Jesse woke to the visage of Death itself sitting at the foot of his bed.

"Oh shit. Holy crap man, don’t ever do that again. Damn it." Jesse clutched his lower abdomen, "Jesus, I pulled something."

If Death cared even a little, It wasn’t letting on. "It is time."

Jesse had been dreading this day, and now that it was finally here, he regretted making a deal in the first place. "Really? Are you sure it’s been ten years? It feels like seven, eight at the outside."

Death wasn’t picking up Jesse’s bullshit. "It is time."

Jesse knew it was time, but damn. "Fine, let me get dressed and we’ll…" Death produced a small black robe for Jesse to wear. "You’re kidding me."

Death was not kidding him.

Walking down the street beside Death, each of them wearing formless black robes, Death’s much larger than Jesse’s, the two would have looked ridiculous, if anyone could actually see them.

Instead, the robes had a strange effect, allowing Jesse and Death not only to move around without being seen, but also to clip through things at will.

This last ability was particularly strange to experience, but explained why Death could get around so easily – he moved on command without regard for physical barriers, or even friction.

For now, Death had Jesse tethered to Its arm, so wherever Death went, Jesse followed. Right at this moment they were actually walking down the street, but any second Death would get a call.

And they were off again, Death honing in like a tomahawk missile on Its target, Jesse screaming like a small boy on his first roller coaster, half exhilerated, half terrified, as the world zipped by.

And really the whole world was zipping by. Death moved at speeds that made no sense, sometimes over the world, sometimes straight through it, whatever was most efficient. As far as Jesse could tell there were no upper limits to Death’s speed either. If 200 people died near simultaneously in 200 different places, Death moved to each so fast that the act of moving was less than a blink.

Death did not waste any time either. One tap and it moved on. Tap move tap move tap move tap – sometimes 100 times in the blink of an eye. A bomb must have gone off somewhere, because in the space of two seconds Death arrived at a location and jolted between almost 60 people, tapping ferociously and then setting off toward South America.

All the while Jesse tried to…learn? He wasn’t sure what the hell he was supposed to be doing exactly, but as the tumultuous day continued, he did begin to feel a certain subtle instinct, like a trick knee acting up before rain. By the end of the day, Jesse almost felt he knew where Death was going to go an instant before he went – nothing specific of course, but a general area for sure.

The final death of the day, as Jesse was still mortal at this point and needed to rest, was left to Jesse. It was an easy one – just a very old man attached to some life support machines. He was alone in a hospital room, without any family or friends and completely unconscious.

Death brought Jesse to the room and nodded toward the man. Jesse hesitated, unsure of himself. He walked up to the prostrate form and brough his finger to within an inch of the old man’s forehead when the man’s eyes opened and seemed to stare right at Jesse.

Jesse freaked out and recoiled. "He can see me."

Death stood impassively by. "Sometimes."

Jesse tried to talk to the man. "Hey sir." But there was no response, just a hard, uncertain stare. Jesse walked up to the man and spoke. "I need to touch you now sir, it’s my job… well, it will be soon." Those eyes did not respond, just stared straight ahead. Jesse felt badly, but Death urged him on. "OK sir, it’ll be over in a second."

Quickly, like he was touching a hot stove, Jesse reached out and tapped the man on the forehead, watching his old, tired eyes close.

Jesse was shaken by it. "I want to go home." Death nodded and in a moment they were back at Jesse’s bed. Jesse tore off the robe and threw it in the corner. "I need to go to sleep."

Death obliged him and walked out of the bedroom through the wall.

Alone in his bed, Jesse imagined an infinity of days like today and started balling his eyes out like an infant. This wasn’t worth what he’d bartered for it – the last ten years of his life. It wasn’t worth another hundred for that matter.

What the fuck had he signed up for?