Would you like to know what it takes to become a grim reaper? It's not that hard… you just have to do one thing – commit suicide.
As one of the greatest sins in the world, you will be punished to watch over the people who struggle for life and relieve their memories whilst suffering and yearning for that one life you threw away, until you are forgiven. But are you ever forgiven?
Just like you are never forgiven for commiting a sin and are thus sent to hell, being a grim reaper is hell on it's own. Watching all those people struggle and never being able to understand why.
Most people love life. Or so I've been told. But there is nothing they wouldn't do to make it comfortable and enjoyable. Whether it's a career or a person they love… it's that lust for life that keeps them going, until it is taken by a person like me.
"What are you doing Adrian?" a friend of mine appeared on the rooftop from which I was observing people, intrigued by their normalness and wish to do something in their life.
"Oh, hey Lawrence. Long time no see." I stood up after turning around to look at my old friend and buddy from the time we just started out as reapers. He was the type to always strictly follow the rules and was like that, always dressed neatly, in a black suit, with reddish tie and neatly combed brown hair and greenish-yellow eyes just like mine, hidden behind the reading glasses. That was one of the trait for all grim reapers – short sightedness. Why? I never figured out that one myself.
"Why are you so interested in human beings?" he asked me again, confused by my actions as always.
"It's… It's fun." I replied with a laugh, "It's fun to watch them struggle for life. Desperately trying to hold onto it and improving, only to accept the death when we come to pick them up."
Lawrence adjusted his glasses but didn't reply.
"So, how many do you have today?" Lawrence asked casually
"Well I'm down to my last one." I replied witch a chuckle, "You?"
"Same. I'm just about to head over there." He added as I tied my long silver hair in a high ponytail
"Then shall we make this into a contest?" I suggested as Lawrence nodded with a smile and we both jumped from the rooftop to get to the appointed place as soon as possible.
It wasn't that far away but it had a completely different atmosphere…. It's like those two parts of London were so close and yet so one was so lawish and loud. Couple of places were overflowing with people and loud music, including some private parties as if everything was great and good in their lives. It probably was… but just a couple of blocks away from their perfect evening, a homeless man died or a child was yet again tossed out on the streets for better or worse. The world was never fair. Not even in death.
A man screamed after being forcefully tossed out from the pub, still overflowing with people. There were two man beside him and a police officer came in to intervene.
"Y-You… I'll remember your face." The man stuttered in his speech from too much alcohol but the man from the place just sighed and got back inside. Leaving the police officer to take care of the rest…
"S-Sir… You had too much to drink. Please, go and sober up." Police officer tried to calm down the man but the man just continued to huff and puff
"What's wrong with getting drunk? My daughter was just born… I have the right to celebrate." The man was yelling yet again
"That's all right, sir… But you should go home to your wife and daughter." The police officer continued to calm down the man as he scowled and tried to walk normal.
"Let's go Ian…." One of his friends called him and the three of them walked away.
That's my target right there: Ian Redfield. 35 year old man, simple factory worker who got married last year. Death will occure in exactly 18 minutes and 44 seconds. Nothing of note… I will proceed with the collecting.
I looked at the notebook one last time before I put it away and started following the man and his friends on the way home.
The man said goodbye to his friends and went on a completely different way than them, through a small dark alley in the quiet neighbourhood.
I haven't took my eyes from him for a minute as the man stumbled a couple of times as he walked and was about to cross the road when a carriage arrived out of nowhere and hit the man with an enourmous force before disappearing into the next alley.
The man was lying down in the middle of the road, gasping for breath and muttering something as I approached him.
"N-no… I can't d-die now." He was still struggling, "L-Lucy… m-y d-ear Lucy…" he was calling out another name but it wasn't recognizable.
"I'm sorry my friend… but death always comes." I whispered as I took out my death scythe to collect the man's soul.
A cinematic record showed up immediately as my death scythe touched him…
"Man, you had a boring life…" I commented while looking at the cinematic record. Even then, the man was still fighting and gasping for breath.
As I was just about to cut off the cinematic record, a few of the straps loosened up and came after me. I managed to jump few steps away from them so they missed me but they weren't calming down. Even few more loosened up and attacked me that I jumped again and started avoiding them as fast as possible.
