Just a simple mail delivery

As he fell, he was waiting to hear the sound of crunching bone, and maybe to feel the last pain in his life. His thoughts jumped to thinking how he should really try to turn around and maybe his arms would break the fall enough to….

Stupid idea. From the height he was falling, his body will turn to mush on impact. So he just closed his eyes and anticipated that crunch, maybe even some sloshing? And time slowed down, he felt almost like floating, and then…

And then he opened his eyes, and he was in his bed, bathing in his sweat. He was dreaming something, just he no longer remembered what. The midday July sun was piercing through the window and was slowly cooking him.

“Fuck, midday already?” he muttered to himself as he stumbled out of bed, trying to unstick himself from the drenched sheets. “Fuck summer.”

The ice cold shower he prepared for himself did just enough to bring some semblance of good mood into him, that quickly evaporated as soon as he reentered his room. He really should have bought a damn air conditioner instead of that VR headset that only gave him nausea.

Or ten of them, stack them, turn them on simultaneously and turn the room into a meat locker. Yeah, that would be nice.

The growling in his stomach reminded him that he must eat from time to time. He needn’t open the fridge to know there was nothing inside. Maybe he could take out the shelves though and just climb inside, and wait for fall? That isn’t such a bad idea, bears could hibernate, why couldn’t he?

Because he isn’t a bear, of course. He is a human that had to go across the street for a döner on a plus forty summer noon just to keep himself alive.

He put on some loose clothes that immediately clung and got heavy from his perspiration. He put on his slippers, got outside his apartment, to the stairs…

His foot missed the first step and he lunged face first onto the lower floor.

He opened his eyes, and the noon sun was mercilessly slapping his face, and he knew he was getting a skin burn. He really needed to fix those blinds, otherwise he would have to apply sunscreen before bed.

The cold shower brought back some enthusiasm into him, and he was thinking how smart was of him to bring clothes to the bathroom this time, so he wouldn’t have to face his oven of a room.

Whose grand idea was to put an apartment facing South anyway?

He got outside of his building, cursing the sun that seemed concentrated on scorching everything that was on the path of it’s beams. He was just about to step on the sidewalk when he heard someone behind him yell out in pain. He turned to see a man dressed for running, with the most ridiculous green-purple glowing bandanna on his forehead, hugging his right ankle in pain. “I think I’ve sprained it bad, sir. Can you help me?”

He looked around, and saw that they were the only ones on the street. The Ministry of Health must have issued a warning not to go outside. He felt himself getting a little light headed, but guessed he must help the man, since he was the only one there, and it would probably be the right thing to do.

“Are you ok?” He asked stupidly as he approached the runner. “Should I call an ambulance? Or first maybe let me get you of this street, or will both have strokes. Why are you running in this hell in the first place?”

“Hell?” The runner inquired, looking at the sky. “It’s quite a lovely weather, why would you say something like that? And don’t worry about my leg, I’ve had worse legs in my days.” The runner then stopped in thought. “Or would you say worse accidents?”

The man looked in confusion at the runner that no longer seemed to care about his ankle. “Let me help you up and into some shade, and I’ll call for some help.” He managed to say finally.

“Oh, no, no, really, stop worrying about me.” The runner continued, and then reached for something in his pocket. A letter. “I need you to deliver this to Bahalen, since I cannot do it anymore. It’s rather important. I’ll take care of my extremity… I mean, my leg, of course. Just deliver this.”

“I cannot deliver letters for you, sorry. It could have anthrax inside.”

The runner looked at him perplexed, as if trying to remember something. “Why would I put a band in an envelope?” And then, his face lit up “Ah, you mean the virus.” He laughed. “Oh, no, sir, no, I wouldn’t deliver disease like that, it’s just crude. I would have simply used your water distribution system…” The man’s face grew a bit alarmed now, and the runner noticed that he maybe wasn’t making himself understood any better.

“Never mind what I’ve said, I wouldn’t poison your planet in any way. Why would you even think that?” And then the runner stood up, dusted himself off and suddenly remembering, he yelled out in pain. The man jumped to catch him.

“Thank you. Mighty stupid of me, standing up like that, so soon after injury.” He laughed. “Legs, am I right?” He winked at the man.

“But really, it’s just a normal letter” he continued, putting the letter in the man’s hand. “Bahalen is a dear friend of mine, and this letter has information about something… dear to him. You understand dear things, don’t you? Of course, all humans understand dear things… Just be a dear and take it.” The runner then pushed off the man. “I think my leg is better now, but better go check it. I’ll run off now.. As a deer? That’s a good one, isn’t it? You’ll be a dear and carry my letter, and I’ll run off as a deer! I might be getting the hang of this after all!”

“Where would I find this Bahalen person?”

