The Hardest One
I had only been doing this job for around hundred years when I met him. He was charming and kind and I knew he was meant to be a man of legend. I witnessed him before I saw that he was on my list. It is a blessing and a curse that I can choose to be anywhere I want. Because of this, I followed Sinbad wherever he went, at least until he showed up on my list.
I knew I should not bring it up to Mother Nature because there was no way she would not make me take him. We have a little bit of leeway on when we take someone. Everyone has their own "taking time," if you want to call it that. I am guessing it depends on how big of an effect they have on current events. I agree that what I did was foolish and I knew I was going to get caught but through him I got to experience what most humans only dream of.
Sinbad was just a young sailor when I first saw him. I was just passing time with a few whales when I saw a ship above us. Now the whales were all quite tired and taking naps but humans always intrigued me so I wanted to see why the boat had stop by one of the older whales. I floated to the surface by following the bottom of the boat and came up just enough so I would not be noticed. If I had shown myself, someone was bound to see me since sailors usually live short lives. That's when I saw him. He had skin glowing so softly and a jawline that could slice through diamonds. He had the kindest smile and made everyone feel good. He was tall and well built. I was so distracted by him I had not noticed that he and some of the other men had mistaken the whale for an island and they were trying to start a fire. As soon as the older whale felt the heat, he dove down deep into the ocean. Most the sailors were caught off guard and drowned immediately. The rest took a while longer but were too weak to overpower the currents created by all the whales leaving. Sinbad had been the only one that survived the initial shock but was forgotten by the rest of the sailors so I knew it was just a matter of time before someone was to take him. I usually only take people from the mainland so I would never have expected that later, he would have ended up on my list.
It was not until his third voyage that he was put on a list - my list, out of all the reapers. Granted, I do take the most people out of all the reaper. I just could not see myself take this person that I had watched unwilling to give up and surrender to a life unfilled by adventure. I had watched him defeat hundred-foot snakes and one-eyed giants. Time and time again I tried taking him but I always wanted to see if there was ever a time that he would give up. I was awestruck with how, no matter how much he made off his exciting voyages, he always donated everything he did not need and went back to have another adventure.
I went with him through all his voyages. I kind of feel like the last on was anti-climatic. He was captured as a slave and was forced to kill the elephants for their husks but they knew what the elephants knew what was happening so they ended up showing Sinbad the grave sight of the elephants. Once he showed his master the grave sight he let him go. we ended up going back to his home town. I feel like that voyage was the most difficult for him. He changed as a person because of all the innocent giants he had to kill. I had never seen someone age so quickly over a short period of time. After we got back he kind of lost his will to live. When he had been back in his hometown for a few years is when Mother Nature noticed that he was the Sinbad that I was supposed to have taken years prior. She was infuriated and deeply saddened over the fact that I could not continue my job. I was forced to go back and finish what I had not done. I crept into his house and saw he was laying down on his bed, but not sleeping. I feel as though he knew I was there but stayed silent so he would not startle me. I put my hand on his shoulder and and his soul came out with no resistance. We walked out of the house side by side and he asked me as though he knew that I had been the one that let him live through all his adventures,
"Was it worth it?"
Author's note: I wanted the voyages of Sinbad to be the last story to give Death an Achilles heel, which was Sinbad. I wanted to make this story more about how Death became human through Sinbad and sort of gave up on the job and decided how far they could go before they got in trouble. I kind of tried to have a forbidden love story with Death in Sinbad but I did not know how to bring that about without Sinbad knowing that death was supposed to take him. I also wanted to make sure that Sindbad was ready to leave and go with death since he was able to experience so much. In the original story, Sinbad goes on seven voyages and comes out victorious and rich in every one. The story makes it seem as the the only true riches Sinbad cares about is experiences and adventures. To read more on the original story, drawn from Lang's Arabian Nights' Entertainments . the voyages I read are from the The Voyages of Sindbad unit. In both these stories it is told in first person by Sinbad. He also seems to have lived to a ripe old age in the original stories.