MY LOVE, MRITYU

1. A Beautiful Man Named Mrityu

The night alarm went off as usual but Aryan had already been up for a couple of hours. He had been working on closing up the documentation of recent cases he had worked with his partner as his partner, Shantanu, was retiring this week. Finally he had decided to end his long tenure and had chosen Life.

Aryan had no idea who his new partner was gonna be but he was actively avoiding thinking about it by completing all the paperwork, also he wanted Amir to have a relatively light last week.

He heard a knock and the door opened before he could answer. He checked his wrist carrier which he had silenced and realised he had 5 missed calls from Shantanu.

"Damn!" Aryan cursed as the door opened.

"If you keep this up then I just might choose not to retire. You know we can't be late for the patrol. And stop cursing if you don't wanna end up with a sunrise shift." Shantanu was dressed in his usual attire of a black velvet long kurta and traditional dhoti, however Aryan did see that he had pinned a pink bioluminescent rose to the second button of his coat. That was a good sign. He was almost ready to leave.

"Man, I sure hope my new partner doesn't come with a mom package. I might not have any memories of life but the nagging kinda feels familiar."

"You know what else might feel familiar? A leather belt." Shantanu glared at him and Aryan knew he didn't want to be familiar with a leather belt.

"Gotcha! I sure am lucky to have such a caring partner who makes sure I do my job well. Lead the way boss." He muttered as he arranged the files on his desk.

"You newbies don't understand the importance of being on time because you now get your shiny wrist carrier, when I had just joined the force, we had to wait in queues at the-"

"-Carrier Booths, and when you were zapped up top you felt all messed up for a good one hour cuz the carrier booths messed up the image of your soul during transmission. How many times do you think I have heard this monologue in all these years?" Aryan complained as usual while he set the location in his carrier to the Living. Today they were assigned to a locality with a large graveyard in Porur, Chennai. 

"Well, you would have to put up with it only for this week, so cut me some slack kid." Shantanu said with a smile and Aryan knew he was gonna miss the old man.

They found themselves in a desolate graveyard. Though the city outside seemed to be bustling with activity, the graveyard was deserted of any living people.

"Are there any assigned pick ups today? I really don't want to run into those snobby grim reapers this week." Aryan knew he was complaining in vain but he really couldn't stand the uppity attitude of grim reapers.

Shantanu chuckled as he walked along. It looked like the old man was in a good mood and Aryan dared to ask the question he hadn't had the courage to ask in months. "So...... um- You want to live again?"

Shantanu turned to look at Aryan and suddenly the stone graves looked much more interesting than making eye contact with his partner.

"Heh- So you finally felt like asking. Well, yes I want to live again just like everyone, just because I want to feel the essence of life inside me again. I don't remember what it felt like being alive but I'm sure I would want to try it out again. I want to be a child. I want to feel the moving time. Oh I hope I become a teacher or something in my life." Shantanu was staring at the moon. His old eyes had a twinkle in them. It was almost like he was already alive.

"Old man, I hope you haven't forgotten that all your memories from your afterlife will be erased before your birth. You never know, you might end up becoming a psychopath or something." Aryan knew that what he said sounded ludicrous even to him but he couldn't really understand why anyone would want to live again.

"Or I might just be a rare noble human and when I die I might become a successor to Yamraj. You never know, kid."

"Dream on, Old man."

The patrol was as uneventful as Aryan had hoped it would be. All that was now left to do was to make the daily entry in the system at the office.

As soon as they entered the office. The Chief called for them into her cabin. The Chief had been in the force longer than anyone else in the office, some said it was because she was one of those rare souls who found a lover here, given her disposition Aryan thought that was highly unlikely. She sat at her desk with the Afterworld Police Force emblem covering the wall behind her, a bull charging that looked like it was charging towards the observer with the letters A.P.F engraved on its chest. Aryan always felt like the emblem was tacky. He was glad that now they only had this emblem on the display of the wrist carrier.

The Chief however fit right in with the bull. She looked like a high school principal in her pressed grey saree and her pinned up tight bun. In front of her desk stood a man, dressed in an impeccable blue suit.

As Aryan and Shantanu entered the Chief's cabin the man turned and Aryan realised the guy himself was also impeccable. He had a solid built, a face that you would find hard to look away from, with his deep black eyes that perfectly matched the colour of his hair.

"Suprabhat Officers. Shantanu I hope you are ready for the transition. I know we have a few more days till your retirement but I want you to relax, so you can handover your duties to your successor. This is Officer Mrityunjai, he has been transferred from the Grim Reapers Department."

"What?" Aryan shouted before he could hold himself back. He realised that he had been lied to. This was not his afterlife, he must still be repenting for his sins.

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