After sixteen years, it should have been easy. Coco nudges her hand alerting her to the change in her heartbeat. It should be easy, so Cleo acts as if it is. She calls to her mom in the other aisle, who comes running. Her mom has never been good at acting, her fear was as clear as the sky outside. Cleo sits on the ground as her mother dials 911.

Cleo never knows exactly when it happens but she dies. Her heart stops, she stops breathing, and her life balances with her body’s ability to correct it and her mom’s little medical knowledge.

“Good morning Ms. Carrier.” a voice of stardust greets.

Death looks like you expect him to. He is a skeleton, with a black cloak and all. The cloak is strange though, it looks as if it was made out of the night sky, with small lights that flicker. Death’s eyes are like dying flames, but they hold no malice. If he has a scythe Cloe has never seen it. The only thing she has ever seen him with is an old-looking compass that always seems trained on her.

Cloe’s memory of a mouth smiles, “Good Morning Death.”

The little silver compass disappears into little white lights and Death glances around them as if noticing the store for the first time. Cloe keeps her eyes locked on the god, she doesn't want to see her mom. Death looks down though, his idea of an expression not changing.

“I wish-” Cloe starts her voice failing her. Death's full attention falls over her like a freezing rain, “-this would stop happening. My mom is always stressed, and…”

“I'm sorry.” Death says. “I can’t-”

“I know!” Cloe snaps.

Death doesn't yell back, all that follows is a shallow silence as everything around them seems to slow. Time was funny like that when Cloe was in this in-between place.

The god has been the only constant in Cloe’s life. She had no friends, her mom had dragged her all over the country trying to find someone who could fix her heart. The only certainty she has had is the company of Death.

Death struggles with something, the lights of his eyes dimming for a moment. “Would you like to go with me to see my sister?”

“What?” Cloe asks.

“My sister, Life, she is expecting me. She lives in a beautiful garden, would you like to go with me?” Death says. “Your soul will return here when your body is ready, distance will not affect that.”

Cloe hesitates, “Why?”

Death looks back at Cloe’s body, “Humans live for such a short time Cloe. I see so many of you, I care for all of you, but once in a while one of you looks at me and isn't afraid. You have a whole life ahead of you, you should be afraid to see me, even if the fear is that it will be the final time.”

Death offers his hand, made of human bone, it could be no else. There are small scars that litter the bones, Cloe can only imagine how angry some people are to meet Death.

Cole takes his hand, “Isn’t interfering against the rules?”

Death tilts his head to one side, “I am Death, the only rules I must follow are the ones reality enforces. Reality rarely notices what I do with spirits, and rarely notices what Life does with the living.”

There is no light or noise to mark them moving to different places. It just happens, one moment they are in the store and the next they stand in a field.

“This isn’t my domain, stay close, it is harder for me to keep you from drifting here.” Death says quietly.

The garden is beautiful beyond what Cloe’s mortal mind can understand. There are flowers she has never seen before, trees taller than skyscrapers, and the greenest grass she has ever seen.

A woman leaning over a bed of small yellow flowers stands and turns to Death with a huge smile. Her skin is a dark tan, her hair is bleached from the sun and her clothes are dusty from working with planets. She looked human, besides the golden eyes Cloe is certain she would think the God was just another woman.

“You brought a human here?” Life asks.

She looks down at Cloe with a smile that could blind her. Death's voice is filled with stardust and something like fondness, “Cloe is visiting me for a bit, she has a bit of a difficult case.”

Life looks at her brother and chuckles, “Gown attached to this one then?” she asks

There is a moment when Cloe isn't sure Death will answer. Then when he does it is in a strange language. She understands it, in a backward way. It isn't a language of words but rather feelings and ideas. What Death says is the idea of Cloe’s soul and their first meeting. Death had been a constant in Cloe’s life, in return Death watched her grow up.

Life blinks and looks at Cloe, “You don't get to see the middle parts often do you?” she says to Death.

“No.” Death answers, “Her soul is linked to her illness, I can not heal it, and you won't be able to heal her body.”

Life hums, her voice sounding a bit more distant, “But if the doctors found the cause…”

Their voices grow distant like the wind is carrying them a great distance and just like before Cloe doesn't know when it happens, she just opens her eyes. Her mom is looking at her with tears in her eyes, “They know what it is.” she says.