Erika and Death

Erika woke up coughing. It was how she always woke up these days.

The nurses had moved her bedside table, again, she had to lean over out of her bed to reach her glass of water. So far that she ended up looking at the floor, where a pair of brand new, bright white, unscuffed trainers. Erika grabbed her glasses and found that the owner was sat on the end of her bed.

“Hi.” Jo waved warmly yet timidly.

“Hi” Erika smiled.

“Been a while.” Jo smiled back as her words hung forlornly in the air. “Sorry”

“You look-”

“The same, I know. I wanted to come and see you one last time. I thought, with your condition that this would be the best form to take.”

“I don’t understand”

“I know you don’t.” Jo pulled at the hem of her trousers. “Sorry”

“Stop apologising”

“Your family got big.” Jo pointed at the picture on the bedside table, deflecting. Erika reached out and picked it up, handing it over to Jo.

“Do you recognise them?”

“Of course I do. That’s Ivan and his wife Bella, their two children, Samuel and Sebastian. That’s little dirty mouthed Julie and her tribe of five. The size of family you wanted.”

“How do you know?”

“I’ve been watching them. Remember the night Ivan came home drunk with a busted lip. I was the one who broke up the fight and walked him home. He didn’t recognise me…”

“No. He wouldn’t, he was too young when you left.”

Jo’s head hung in shame, the words stung. Uncharacteristically she apologised again. “Sorry”

“Don’t be sorry, you gave me the family I always craved. If it wasn’t for you I would never have found happiness. I love you Jo. Always have. Always will.”

“You forgive me?”

“100%. Afterall, I’m the better person” Erika smiled briefly before a coughing fit overtook her. Jo leapt off the bed and poured her a fresh glass of water. Erika sipped at it carefully, when she could speak again she simply said “What, no straw?” A memory from a lifetime ago.

“Fuck you.” Jo laughed.

Erika settled back into her bed. She noticed a second woman in the room, the woman was massive, inhumanly large, standing a head taller than Jo, who was already tall, and about three times the width. How had she missed her until this point?

“Who’s your friend?”

“Someone who owes me a favour.”

“Cryptic. Do you talk? Will you introduce yourself?”

The lady looked at Jo, seemingly asking permission. Jo nodded. “I’m Death.”

Erika instinctively believed the woman.

“Death owes me a favour. She has agreed that the two of us can go back to the night we first met and begin again.”

“Why?”

“So we can do it right.”

“We did do it right Jo.”

“Think about it. We can be young again. We can be parents properly; we can bring up Ivan and Julie together.”

“You made me watch a lot of time travel films when we young”

“Precisely!” Jo leapt with joy.

“Precisely. What I learnt from them is no one enjoys living life over and over again. Mistakes are a part of life. Besides, if we go back in time there is a chance that we wouldn’t even have Ivan and Julie, and if we did, they certainly wouldn’t be the Ivan and Julie I know.”

“Ada you’re smart. I really really do love you.” Jo’s smile was full of praise and humility.

“I know. I told you I’m the better person.”

Jo picked up a pillow to throw at Erika.

“I’m an old lady on her death bed, you wouldn’t”

Jo held the pillow threateningly for a second before putting it down. “Fine.” She sat back down on the edge of the bed. “Death still owes me a favour. Tell me what you want.”

“I want for nothing”

“Erika.” Jo’s voice was serious and stern, “I can give you a week with your family, no health complaints.”

“Jo.” Death spoke firmly but Jo shot her a look, Death withdrew her comment without saying anything else, her face though was one of concern. Erika didn’t know why Death owed Jo a favour, nor did she want to know.

“A week?” Erika felt warm. “I would like a week.”

“A week it is. Go back to sleep now, I will sort this out.”

Erika closed her eyes, there was a tear in Jo’s.

She heard the two of them leaving the room, whispering.

“I can’t do that Jo, you know that.”

“I know.”

“So wh-

“Life can though.”

“He won’t. Not after the last time-”

“He will, if it is the last thing I do. Some things need to be done because they are the right thing to be done.”