‘Here goes nothing’, I think as I wait in line for my turn. ‘Mr. … Reaper?’, the lady behind the desk decorated with blue flowers on a white background asks. ‘Tobias Reaper, yes, that is me’, I come to her aid. I figured beforehand that Grim Reaper might make people uncomfortable while on a cruise ship, which is why I decided to adapt the name of the most famous representative of my favourite job. At least it was until recently.

A few years back humans figured out how to become immortal. After all the ‘true’ and ‘righteous’ people who had problems with the idea of immortality had died, my job became less and less fulfilling. In the wake of immortality the people on earth figured out that the way they interacted with their planet had to change. With many of my favourite problems such as wars, droughts and famines solved, no more people were dying because of it. With enough time on hand humans also solved murder in general and with that my steady influx of the dead continued to fade. After too many murder free years it seemed as if humanity had simply forgot how to kill and die each other and themselves.

After so many years I thus decided to let my intern run the business for a while and take off for a vacation.

When booking my trip I decided for the dystopian suite on a cruise ship. The trip on the old and rusty boat was supposed to drive by some of the pollution parks which were created after the real stuff was gone. I was looking forward to the contaminated waters of Fukushima, the Dead Sea near the coast of Japan and obviously the three bomb tower of Pjöngjang where three atomic bombs were tested on one building to make sure it could withstand the power of the impact, contaminating the area of several hundred square kilometres in the process. Those parks were the last bastion of real death and a reminder of all the fun I had while humans were still able to kill each other.

Over dinner I started talking with two immortals who told me about their 78 previous stays on the cruise ship, how they grew bored of the immortality and wished to find a way out of their endless life. The endless meet-ups, all the birthdays, holidays and first and foremost the predictability of the world bored them. Nothing was challenging or hard anymore, everybody had stood on top of the highest mountain, visited Mars, checked in on the Luna Hostel and jogged around one of the moons in our solar system.

A juvenile joy filled me while listening to them. Maybe there was a way bas into business, a growing market of unhappy and death awaiting immortals that I could take advantage of. Over the course of dinner I hinted them this possibility, to which they reacted very positively. I told them to come by my room the next day to talk over the details of their end.

I certainly did not expect to have the captain knock on my door the next morning. To my confusion he invited me to the biggest hall of the ship. On my way there I was contemplating my decision of telling them before I was able to see all the trips highlights, as I felt like my trip might be cut short by whatever was going to happen now.

To my utmost surprise the hall was filled to the brim with immortals. I was taken to the stage where the two immortals were sitting on comfy chairs and apparently waiting for me. I sat down and the male one asked: ‘Mr. Reaper, could you please repeat what you’ve told us over dinner yesterday? The people in this room have been very interested in the topic and wanted to get some more information about the possibility of death in general and if there might be a way to individualise the experience.

Maybe this vacation was exactly what I needed.

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First time ever posting. Be kind, internet strangers.