"Ohh, you are a fighter." I chuckled as I avoided another attack and tried to cut them with the scythe but that didn't stop them. Actualy, it seems like it angered them even more as almost all of them were now after me, "Sorry I called you boring!"
I was jumping around fast avoiding and then attacking the strips but it barely did anything good.
Cathing my breath for a minute, one strip managed to quickly tie itself around my ankle and pull me down. I managed to untangle myself but others quickly grasped me and were slowly pressing me as if to suffocate.
I strugged to get out of them when I heard someones footstep nearby. The alley was dark and mostly empty so it could be anyone, a drunk person or someone who lives nearby. I glanced on the side, still struggling to get untangled only to see someone walking closer and closer before everything disappeared and I was soon untangled.
"Thank you, Lawrence!" I gasped for breath as Lawrence was now avoiding the straps while I was picking myself up from the floor. He managed to get us away before anyone saw us.
"How did this get out of control so much?" Lawrence asked seriously while battling the straps and I joined in. Finally, Lawrence managed to distract them while I used my scythe to cut them off completely and finally collect them.
Stamping the man's file as completed, I looked down to see whose footprints I heard earlier. It was a young woman with long blond hair and a beige coat. As soon as she saw the body, she immediatey rushed to help the man. But she looked very familiar to me…
"What happened here Adrian?" Lawrence asked confused by the whole situation
"I-I got careless for a minute." I replied coldly as I watched the former empty and dark street become loud and crowded as a lot of neighbours got out to see what is going on.
"That's strange for you to get careless." Lawrence added, "You are one of the best grim reapers we got."
I didn't reply as I continued to observe the situation at the street. Something was strange about that woman but I couldn't just go down there and investigate.
"Man, this is going to take a lot of paperwork." Lawrence sighed annoyed by everything when I finally turned towards him and untied my hair from the ponytail, ready to finish for the day.
"Let's get back." I suggested as we both got ready to leave the human world for now.
"Hey, didn't I win the contest?" he asked adjusting his glasses with a serious expression on his face
"What contest?" I asked confused
"The one you suggested we take tonight? I won. So what do I get?"
"Umm.. nothing." I replied with a laugh while he was yet again annoyed
"Then you will be doing the paperwork." he suggested and went ahead of me.
"What?! No!"
Almost a week passed since then. Despite still working and collecting the souls as usual, I just couldn't get it why did that blonde woman looked so familiar… there was something strange about her. So I started observing her before and after work.
"I had a feeling I would find you here." Lawrence yet again appeared on the rooftop I was sitting and observing from. After finding out the important information about her, I began observing her house altough she was only visible from one small window in the kitchen and only whe she was cooking up some tea. Which she was doing right now.
"Don't you have something better to do, Lawrence?" I asked the man with a laugh since ever since I began observing the woman, he was concerned I'm breaking the number one grim reaper rule – Don't meddle in the human lives.
Which I wasn't as she wasn't on any of my files this whole week. I even thought she would appear but nothing has happened so far… At least I kept myself away from boredom.
"As the matter of fact, I do. But superiors ordered me to come and get you as they want to speak to us." Lawrence explained as cold and as serious as ever.
"What? To both of us?" I asked as he just nodded and I stood up. This must be really important as superiors asked for both of us. It usually meant a joint mission but not of a good kind… Either there is serial murdered on the spree, some kind of disease or some kind of catastrophe.
I followed my friend back to our world and we immediately went to the superiors office. He was an old grim reaper, sitting behind a big desk and looking all serious and proffessional. Lawrence was a lot like him but younger… I always wondered if his goal was to become like that?
"Lawrence A. Willburg and Adrian Crevan. I called you here today for a special mission." The man started to speak. His voice was loud, strong and cold."Early tomorrow morning, you two will go to collect a quite a few number of souls in your areas. But also investigate the cause of so many deaths in such a short time period." Both Lawrence and I nodded as an understanding of the mission. "You can leave now." The man dismissed us and we left the office to get the files we needed and prepare for tomorrow.
As we got the files and important information last night about today's mission. I managed to get something quite interesting about a woman I observed in the last week. It was no wonder I took such an interesting… that I couldn't help but laugh.
"Ready to go?" I asked Lawrence as he just appeared on the rooftop behind me. I'm very used to his sneaking technique or rather, he isn't very good at it. I was observing the woman again; or rather her empty kitchen through the small window.
