Terry Pratchett Meets Death

It got darker and colder all of a sudden. Terry looked round and for the first time in a long time he felt fine. Nothing hurt, the mind was clear. Then his eyes got accustomed to the light and he saw him.

“So, this is it…” he said with a sigh of relief.

YES, said Death, grinning as always, since you couldn’t do much else when your face is a skull, but this time it seemed like he meant it. THIS IS IT.

“I thought there would be big chested valkyries, or something.”

WOULD YOU LIKE THEM TO BE HERE?, Death said in a voice that seemed to go straight into the brain, bypassing the ears completely.

“No, not particularily, no.” Terry replied.

GOOD, THEN I BELIEVE EVERYTHING WORKED OUT FINE, said Death.

“Yes, I suppose it did. I just hoped there would be more time for…well for things. I left so many things unsaid.” Terry said.

NO, YOU’VE SAID IT ALL. AND IT WAS GOOD.

It seemed like Death winked at Terry at this point, which is hard to do when you have no eyelids, but he managed it anyway. The light in his sockets seemed to flicker for a second.

SQUEEK, SQUEEEEK!

“Oh, hi there, I didn’t notice you!” said Terry to the small rat-like figure in the corner.

SQUEEEK! screeched the Death of Rats.

HE SAYS WE’LL TRY TO TALK TO THE AUDITORS. BUT I WOULDN’T GET MY HOPES UP. LIFE IS FOR THE LIVING. Death said, his words dropping like tombstones.

Terry seemed to ponder on that for a bit, and then replied “Yes, I suppose you’re right. So what happens now?”

YOU MOVE ON, Death answered.

Terry looked at Death for a short while and then asked, rather sadly “Is there time for a game of chess?”

I HATE CHESS, I COULD NEVER REMEMBER HOW THE HORSE THINGIES MOVE.

And just like that, Terry began to fade. His last words were “Don’t let them forget about me…”

Sir Terry Pratchett died at the age of 66, on the 12th of March 2015, 8 years after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. He died in his bed, of natural causes, surrounded by his family, with his cat sleeping next to him. The Discworld series will be taken over by his daughter Rhianna. We at Teehunter, and me personally, would like to pay our respects to one of the greatest authors that ever lived. My avatar has been showing lord Vetinari for a long time now, and it saddens me especially that he died one day after I came to England. It was one of my hopes to someday meet Sir Terry Pratchett, but it will never be. May he rest in peace.