Amy had dropped Albert off at his apartment and given him a reassuring silent nod before leaving. It was probably the most encouraging gesture she had ever shown him. It meant a lot, considering no one else had really tried to reassure him at all since he had died.

When Albert made it back up to the apartment he was dreading the possibility that his mom hadn’t gone in to work. For the first time in days, his hands weren't shaking as he pushed the key into the lock of the door, but he was nervous enough that he probably shouldn't have been so still. But when he opened the door, the apartment was dark. The lights had been turned off. When Albert flipped the light switch by the door, he immediately noticed a note that was propped up on the small bar top surface next to the front door.

He recognized his mother's hand writing, but hadn't expected this at all. He read it quietly to himself. IT almost felt like, if he was too loud it would be overheard and used against him.

Albert,

I hope you made it back safely.

I’m sorry for being so upset with you. I know you’ve had a hard time being injured and cooped up in the apartment, but I wish you would have at least told me the truth. I’m not done talking with you, but I don’t want to force you out.

I’m worried about you.

Mom

Something about the shortness of the note made it feel very genuine. Albert knew she had a lot on her mind with his lying and skipping school. She probably still wasn’t going to trust him, but it sounded like she wasn’t as upset. Or at least, she had calmed down some by the time she wrote the note.

Albert carried the note with him as he went back into his bedroom to change clothes. He almost forgot to put on fresh bandages since he'd taken off the old dirty ones. That would be too hard for him to explain, and he really hoped his mom wouldn’t go through his trash and see that he wasn’t throwing away mostly clean gauze.

He was about to get into his bed to sleep, for the first time in what felt like weeks. But he glanced at the note his mom had left him again and sat down on the side of his bed instead. He would need to find the right way to explain the internship offer to her. And in a way that would make his previous lies less suspicious. He didn’t want to lie to her at all, but he couldn’t tell her the truth. He’d never be able to leave the house again if she knew what was really happening, assuming she even believed him. She’d probably think the full truth was a bigger lie and trust him less if he tried to tell her. If he didn’t give her a fleshed out and convincing half-truth, she’d never trust him again.

Albert went back out to the living room and sat down in the armchair that his mother normally occupied. He pulled a notebook out of his backpack and started to write up what he was going to say.

He started with an apology. A reasonable apology. He didn’t want to tell her about this in case it didn’t happen, and he wasn’t sure she would approve if she didn’t know more about it.

"No. That wasn’t right." Albert muttered to himself as he scribbled through his first attempt at a draft.

He was worried she might not support him, since it was such a strange internship and debt collection isn’t positively perceived. And he didn’t want her to meet the people at the debt collection agency, because it was a professional setting and it was awkward to have his mom there.

Then, he needed something to explain Amy’s involvement. Maybe that her dad worked there too? But then, his mom might want to meet him. And to the best of Albert’s knowledge, Amy’s dad didn’t exist. It might be enough to simply tell his mom that Amy was helping him fill out the application and double check his work… because she was good at filling out forms? Albert was at a loss for how to fit Amy into it. He scribbled that section of his outline out and decided that he would get back to it later.

Not long after trying to come up with a way of asking for his mom’s opinion on the opportunity, Albert succumbed to sleep. Real sleep. Not the zoned out, still mostly awake, state he had been going through to pass time over the past few nights. Peaceful, restful, dreamless sleep. The kind of sleep you wish you were experiencing when you are having a hard time falling asleep.

When Albert awoke, it was morning. The sun was shining through the curtains. He could hear his mom in the shower. He wasn’t sure when she’d gotten home, but it looked like she had seen him and left him alone when she had. The notebook was still flipped open on his lap, thankfully to a mostly empty page. If she had peeked at what he was writing, she probably would see it as nothing more than a practice apology. But it still made him nervous.

Albert pulled himself out of the armchair and got dressed. He didn’t anticipate having much time to talk to his mom before he left for school, but he knew the sooner he talked to her the better he would feel and the more likely she would be to believe him. At least, he hoped.

When Albert emerged back into the central space of the apartment, his mom was making breakfast. She didn’t normally make anything fancy.The last few days, she had offered to make more extravagant meals, but Albert had insisted on normal food—mostly because he had not been interested in food and didn’t want to waste anything potentially expensive. But now… Albert could smell bacon at the very least, and the smell didn’t cause any nausea. In fact, he felt incredibly hungry. It was like when he had taken a sip of water the night before and felt like he could down the whole bottle then and there. He had actually downed the whole bottle the second he had gotten in the car with Amy, but he hadn’t really expected food to be so appealing to him so quickly.

