The hospital room Mike was in after his heart surgery was quiet except for the beeping of the many machines around him monitoring his vitals. Mike was barely awake when he saw a bright light in the doorway to his room. He raised up slightly and saw a dark silhouette standing in the doorway.

“Who is that?” he mumbled. His strength was diminished due to the surgery, but he felt it start to return as the figure moved closer to him. He appeared to float across the floor towards him, and a fog seemed to follow him. “Who is that?” he said in a much louder and stronger voice, but still the figure didn’t answer. Then as it approached his bed he at last realized who it was. It was the one person people feared most and had been the subject of many a horror movie in his youth, the Grim Reaper.

“What…This can’t be happening I have to be dreaming?” he said. The Reaper looked at him and moved in close enough that he could see the light in his eyes and skeletal face with a wicked smile, and he finally spoke in a much friendlier voice than he expected, “Time to go buddy”. Mike felt himself become light and strong. He felt all of the wires and probes that were attached to him pull away, he was free. He stood up and felt better than he had in ages.

“Come with me my friend and I will show you wonderous things.”. Mike was more than happy to follow and began to follow his new friend out into the hallway where he saw the nurse sitting at her desk, with a look of panic on her face as she ran to the room he had been in. He then saw the doctors run with the crash cart. “Apparently there is an emergency,” Mike said as he laughed and smiled

“We have many things to see Mike,” Old Grim said to him, and with that, Mike found himself in what appeared to be a dive bar. There was something strange about the bar though, and he couldn’t put his finger on it till he stood up and ordered a drink. “I’ll have a whiskey and sour please.”. The bartender poured his drink and said “It’s on the house buddy.” and laughed.

Mike began drinking, looked around, and then figured out what was wrong here, all of the customers were dead people. In one corner he saw Mark Twain and Hemingway drinking together. In another corner, Jim Morrison tipped his glass at him and started talking to Marilyn Monroe. He just couldn’t believe this was what death was going to be like. He looked at his new friend who slapped him on the back and said “Drink up.” then tossed back a shot of tequila, “Don’t worry there are never any hangovers here…one of the perks since we never go to sleep.”

As the days went on the two of them traveled the world from Paris to London just to watch the people, they quickly became the closest of friends. They would sit on benches and laugh as the Reaper would pick out the next ones to join their group. They had Presidents, actors, and writers with them. The Reaper always said that Mike was his best friend.

He took him to all the great dead hangouts. The places he never took any of his other victims, though he preferred to call them his clients. He always said he was taking them to places they never would see in life and trying to make the transition easier…he really did seem to enjoy his job.

One day while they were sitting in Central Park, not too far from the hospital Mike had been they were enjoying one of the great New York hot dogs when all of a sudden there was a bright flash. A flash like the one the night the Grim Reaper had taken Mike. He felt this pull on his body and yelled “What’s happening?”, the Grim Reaper smiled and said, “I’m sorry Mike it just isn’t your time, but I’ll see you when it is.”

The next thing he saw were the lights of the nurse at the desk and the doctor standing above him. He let out a big breath and heard the doc say “I thought we lost you.” He didn’t pay much attention to that but saw his friend smiling behind him with that bony hand and bright eyes, and then disappeared.