Under_The_Whispering_Door_by_TJ_Klune

“It’s like that here,” Hugo said. “Away from everything else. I can’t
imagine what it must be like where you’re from. I don’t know much else
aside from this place.”
Wallace looked at him. “Why? Don’t you ever leave?”
“Can’t really do that,” Hugo said. “Never know when someone like you is
going to come here. I always need to be ready.”
“You’re trapped here?” Wallace asked, sounding horrified. “Why the hell
would you ever agree to that?”
“Not trapped,” Hugo said. “That implies I don’t—or didn’t—have a
choice. I did. I wasn’t forced into being a ferryman. I chose to be. And it’s
not like I can’t ever leave. I go into town all the time. I have my scooter, and
sometimes, I go for a ride just to clear my head and breathe.”
“Your scooter,” Wallace repeated. “You ride that.”
Hugo arched an eyebrow. “I do. Why?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Wallace said, throwing up his hands. “Maybe because
if you crash, you’ll die?”
“Then it’s a good thing I don’t crash it.” His lips quirked. “I’m careful,
Wallace, but I appreciate your concern. Thank you for worrying about me.”
He sounded delighted, and Wallace refused to be charmed by it.
He failed miserably. “Someone has to,” he muttered, and as soon as the
words left his mouth, he wished desperately he could take them back. He
plowed ahead, deflecting awkwardly. “This place is still a prison.”
“It is? Why? I don’t need much. I never have. I’ve got everything I want
right here.”
“But … that’s…” Wallace didn’t know what that was. Odd, surely. He’d
never met someone so settled into their own skin. “Doesn’t it get to you? All
this death, all the time.”
Hugo shook his head. “I don’t think of it that way, though I get what you’re
trying to say. I think…” He paused as if choosing his words carefully. “Death
isn’t always something to be feared. It’s not the be-all and end-all.”
Wallace remembered what Mei had told him. “An ending. Leading to a
new beginning.”
“That’s right,” Hugo said. “You’re learning. It can be beautiful, if you let
it, though I can see why you wouldn’t think so.” He looked up at the stars.
“The best way to describe it is the sense of relief most people feel when
they’re ready to go through the door. It may take them time to get to that point,