Max had been a grim reaper for a long time. He was basically the embodiment of death itself. He had beeen assigned hard tasks, killing criminals, killing random people, and even encountered celebrities that had made deals with the devil, which was why he had been assigned to kill them.

Today was Max’s 62 birthday, which was the retiring year for all grim reapers. Max put his scythe in a small compartment that held all the scythes. Max rubbed his wrinkly hands. He liked being a grim reaper because it made him feel young again, and that youth had long past, and now his face was covered in defined and ugly wrinkles. His eyes had gotten bad enough that he needed glasses, and his hair and turned all white with age. He was almost completely bald, which annoyed him. He tried to stop it but he couldn’t. His dark brown eyes glistened in the castle of reapers. Big, elegant sculptures of grim reapers were in the center of the room. This was his retiring ceremony, and people filed into the room, in their full grim reaper uniform. Malinda sat in a chair by him, she was one year away from retirement and had been dreading her 

retirement ceremony ever since she turned 55.

The other grim reapers gathered around the statue, and the head from reaper walked up. The head grim reaper was different, he wore a white cloak or robe but had a black, sleek scythe. It was the exact opposite of the normal grim reapers. He was starting to get old too, and his long white hair drooped out from his robe. His eyebrows had turned white as well. 

“Thank you for your service Max!” He says, pulling a metal around Max’s head. 

Max stared into the statue as the other grim reapers returned a happy but sad “fair well Max.” 

The clock ticked fast, and soon Max’s last day as a grim reaper would be over. Before he knew it, he was taking off his robe. The robe he had worn since day one, 40 years ago. Max’s eyes started to tear up and he stared into the dark holes that had formed in the robe from constant use. His arms were skinny and starting to sag down from old age. The sky had become beautiful blue and pinkish color as the sun continued to set. 

“I’ll miss you,” Malinda said, hugging his deteriorating body. 

The words touched Max. He had always had an interest in Malinda but he never had the chance to tell her, they were constantly assigned missions to kill people. Near the end of his time as a grim reaper, he was starting to fall behind and could barely keep up with how many missions he got. 



The bells chimed in the large room. Max stood up, and walked out of the room. He passed the large stone pillars in which the building had, passed the elegant stone walls and the beautiful stained glass windows with unique patterns. He passed the marvelous architectural building which he had retired from fade away. He didn’t know what to do, that was the truth. In fact, he’d never done anything besides be a grim reaper. He hadn’t gone on a vacation since he was a kid. He missed his parents funerals because he was so invested in his job. Max started to realize how much had happened to the world in his absence. His sister had a baby, but he wasn’t there. He had missed so many Christmas’s, so many holidays he could’ve been spending with his family. He sacrificed all his time for his stupid grim reaper career. 

Max was starting to wonder if it was even worth it. He started walking down the newly paved roads that twirled down the big mountain that the building was located on. He could see his entire town, which it had grown so much. There was so many new houses and so many new things. He began to wonder what his house would look like after so many years of being away from it. Did he even have a house at this point? He used to think that being a grim reaper was his home — they provided service and sleeping quarters for all of them. Maybe Max should’ve spent more of his time enjoying his life, because now that he’s old and frail, he feels like he’s missed so much things. And it was true. He had missed everything…



The first thing Max did now that he was retired was visit his sister Sadie. Her hair had white highlights now, and she had developed very similar wrinkles to his. She was only 3 years younger, but she looked so much different. He barely recognized her.

Max stood in the front of the door, where Sadie questioned why he was even there. 

“I retired today,” he anxiously told her. 

“Oh, that’s great,” Sadie returned, clenching a locket in her hand. 

“What’s that?” Max asked.

“This…this is a locket I was given after our moms death,” she said. 

Max didn’t know why, but he swear she made another comment to him under her breath. Max ignored it.

“Do you want to come inside or are you just going to stand there?” She asked. 

“I’d be happy to come in,” Max says. 

Inside the house was very modernized, new stoves, new countertops, everything looks so new. He sat down at the kitchen table where Sadie made him a warm glass of tea in a fancy ceramic cup. 

“What has happened since I’ve been gone?” Max asked curiously.

It was the question he was dying to know now. He needed to know. 

“Well, my babies all grown up now. Our parents both died, 2 years ago, and you missed the funeral,” Sadie said, angrily. 

“I didn’t mean for you to get angry,” Max said, trying to clam her. 

“I’m sorry. I had to raise an entire baby all by myself while you were alone working at a job. You haven’t seen me in 40 years Max, how can I be happy? It was good seeing you but I think you should go now,” she said, gesturing toward the door. 

Max stood up from the table without arguing with her. She clearly didn’t want his company and was angry at him. Max understood her. He would be angry too if she disappeared for 40 years. 

Now Max truly realized what he had done. He had dedicated his life to killing people, and now no one wanted anything to do with him. 

Max stood at the doorstep of Sadie’s house before sitting down on the concrete. If he could, he would have done everything differently.