When he leaned over his mom’s shoulder to see what she was making, he was surprised to see she was actually making pancakes, eggs, and bacon in one of her larger professional skillets. She was a great cook, which was partly why she did so well at her job that they let her get away with working longer hours than the rest of the cooks, but she rarely cooked anything more complex than scrambled eggs at home. It was almost a shame that a lot her nicer cookware saw so little use. Albert wasn’t sure when she’d gone out to get the bacon either, as there hadn’t been any in the fridge the last time he checked and his mom hadn’t gone out to get groceries since he’s been injured.

“Good morning, Albert.” She smiled at him as she noticed him peering over her shoulder. It was a strained smile, almost nervous. But she looked more glad to see him home and safe than she looked nervous. “I know you would have objected if I’d given you the option, but I have decided that we're splurging today.”

“Actually, this smells really good. Thank you for making breakfast.”

Albert sat back at the small dining room table and waited for food to be ready. He would offer to help, but he knew his mom didn’t like him to clutter up the kitchen space by standing there. She had things well under control.

“I saw you fell asleep writing something last night. I didn’t read any of it, but is that something you were going to share with me?”

“I was trying to find the best way to tell you what I didn’t yesterday.”

“Does that mean that things went well?” His mom raised a nervous eyebrow as she referenced what he’d said the day before.

“Kind of.” Albert scratched the back of his head nervously, not sure where to start.

“Let’s eat first. That way if something else comes up, we can at least have enjoyed breakfast first.”

His mom’s avoidance of the problem wasn’t normal. It was almost like she was trying to deflect away from it. It wasn’t something Albert had been expecting, but he wasn’t going to argue. He didn’t know if he’d have time to actually talk before school though if they ate first. She was making a lot of food.

“What if I’m late for school…?”

“It’s Saturday, Albert. There isn’t any school today.”

Albert stared blankly at the plate of food his mother put in front of him as he tried to remember what day it was. Was it really Saturday? Did I lose track of time that badly? He didn’t think his mom was lying to him, but it really didn’t feel like a Saturday.

“You must have seriously hit your head hard.” She laughed a little as she shook her head. “Are you sure you don't have a concussion?”

“No. But I do feel a lot better now… I just lost track of the days. Probably because I haven’t been sleeping great.”

Albert dug into his plate of food as soon as he stopped talking. It was better than he had anticipated and the more he ate, the hungrier he felt. Almost like he had gone three days without eating.

“Well, you were sleeping like a log last night. And I’m glad you have your appetite back too.”

They ate in relative silence after that. Partly because no one was sure how to bring the more complicated discussion of what Albert had been hiding from his mom back up, but also partly because Albert couldn’t stop shoveling food into his mouth long enough to talk. When his plate was finally empty, he waited in nervous silence as his mom finished her food before trying to get back into the conversation he was dreading.

“Albert, I am stuffed, I think I should take a nap…”

“No.” Albert interrupted her. He could tell she was trying to avoid the conversation, and he needed to have it. “We need to talk and I’m ready to talk to you about this.”

“Okay. Let’s talk then.” His mom’s expression got darker, more sad, but she straightened her back and put her hands down on the table in an attentive posture.

“I got accepted into an internship program.”

Albert waited to try and judge her reaction before he carried on, but she wasn’t reacting much at all.

“It’s kind of a big deal at school, and it’s a competitive program to get into. I didn’t want to talk about it in case I didn’t get accepted.” Albert was trying to remember what he’d written down, but he knew he’d already deviated from his script. “And I was hanging out with Amy because she was helping fill out the application and like… you know, cheering me on. She’s a really good friend… and I’m sorry you were introduced to her the way you were.”

“She did seem very polite.” His mom finally relented and relaxed slightly. “I’m sorry I embarrassed you the last time she was here.”

“I don’t think she minds.”

“Still.” She shook her head in mild disappointment. “So what sort of internship is this?”

“It’s a sort of law... internship. I would be working at a debt collection firm and going over legal documents and helping people with their debt payment plans.” It was a stretch, but Albert felt pretty sure that it was mostly true. “It’s a weird internship, so I wasn’t sure if you’d approve. But I also haven’t decided if I’m going to take it or not.”

“Do you want to… you know… work in debt collection… as a career?” She didn’t seem thrilled at the prospect of her son being a debt collector, but she was clearly trying to be supportive. Albert took that as a good sign, it meant that she believed that part of the story.

“Not really, but I could see myself working in law. Maybe finance law. I like the idea of helping people, you know? Like really… working with real problems that people have.” That was really the biggest thing that was tempting him to take the internship. That and not having to deal with whatever it was Death would do to keep him close if he declined.

