I awoke to find myself in Kevin’s bedroom. In his bed. With my hoodie off. I sat up and saw that my hoodie was tossed over the desk chair and my scythe/teddy bear was just sitting on the desk with an evil glare. “Shut up,” I said to it, as if it could talk.

Then again, the idea never occurred to me that maybe it could.

I got out of Kevin’s bed and walked over to the door. I was still weak, but I was capable of standing. Barely. Jesus, was this what I’d have to deal with every time I came to Earth? I wasn't sure I could take that.

“I don't know, Valerie,” I heard someone say. It took me a second to realize it was Kevin's mom. Ms. Sykes was a kind woman of 37, Kevin being her first and only child because his father left her shortly after she got pregnant. I wondered if he was dying anytime soon, it’d be nice to pay him a visit. “Kevin laid her down in his room, but she hasn't come around yet.”

The other woman in the room, my mom, said, “But she said she was Danny? And she meant it?”

“I understand wholeheartedly why you want her to be telling the truth, but it just doesn't seem possible. A boy dying and coming back a day later as a girl?”

“Maybe she's a psychic?”

“You still believe in those things? I would've thought two children would have knocked the sense into you.”

Lucky me my mom still believed in the supernatural. Convincing her still wouldn't be easy, but it was closer to reality than before.

That made me wonder about my little brother. Paul wasn't here, was he? He had to be at home or a friend’s place. He certainly wouldn't be easy to convince. It was hard enough to get him to believe obvious stuff, let alone that I’d somehow become the grim reaper.

I knew I had to go out there and face my mom. It was either I do that or I stay here and hide from everyone before I was called back to limbo and reprimanded for not doing my job. I wondered if you could be fired from being a grim reaper.

I took a deep breath and then my first step toward something that honestly frightened me more than the last day ever had.

Mom and Ms. Sykes both stood up when I entered the den. Kevin was nowhere to be seen, but I doubted he was about to kill himself right away. “Hi,” was all I could manage as an introduction.

Mom walked over to me and looked me straight in the eye. I realized from Wendi that I’d gotten short, but now I was shorter than my mom. I looked down at her feet and realized she was wearing heels, so that put me at ease a little. I looked back up at her and saw her smile. Then the most odd thing happened that I simply wasn't ready for.

She hugged me.

“I don't know how it happened, what happened or why, but I’m so happy you're alive again.”

---

“Dying wasn't outrageously painful, like I thought it would be,” I said. Mom and Ms. Sykes were both listening intently. Kevin was back, but not looking at me directly. I wondered if his mom even knew about his thwarted attempt at attempted suicide. “I guess being hit by a semi going fifteen miles over the speed limit does that. Almost instantly, I was standing in a line in limbo, waiting to to wherever I was going.”

Ms. Sykes asked, “And how did your body change?”

“That happened much later, when I wandered into a room and was told by this really, really tall girl that I had to go into a changing room and put a cloak,” I held up the hoodie, “on. I did and suddenly I’m the new grim reaper somehow.”

Kevin turned red and turned so that he wasn't facing any of us.

“The grim reaper?” Mom asked.

I nodded. I picked up the teddy bear and started to shake it. “Believe it or not, assuming I can get it to work, this is my - ” and somehow I got it to change, “scythe.” I held the weapon in my hand almost as in awe of it as everybody else. “This is my scythe,” I repeated.

Kevin finally spoke up. “Why was it a teddy bear?”

I shrugged. “Because who would take a pink-haired girl seriously regardless of what she's carrying? Or just because a pink-haired girl will naturally draw attention and the scythe would make it doubly so?” I concentrated on turning it back into a bear and succeeded only after a couple tries. “At least with the bear, I look like an ordinary sixteen year old girl.” For some reason I hugged the near to my chest.

Mom asked, “If you're the grim reaper, does that mean you're here for someone's soul?”

Shit, now I had to say. I sighed. “I’m here for Kevin, actually.”

Ms. Sykes burst from her chair and got between us. “No. Valerie, take your daughter and go.”

