David stood on the wrong side of the railing along the Old East Bridge, his hands behind him gripping the cold steel, as he stared through the swirling flurry of snow at the icy water churning hundreds of feet below him.

He could lean forward, let go, and that would be it. A moment of cold and dark, and then nothing. All the pain and despair would be gone. He swallowed hard, then closed his eyes tightly, willing his fingers to unclench.

A moment later, he opened his eyes, his hands still clamped down on the railing in spite of himself.

"Can't do it, huh?" said a voice from behind him. It startled him so much he almost did let go, but he quickly steadied himself and looked back. A man in a long, dark coat leaned against the bridge beside him, regarding him with a friendly smile that didn't touch his narrow brown eyes.

"Stay back! D-don't try to stop me!" David warned, unsteadily. He'd already made up his mind, he just needed his body to catch up.

The man chuckled. "Nah! You got it all wrong, buddy. I'm not gonna try to stop ya. I'm a real believer in...whaddya call it...free will. Ya wanna shuffle yourself off the ol' mortal coil? Well, that ain't nobody's business but yours, as far as I'm concerned."

David licked his chapped lips. "Then...then no offense, but why don't you just go away? I'd rather be alone."

"Sure, sure!" the man said, easily. "It's just that, well, if you don't mind my saying, it looks like you're having a bit of trouble taking the next step. I can help with that."

"I-I don't need a push!" David said, reflexively tightening his grip on the railing.

The man in black laughed. "I ain't gonna push you, pal! I'm just here to offer a little encouragement, is all." He lifted a black-gloved hand and snapped his fingers. David stared in bewilderment, as a gigantic silvery moving screen seemed to materialize in the air above him.

"What? How did you..." he trailed off, as a film began to play on the screen. It was his childhood home, just as he remembered it. His brother, sister, mother and father were seated around the old kitchen table, talking and laughing as they had breakfast.

"Notice anything, buddy?" the man asked, genially.

"It's...it's exactly how it was...how is that possible?" he said, staring at the apparition in awe.

"Not exactly, buddy, but I'm not surprised you didn't notice; after all, no one else noticed either. You're not there," the man pointed out.

"I don't understand." David said, as he watched his happy parents and siblings.

"See, everyone wants life -- especially their life -- to have some kinda meaning." the man explains. "It's the part of you that wants that, that won't let you let go of that railing. That's why I'm here to help. Because the truth is..."

The man snapped his fingers again.

David saw his high school basketball team. They'd gone to the State Championship when he played with them, but it appeared from what the man showed him that they would have done just as well without him.

Snap.

He saw his friends from college, enjoying their wild days without him as much or more than they'd done with him.

Snap.

He saw the woman who'd later become his wife, falling in love with and marrying someone else.

Snap.

He saw everything he'd ever achieved in his professional life, being done a thousand times over by other men in other places. He stared wide-eyed, his mouth opening and closing mutely as he saw image after image illustrating his own worthlessness.

"...the truth is, life don't got no meaning. Especially not yours, buddy." the man said, softly. "Those instincts telling you to hold on? They ain't nothing but a con."

He reached out, and squeezed David's shoulder, gently. "I know it's hard to accept. The truth usually is. Most guys wish they wasn't ever born, when they learn the way things really are. Ain't nothing you can do about that, unfortunately -- nothing I can do either, to be honest. But I can help you get it over with, to skip to the punchline of the big cosmic joke, so to speak."

David's head dropped forward, and his shoulders began to shake.

"Aww. There there, buddy." the man soothed. "It'll all be over soon. All you gotta do is let go."

David's shoulders shook harder, and then all at once, he burst out laughing.

The man frowned. "What the...you lose your marbles or something, pal?"

He shook his head. "Ha....no...I just...I just..."

Abruptly, David turned, and hoisted himself over the railing, back onto the bridge.

"What are ya doing?" the man protested.

"Whoo!" David cried, laughing and spinning a circle as he looked at the falling snow.

"What the hell's gotten into ya?" the man demanded, scowling.

He whirled around to face the man, beaming. "Hope!" he cried.