Lawrence sighed, "Are you ever going to tell me what is so interesting about this human? Is she beautiful?"
"Do you think she is beautiful?" I asked him teasingly, "No. Not particularly. But she is quite intiquing." I added when a loud scream was heard from inside the small apartment she lived in and followed by a lot of crashing noises and curse words.
"Ahhh, I'm late for work. Boss is going to be angry!" she yelled as she entered the kitchen and appeared at the window for a brief moment. She looked at our direction bur didn't notice us.
I laughed before Lawrence and I headed out for the mission.
We were headed to the local hospital as almost all deaths today will occur there.
"It's probably some kind of pandemic or infection." Lawrence explained when we arrived there and hid in the backyard of the hospital.
"Yes. But we need to see what is causing it." I explained with a laugh
"Alright. But we still need to collect the souls. Let's split in half and each collect their own and then we will find out what caused it." He suggested as I just shrugged and tied my hair in a high ponytail. Time to get serious I guess.
I jumped to the other side and entered the hospital to observe and find the first soul to collect today.
It was quiet for a couple of minutes until you could see nurses and doctors rushing to the patients rooms, yelling around about emergency.
As they already announced couple of patients dead, it was time for my job to start right away. After leaving their bodies in the rooms, I would come in after everyone left and collect the souls. It wouldn't be so much hard that the two souls I took were from children… Now it wasn't an empty and quiet hospital. It was loud from doctors and nurses trying to help anyone they can and from cries of grieving people…While trying to hide in the hallway from everyone, someone rushed through the hallway and passed me.
"I'm so sorry I'm late!" she yelled as she stopped in front of a doctor and couple of nurses. It was the woman I was observing.
"Miss Knight!" the doctor yelled, "We don't have time for your apologies. Please get to work right away." She again apologized and immediately started to work…
It was a long and hard day for everyone. There were too many people so we had to be careful not to get noticed and finish everything on time. With all of the souls collected after a few hours. We managed to find out that they died from an infection brought in by a last night emergency patient… whose soul we collected first this morning.
I met Lawrence in the backyard again after everything was over as we stamped all of them as completed and reported our findings.
"This was tedious." Lawrence added seriously as he adjusted his glasses, "This is going to take a lot of paperwork. Which you should do too!"
"I will, I will…" I replied, "You are becoming more strict than the supervisor." He looked annoyed at me but as we were to get away from here someone appeared in the backyard
"E-Excuse me!" a woman from earlier rushed outside and then looked at us, "What are you two doing here?"
Lawrence and I looked at each other, confused that she could see us at first.
"I'm sorry ma'am. We were just visiting." Lawrence replied immediately but she looked worried.
"An infection was just spread here so I should check you two before you go." She offered with a smile but was still catching breath from rushing here. She must have seen us before we came out to the backyard.
"There is no need…" Lawrence was just about to answer again when she suddenly leaned on the door she was standing at, and wasn't looking well.
"Are you alright?" I approached her to help her up a bit and put her on the nearby bench, "S-Should we call someone?" I asked as Lawrence bid his goodbye as he had to finish couple of other things and I stayed with her. I looked around and brought her a small cup of water to refresh her a little bit.
"Thank you." She was already sitting normal on the bench and drinking her water and I sat next to her, "I'm strong, so don't worry." She smiled proudly, "It was just crazy here couple of minutes ago and I was late for the shift."
"You should rest then." I suggested trying to sound as normal and as human as possible.
"I should be fine… I will just sit a minute or two." She smiled again but it had kind of a sad expression in it, "This hospital is one of the worsts hospitals unfortunately…"
"M-May I ask you why are you working here then?" I asked, confused by her devotion to a place she doesn't really like.
Unlike me, who is cursed by this job, she has the right to choose.
"I want to help people." She replied with kind of a nostagic tone, "Life isn't exactly fair. Not even in sickness or death. This hospital is only affordable by a lower class of people.. and I want to give everyone an equal chance at life."
I was surprised by her different outlook on life. I know that life isn't fair even in death but I could never help out. Not in my job anyway.
"A couple of day ago, a man died on the street in the middle of the night. He was barely breathing when I approached him to help him but he was hurt really badly and died almost immediately. There wasn't anyone who could help him… and he just got a daughter couple of days ago."
I had no idea what to say now but I couldn't help the man. As much as I love breaking the rules, I won't go that far.
