I had conquered many doors in my life. Small doors, revolving doors, glass ones and wooden ones. I had never been defeated by a door until today.

Standing outside Deaths front door, I clutched my phone, the text visible in my quaking hands.

We need to talk

I had overstepped the line. Death was going to send me on my afterlife way. I was only trying to help him. We had finally swapped numbers the night he came to see me, in case he wanted to talk while he was busy on the move. I wasn't expecting his first text to be calling it all quits.

"Are you planning on standing there all day?" Death asked, his door swinging open to reveal my frozen state. "Are you OK? You look like you've seen a ghost." His lips curled up at his little joke. We were in the underworld after all.

"I got your text." I raised my hand, showing him the phone, my eyes tracking his movements warily. "What do you want to talk about exactly?" I pulled at my sleeves nervously. I had thought we were friends.

"DA-DA!" He said in a flourish, stepping to the side so I could peak into his home.

I glanced around briefly before settling my gaze on Death, his grinning face not quite matching up to the expression I thought he would wear while firing me. "You mean you don't want to fire me?"

Death frowned, his hands dropping to his side. "Fire you? Why would I do that?"

I pointed to my phone screen. "Usually when people text someone saying, 'we need to talk' its unwelcome news."

Death shook his head, smiling shyly. "I guess there is more to modern language than I know. I'm not going to fire you." He chuckled, ushering me inside so I could finally look at what he wanted to show me. "Why would I want to fire you?"

"I thought I may have crossed the line with you the other night. Sharing feelings can be tough." I replied.

"Sharing my feelings made me come to a few realisations more like." Death chuckled, watching as my eyes grew wide as saucers at the site in front of me.

The whole room, once laid out like a cavern of curiosities was packed up, boxes stacked to one side of the room, furniture to the other.

"Going somewhere?!" I gasped.

"Just following some friendly advice. Getting with the times. Making my own choices, ruling my own destiny." Death smiled at her shocked face.

"I'm so proud of you!" I jumped up, wrapping him in a bear hug. "But where are you moving too?"

"An apartment block, penthouse suite. Windows everywhere." He sighed, looking wistfully around his old home. "It's even got a kitchen!" He chuckled.

"That means it's your turn to cook me dinner. I'm expecting remarkable things from you." I replied.

"Takeout Pizza it is then, unless you will be a good friend and master Chef and teach me all of your wonderful cooking skills?"

"Are you trying to flatter me to get me to cook for you in your new home so you don't' have to?" I scoffed.

We laughed together. "Is it working?"

"A little. Though If you insist on me teaching you to cook, then I insist that I get to hold you a housewarming party, though you have made me want pizza now." I held my hand out, waiting for him to shake on it.

"A party?" I watched as he pulled nervously at the collar of his shirt.

"With a few people, yes." I replied. "My friend Liv, Dagon, maybe one or two other Death Dancers. It's about time you got to know some more people."

Death smiled shyly. "I suppose it is unfair of me to put the privilege of being my friend on only one person's shoulders." He snickered as I gasped and laughed at the same time, a weird medley of the two coming out.

"I see you've also become cheeky! What else about you is going to change? I shall have to be prepared."

Death sighed, tucking me under his arm. "It's time I changed. Just because I am Death, doesn't mean I need to live in a coffin and have no life. A fresh start. I have so many ideas about what to change. I've always had them, but I've been afraid to even think I can make them happen. I little self- belief goes a long way." He looked down at me, shrugging his black cloak off his shoulders, hanging it up on a hook next to the door. "Being believed in goes a long way too."

"I'll always believe in you. I believe in everybody." I replied, looking once more around the room before I stepped out of the door with Death in tow.

"Pizza?" Death asked, shutting the door behind him.

"As if you had to ask."

One more chapter to go! Thank you to everyone who has stuck with this little story so far, I appreciate the votes and love seeing your comments, it's a huge motivation boost. I'd love to hear how you would like the story to finish- I have completed the last chapter, but I find it interesting to see how you would like it to go.