“Why didn’t you want me to meet these people then? If it’s a good internship I want to know where you’ll be and who you’ll be working with.”

“It’s not in a great part of town, and I didn’t want to show up to work with my mom… you know. That would be… lame. If I do well in the internship I might actually work there for a bit before I try and find a better job. And I don’t want to be the guy that everyone remembers having his mom drop him off.”

“That’s fair, I guess.” She looked a little sad that he didn’t want to be seen with her. “But what part of town is it? What’s the name of the business? Do I have to sign anything? Do you have paperwork from them?”

“It’s over by that building that used to have the Mexican restaurant with the really good pollo fundido.” He knew she would be familiar with the area, and that she wouldn’t be thrilled

“I don’t know, Albert. I don’t want you walking over there. It’s really far and if you’re there late…”

“I wouldn’t be… Amy got accepted too, and she has pretty much full access to her dad's car. If I took the internship we’d probably go together.” Albert cringed at the implication that he’d be spending a lot of extra time with Amy. But, really, the safety of the neighborhood seemed like the least of his problems. “And I think I forgot my application stuff in her car…”

“Have you been driving around with Amy a lot lately?”

“She saw me walking to school the other day and offered to give me a ride because she thought I looked like I was limping.” Albert was getting deeper in to the territory of actual lies and wanted to change topics. “I don’t think you need to sign any of the paperwork though. But I can show it to you… Monday. I guess. I don’t have Amy’s phone number and I don’t know exactly where she lives, so I won’t run into her again until school.”

“Why don’t you know her number?” Albert’s mom became suspicious immediately at the implication.

“I don’t have a cell phone, mom. I’m not giving a girl my home phone number, even if we’re just friends.”

Her suspicion dropped immediately at the lie. Though, it wasn’t exactly a lie. Albert didn’t have a phone, and he wouldn’t have given out his home phone number to anyone out of embarrassment. What if someone called him and his mother answered? He would have died. Though, now that he had literally died, he thought better of phrasing his reaction in those terms.

“So, why haven’t you decided yet?”

“Well… there’s some stuff I’m not sure about yet. Like, do I want to work with the people there? Is this something that I want to do for a long period of time? The internship lasts the rest of the school year and it would be during school hours. And I kind of wanted your opinion too… once I realized that I’d gotten accepted at least.”

“I think…” She paused to let out a deep breath. “I think it’s probably a really good opportunity. I don’t know if you’ll get a lot more like it. And it’s always good to gain professional experience where you can. Even if you don’t think you want to do anything related to debt or finance law after the internship, you’re probably going to learn some valuable skills that you can use in other ways and in other jobs.”

“I guess.”

“And it will look good on a resume… or a college application.”

His mother’s practical reasons fell short of the dilemma he was facing, but she couldn’t know the whole thing. There wasn’t a practical way that Albert could convey the real struggle in his mind without telling her more than she should know.

“What’s with that look? Is there something else?”

“Kind of. It’s kind of unrelated.” Albert thought about how to phrase his dilemma as a question that she could answer. “There’s another kid in one of my classes… and he applied for the internship too. But he didn’t get accepted. And so, he’s mad at me because I did. But I know, that if I turn it down and there’s the possibility that he gets in instead as a second choice, he’ll still be mad at me. Like, no matter what I do, I feel like I’m going to get on his bad side and it’s going to cause drama.”

“That’s rough. Kids your age are so mean. I don’t think kids were that mean when I was in school.” She bit her lip in contemplation. “If that’s what’s bothering you about the internship, take him out of the picture and consider what your choice would be. If he wasn’t mad at you, if he wasn’t even around, would you take the internship?”

Albert paused to try and apply her solution to his problem. No matter what he did, Death was going to linger and try to keep his claws in him. If he accepted the internship, he’d be working for him and things would be less sneaky. If he turned down the internship, Death would find some other way to get what he wanted from Albert… and it would probably be a much less straightforward process.

But if Death weren’t in the scenario at all… If Albert was given the opportunity to just arbitrate souls on his own, doing what he could to ease the stress and pain people caused when they passed away... Albert would accept that immediately.

“I think… I think I’d take it.” He wasn’t sure if he actually would… the thought of working with Death and Hope didn’t make him comfortable at all, but having his mom’s feedback helped. She had a good point. If there was a chance to do the work he’d be doing for Death, without Death. He’d do it. Even if it was still with Hope. And Amy would make the whole thing feel safer. He felt he could trust her to have a reliable and honest opinion regardless of what he chose.

"I think you should take it then."