"I'm sorry to hear that." I replied when a few tears rolled down her cheek.
"Humans… humans are so weak and fragile. They get scarred or their bones break easily. There can be wounds that you don't even see or notice.. and yet we try. We try so hard."
"I-Interesting…" was the only thing I could say at the moment when she turned around and looked at me
"You- Do you work at the funeral parlor?" she asked me all of a sudden, surprising me
"You could say that." I replied after a couple of minutes and a chuckle. Well, she isn't far from the truth.
"Then don't you get tired of seeing people die? Death itself isn't that emotional but the way it affects other people… I would get pretty sick from it very soon."
I shook my head in denial but couldn't really response. I had no idea how.
"A-Are you afraid of dying?" I asked trying to keep the conversation going
She smiled, "No. I'm not afraid of dying… I'm afraid of not living enough before I die." Her smile was honest for the first time and rare for many humans these days.
We continued to talk about some other things afterwards. She had a completely different outlook on life. For many things.
After some time, a couple of doctors and nurses walked through the hospital and noticed us talking in the backyard.
"Miss Knight." One of the doctors was standing at the door, he looked serious, "What are you doing here? Your break should be over by now."
As soon as he said that, the woman looked at the watch and immediately jumped up apologizing a couple of times.
"I'm sorry, sir. I will be there right away!" she apologized again and turned towards me but stopped for a minute.
"Adrian- Adrian Crevan." I introduced myself when she smilled
"Nice to meet you Adrian. I'm Florence. Florence Knight. Hope to see you again soon…" she then turned and went back in the hospital, apologizing to a couple of people. Everyone else soon left and I was alone in the backyard. Perfect timing to escape back to the rooftop and the reaper's world.
But I couldn't just go back to the reaper's world so I got back to observing things from the rooftops. This time I kept an open eye at the hospital, seeing Florence here and there as she was running around, helping not just patients but also visiting family and friends and coworkers.
"You enjoy my company, don't you Lawrence?" I asked him when the said friend again appeared behind me, "You have to stop sneaking up like that." I warned him.
"And you can't let go of watching her. Is she that interesting?" he asked and sat next to me for the first time, "By the way, half of the paperwork from today is waiting for you."
I glared at him and then smiled.
"When I first saw her couple of days ago, she seemed quite familiar to me. So I did some digging and found something…" I started the story, "Couple of years ago, when I just started to work, among many files I got was a file of a woman named Florence Knight."
"The-The woman you are observing?' he asked and I nodded
"The time to collect her soul was coming closer and of course, it was to proceed without a fail. But then her plans changed that day and she managed to escape her appointed death that day." ,
"She…" Lawrence was for the first time speechless, "She avoided death? But that's against the rules."
"Well, maybe it is but she is still here." I laughed and pointed at her as she talked to some patient, "Then few months after that, I got her file again. This time, it wasn't a carriage accident like before but an illness. Something she couldn't just avoid like before… and she was on the verge of death but somehow recovered on the day her death was appointed."
"She escaped it twice?" Lawrence almost yelled from a surprise and then looked closely at Florence but I had to laugh, "But that's impossible."
"Now you know why she is so interesting… there must be something about her." I explained and stood up, "But I'm going back for now. See you around Lawrence." I bid him goodbye as I put my hair down and disappeared. I'm done for the day…
But even after the encounter with the woman, I couldn't stop observing her. She was always working hard and had a normal life, as normal as it can be.
I wanted to know more about her, the file just wasn't enough and observing didn't really help anymore. How did she avoided death twice? I never approved the extention of her life nor did anyone else. There must be an explanation.
I was yet again in the backyard of the hospital where she worked at after I was done with my part of the work.
"A-Adrian?" her voice called out as she came to the backyard again, her smile was as honest as before
"You-You remember me?" I asked teasingly
"Of course I do… You helped me that day." She laughed, "And you have a hair that stands out so it's hard to forget it." My long silver hair. I laughed.
She went back in the hospital very soon and then came back with two cups of coffee, "Here, keep me company."
We sat at the bench again to talk and drink coffee.
"Are you here for a job again?" she asked after a few sips of coffee
"Something like that." I laughed trying to not raise any suspicion
"You work as an Undertaker, don't you?" she asked me again and I nodded, better than to explan that I'm a grim reaper, "I shouldn't be happy to see an Undertaket at the hospital but I'm glad I got to meet you again. You don't judge people and are nice to me."
