“Just about time.”

I was startled by the voice. I’d been staring out the window for a while, I must have missed him sitting across from me when we were at the last stop. He gave me a thin smile.

“Pardon?”

“Nearly your time, my friend.”

I shook my head at him.

“I’m afraid I don’t follow?”

He pulled an hourglass from his jacket and held it up, showing me that nearly all the sand had fallen to the bottom. My palms began to sweat. Something about that hourglass felt so final, inarguable. I knew in my bones who I was facing.

“… I-I’m not ready. All I’ve done is work my life away. I never traveled, never married, never really learned who I am… Suppose I were to-to change where I get off,” I swallowed, “Would that make a difference?”

“You’re not meant to live past your time,” Death said, folding his arms, “Changing your path will only create an imbalance.”

I felt the train begin to slow for the next stop. I glanced at Death and he raised an eyebrow. As soon as the doors opened I bolted outside, looking back at Death through the window. He tipped his hat, and I kept on running.

At first I was always looking over my shoulder. I expected him to return at any moment. But he didn’t. I began wondering if the whole thing had been a dream, or just a stranger playing a trick on me. Nonetheless, it changed the way I looked at everything. I quit my joyless job, I moved out of my cramped apartment, I stopped resigning myself to a black and white world of cookie-cutter interactions and two-dimensional smiles. It had taken being faced with Death for me to truly start to live, and I wasn’t going to waste a second.

It was many years later when I saw him again. I’d gotten up for water, and there he was, sitting at the table.

“Come, sit,” he beckoned, gesturing to the seat across from him. Filled with dread, I complied. We sat in silence for a while.

“You’ve certainly used your time to the fullest. I’m rather impressed,” he finally said. I kept my eyes on the table.

“I suppose you know why I’m here?”

“I… I do,” I croaked, “Could I… say goodbye first?”

Death grimaced.

“Please… I love Melanie more than anything in this world. Just let me say goodbye before I leave it.”

Death folded his hands and sighed.

“Oh, no. I’m not here for you.”

My heart fell into my stomach.

“No! Not Melanie! Take me! I’m the one you want! Don’t take my wife!” I begged.

Death rose to his feet, towering over me.

“I warned you about the imbalance you’d make! If you’d gone with me then, I wouldn’t have to take them now!”

“Th-them?” I gasped.

” You …You didn’t know?” he said ruefully, “I’m sorry… But once you’ve cheated Death, you simply cannot create more life.”