A Refund on Death (with Tormentor Test)

By S.E. Batt

Death is only inevitable for those who let it catch them.

Jessica, a daredevil known by mortal and spiritual alike, decides to make her day more exciting with a few tricks on her motorcycle. A quick slip, however, leaves her at the mercy of death herself, long before she hoped she would pay a visit. In a final stand, she tries to make what nobody else has ever made -- a refund on death. Will she make her claim known in the face of death?

A short story at around 3,500 words, which also contains the story 'Tormentor Test', at around 3,600 words.

• Language: English
• Publisher: S.E. Batt
• Release date: Apr 27, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310338090

S.E. Batt

S.E. Batt loves all things light-hearted and humorous. When he's not writing, he's playing video games, talking to other writers, and generally wishing he was writing. He's a proud member of the Forward Motion online writer's group, and sends all of its members a digital thumbs-up.

Book preview

Copyright

A REFUND ON DEATH (WITH TORMENTOR TEST)

S.E. Batt

Copyright 2014 by S.E. Batt

Smashwords Edition

Table of Contents

1. Copyright

2. A Refund On Death

3. Tormentor Test

4. Thanks

5. Excerpt from Friend Ship

A Refund on Death

Some people in this world are said to be at Death’s door, presumably awaiting him to open up the door to the other side, allowing the person to pass through into the next stage of their life. Some people, however, much prefer to knock on Death’s door, run down Death’s path, trample over Death’s roses and jump into Death’s bushes, watching for him to poke his hooded head out of the door in confusion.

One of these people was Jessica.

Jessica was good friends with death, in the same way that a cat who kept escaping from the neighbour’s Rottweiler would eventually know him on a name-to-name basis. She could only live if she was on the verge of not living. She had experimented with several ventures in the world of daredevils, ranging from bungee jumping to swimming with sharks. Today, she was trying something different. Today was the day where she tried motorcycle riding.

They say that the people in hospitals call motorcyclists ‘organ donors’ due to their reputation of getting into messes, sometimes very literally. Jessica didn’t think it was that bad, to be honest. Not as glamorous as the movies make it out to be, she’d give them that, but it was still a blast. In fact, she wondered why hardly anyone else ever took this mode of transport. Hard to complain about the traffic while it’s busy wedging you between two heavy contraptions of steel on wheels. Any car that was standing still was, to be quite frank, a blessing.

Not that Jessica minded, anyway. The less blessings she had, the better.

This particular road sported barely any cars. She had taken the road for the hell of it, to see where it would lead her. Maybe she would discover an awesome ramp over a ravine, or perhaps the chance to chase down some criminals on the run. Turns out, it lead to a boring, uneventful straight road, fields either side of her as far as the eye could see. It was a peaceful, serene sight that brought contentedness to those who saw it, and it was busy boring Jessica to near death. The worst kind of close call.

A small spark illuminated itself within Jessica’s mind. Sure, the current setting for her escapades proved to be less than ideal, but she had to remind