"People aren't nice to you?" I asked confused
"They are, but you are the first to smile here. I know this is a hospital and people die here but… everyone is so serious or corrupted. Nobody is laughing or joking around anymore. So it feels so gloomy all the time." She looked at me with a kind of sad and painfull expression. Every time I talk to her, I get confused. "How sad it would be…should laughter disappear." I do love to laugh.
But that's more because I don't connect or care about humans anymore.
"It would be.. very sad." I agreed with her and smiled to cheer her up
"You are an interesting person, Adrian." Her smile was back, "You work with dead people all the time and yet you laugh and smile. Don't you get tired from all that sadness and grief that comes with your job?"
"It's a part of the job, I guess." I replied with a chuckle, "You get used to it and try not to get to you so much." I tried to sound as sincere as possible considering that I never cared about the souls I collecte expect if they aren't one from the child.
We continued to chat a bit and drink coffee, enjoying the night's summer breeze.
"Don't you wish that there is a way you could prolongue their life?" she asked all of a sudden, surprising me that I almost choked on my coffee
"Prologue their life?" I asked confused, "H-How?"
"I don't really know… I'm not a crazy scientist. Maybe there is a way a life could be extended if only for a couple of hours." When cinematic records end it ends. Nobody is allowed to temper with them and after they are cut, a body is just an empty shell. I guess that would be hard to explain to her.
After a couple of minutes of silence she spoke again, "I'm sorry. I'm talking about something crazy again."
"No-Not really…" I tried to reassure her, "It's an- intersting theory." World is a weird place.
"I'm just tired of seeing so many young people die without saying goodbye to their families and friends… They should at least get the chance to do that." She drank the whole cup of coffee and then sighed
Couple of minutes later, an old doctor was walking towards the door for backyard, noticing us sitting there and talking.
"Miss Knight." He called out to her when she turned towards him and her smile was immediately gone, "May I talk to you for a second?"
The woman looked at me and then at him before standing up, "Uhh sure… Please Adrian, finish your coffee and we will talk again soon."
I nodded when she greeted the man and disappeared in the nearby room with him. I had few sips of coffee to finish but I couldn't as I could hear them talking all the way from the backyard.
"No, sir! I'm sorry but I must refuse your offer… This is the 5th time you asked me to marry you and my answer won't change." She was yelling. It's the first time I heard her voice so strong… she soon rushed out of the room and disappeared into the hallway.
It was also time for me to leave.
This continued for some time from then on. I would go to the hospital after I was done collecting and sit with her with a cup of coffee or tea and talk.
I couldn't get any information abour how she avoided death twice and it also didn't help investigating at the reaper's library. But I'm not giving up. I was never bored for the past month and a half.
After I arrived at the hospital at the usual time, something was weird when she didn't showed up right away so I entered the hospital to look for her.
Walking around for a couple of minutes and getting a bit lost, I saw a bit of a commotion in the hallway and Florence was in the center of it with a doctor from the last time.
"Please, stop asking me to marry you sir!" Florence yelled at him in front of everyone. Her eyes were full of tears and was afraid. Afraid of the man in front of her.
"I'm not going to allow you to turn me down again. You stuck-up bitch!" the man yelled after smacking her down causing her to fall down on the floor
People around gasped but no one dared to approach her.
He was about to strike her again when I jumped in and stopped his hand right on time.
"Who are you?!" he spat when he noticed me, "Y-You! Get out from here."
"A-Adrian?" Florence mumbled when she saw me as I released the doctor's hand and avoided his fist with which he tried to attack me. After avoiding another failed punch, I made him lose balance resulting in him falling on the floor. Which humiliated him.
I jumped to help Florence up and get her out of there.
"Just hold on to me.. don't worry about anything else." I whispered to her as I took her out of the hospital. The man was getting up by himself. Humiliated and furious.
"Just remember my words! You will belong to me!" he yelled as his face was red like blood, "The slim white-haired guy won't help you all the time." His voice echoed through the hospital as I took her outside
"I- I can walk by myself now." She said quietly as I let her go and she sighed
"That man is really after you." I commented with a slight chuckle
"I'm the only nurse he hasn't slept with so he feels like he lost. Damn stupid man." For the first time I saw her angry and annoyed and it wasn't enjoyable. She was quiet for a few minutes when she wrapped her arms around me. Caughting me off guard.
