Sin Eater

5.

Diana and Martin made breakfast at midnight. Having officially been the Sin Eater's partner for six months, she was perfectly comfortable with making pancakes far before the morning light. Martin flipped bacon, making a mess of grease on the stove.

"You'll burn this whole place down," Diana joked.

"Nah, I'm a professional," Martin winked. They made plates and sat at the dining table while the rest of town slept. Diana stared at the man across from her, his hair falling shaggy around his face.

"What are you thinking about?" Diana asked through a mouthful of pancake.

"Hmm? Nothing, why?" Martin shrugged, not making eye contact.

"Well, you look like the poster child for brooding over there," Diana cocked her eyebrow up.

They both knew exactly what that meant, they weren't leaving that table until she got her answers. He sighed, stretching back into his chair before beginning, "It's nothing really, just ran into a little bit of a conundrum last night when I was writing."

"What kind of conundrum?" Diana pressed, "And don't give me that, 'Its sin eater stuff'."

Martin laughed, "I'm almost out of pages in this notebook, I have about four pages left. So hopefully the next soul to call me doesn't have more than four pages worth of sinning cause I won't have space for it."

"What do you mean?" Diana's eyes widened, "What happens if you can't write it down?"

"I don't really know. It's never happened," martin tried to shrug off his own worry, "I looked everywhere and there's no notebooks left. I guess I could just pick one up from the store, but that really loses the dramatic flair I've learned to love."

Diana rolled her eyes, "Yeah, but how does that work? If you don't write it down it stays with the person, right?"

"In a nutshell? Yeah. The spirit spills their life story into the meal, I eat it and relive their life, writing it down as I go," Martin smirked as Diana's eyes lit up as if he were spinning a grand tale, "The ink binds it the pages and eventually the Man in Black comes and takes them somewhere else."

"I wonder what he's like," Diana shuddered dramatically, "The Man in Black."

"You have a fetish for creepy guys don't you?" Martin smiled.

"You're only creepy for a couple hours," Diana replied, "I know guys who are creepy all the time. It's a fair trade off."

Martin rolled his eyes, "The Man in Black. I don't know, maybe he's just a guy like me, you know? Born into a job he didn't sign up for and just waiting for it to end."

Diana nodded solemnly and returned to her pancakes while Martin stared out the window, thinking about filling the notebook.