[ WP ] He did n't mind taking their souls . Taking their souls was his job .

He walked in at just the right time, just as the word “ Cancer ” slipped out of the doctor's mouth. They could n't see him of course, but as the word hung in the now silent air everyone could feel a new presence in the room that had not existed before. “ Are you sure? ” said a middle aged woman sitting in the chair before the doctor. She was clutching at the straps of the leather bag that rested on her lap with a white knuckled intensity. He leaned forwards, and took a closer look at her. Yeah, she was the one alright. Next to her sat a child who could n't be over 10 years old. A decade ago she would have no idea what was going on, but to today's children the word'Cancer' had taken on the role of the bogeyman. It was a dreadful, unseen thing that preyed not on children in their beds but on parents in theirs. She stared up at her mother with a wide eyed fear. It was a look the man had seen many times before. 
 
 While the woman stammered out the usual questions the man checked his reflection in the window. Perfectly tailored black suit, manicured nails, clean shaven face. All of it clean and neutral and cold. He heard the doctor mention the surgery date, it had to be soon he explained, and the next space in surgery was in 2 days. As the woman nodded the man checked his watch, 2 days. It made sense. 
 
 The man followed the pair out of the hospital, and slipped into the back of their car for the journey home. They still could n't see him, but with the date now set his presence was almost tangible. When they arrived home the woman's husband was waiting in the living room. A half empty bottle of whiskey sat on the table, along with a shot glass that had obviously not been used. The woman sent the girl to bed and then slowly sat by her husband on the sofa. The man in the suit stayed, looking around the room as the couple on the sofa tried to have a conversation through the tears they both shed. If he had listened the man would have heard professions of love and understanding that only true tragedy could create. The most beautiful love in the world is not clean, it needs fire to forge it into being, and that night the woman and her husband burned like stars in the night sky. Eventually they broke down, all words becoming insufficient, and made love right there on the sofa. 
 
 Through it all the man in the suit strode around the room, examining the paintings and pictures on the walls. Do not blame him for this, or call him heartless for seeming unmoved by the scene before him. After enough repetitions even the most beautiful melody in the world becomes boring, and the man had watched over nights such as this for millennia. He had heard a thousand whispered promises of love and loyalty, some kept and some broken, and seen a thousand pairs of lovers tangled in themselves, knowing that the night they were sharing was an ending. That was what the man was too, an ending. 
 
 The day arrived, the time approached. The woman was stripped, and put in a pale blue frock that marked her as one for the knife. She lay on a bed in the hospital, waiting. The man waited with her, occasionally checking his watch. He was close now, he could feel it. The woman mostly stared ahead, but when she did glance aside it was to stare in the man's direction. He had seen this all before. He stood up, knowing that the surgery was soon. 
 
 A man strode up, and introduced himself as the doctor who would be leading the surgery. As the man stared at the doctor, he noted the look in his eyes. It was a look the man had seen many times before, staring back at him in mirrors and windows. It was the look of a man who was less a savior, and more of a ferryman. The doctor ushered some people forward, who started to wheel the woman through the corridors of the hospital. The husband and the child were waiting at one point and the woman reached for their hands as she flew past. They held hands for a moment each, smiling false smiles and staring with sad eyes. Then both of them were gone. 
 
 The man strode past them without a second glance, entering the shade of the operating theatre. The woman was wheeled into place under the lights, and her frock was sliced open to reveal the flesh beneath. Masked men began to draw on her stomach as the doctor placed a mask over the woman's mouth, 
 “ Just keep counting down from 10 ” he said. Soon enough the woman was unconscious. For an hour the man stood watch as the doctor prodded and poked at the inside of the woman. Then he began to move quicker, and his voice rose from a calm monotone to a panicked shout. The machine strapped to the woman's heart soared, and the steady beep leaped to a higher frequency. Then it changed to a steady drone. 
 
 The man checked his watch, it was time. 
 
 Somewhere far away a bell tolled. 
 
 The woman sat up on the table. A part of her did at least. She looked around and her eyes widened a moment as she took it all in. Then she saw the man. 
 
 “ Am I dead? ” she asked. She was surprisingly calm. They always were. 
 
 “ Yes. ” 
 
 “ Who are you? ” 
 
 “ I am the one who takes your soul. ” 
 
 “ Where to? ” 
 
 The man shrugged, 
 
 “ You do n't know? ” 
 
 “ That is not my job. ” 
 
 “ So you just take me? That's it? ” 
 
 “ Yes. ” 
 
 The woman paused, looking back at doctors hurriedly positioning a machine over her body, 
 
 “ What about my family? ” 
 
 “ They will continue. ” 
 
 “ Will they be happy? ” 
 
 “ I do not know. ” 
 
 The man was used to these questions, he had heard them many times along with a host of others. For a while he had tried telling the souls whatever would make them happy, but it had always left a bad taste in his mouth. He was lying to people, and that was not his job. His job was to take their souls. He did n't mind taking them, it was just a job. 
 
 The woman nodded and took a step towards the man, who held out a hand to her. Suddenly however, the doctors pressed a button on the machine. The woman's body leapt, and the part of her standing up was tugged backwards towards the body. 
 
 “ What is going on? ” 
 
 “ They are trying to bring you back. ” 
 
 “ I can go back? You said I was dead. ” 
 
 “ You are, you do not have to be forever. The future bows to no one. ” 
 
 Another leap, another tug, 
 
 “ I can see my husband again? ” 
 
 “ Yes. ” 
 
 “ My daughter? ” 
 
 “ Yes. ” 
 
 The woman nodded and turned to her body, 
 
 “ Will it hurt? ” she asked quietly, 
 
 “ Yes. ” said the man, “ more than anything. ” 
 
 The woman did not reply, but instead dashed forwards with the next leap, disappearing back into the body on the table. The heart machine began to beep again. The doctor gave a wild shout, and looking at him the man noticed some of the ferryman leave his eyes. The man checked his watch. There was a new time. It was soon, but it was not now. For the first time in a long while the man smiled as he faded from the operating theatre. He did n't mind taking their souls. Taking their souls was his job. But every once in a while it helped to see one get away.