"F-Flo…" I whispered as this is the first time she was so blunt and open about the hug. Not the first time that she hugged me but this time it was more direct. I had no idea how to react to it so I patted her on the back.
"Let's go." She said after she broke the hug and tugged me for the arm
"Go?" I asked again confused, "Go where?"
"Just keep me company. I don't want to be alone after that. The man is crazy!" she sighed and pulled me towards the streets.
We walked for about a half an hour through some back alleys and empty streets only to arrive at the place very familiar to me. An apartment building where she lived and where I observed her at couple of weeks ago.
"Would you like to come in?" she asked suddenly with a smile, "I could make us some coffee or tea and I also have some beer and food…"
"I really shouldn't…" I replied but she just tugged on my arm once again and basically forced me inside but she was so different today. She wasn't her gentle and good self.
"Please make yourself comfortable, I will get the tea ready and some snacks. I hope you like sweets." She commented as she took her boots off and went straight to the kitchen as I slowly strolled inside what appears to be the living room and sat on the first chair. This was the apartment I could never see from the kitchen window I always observed her from.
She was back after a couple of minutes with a cup of tea, sweets and a beer for her. We talked as usual when we talked in the backyard of the hospital.
Time passed in the conversation and laughter. However impossible, I felt like a human again. Even if it was just for a short amount of time.
"I—I really like your hair." Florence stutered as her cheeks were a bit red from the alcohol and she moved from her seat to touch my hair."It's so soft and yet oddly colored. Is it natural?"
I laughed at her silliness caused by the drink she had and then nodded, "And you always have it tied in a ponytail. Why? Look at this strand on the side… doesn't it feel weird?"
She smiled and then started to braid the strand of hair that was out of the ponytail… I wanted to laugh but she looked very happy and lost in braiding the hair that it stopped me from meddling in her job.
It took her a couple of minutes and although it was quite messy it looked good.
"There… now it's better. But I still want to let it down. Can I do that?" before I even responded she took down the hairband I use and my long silver hair fell down. She was amazed and surprised while I just wanted to contain my laughter. She wasn't herself.
After a few minutes of being amazed by my hair, she continued to complain about her work and life.
"I grew up in a pretty bad neighbourhood." She explained, her face looked sad despite it being a bit reddish, "It was kill or be killed. A survival instict. So my grandmother taught me to always trust my gut. That proved to help me a lot in the future."
"Really? How so?" I asked as she was still quite closely starring at me
"Hmm… like couple of years ago, I was supposed to go and meet a friend of mine but the whole day, something felt uneasy in my stomach and I changed the plans for the whole day." Impossible. Is it just this? A gut feeling?
I was about to say something when she smiled again and slowly removed my glasses.
"H-Hey…"
"W-What an odd colour of the eyes. They are green and yellow at the same time. U-Unnatural..." She had a soft smile when she leaned in closer with a soft, small peck on the lips but soon collapsed in my arms. Leaving me completely shocked by her actions.
Sheesh. What a handfull of woman.
I managed to pick up her body slowly and gently and left her on the bed in the room. She had too much to drink. But did she really survived just because of her guts?
I was to go back to the reaper's world but something told me to stay here for the night. Should I trust my gut feeling?
Reaper's aren't that different from the humans. We sleep, we eat, we work… we just can't die. If you are forgiven, you disappear but that rarely happens. We are a bit stronger than humans but not near as much as demons, angels and gods. Those foolish things.
I decided to sleep over at her place that night, placing myself on the very small couch
"A-Adrian…" a soft female voice was heard in the distance which I recognized as Florence's, who was waking me up.
"Uh? What?!" I jumped up as soon as I opened my eyes but could barely see anything. I tried to grab my glasses but they weren't at the table I left them last night.
"You slept at my place." She explained slowly
"My glasses, are they here?" I searched around when she just laughed and put them on me
"Here they are, silly. I cleaned them for you." She smiled
"Thank you. You didn't have to." The old man is going to kill me if she scratched them, "Are you feeling better? You collapsed last night."
