Ever woke up in the tree house, sun already high in the sky. While sleeping in soul form was arguably more comfortable, he found that his body got used to the hard wooden surface pretty quickly. The nights were warm too, so he didn’t have to worry about the overnight lows.

  So you decided to get up, Death clucked.

  Ever stood up, peered out the window and saw some people walking around the cemetery.

  *Good morning, Mentor.*

  Uhuh, gonna do a reaping today or what?

  Part of him wanted to challenge Death; his tummy was rumbling for its croissant, but ignored it.

  *Yes, I am. Right now, in fact.*

  Ever blinked and suddenly, he was slowly sinking through the surface of the treehouse. He extended his arms, dig a backwards somersault, then started flying away from the oak tree. He waved to a few of the ghosts doing their morning ‘walks’ and was out of the cemetery.

  *I’m going to find my own soul to reap today.*

  Oh?

  *Yes, I’m going to Pagoto’s to find that soul that Chaos scared away yesterday.*

  Let me get this straight: you’re going to your workplace, on your day off?

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  *Well, I’m not working there, I’m working here.* He gestured at himself as if he was his own office.

  Humans would call you a loser, you know that? I, on the other hand, like the initiative.

  Ever smiled and kept flying towards Lygon Street.

  —--

  About 10 minutes later, he was floating around outside the ice cream shop. He looked at the clock on the wall. It was just past midday. People were starting to come in, with a queue of two people forming out the door.

  There were three outside tables that were in the shade of the footpath under the eaving. As the day passed and the sun crossed the sky, the tables would be directly exposed to the sunlight and get too hot.

  Two tables already had people sitting at them, with the third one in the sun. Nearly two months into living on earth and he’d developed some interesting habits. For one thing, he would still ‘sit’ on seats or benches, even though his legs weren’t tired. For another, he would only sit on a seat if it wasn’t occupied by someone else. Obviously they couldn’t - shouldn’t - sense him in his reaper form, but it just felt rude.

  He perched himself on the chair in the sun, laying the scythe across his knees. Chaos had just finished taking payment when he spotted him from inside.

  ∞What are you doing here?∞

  *I’m reaping today.*

  ∞A soul? Here?∞

  *Well, he’s not here yet.* He looked around. *The guy you scared away yesterday.*

  ∞What makes you so certain that he’ll come back?∞

  *I’m not, but I have faith.*

  ∞What is faith if not for a misguided sense of hope?∞

  *Souls have faith that they’ll find what give them peace. They’re willing to wait forever.*

  ∞Hm. It sounds like you’re in the right profession.∞

  With that, Chaos served the next customer and Ever returned to waiting.