The figure was as much a part of the scenery in Dr. Teddy’s life as anything else. It was more like a shadow really, one who’d come and go whenever he needed to. No one else would see it, of course, but Dr. Teddy always knew what it meant.
When he was working on a patient, all Dr. Teddy would have to do was glance upward and see that familiar form standing nearby before announcing, “There’s nothing more I can do.”
One evening, a man was rushed in from the scene of a horrendous car accident. Unfortunately for him, the truck in front of him had been carrying metal piping, and one slid right off the back and through his skull. Thankfully, the man was in shock, so he wasn’t in much pain at the time. Dr. Teddy worked feverishly until he saw the shadow standing over the bed and knew that it wasn’t any use.
Except this time, the shadow surprised him. Instead of the usual melodramatic hand motion, the figure just stood there, as if he was staring back at the good doctor. There was a face in the darkness that could be seen if you stared at just the right angle.
Dr. Teddy looked at the patient on the table, confused as the man continued to breathe, continued to fight for his life.
"What’s going on here?”.
The figure sighed, its shoulders slumped. And then in a soft whisper only the doctor likely could hear it spoke. "I’m depressed.”
"Depressed?” The doctor almost fell over sideways, unsure of what to do about this proclamation.
The figure nodded. "I need some time off.”
"But you’re Death? Death rests for no one!” The doctor wasn’t sure of what to make of this craziness. Though, it wouldn’t be the first time he felt that perhaps he’d lost his mind.
"So what does this mean for the world?”
"It means the person I came for today will live. As will anyone else who happens to approach death in the next few days. I’ve had enough of this job...”
"Isn’t there someone who could take your place?”
The figure shook its head. "Nope. It’s just me. I work all day, every day.” it said. "But not anymore.”
Dr. Teddy looked at the man in the bed, still alive but in very bad shape. If what had just happened was true, this man would need a lot of help before he could ever return to anything resembling normal again. Brain damage, a broken spine... The patient very likely would be a vegetable his entire life, and with no Death to come claim him, even turning the machines off wouldn’t help end his suffering.
Some people might consider this a blessing, sure, but Dr. Teddy knew the implications of what this all meant. Without Death to shepherd them away, Dr. Teddy knew that people’s pain and suffering would never end.
And of course, it didn’t.
Patient after patient filled the emergency room, burn victims with little left but charred chunks of meat for skin, accident victims missing body parts... They were all left alive, suffering and screaming in pain. Families would try to make end-of-life decisions for their loved ones, but to no avail.
Dr. Teddy knew that he had no other choice. He had to find Death. He wondered, where did Death like to vacation? A beach somewhere? Vegas perhaps? That didn’t seem right...
So he walked the streets, calling out and looking for Death around every corner. He’d purposely walk into oncoming traffic, but no, he did not find Death there. Walking through the shadiest part of town at night? Nope, no Death there either. He once was a common visitor in the hospital where Dr. Teddy worked, but now he was nowhere to be found.
Struggling through his shift one night, the hospital was as full as ever with people who should’ve been dead but weren’t. Needing to get away, the doctor went to the only place not full of people. And that’s when Dr. Teddy found Death. In the morgue. Of course. Death had assumed that no one would ever look there, after all, no one was dying anymore and the room stood empty.
"You don’t understand what life is like without your part in it.” Dr. Teddy begged and pleaded as the figure looked down at the ground and shuffled his feet. “We need you to come back!”
The figure sighed and nodded. "I know. I have to come back.”
"Yes! Why yes you do!” Relief flooded the doctor’s body, as he realized his hospital rooms would soon be back to normal, "The man with the fractured skull, he was the next to go, right? I can take you right up there to help end his suffering.”
"I wasn’t there to see him that day...”
"You weren’t? Then who....” Dr. Teddy froze and comprehension dawned on him as he realized there was only one other person in the room with him that day, “A heart attack? A stroke? What did me in?”
"Do you really want to know?”
Dr. Teddy nodded solemnly and prepared for the worst. He wondered if he'd accidentally slipped and stabbed himself a syringe? Or perhaps he had electrocuted himself when he plugged his cell phone charger in, there did seem to be some water on the floor? “Yes, I want to know. Was it grisly and gruesome?”
Death shook his head and responded, "Well being the brilliant doctor that you are, it's only reasonable that you'd go out in a suitable manner.”
The doctor's eyes grew wider, wondering about the noble and dignified cause of his death.
Death chuckled, "You choked on your bubblegum.”