“Mom,” Kevin said, his voice more annoyed than anything else.

“Stay back, honey, I won't let her take you.”

“Mom, please…”

“Daniel, I’m so glad you're alive again, but you can't have him!”

“Mom!” he shouted, everybody turned to him. “I’m not going anywhere. Danny was here because… Because I was gonna jump off the bridge into Hodge’s River.”

“What…?”

He walked over beside me and sat down in the chair I was leaning against. I moved my butt and noticed he was staring at it, so I made damn sure I wasn't accidentally flashing anything.

“When Danny died, I didn't… I didn't have my best friend anymore and I just wanted it all to end.” He sighed. “And then Danny,” he motioned to me, “showed up from out of nowhere and fell down in front of me.”

Ms. Sykes knelt down in front of him. “Baby, why didn't you say something?”

He shook his head. “Because I just wanted out. Danny and I had been friends since before kindergarten, I didn't want to think about going through life without him.”

Dear god, that almost sounded like a love declaration. Oh, crap, I was a girl now and he was staring at my butt, was be actually in love with me?!

I cleared my throat. “Yeah, according to the angel that I guess is my boss, I don't have to take souls if I can find a way to stop them from dying. I also assume this only works on some souls, because there was no reaper between the last guy and me and a lot of people died in that time.”

“Yeah, well,” Hadraniel said from nowhere, “you took your bloody time with this one.” He just walked in from the hallway where he hadn't been before. “It's time we got back.”

---

Hadraniel held out a hand for Kevin to shake. “Hadraniel, keeper of the Second Gate and currently reaper maintenance, nice you didn't make a home out of the river.” He moved over to my mom. “Good evening, ma’am, we're very happy with your daughter's service so far. She's actually the first reaper not to turn her first assignment into a steaming load of bollocks.” He moved over to Ms. Sykes now. “The Black death would have never been as bad as it was if we’d had a seasoned reaper going to work that day.”

“Wait,” I said.

He turned to me. “C’mon now, love, there’s an absurd amount of paperwork to take care of with this one.”

Mom stepped between me and Hadraniel. “Hold on just a moment, can I speak to you?”

He shrugged. “Ma’am, I’m not joking about the paperwork.”

“Why does Danny need to go with you? Why can’t she stay here and still do her job? I can’t get my son back as my daughter and lose her again in one day.”

He rolled his eyes. “I’m sorry, I guess I should have explained how this works. Death, as in your daughter, needs to stay in Limbo when she’s not on assignment. This is non-negotiable.”

I stepped around Mom. “It’s okay, I’ll go. I know I can come back now, so I can always visit.”

Mom took my hands. “Are you sure?”

I nodded. “I’ll be back, don’t worry. Paul’s gotta meet his older sister, after all.”

Hadraniel stepped forward. “I swear to you, ma’am, she’ll be back.” He smiled. “And if you can’t trust a bloody angel, who can you trust?”

The goodbyes didn’t last long, but they were tearful. Mom hugged me and tried not to let me go, Ms. Sykes was both sort of fearful and grateful that I was leaving, Kevin was probably the one that wanted me to go the least, but he was fine when I assured him I’d be back. I was maybe 90% certain he’d fallen for me now. I was actually a little more concerned about whether he’d done it before or after I’d been changed.

I followed Hadraniel down the hallway to the closet at the end by Kevin’s bedroom door. He opened the closet and motioned for me to walk into it. I gave him a confused look and he just pushed me into the closet. There was a joke there, honestly.

Suddenly, we were standing in the tunnel and the door to the “R” Room was within five feet of me. Hadraniel walked past me and stopped just before opening the “R” Door. “I wasn’t lying. You will be able to visit your family and friends on occasion.” He turned to face me. “Specifically that friend of yours. Bloody mess, he is.”

“Don’t make fun of him,” I said, defensively. “Is there a particular reason I need to stay here, as opposed to on Earth?”

He nodded. “A reaper has a specific amount of life force, and that drains the longer you’re on Earth.”

