I left my job at the vets at around seven on the night my life took another unexpected twist. I sighed and pulled a cigarette from my bag and lit it. I was halfway through the cigarette when my phone pinged in my bag. Not my day-to-day phone, no the phone that belonged in the early 2000s and had mysteriously appeared in my mailbox on my thirteenth birthday, a few hours before my handler Mika had shown up. Sighing I looked at the phone and rolled my eyes. "You have got to be kidding me." I muttered under my breath.

Throwing away the butt of my cigarette I climbed onto my bike and cycled round to the library. There were two libraries in Beacon Hills, the library that everyone went to, to borrow a copy of Fifty Shades of Grey, Game of Thrones or Harry Potter. The other library was filled with dusty old books and public records. A place where no one ever went to… except me.

I parked my bike outside the library and walked into the building. "We already exorcised the Hale House." I stepped into the building holding up the death phone. "Mika!"

Mika was a man in his early forties with no life other than keeping an eye on the obituaries, organising books that only I ever read and training me to be a Grim Reaper.

Discovering you're a Reaper or Mentalist as was the proper politically correct term of classification is not fun. I was almost thirteen when I encountered my first ghost. It was terrifying. Then two days later the phone and Mika showed up. My job was to help the already dead pass on, exorcise dangerous and evil ghosts and collect the souls of people about to die in order to help them pass on to the other side, the great beyond, walk into the light.

"I don't send the messages." Mika shrugged.

"Do you know how traumatising that house was?" I asked. "I am not going back there." I shook my head, shuddering at the memory.

Mika sighed. "You have to it's your job. Your duty. Do I have to remind you of the dire consequences if you don't do your job?" He asked.

I groaned. "Fine. I'll go." I stomped out of the library and got back on my bike. "Stupid job." I mumbled to myself. "Stupid duty." I cycled towards the Hale house.

Being a Reaper sucked. You couldn't have a social life. You couldn't have friends. Everyone thought you were weird because you hung around funeral homes and passed out randomly when you had visions of the future. And then there was the dead people, the nice ones and the bad ones. Poltergeists were the worst.

I searched the whole house but there was no one there, maybe I was going to get lucky and get a no show which meant I could go home and sleep. I sat down on the porch and lit up a cigarette and checked my phone. It was late and I had school in the morning. I puffed out smoke and looked up at the sky. It was really peaceful here.

"Rough night."

I jumped. "Holy shit." I exclaimed and glared at the pretty young woman with long dark hair.

"Can I bum one of those?" She asked.

I glanced at her phone. "Are you… Laura Hale?"

"Yeah." The girl frowned.

"Here." I handed her a cigarette and stood up patting Laura on the shoulder effectively removing the soul from her body. "Nice to meet you." I walked back over to her bike and rode off home.

Somebody's Girl

"ERIN! Wake up, it's time for school!" My mum called from downstairs.

I groaned and rolled over onto my front, burying my face in the pillow.

"ERIN!"

I sighed and sat up. "I'm awake." I called back, pushing the covers off my body and headed for the shower. I washed my hair with my apple and mango shampoo before jumping out of the showering humming to myself and walked back into my room. "Jesus." I jumped out of my skin seeing Laura Hale sat in my desk chair. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm dead." Laura told me.

"Yeah. Obviously. Now go skip into the light. I have to go to school." I walked over to my closet and began to search for something to wear.

"Well I'm not ready for skipping into the light. I have to warn my brother about what actually happened to our family six years ago and make sure he's okay." Laura crossed her arms over her chest. "And you're my reaper and I'm not going anywhere near the shiny light until you help me solve who stole my life and Alpha status and help my brother." Laura told me.

I sighed. "Can I get dressed for school?"

Laura turned around and faced the window. "We're not done talking about this."

"Whatever." I changed into a pair of ripped black jeans and a baggy 'Why so serious?' Joker T-Shirt. I ran a hand through my short hair. "Well I'm going to school."

"But what about my brother?" Laura asked.

I rolled my eyes. "Well his name isn't on my phone so he'll still be here after final period." I grabbed my backpack and swung it over my shoulder. I walked downstairs and headed into the kitchen.

My mum smiled at me. "Hey sweetie. Who were you talking to up there?"

"Myself." I lied.

"You are not leaving me here all day." Laura popped up beside me.

I glared at her and grabbed my lunch from mum. "Thanks mum. I'm picking up a shift at the vets after school. See you later, love you." I kissed her cheek and hurried out the door. I grabbed my bike and shoved my bag into the basket at the front. I jumped seeing Laura stood beside me. "What you're going to follow me into school?" I asked angrily.

"Well I'm not staying here all day." Laura crossed her arms over her chest.

"Fine." I peddled off down the road. I parked my bike and got off it swinging my backpack onto my shoulder. I smiled at Scott as he pulled up on his bike next to mine. "Hi Scott."

Scott smiled back. "Hey Erin. Are you working tonight?"

I nodded. "Yeah. You?"

"Yep. I'll see you there." He patted my arm and jogged off towards his best friend Stiles.

I sighed and shook my head. Scott was the closest thing I had to a friend. I mean we worked together at the vets and he was nice. He talked to me like I didn't go around talking to dead people but really like every other male in the population of Beacon Hills. He had no idea I existed. To quote Emma Stone in Easy A, if I were google earth he couldn't find me if I were a ten story building. And yet I still found myself staring longingly wondering 'what if?'

"He's cute."

I didn't jump at the sudden appearance of Laura Hale this time. "Please stop." I pleaded.

Laura smiled. "You like him don't you? Is he your boyfriend?"

"Do you really think I have a boyfriend?" I cocked an eyebrow at her.

"What? It's not like you're ugly." Laura leant against the bike racks. "Why don't you just ask him out?" She shrugged.

