ve never flown in a plane before.”

My eyes dart to his exposed abs as he sits back on the couch. “I’ll write that one down even though I’m terrified of heights.” I chew the end of the pen, trying to think of other things I haven’t done. There’s a lot, but I want to be realistic. I’m not getting dropped out of a plane at the top of a snowy mountain and skiing down. Nor am I sleeping with lions or swimming with sharks.

He laughs lightly, crossing his ankle over his knee. “I’d like to feel the rain.”

My eyes widen. “You’ve never felt the rain?”

“Mabel,” he says. “Are you going to act this shocked every time?”

“Sorry, it’s just… well, that’s hard to imagine. Why? How?”

He runs his hand through his damp hair. “You can’t feel human things in the In-Between. You can see everything, but you can’t feel it. It was raining last night, but could you feel it?”

I narrow my eyes, thinking back on last night. The rain dripped down the side of my face, and blood and dirt covered my neck, but the version of me standing couldn’t feel a thing. “Yeah, I supposed I didn’t feel it.”

I look back at the list, thinking. “I’ve never watched the sunset and sunrise on the same day.”

“That’s a good one. I’ve done it many times.”

“Hmm,” I say thoughtfully. “But you can’t feel its warmth?”

“No.”

“You should feel the warmth of the sun. Let’s put that on your side.”

“Go ahead.”

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