“How did you die?” Ever asked.

  “I died right there in that machine over there,” Spencer said, upward nodding towards the machine he was floating around. “That’s my CAT 320D.”

  “Oh you operate these?” Ever said. If he looked a bit harder, he could see the cabin could fit one person in it. He now felt silly that he thought these machines were monsters.

  “How else would we dig out this quarry?” Spencer put his hands on his hips and looked down.

  “Why dig such a big hole?” Ever asked.

  “Yeah…” Spencer suddenly became introspective. “We were digging up minerals, crushing it, shipping it off to the highest bidder, you know the drill.”

  “I see.” Ever said. The two ghosts floated above the quarry in silence. “What was your cause of death?”

  He crossed his arms and shook his head. “Heart attack the docs reckon it was. FIFO wouldn’t have made it any easier.”

  “FIFO?”

  Spencer looked at Ever matter of factly. “Fly In, Fly Out. I was spending 12 weeks here, a week back at home, away from my wife and kids.” He crossed his arms and looked out of the quarry for the first time. Beyond the gargantuan hole were just trees for miles. He winced and closed his eyes. “I miss them and…” Without hesitation, Ever let go of the scythe. It floated in place while Ever placed an arm around Spencer’s shoulder. The ghost looked at him, gave a small, resolute nod and continued. I miss them and I think I... I ruined their future.”

  “Why?”

  “Digging’s all I’ve known since I’ve been an apprentice.” Ever perked up, he hadn’t met another apprentice before, but now wasn’t the time to bond over shared vocational experiences. “I made good money doing this, mate, real good. I was setting up my young boys for a good future. Could've given the missus the late honeymoon she wanted too. But something was eating at me." He turned towards Ever. "What world would they live in if I dug it all up?”

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  “I couldn’t shake it off. Once the thought had set, I couldn’t let it go. I couldn’t quit either, had a mortgage to pay, but it didn’t sit right with me. I was destroying so much vegetation!”

  There was a pulse, not from the floating scythe, but from the ghostly pot in the crook of Ever’s arm.

  “You blamed yourself for destroying nature, but all you were trying to do was be a good father," Ever replied.

  “But look at me now! I’m dead! I’ve made enough to keep them going until they’re 18 hopefully and maybe the insurance money will be enough but at what cost? The trees are gone.”

  “Spencer…” Ever said. “It was not your decision to dig this hole, right?”

  “I mean, the quarry belongs to the fat cats, yeah.”

  “All you were trying to do was provide.”

  “That’s right.”

  “Now that you’re dead, will the digging stop?”

  “Definitely not.” They were quiet for a while. Ever smiled faintly as he watched the realization dawn on the ghost’s face.

  “It’s not your fault,” Ever said. “You are not to blame.”

  “Am I going to Hell, Ever?”

  “You’re going to the Underworld and something tells me, you’re not going to Tartarus.”

  “That’s all fire and screaming right?”

  “Yeah. Come with me.” Ever grabbed the scythe and floated all the way down to the bottom of the pit. He placed the ghost pot on the earth and with his hand still on it, momentarily became human. The pot became solid, the tuft of grass returning to color.

  As a reaper again Ever straightened up. My mentor tells me it’s good to touch grass once in a while. Would you like to touch it?

  “Yes mate," he nodded fervently. "Yes I would.” The sensory menu lit up:

  SENSES

  —--

  Smell

  Touch

  —--

  Taste

  Ever looked at the options. Looks like he was out of easy mode. He focused on ‘Touch’, invoked it and the menu disappeared. The scythe broke off into two strings of light, infusing Spencer’s hands. He looked at them in awe, then hesitantly caressed the grass in the pot, closing his eyes as the burden of guilt lifted from his shoulders.