Heads or Tails

21

"Heads or Tails? You know the deal."

"Tails."

A pale man with close cropped black hair flipped the coin into the air, both of our eyes glued onto it in anticipation. A swift movement, he snatched it out of the air and smacked it onto his forearm.

Our eyes met for a brief moment and I felt chills go down my spine - those lifeless, dark eyes always unnerved me, no matter how many times I see them. My gazed darted to the covered coin as it was being revealed. An excited noise left my lips as an irritated groan left his, the coin showing me the side I called.

"I swear, Jason. One would expect that after 478 years, your guess would be incorrect from time to time." The edge on his voice made me grin ear to ear as I hooted in victory.

"21."

"What?"

"That's the age I want to be, Death. 21."

The man narrowed his eyes, an argument building in his mind. He pulled a small notebook out of his pocket and started scribbling down information.

"That's a risky year to go back to, Jason."

With a shrug of my shoulders, I snatched the paper he finished writing and scanning the contents, "My personal world is risky. I gamble with life like I gamble with you."

"That's an understatement for sure." He scoffed. "Per usual, that's the information for your new life. Please don't waste it, live carefully, yadayadayada."

His stark handwriting was always so satisfying to look it. Almost like a computer, it was so perfect. He was placing me in the world as a guy from the sticks of Florida, moving to the city for a new life. The same appearance and... an accent?

"What will I sound like?"

A small smirk crossed Death's face as he cut his finger through the air, creating a portal back to reality. "You'll find out, kid. If you're going to be wasting my time, I'll make sure you hate yourself. You better stay lucky."

He gestured for me to step through the portal, clearly not wanting to talk anymore. I gawked at him, faking offense that he wasn't telling me everything about who I was about to be, but I confidently stepped through the portal.

The familiar blast of cold air of the portal whisked me to who knows what city for who knows what life I was seeking - only to step into more cold, a puff of breath visible as I gasped in surprised.

It was snowing, I was bundled up, and I had absolutely no idea where I was. My view darted to the nearest street signs, hoping to get some context as quickly as possible as I got bumped and pushed by the sudden crowd surrounding me.

"Hey man, you tripping?" A hand gently fell onto my shoulder, surprising me. I turned and made eye contact with a guy about my age. His lips tilted in an odd smile, waiting my response.

I was too focused on the cold to form the words right away, so they spilled from my lips, "Lost my bearings, sorry."

Shit, what an accent.

His brows furrowed with amusement, clearly trying his best to not laugh.

"You're in Times Square, southern belle. You're gonna struggle with that accent of yours when you talk to someone with a true New York accent." Moving his hand to offer a shake, he chuckled. "I'm Roger."

"Jason." Grabbing his hand, I have it a single solid shake. Death definitely set me up for an interesting life this time.

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Authors Note:
This was a prompt I found online and don't plan on adding more to it. But I'll be writing more prompts as I find them! Hope you enjoyed.