Untimely Death

I was walking down the alley, about to make my way home just in time to get some sleep. I chanced upon this weird man in a black hood coming up to me. I was startled, so I backed away yet the man came closer. I figured I can take this old man if a fight ensued so I asked “Gramps, what’s your problem?” He answered “Nothing my son. It’s just that I have come to tell you of your misfortune.”

This guy must be a wack job. I thought I got time to kill, I might as well play along. “So grampa, what is my so-called ‘misfortune’?” He tells me “For one, I am death. Isn’t that misfortune enough?”

I hardly contained myself from laughing. I didn’t realize how serious his face was until I stopped and asked “ARE YOU HIGH GRAMPS?! It’s really late and you’re not supposed to be outside.” He replied “Oh, that is a misconception. Death comes and goes whenever it likes.”

I thought “Is this guy fucking serious?!”. I decided to leave. “Whatever gramps. I’m tired, it’s late, I got work in the morning. See ya!” He then hastily replied “You cannot walk away from death for death always waits at the end of every destination. The destination which is life.”

I’ve had it with this old coot. He started to creep me out. I came close to him and asked a rather sarcastic question “So if you’re really death, tell me this: When am I gonna die?” in which he vaguely replied “I do not know when. But there are clues for a person to know when their time is almost up.”

I was fascinated at his answer. So I dared him one more time before I finally just leave him and treat this night as one of those bizarre moments in life. “Okay, so how do WE know we’re about to die?”

With a frown, he replied in a low voice “Death talks to them.”