"Hope? How did ya get hope outta what I just showed ya?"

David laughed, crossing his arms. "Well, I mean, you're obviously the Devil!"

The man cleared his throat. "I, uh...what makes you say that?"

"A guy with magic powers shows up out of nowhere and tries to convince me there's no hope and that I should kill myself?" David said, raising an eyebrow. "You kinda telegraphed it."

"Well, uh..so what if I am?!" the man retorted. "You're still in a hole ya ain't never gonna dig out of, your life is still pointless, and you'd still be better off on the other side of that railing!"

David snorted. "Come on. I may have been wishing I'd never been born, but I wasn't born yesterday. You're the devil! You lie! Maybe not everything you say is a lie, but anything you'd go through that much trouble to tell me has practically got to be false!"

The man in black's eyes widened, and darted from left to right, as though searching for a way out. "Er...well..."

David laughed and jabbed a finger at him. "Aha! I knew it! Which means, ipso facto, that I can infer that life definitely does have meaning and purpose, and I can further deduce that my life in particular must have some especially noble purpose to fulfill -- otherwise, why would an actual devil be going out of his way to get me to kill myself?"

"I..." the man stammered, uncertainly.

Then to the man's utter amazement, David embraced him.

"Merry Christmas, you wonderful old demon!" David cried, tears of joy glistening in his eyes as he held the man close for a long moment.

Then, without another word, David turned and ran laughing into the snowy Christmas Eve night, leaving the flabbergasted devil behind.

Hah! This guy, he's on the list of lives to be ruined so Eyy, guess I have something to do!
This job keeps hell's economy, and population, rising, or falling if you'd rather. Evan Steven Limehorton, seems normal for Earth standards, time to do what i do best!
POOF
Leaping out at this guy in a fancy suit I make it my mission to make him feel useless and set him on a path that will drag him down with me!
"Watch where you're going earthling! Actually, c'mere!"
POOF
"This is when you were born, nothing special, next slide!"
POOF
"This is your first major achievement", some dorky kid won his first award, nice!
POOF
"This is your death." He's probably thinking I broke some code or somthing, old age, the most mediocre way to die.
POOF
"This is your first and somehow last love" What is this, he got rizz? That's interesting, a basic girl for a boring guy, booringggg
POOF
"This is the world after your death." His girlfriend died first so eh, noone to mourn him, somehow the guy stayed silent through that "Dude, you alright, they normally scream after seeing their death, dude, man, what happened?" Agh dammit! The spell grabbed a dog instead, a surprizingly quiet dog, but still the WRONG PERSON.

I teleport back to the office and try to take the guy Scrooge style, oooooohhhhhh spoookkyyyy, nope, next tactic, "Have you ever wondered how significant you are? Come here and find out!" This prick is ignoring me, how dare he!!!
"Man, dude, EVAN STEVENSON" yeah I got his name wrong, but that should work, right?

The man finally looks back "Finally, that took FOREVER I could've reaped a few souls in that time!" He looks at me blankly 'what do you want?' He reaches towards his ears, I now have his attention, at long last, I say my business pitch "Hey, kid, wanna know how the world remembers you after you die/expire?" He looks unamused, what???

After failing to grab this one man's soul, I go to the next one, Bethany Boname, a chick, nicee. Popping out of the list I see THE SAME WORKPLACE, the girl looks familiar, great- it's boring's girl, whatever "Hey, lassy, come here!"
POOF
This time I check to see who I have, a very confused looking couple hold hands, Evan whishpers something to Bethany, she seems to match his face now. FOR FU- right, I need to do a job here,
"This is your first meeting" Radio silence
"This is your death, Beth." She cries into Evan's suit, wow, weakkkkk!
"This is what happens after your death" A sad lonely man, all alone, how typical. The lovebirds hold hands looking into each others eyes.
POOF
Violently transporting them to the world after Evan's death I show them nothing changes after both of them die, that seems to get their attention, right? They're terrified and will realise they can just you know, turn to sin. What are they doing, oh no, praying, well then, if they want to play that way, I teleport them back to the workforce with a nice, sparkling tatoo on their hands, done! Next person please!

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