“Oh, don’t worry, you’ll find him! Now go, ta-ta.” He yelled, as he ran away from him. “Like a deer! How did I come up with that with so little studying, I amaze myself...” It was the last thing the man could hear from the runner as he swerved behind the building on the corner.

He looked at the letter in his hand, brought it to the sun in hope that he could glimpse what’s inside. Should he just throw it away? No, if it was a disease, that could be exactly the thing the strange man would want him to do. Maybe he just needs to bring it to the police.

“Yeah, that’s what I’ll do.” he decided as he stepped on the crosswalk without checking for passing cars. A truck swept him off the street and into the air.

He woke up thinking he was going to drown. He stood up, dislodging himself from the warm and moist bed sheets, headache just coming up, knocking on his temples.

“What the fuck was I dreaming?” he muttered as he tried to find his way to the bathroom. He let the freezing water do it’s thing, and then he just put on some clothes, never bothering to dry up. He will be dry the moment he stepped outside, he figured, maybe it would help to have something evaporate from him other than his sweat for a change.

He stepped outside and ran into a guy dressed as a runner, jogging in place in front of the building entrance.

“I’ve always thought that legs were overrated, but I’m beginning to change my mind a little now. But let’s get straight to it this time. Here, give this letter to Bahalen, and no, there is no anthrax inside, nor any other known diseases… I shouldn’t have said ‘known’ right there, right? It somehow implicates there is an unknown disease… Curios thing your language… But, no time, take this to Bahalen, and please don’t die!”

The runner put the envelope in his hand and jogged away. The man contemplated what to do, while trying to look inside the envelope by putting it over the sun. He decided going to the police would be the best idea, and then suddenly felt a chill all around him. And it got darker, as though a cloud covered the sun. But the weather was clear as ever.

“Why do you keep staying alive?” The voice was raspy, almost cartoonishly ominous. The man turned around to see what looked like a void in a black suit with a hood over its head. The chill came from him, and it was getting colder with every passing moment. The man decided he was having a heat stroke, and this in front of him was a hallucination created by his feverish brain.

“Please stay dead this time.” The raspy voice of the hallucination said with finality. And then the hallucination touched him.

He woke up slowly, contemplating just laying in bed and just dying from dehydration. But the damn sun was unbearable. He got up and went to the bathroom, and seeing the bath, he thought that for a change, he could fill it up with cold water and stay there for the rest of the day.

He plugged the drain, and let the bath fill up. And he went to the kitchen, to check his empty fridge. Well, almost empty, thankfully he had left a water bottle in the freezer the day before. He took it out and pressed it to his face, letting out a moan of release as the cooling started taking effect. He was rubbing the bottle to his forehead as he went back to the bathroom, tripped on the rug, and crushed his head on the bathtub, snapping his neck. He died instantly, but if he didn’t, he would have seen the runner’s head coming out of the sink’s mirror.

“Now, this is just getting ridiculous!” The runner sighed and let it all play out again.

The man opened his eyes, feeling the headache that the heat had brought him. It took some time for his vision to clear and notice that the man before him was not a part of a dream.

“Hello!” the runner exclaimed, and the man got startled and jumped back, hitting his head on the wall.

“NO!” the runner panicked. “Please, stop, just stop dying! What is wrong with you?”

The man was rubbing the back of his head, headache now getting stronger. “Who the fuck are you? Why are you in my room? I have nothing to give you, no cash, take my credit cards if you want, just please leave me alone.”

“Credit..” the runner looked puzzled. “Oh, you think I’m here to rob you! You think only of disease and robbery. Is this what all humans think of?”

“What the FUCK are you doing here?” The man was now getting angrier, as his head was clearing up. He noticed that the runner was much scrawnier than him, and he could probably take him into a fight anytime. “Get the fuck out or I’ll beat the shit out of you.”

The runner looked puzzled. “I have no idea what you are insinuating with that idiom, my translator must be malfunctioning. But, you are angry. Please don’t be. I just want your help, and you keep dying.”

“He is totally crazy” the man decided in his thoughts. But at the same time, he suddenly no longer considered him a threat.

“I keep on dying? What are you talking about?”

“The stairs, bathtub, trucks, heat stroke… Can you stop doing that?”

“Can I stop… dying?” The man was getting intrigued. Now that he thinks about it, there was something strange about the way he had woken up. Didn’t feel as a dream…

“Yes, please. Stop dying and just deliver this letter to Behalem.”

The runner produced a letter seemingly out of thin air and presented it to the man,

“How does one stop dying? You are not making any sense.”

“How should I know? You’ve avoided dying for thirty years and you ask me? One would think you’d be the expert. Why do you decide to die when I need you?”

“I don’t decide when I die! And if I wanted to die, I wouldn’t care about your letter!” The man said, but still took the letter.

