Death on a bridge

On a dark cold starry night mid-September an elderly man stands in the soft rain on an old stone bridge. He just stands there staring down into the dark water of the flowing river below him like he so often does. The captivating crushing darkness feels as safe and comforting to him as a warm blanket. Only the dim light of the crescent new moon breaks the darkness around the man. He sighs deeply as he contemplates his life and tears form in his eyes. A dark hooded figure slowly floats up behind the man to his side.

"So you are back again Simon" the hooded figure says in a friendly tone like he is meeting an old friend. "Why have you come this time?"

"I… I don't know mister Death" Simon sighs looking at the water.

"We both know that you aren't going to jump. You often think about doing it but you never jump. Why not just go home and get some rest. You look exhausted. Maybe tomorrow will be better"

"Tomorrow will be just another day in what seems like an endless existence. Everything is the same, nothing really changes and I'm tired of being here. I'm tired of waiting for something to happen. When can I leave for whatever there is on the other side?"

"I know my friend. I know. But as long as you don't jump I can't take you with me unless your number is drawn" Death crawls up and sits on the bridge’s stonewall with his skeleton feet dangling freely over the edge.

"I turned seventy this year, when will they draw my number?"

"You know I can't tell you that. I couldn't tell you when you were twenty-seven and that disease killed a bunch of people. I couldn't tell you when you were thirty and were hit by a car. I couldn't tell you when you were forty and I came for your friend because his illness became too much. I couldn't tell you ten years ago when your parents died. And I can't tell you tonight. But why don't you spend your life on something instead of waiting for me to come pick you up? How is your writing going?"

"Just like always. No one really cares about my stories. There is so much entertainment out there on all these platforms that no one notices an old man writing mediocre melancholy stories about life and death. My stories drown and will soon be forgotten just like I will. Some of my stories are more than fifty years old and I don't believe that they have been read more than a hundred times" Simon slowly and carefully climbs up on the stonewall. He shivers as the acrophobia sets in but he keeps his balance.

“There must be something that you still want to experience in life. Some old dreams that still get you up in the morning. Something to live for”

“All I really wanted in life was a daughter but that is too late now. I never dreamt of money and riches, it was all just a necessary need forced on me by society. I never loved having a job, I did what I had to do in order to be free and do what made me happy. Yeah it would have been nice to get recognition for my stories. To know that I made some impact here in life. It would have been fun to win millions of dollars. The money wouldn’t have made me happy in it selves but they would have made me free to do nothing but pursue my dreams. And the money would have made it possible for me to adopt a daughter, the one thing I really wanted. But nothing of that came true for me” Simon sits down on the stonewall as his legs were about to give after.

“You have had a long life; there must be something for you here. What about your friends and family? They love you and you love them”.

“I had a good run with them but as we grew older I let them all go. They all ended up getting kids, families and future plans, so when their lives gave them new opportunities and they moved away I let them go. I wasn’t going to stand in their way or impose myself into their lives”

“You know they would have been happy to keep in contact. They would be happy to hear from you again. It was your choice to let them go”

“We all have to part from each other at one part or another, either in life or in death. I just let it happen at a natural part of our lives instead of a hard emotional break. Besides I never really minded being alone. I have been alone for most of my life even when I was close with my friends and family” Simon sits in silence for a moment listening to the water. "What would happen if I jumped? Where would you take me?"

"First you would take a deep dive into that cold water below us. It would hurt you badly as your body would get crushed before you die. Then I would pick up your soul and bring it to the dark eternity where you can sleep and be free of the pain of living"

"So that's everything? Just the emptiness of non-existence? Have I been right the entire time?"

"Well sort off. The thing is that you are all right on what's on the other side of death. Where you are going all depends on what you truly believe when you die. So some go to hell and some to heaven. Some get reincarnated and some simply stop existing. You get eternal sleep because even though you believe in non-existence you have always at heart thought of it as an eternal sleep” Death lays his cold hand on Simon’s shoulder to comfort him. “Are you going to jump now that you know what awaits you?” he sounds concerned as he asks.

“Not this time my friend. But could you follow me home? I think I have stayed out in the rain for too long” Simon says and crawls down from the stonewall.

Death takes off his cape and shrouds Simon in it to cover him from the cold rain “let’s go my friend. It might be your time before you know it” he says and leads Simon down the road.