"Ahh, yes… I get like that when I drink too much. Sorry about that." She sighed, "I just wanted to forget about that idiot from yesterday. I hope I didn't do anything weird last night…" You just played with my hair and took of my glasses and was very close, "I have to get to work so please use the bathroom and the kitchen as you wish before you leave. I will see you soon." She bid her goodbye and I sighed when she left. This is just getting interesting…
After I got back to the reaper's world I got an earfull from Lawrence and the supervisor about spending too much time in the human world. But I just couldn't stop nor did I want to. There were so many intriquing and mysterious things to be discovered about life and death. And Florence agreed with me completely
Since that day, I continued to visit her either at the apartment or the hospital and we would talk about all kinds of stuff. She confessed to me that she feels a lot safer with me than ever before, specially because the doctor from before was even more violent with each passing day. And she couldn't fight him in any way.
Besides doing what I do everyday and visiting Florence, I got back to the reaper's library for research. What if there is the way to bring someone back to life? It seems incredibly boring and repetitive to just go around, check their cinematic records and then collect their souls. I barely got any sleep since I started my research…
"Why are you so obsessed with cinematic records all of a sudden?" Lawrence asked me after he entered the library and found me surrounded by the books
"Why shouldn't I be?" I replied
"Because you found them so boring a couple of months ago." He replied as he adjusted his glasses and had this judging look on his face, "You are becoming obsessed again."
I smiled at him.
"Supervisor is calling for you." He added and I stood up to walk to the supervisor's office, "Are you going to tell me what is going on with you and that human girl? You are breaking the law." He started scolding me again.
I turned towards him, "Alright, I'll tell you." I added, "If you can tell a joke that will make me laugh."
"W-What?" he looked surprised
"Make me laugh and I'll tell you." I waited but he stayed quiet for almost five minutes, "Goodbye Lawrence." I turned back and went to the surpevisor's office to get another list of souls.
I didn't get a lot of souls that day. Actually I didn't get almost anything as I just got one: Florence Knight. Again.
For the third time her name appeared on my list. This time a cause of death was detailed but I didn't want to read it. I didn't want to or I couldn't?
I got back to observing. I was back to that rooftop that looked at her kitchen's window. She was getting ready for work and looked quite normal.
I continued with the observation as she went to the hospital… jumping in the backyard at the exact same time I always did for a cup of coffee. She was already there with two cups and a cheerfull smile. Only couple of hours await to her death.
"Hey there Adrian." She greeted me and gave me a cup before we sat down at the bench, "I'm going home earlier today. Want to come over for early dinner?"
"I'm sorry Flo. I have a job after this." I refused
"Oh, okay…" she smiled but I could see that she was saddened by this, "I guess Undertakers have an irregular working hours. It must be hard to deal with it sometimes."
"It is." I lied and tried to hide the fact that I know her death will be coming soon.
We talked a bit about non-important stuff as she got back to work and I got back on the rooftop.
After a couple of hours, it was dark, late at night and I was standing at the rooftop next to her apartment building. Waiting for the disaster to happen.
"Are you hoping she survives this one as well?" Lawrence appeared next to me, as serious as ever
"Not really… but it would be an interesting miracle." I chuckled.
I hope she survives.
"You have to do this proffessionaly." Lawrence added with a bit of a softer tone of voice but I ignored it when we both noticed a man enetering her apartment building.
We could hear people talking from her window… which in matter of seconds turned into high-pitched screams and then a complete silence.
After just a few second, the man from earlier was fleeing the scene.
It was time to work. I jumped into her apartment. Once small and cozy apartment where we talked and laughed was now completely trashed and stained with blood. Her almost lifeless body was at the corner of the room. Stabbed and cut multiple times. She is not escaping this one. I approached her slowly.
"You were right dear. Humans are so weak and fragile." I starred at her body a couple of minutes before gently touching her with my death scythe and few tears rolled down my cheek before her cinematic records showed. Through all her life she was a figher and a survivor. Escaping death twice was a miracle… a rare miracle. But this is the end.
After cutting the record and stamping her file as completed, I turned around to leave.
"What are you going to do now Adrian?" Lawrence asked as he was now in the room as well, "It was that doctor that killed her? The one she turned down so many times…" Yes. It was him. But not my business anymore.
I stopped for a minute and sighed, "Hey Lawrence…" I started, "What do you think- What would happen if the end had a continution?"
Would you like to know what it takes to become a grim reaper? You just have to do one thing – commit suicide. But is it worth it?