Prompt:

“Life’s a bitch and Death… Well Death is actually a pretty nice guy.”

“What do you mean, Death is a nice guy? He’s Death!” Her coworker sounded incredulous, which she found ironic in some sort of way as he stood away from her smoking another cigarette. 

“Well he is, does his job which everyone else seems to hate him for, and likes chocolate in his coffee. Hard not to listen to a guy who likes chocolate in his coffee.” She didn’t smoke, had never much liked the taste of ash on her lips…but she did always have a lighter on her, with a curious design on the body it mirrored something familiar. 

“…But he kills people, you know?” Her coworker blew out a puff of smoke into the wind which dragged it away behind him; the shadows grew steadily long. 

“See, everyone keeps thinking that, but Death doesn’t do the killing, he just shows up to take them away. He doesn’t put a bullet in anyone, doesn’t tie the last knot, doesn’t light the cancer up….No, he just shows up in the end. Like I said, he’s a pretty nice guy. A little thin, maybe…could use more pie.” She shrugged nonchalantly, slipping the lighter into the back pocket of her jeans; turning back towards the door as she retied her apron. 

“You talk like you’ve met him before…” Her coworker tapped the end of his cigarette, dropping the ash into the tray over the trashcan, near their spot in the back. 

“I’m a waitress at a 24 hour diner, just off the interstate…liminal spaces…they bring in a bit of everyone. Life though, she’s a bitch…always fanning false hope, and then telling you to either sink or swim, ain’t no skin off my nose…” There was a spark in her eyes when she grinned with the words, her hand pulling the door open, where a flash of her wrist showed a familiar design.

Next Chapter: Cycle: 2000 (Prompt)