Tricking Death

Chapter 15 - The Think Tank

"'Help you trick Death'? Are you insane, girl?"

The truth was, at that point, I didn't even know. But she didn't need to know that, so I remained silent, figuring it was a rhetorical question anyway. 

"You have to be insane. You're trying to trick an all-powerful, practically omniscient, supernatural being. Do you have any idea how absurd that sounds?" 

"Are you going to help me or not?" 

"Depends on how ridiculous your ideas are." She took another sip of her tea while fixing me with her gaze over the rim of the cup. 

"Well," I started, feeling nervous now that I was actually putting my plan into motion. "I first was thinking about making some kind of pact with him. So he could prolong Ryan's life, and then I would make him kill me instead once the time came. But-" I started blushing fiercely at the memory "-he found out what I was planning before I could even try to go through with it." 

"That was obviously a very poor plan if it fell apart that quickly," Serena snorted. "Self-sacrifice: so noble, and yet so foolish."

"Well, I don't see you coming up with anything." I had come up with that plan out of desperation, and I admitted that I hadn't thought it all the way through before I decided to try and put it into action. So what if that made me a fool? It was my fault that he had gotten involved in this mess in the first place, and he didn't even know the danger he was in. 

She shot me a scathing look. "You came to me for help. 'Help' does not mean that I do all of the thinking for you. You should be grateful that I even let you in my house." 

"As you just put it, my ideas are 'obviously poor plans', so that's why I need help in the first place." 

"You're trying to tell me that you have no other ideas aside from the one that you didn't even have a chance to try?" 

I looked down at my hands, fidgeting nervously in my lap. My nerves were starting to get to me at this point. The conversation wasn't going at all the way I had imagined it going on my way to her house which was making everything that much harder. I did have another idea, of course, but I didn't want to reveal it so soon. I was hoping to get her to offer up an idea first, and if it was better than the one I had, I wouldn't have had to worry about anything. 

"You're just wasting my time now, girl. I don't take kindly to that." 

I grit my teeth, my hands stopping their fidgeting to clench into fists. But, I could see no way around it that wouldn't involve the risk of her throwing me out of the house. The little bit of leverage I had would only get me so far. 

"I-I want to know if there's a way for me to kill him." 

Serena practically choked on her tea. I was concerned that I was going to have to give her CPR or call an ambulance, but she quickly regained her composure. 

"K-Kill Death? Attempting to trick Him is one thing, but you're trying to kill Death Himself? You've gone mad. The stress from all of this has done you in. I should be calling a mental institute to have you committed: now that would be helping you!" 

"That doesn't answer my question," I said quietly, once she had finished her little rant. 

"It more than answers your question." 

"Is there, or is there not a way to kill him?" 

"If you want to disrupt the balance of the entire natural order and completely ruin the world, then sure. Go right ahead and try. Let me know how it goes."