The runner looked positively stumped. “Ok, I don’t think I understand how this thing works exactly. I really should have paid more attention during briefing. But it took ages! Who can keep attention for so long? It’s absolutely impossible.”

“Look, I don’t know how it is for you, but for me folding space and time is quite excruciating. And I cannot do it indefinitely. So please, don’t die, and just deliver this.”

As the runner finished his sentence, a chill spread in the room, and suddenly it was as dark and cold as in a meat freezer.

“So, you are the one that keeps doing this, you keep bringing him back.” Said a raspy voice from the void now present in the far corner of the room.

“Who is asking?” The runner asked, seemingly unfazed, while the man just sat frozen in combination of utter terror and confusion.

“Death” Simple, final.

“What, the band?” The runner inquired, puzzled. “Ah, the concept probably. It’s never the bands.” He added with a laugh, turning to the man on the bed that was now hugging his knees and rocking back and forth, eyes fixed on the void.

“I have come for what is mine, and you keep taking it away from me. Why?”

“Hmm, so this human belongs to you? Curious. I really should have listened. Nevertheless, he is kinda needed by my employers, to deliver this letter. It’s his destiny or what not.”

“Destiny?” The chill increased, the void got darker. “I am the only destiny humans have.” The two living being in the room could feel the finality reverberating right to the core of their being.

“See, that’s not what I’ve been told. Look, says so right here.” And then the runner produced a binder out of nowhere and started rummaging through the documents inside. “It should be… Here”

He showed the void what it looked as a document, signed and stamped.

“See, he was contracted out to us some time ago, for this particular delivery.”

The void scanned through the document. “You work for them? Pathetic.”

“Now, now, no need for that, the pay is good, and I get to meet new people.” And then he smiled at the void. “And concepts, obviously.”

“This man is mine.” Stated the void.

“Ok, ok, fine, but can you at least take him after he delivers the letter? Do you know the amount of paperwork I would have to go through to explain this to my superiors? I have already nearly used up my space-time folding quota. And finding another candidate is pain in such a short time. Please, it would take him only half an hour probably.”

The void writhed in thought. “Paperwork, pathetic. You and your company, pathetic. But you are also a nuisance. He has half an hour. Then he is mine.” The void shimmered and then disappeared, returning the heat to the room.

Once the room was left voidless, the runner turned to the man. “Well, you heard the guy… the concept, whatever it was. You have half an hour! Deliver this to Bahalen! Go!”

And he disappeared.

The man sat there, on his bad, still rocking back and forth, thinking he had gone completely mad. He was having a stroke, he was sure of it. His head felt as if it was going to explode. He reached for his phone by his bedside table, hoping that this wasn’t a part of a hallucination, and called an ambulance.

They were soon in his room. They checked up on him and decided there was nothing wrong with him, just a bit dehydrated. But he insisted on being taken to the hospital. He mentioned that he was insured, and the medics decided there won’t be any harm in taking him to the hospital anyway.

All the way there he was just sitting in a kind of trance, vaguely being aware of the medics trying to comfort him how now everything was OK, how he got just a bit scared. It happens in a heat such as this one, you start feeling headaches and then your mind starts thinking that it’s overheating and then bam! You have symptoms just like it was the real thing.

The man was thinking how all of that is bullshit. He remembered the void clearly, and the runner. And the damn letter was still in his hand.

“You see this letter don’t you?” he asked the medics.

“Of course we see it, you’ve been holding fast to that all this time.”

So everything was real, he thought. And then decided that the only thing to do was to simply fail to deliver this letter, and the runner will bring him back, and then he could try bargaining for his life.

He had to get out of this van and kill himself. Thinking so, he jumped towards the doors, and tried to open them.

“Stop!” one of the medics yelled, while the other one grabbed him, and restrained him with some martial art move that completely surprised him. “I think he is having a fever, maybe a seizure. Give me a sedative.”

And then the man felt a prick in his left shoulder, and his body felt numb. And when he was finally brought to the hospital, he was restrained in a gurney and feeling as light as a feather.

“He was not having any indications before he was in the van, just a slight dehydration” he heard a voice explaining. And then he saw a bespectacled face looking at him. “Take him to the infirmary,” the doctor said. “What is this?” the doctor then asked, pointing at something on the gurney.

“Oh, it’s a letter, he had been holding it all this time now. Must be something important” The voice answered

And then the man read the name on the doctor’s mantel, and started laughing.

“It’s for you, doctor Behalen.” He said, releasing his grip, and letting the letter fall. Doctor Behalen caught it in mid air, and the man felt the void engulfing him.

“See, that wasn’t so hard! Just a simple mail delivery.” The runner appeared on the face of one of the nursers. “Jolly good job, my friend!”

But the man couldn’t care less anymore. He was glad it was finally cold, as Death completely enveloped him.