I blinked twice. “Did you just make that up?”

He smiled. “You’re good at this already.” He patted me on the back. “The Boss isn’t too fond of his reapers being away from home base for too long when not on business.”

“When exactly am I gonna meet your boss, anyway?”

He shook his head. “Not my boss, the Boss. My Boss, your Boss, everybody’s Boss.”

I audibly gulped. “You mean God?!”

He nodded. “And it’s time you met him.”

---

I followed Hadraniel through limbo into a part of what I assumed was Heaven. If I was right, Heaven was insanely uninspiring. Mobil Avenue was actually interesting to look at, what with being a decently sized city. Heaven was basically an office. There was a nice zen garden we passed, but that was it.

We walked past a dozen rooms where angels were working at desks, talking on phones and otherwise doing office worker things. The idea of Heaven basically being a giant office building really hadn't been one I’d entertained before, but that didn't stop it from being boring as fuck.

We passed what looked like a conference room that wasn't being used. At least, I thought we were going to pass it. Instead, Hadraniel opened the door and then motioned for me to go inside. I took a seat on one side of the table, then Hadraniel took a seat across from me.

I tapped my fingers on table as we waited. Hadraniel looked as bored as I felt. I took a look at my watch and realized we’d been waiting for about twenty minutes, though it felt like longer. I noticed that I was still in my Earth clothes, as opposed to wearing the cloak. Even the scythe was still my teddy bear.

I kept tapping my fingers on the table. My fingernails were longer, covered in pink nail polish. I wondered who chose a reaper’s standard look.

As I tapped my fingers against the table again, a hand reached out and grabbed me. It wasn't Hadraniel, and we’d been alone literally seconds before. “Stop that,” the person behind the hand said. I followed the hand and saw a man who looked to be in his mid-forties, clean-shaven and bald, a single earring hung from a lobe. He was wearing a plain white tee shirt and what appeared to be blue jeans. Honestly, he looked exactly like Mr. Clean.

“Boss,” Hadraniel said, nodding his head.

“Buh… Buh… Boss?” I stammered.

God let go of my hand and sat back in his chair. “Now that that’s out of the way, it's nice to meet you, Daniel. Death for one day, and you’ve already made more progress than a few others we’ve had.”

“Why does that sound less like a compliment than it should?”

He shrugged. “That's a question you should ask yourself.” He took a sip of the coffee I didn't see before. “How are you enjoying your new job?”

I discovered a cup in front of me, now. Hadraniel was already drinking from his, but his was a beer mug. “I’m a little confused about why me? What made me a better choice than anybody else?”

God nodded. “A good question.” He leaned forward. “You saw the line when you were waiting in it, a lot of people simply die and end up here. Then there are people like your friend, Kevin. People who want to end it all before they should. As you've noticed, being Death isn't as simple as going around collecting souls. You will on occasion, but for the most part you exist to help those who would rather not go from beginning to end with their lives. Sometimes that entails bringing their soul to Heaven, other times it's about helping them decide to stay and tough it out.

“It's not an easy job, and that requires someone who understands the value of those around him - or, well, her. You were tasked with helping your friend back from the brink, and you succeeded, inadvertently helping your mother and Kevin’s mother in their own little mini-crises. Considering you weren't notified of those problems, it was quite impressive that you were able to deal with them.”

I took a sip of my coffee and found it was actually soda. “So, wait, my first assignment was a test? What if I’d failed?”

He set his cup back down. “Then you would have woken up in your bed with no memory of the afterlife and probably would have called Kevin up to take you on a date.”

I did a spit take. “I woulda woken up like this?!”

He nodded. “Your original body was destroyed, but you would have awoken with a brand new life, a happy young woman. Death’s first task has no stakes than what you yourself believe. Enough fail the first time around anyway, we can’t let everything be a life or death affair.”

“But Kevin wanting to kill himself - ”

“Was very real and a serious situation, but I wouldn't be a very good God if I couldn't alter reality in case of failure. I simply don’t like cop-outs, however.”

