Cloaked in shadow, adorned in dusk, it stands just out of your field of vision. You can sometimes see it in your periphery if you really look well, at least as night breaks. It could stop and say hello to you, but It’s too busy counting the days you have left to your name.

You see the gods of the afterlife, reapers as we call them, are very interested in how much life we have left. Unlike the one grim reaper that we like to imagine, one creature serving us all like santa claus in the scope of it’s activities, gods of death have to delegate work a little more democratically.

We each get one when we come into the world. We come with a life force, and we come with a reaper. Most of the time you don’t think about him, (or her, you wouldn't want to be sexist), but sometimes you become aware of your silent companion, and it gives you that little shiver you’re oh so familiar with.

They can be angry, in fact they often are. What do they have to do but follow you around in your aimless existence? And make no mistake, your existence is aimless. Eventually, the words of Shakespeare will be lost as the sun explodes in a yellow expansion that eats our whole solar system, and after that, the universe will end too. Maybe another big bang, maybe only a pop like the top being wrenched from a soda. However it ends, tell me, what can we ever do that would be of interest to our reapers?

There is nothing, so all they can do is count down the days until we die, so that they can begin to follow someone else. Always someone else until the universe ends with a pop. No matter the mark you leave on the world it will never distract your reaper from it’s boredom, so be less concerned with that mark. Care about the little things, the loves and lovers. Your reaper still won’t care, but at least you won’t be as bored as they are.