Page 37 of Living with Death

“Look, Azrael. We’re flying.”

My eyes roam over the beautiful colors below—

yellows and bright orange, sunburnt red mixed with greens and browns. The trees are full, like fluffy colorful broccoli.

Fall from the sky.

We slope, and I squeeze his hand harder. The plane goes back up, circling and zigzagging. The pilot takes us higher, and we sweep through the clouds. We glide over the town and fly out over the ocean before returning. My stomach dips when we begin to descend. I notice Azrael never releases my hand.

The ground grows closer, and our wheels touch down, bumping against the runaway once before settling. We coast down. I feel light, and I’m buzzing all over.

“That was amazing,” I squeal. Azrael gives me a heart-stopping smile. I try to rein in mine, and I let go of his hand as we stop. I see him stretch his fingers, and I grimace. An Uber is waiting on us, and once we climb in, Azrael reaches into his pocket, pulling out the bucket list paper. He scratches out the plane ride.

I see he’s also scratched off the shower and tried pancakes. I laugh to myself.

“What next?” I ask, high on life.

“The beach,” he says.

I nod. “The beach.”

We move through the small town, passing colorful houses and little shops until we turn down a small road. The smell of salt drifts through the heater vents. When we stop, I click on my app and leave the driver a tip and rating. “Five stars,” I say as we exit the car.

He waves. “Thanks.”

Azrael reaches into his pocket and pulls out a hundred. “Wait for us here,” he says, handing the driver the bill.

My eyes widen. “Where do you get money?”

“Mabel,” he says.

“Right. You’re Death. You can do many things.” I shake my head, trying not to overthink, because if I do, I’ll believe I’m dreaming.

All of this is a beautiful dream, and I’m going to wake up and realize my life is still nothing special. I shake those thoughts away.

We walk across the small parking lot, taking the sandy walkway down to the beach.

The water mirrors the steel sky, and the wind blows my hair. It’s dark and mysterious. Lovely in a different way. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”

I feel him looking at me, so I turn to look at him. He watches me for a moment and then looks back at the water. “Yes,” he says. “Quite beautiful.”

We both stand, watching as the waves crash against the shore and the birds scurry across the sand. It’s chilly, so no one else is out here but us. I look around, and then a wild thought occurs.

I remove my tweed blazer, dropping it on the sand before undoing my belt.

“What are you doing?” he asks.

I drop my belt on my blazer and untuck my white blouse. Azrael watches me as I slide it off my shoulders and drop it, too. Then I unzip my slacks.

“You only live once,” I say, kicking off my boots and socks and dropping my trousers.

“Mabel,” he warns.

Standing in nothing but my bra and panties, my nipples harden as the wind sweeps over me.

I take off running. “Come on,” I yell over my shoulder.

“You’ll freeze,” he yells. The water rolls over my feet and waves break. I look and see him in nothing but briefs running toward me.

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