We were on my bed going through our happy memories on her phone when my wife, Delisha, first pointed out that I didn’t seem to age. I told her it was nonsense and that I had photos of my childhood, growing from a small baby to the adult I was. I was wrong.

I loved her. She was the first love of my life. I had many lovers after her, and countless wives, but she never left the little sweet home at the bottom of my heart.

I took out a tattered photograph. She and I were so happy that day, we were on a beach, celebrating her birthday. I looked into her eyes and felt sorrow and regret. Regret of not dying with her.

There was no soul alive in the universe. It had been aeons since she had died. I didn’t remember anyone else from that era, not even my parents.

I didn’t regret my life. I was given immunity against other superpowers, a boon showered on me by the Grim Reaper himself. That didn’t mean I couldn’t die of old age but here I was. Had Grim Reaper given me that additional power unknowingly?

It was all meaningless for nothing mattered any more. I wanted to die. I had, in fact, attempted suicide countless times but it never worked. Was Grim Reaper blind to me?

I had even kissed a lot of superheroes. Not because I loved them, no. Grim Reaper had given me my powers on the condition that I wouldn’t get involved with anyone with supernatural abilities, or else he’d come for me.

I was never interested in superheroes. Delisha was also just another normal human being. A tear dropped over her face in the photo. I wished to see her again. It was painful to look at her static photo.

I cried loudly begging God to end me.

Suddenly there was a voice in my head

“I’ll give you what you want and more.”

“God?”

“Yes. Fulfil your task, do it with diligence, and then I’ll give you whatever you want.”

“What's the task?”

“You’ve to take the place of the Grim Reaper.”

“The Grim Reaper?”

“Yes, he is no more. He vanished ages ago.”

“But people still died. All of my friends are dead. Who was behind all those deaths?”

“You’ll know soon. Do you agree to the task?”

I agreed.

The next moment there was a bright flash of light flooding my vision. My eyes took some adjustment but then I was in a dark room floating like a ghost. There was a bed in front of me.

I looked at myself. I had dark robes on. I realised it was my first day of collecting souls.

To my horror. There she was, Delisha, sleeping peacefully, with her arm around me. I felt a mix of emotions churning in my guts.

I noticed something else, there was a humanoid figure floating prone in front of the bed wrapped in dark clothes.

The voice in my head was back.

“You’re here to collect the soul of the Grim Reaper.”

“Am I back in time?”

“Yes”

“Why did he die?”

“He tried to kill you, but the curse backfired.”

“Why?”

The voice was gone.

I spent ages collecting souls. God had promised me anything I wanted, and I wanted to go back and live a normal life with Delisha, growing old together, even if it meant working for billions of years again.

When I had collected the last soul of the universe, I heard the voice again

“You’ve been excellent. Tell me what you want?”

“I want to go back to Delisha and grow old with her.”

“I am not surprised. The girl was special. In fact, I was the one who gave her the power.”

“Power? You’re mistaken, she didn’t have any power.”

“I’m not mistaken, I am god. She had supernatural power. You both didn’t know of course.”

I connected the dots.

“That’s why Grim Reaper was there that night. It was the first time I had kissed her and that broke my promise to him.”

“Mm hmm.”

“Why don’t I age? Did you also give me that power?”

“No. When the curse back-fired the Grim Reaper’s time bubble transferred to you.”

I wondered to myself why it backfired. God heard.

“It back-fired because of Delisha of course.”

“Did she use her superpower to protect me?”

“Yes, but not knowingly.”

“What superpower did she have god?”

“To have an unbreakable bond. Now off you go.”

I went back to the night I was supposed to be killed. It was the night I had first kissed her. I looked at her sleeping face, knowing she wanted nobody else but me. She had unknowingly created a bond between us that even death couldn't break.

Decades later, we died together holding hands after a life full of happy memories.

A familiar face in black robes appeared after our souls left our bodies. He didn’t recognize us in our old wrinkly state, but I did. I greeted him like an old friend but not revealing who I was. He took me beyond the mortal world, with Delisha by my side.

He returned to collect more souls, hoping to return to her own Delisha soon – only billions of years more.