[INTRO — OLD HOUSE / 2:07 A.M.] [BOTTLE CAP UNSCREWS] [LIQUOR POURING] Twenty years. Twenty fucking years… And I still pour two glasses. One for me. One for him. Stupid… I know. [GLASS PLACED ACROSS THE TABLE] BEST FRIEND: Here’s to you, brother. [DRINKS] Still pissed you left me here. UNKNOWN VOICE: So am I. [LONG SILENCE] The bottle stopped halfway to my mouth. I knew that voice. BEST FRIEND: … No. DEATH: Hello again. [FAMILIAR SOUL SAMPLE BEGINS] ⸻ [VERSE 1] Black jacket. Same face. Not one fucking wrinkle. Twenty years disappeared for me— but Death looked exactly the same. BEST FRIEND: Get out. DEATH: Can’t. BEST FRIEND: I SAID GET THE FUCK OUT! DEATH: And I said… can’t. I looked toward the clock. 2:08. Then toward the bottle. Half empty. Death looked at it too. DEATH: Still drinking? BEST FRIEND: Don’t start. DEATH: Twenty years… and that’s what you did with them? BEST FRIEND: You don’t know what I’ve been through. Death looked at me. DEATH: Actually… I’m probably the one person who does. ⸻ [HOOK] Twenty years… poured into a glass. Twenty years trying to drown the past. He gave me tomorrow… I gave tomorrow away. Now Death’s sitting across from me saying— “Today’s the day.” ⸻ [VERSE 2] BEST FRIEND: Why are you here? Death didn’t answer. Just stared. BEST FRIEND: No… No, no. Not tonight. DEATH: It’s time. [DRUMS STOP] BEST FRIEND: No. DEATH: Yes. BEST FRIEND: Nah, fuck that. Come back tomorrow. DEATH: There isn’t one. BEST FRIEND: Next week. DEATH: No. BEST FRIEND: Next year! DEATH: No. BEST FRIEND: I’LL CHANGE! [TOTAL SILENCE] Death looked at me. Not angry. Worse. Disappointed. DEATH: Now? ⸻ [VERSE 3] BEST FRIEND: Yeah. I’ll stop drinking. I’ll get help. I’ll call my family. I’ll fix everything. Just… give me some time. DEATH: Time? BEST FRIEND: Please. DEATH: I gave you twenty years. BEST FRIEND: You didn’t give me shit! DEATH: No. He did. [SAMPLE FLIPS] Death pointed toward the second glass. The one I’d been pouring every night for a dead man. DEATH: Remember the cemetery? I put my hand on your shoulder. You screamed that it should’ve been you. And I told you: “Yes. It should have.” But your friend chose differently. He gave me his life… so you could keep yours. Then I asked you one question. BEST FRIEND: … I remember. DEATH: Say it. BEST FRIEND: Don’t. DEATH: Say it. BEST FRIEND: You asked… if I was gonna waste my life. DEATH: And what did you do? ⸻ [VERSE 4 — NO EXCUSES] BEST FRIEND: I couldn’t live without him! DEATH: You did. For twenty years. You just didn’t do anything with it. BEST FRIEND: You don’t understand grief. DEATH: Don’t I? Death leaned forward. DEATH: I’ve watched kings cry like children. Mothers scream over babies. Husbands hold wives. Children hold fathers. I’ve watched people beg God for one more minute… since the first human learned what goodbye meant. Don’t tell Death he doesn’t understand grief. [SILENCE] BEST FRIEND: Then you should understand why I couldn’t move on. DEATH: I never asked you to move on. I asked you to live. There’s a difference. ⸻ [HOOK] Twenty years… poured into a glass. Twenty years trying to resurrect the past. Thought hurting proved that my love remained… But keeping yourself miserable doesn’t bring back the dead again. ⸻ [VERSE 5] Death picked up the second glass. Looked through the whiskey. DEATH: You know what’s funny? BEST FRIEND: What? DEATH: You spent twenty years saying you wished you’d died instead. Now I’m finally here… and suddenly you wanna live. [BEAT CUTS] That hurt. Because it was true. BEST FRIEND: I was hurting. DEATH: I know. BEST FRIEND: I was angry. DEATH: I know. BEST FRIEND: I didn’t know how to live without him! DEATH: Then you should’ve learned. BEST FRIEND: HOW?! DEATH: One day at a time. The same way everybody else has to. ⸻ [VERSE 6 — BARGAINING] I dropped to my knees. Didn’t care anymore. BEST FRIEND: Please. Give me one year. DEATH: No. BEST FRIEND: Six months. DEATH: No. BEST FRIEND: A week! DEATH: No. BEST FRIEND: ONE FUCKING DAY! I can call everybody. Tell them I’m sorry. Tell my kids— DEATH: They needed that call ten years ago. BEST FRIEND: I KNOW! DEATH: Your mother needed it before she died. BEST FRIEND: STOP! DEATH: Your daughter needed you sober at her graduation. BEST FRIEND: STOP! DEATH: Your grandson needed to know his grandfather. BEST FRIEND: I SAID STOP! DEATH: And your best friend… needed his sacrifice to mean something. [COMPLETE SILENCE] ⸻ [VERSE 7] I couldn’t breathe. Not because I was dying. Because every excuse I’d built over twenty years… had just collapsed. BEST FRIEND: So that’s it? You’re gonna punish me? DEATH: I’m not punishment. BEST FRIEND: Then what are you? DEATH: The deadline. [KICK] BEST FRIEND: Please… I understand now