“So, everything I do now is on me?”

God nodded. “Everything.”

I looked over at Hadraniel. “Did you know that?”

He laughed. “You honestly think I didn't? You humans, so bloody easy to trick. You probably think Touched by an Angel was a TV show, don't you?”

“It wasn't?”

God answered, “It was a documentary, actually. I filmed most of it myself, used various pseudonyms since I don't have a last name and none of you would believe if I used my real name.”

I sighed inwardly. “Okay, so what now?” I took a drink of my magically refilled soda. “Do I just head back to the tunnel and wait until I have another assignment?”

He shook his head. Hadraniel looked surprised. “Now you return to Earth until you have another assignment.”

Hadraniel stood up. “Boss, I’m confused, quite frankly.”

“Daniel is the youngest Death we’ve ever had, she's still in high school, she needs to return to Earth and at least finish her schooling before moving to Limbo full time.”

“How the bloody hell am I supposed to keep an eye on her if she's on Earth?”

God smiled. “Quite simple: You’ll go with her.”

---

Hadraniel kicked Wendi’s desk. “I don't know how to be a goddamn human!”

I sat on the couch drinking from that coffee mug I’d gotten in God’s… Office, I guess. “You’re not actually going to be a human,” I said, “you’ll just live among us.”

Wendi turned to me. “Technically, ma’am, you're not human anymore, either.”

I took another gulp. “No, but I’ve been human more than I have a… What am I, exactly?”

Hadraniel glared at me. “You’re just barely an angel, you don't even have wings yet.” He picked up the waste basket and threw it. “But that's not the bloody point! The point is that I can barely stand humans, how the hell am I supposed to live among them?!”

I rolled my eyes. “Geeze, ray of sunshine you are.” I turned to Wendi. “Are you coming, too?”

She nodded. “The Boss ordered me to take a human form and watch over you and Mr. Hadraniel as well as relay your assignments to you.”

I scratched the back of my head. “Is your human form going to be that tall?”

She giggled. “That can’t be helped, but I won't be pretending to be a teenager and will instead use a safe house the Boss has set aside for Heavenly creatures.”

“Why are you so tall, anyway?”

“I’m actually short for a wendigo.”

“A whatiwho?”

“A wendigo, a cannibal demon.”

I slowly lowered my cup. “You’re a cannibal?”

She laughed. “No, I’m not. Wendigo have come a long way since the days of my ancestors. We gave up on eating humans in my great grandmother's time.”

Okay… “Well, now that we know we’re all going,” I turned to Hadraniel, “where are you gonna be? With Wendi?”

He damn near slammed papers into my hand. “Oh, that's the best part, love, I have to live with you.”

---

I sighed for about the fiftieth time as I waited for Mom to open the door. Instead of Mom, Paul stood there, looking down at me. Great. I was half a foot shorter than my younger brother. His eyes then moved to Hadraniel behind me. “You’ve been a girl for three days and you’re already dating somebody? Mom’s not gonna be happy about this.”

Hadraniel lowered his sunglasses a little. “I’m not dating her, you berk.”

“Who’s he?” Paul asked me.

I answered, “He’s my…” I sighed again. “Guardian angel.”

Hadraniel pushed past me into the house. “Enough about that, I’m being forced to live here and I’m not happy about it either, now show me where to park my things and the general direction of the nearest pub, and I’ll be out of your hair until I stumble back at two in the morning.”

Mom walked into the room and leaned against the wall with her arms crossed. “On the contrary, young man,” she said with a smile on her face. “As your appointed watcher, the Dear Lord told me I’m to keep you away from bars and make sure you go to school along with Danny and Paul.”

If Hadraniel wasn't about to burst into a blind rage, I’d be amazed. “My watcher?! The bloody hell for?!”

Mom shrugged. “Look, when I get a phone call from God, I listen. Your room is ready for you, you need to be ready for school by eight tomorrow morning.”

I dropped onto the couch and started bursting into laughter. Shortly thereafter, I was joined by Paul, and I felt like everything was right with the world again.