I sighed. "Because my career choice involves dead people." I walked up to school passing Scott and Stiles stood by the doors.

"Hey Erin. Nice T-Shirt." Stiles greeted me.

I looked down at my t-shirt. "Thanks." I continued down the path to the doors and headed for my locker. My first lesson of the day was English with Kafka's Metamorphosis.

"You spelt Metamorphosis wrong and one of the major themes is The Absurdity of Life not the Obscurity of Life." Laura whispered in my ear.

I set my pen down and glared at her. "Will you be quiet." I hissed at her.

"Miss Prince, is there a problem?" Mr Anderson asked at the front of the class.

I shook my head. "Nope." I crossed out my answer to number five and rewrote The Absurdity of Life. This day was officially going to suck. The only thing that could make it worse was if I had to deal with a death today. I went through the day with Laura hovering over me and whispering in my ear while I did my school work.

"So now can we go see my brother?" Laura asked.

"You know he's not going to believe me." I told her. "No one believes me." I hopped onto my bike and rode off towards the Hale House to find Laura's brother. This was so going above and beyond the call of duty. I dumped my bike and turned to Laura. "So where am I meant to find this brother of your's?" I asked stuffing my hands in my jacket pockets.

Laura pointed over my shoulder. "He's standing behind you."

I turned around and saw an older looking guy in a black leather jacket with a sour expression glaring at me. "What are you doing here?" He asked walking forward. "This is private property."

"I…" I swallowed. "I…"

"Tell him." Laura hissed at me.

I sighed. "Your sister asked me to come talk to you…" I glanced at Laura.

"Derek." Laura whispered to me.

"Derek." I finished.

Derek cocked an eyebrow. "When did she ask you this?"

I sighed. "This morning."

"What are you… Oh." Derek glanced around. "You're a Reaper?" He whispered.

I nodded. "How do you even know about us?" I exclaimed looking between him and Laura.

Derek frowned. "Our mother knew a Reaper." He answered. "So is… Is she here?" He asked.

"Oh she's here." I sighed and turned to Laura. "What do you want me to tell him?"

"Okay well can you tell him that I found something here to do with the fire. The first is a guy named Harris." Laura told me. "He's a c…"

I frowned. "A chemistry teacher. I know." I replied and turned to Derek. "She wants you to know that she found out something to do with the sire. Some guy called Harris. He's the chemistry teacher at the high school." I turned back to Laura. "What else?"

Laura sighed. "Tell him I love him. That he needs to be strong and not let the past burden him for the rest of his life." She told me.

I nodded. "She wants you to know she loves you. That you need to be strong and not let the past burden you for the rest of your life." I told him.

Laura turned and looked at the white light that had appeared in the trees. "Is that it?" She asked me. "What do I do? Just walk?"

"Yep." Laura nodded. "Hey you should ask that boy Scott out. Don't stop living your life because you help people that have." She smiled at me.

I smiled back. "Yeah… I'll do that." I nodded.

Laura smiled and walked into the light.

"Is she gone?" Derek asked.

"Yeah." I nodded. "Well I have to go to my job. My other job." I picked up my bike. "Good luck with whatever that was about." I shook my head.

Derek frowned. "That's it?"

I shrugged. "What do you expect?" I asked him.

"Aren't you going to help me?" Derek asked.

"You dying?" I asked.

Derek frowned. "No."

I smiled. "Then you're not my division." I got on my bike and cycled off. I arrived at work and entered the reception area. "Hi Deaton." I greeted my boss.

"Afternoon Erin and how are we today?" Deaton asked.

I shook my head with a smile. "Don't ask."

Deaton smiled. "Well you know what to do. I have one last patient today but it's a house visit. Are you okay to stay late and close up with Scott?" He asked.

I nodded. "No problem. You're paying me right?" I joked.

Deaton chuckled. "Of course. Have a nice night." He left the surgery.

I walked out back to find Scott busy feeding the dogs. "Hey Scott." I greeted him walking into the room to help him out.

"Hey Erin." Scott smiled at me.

I walked to one of the dogs kennels and smiled. "Hi boy. Who's a good boy." I opened the kennel and petted the German Shepard whom Scott and I had named Benny. He was a stray that had been brought in after he'd been hit by a car.

"You're really good with dogs." Scott said from behind me.

"Nah they just get me." I glanced over my shoulder at him. "People don't." I shrugged.

Scott gave me a sad smile. "Well I think you're pretty great." He told me.

I bit my lip. "Hey er… What are you…?" I was cut off by a knock at the door. I frowned in confusion.

"I'll go. Can you feed the cats?" Scott asked.

I nodded and walked into the cat room. "Thanks Laura. Really great advice." I muttered to myself. I fed the cats and did the rest of the jobs I needed to do. I left and heard my phone beep in my bag. Groaning I closed my eyes and pulled it out. A hospital run at three in the morning just what I wanted. And I had homework. I could hear Scott in the operating room. I walked over to the door and stopped hearing him talking to someone.

"So, um - I was wondering - I mean - Is it really family night on Friday, or do you think maybe you'd like to go to that party with me?" I heard Scott say.

"Family night was a total lie." The girl said.

"So that's a yes? You'll go with me?" Scott asked.

"Definitely yes." The girl replied.

I closed my eyes to try and fight the tears that were threatening to spill and sped biking home as fast as I could. I raced up to my room and slammed the door slumping onto my bed. I hate my life. I sobbed into my pillow and punched my pillow hard.

The door opened and my mum walked in. "Erin?"

"Go away." I mumbled into the pillow.

But instead my mum sat down on the edge of the bed. "What wrong sweetie?"

"My life sucks." I mumbled into my pillow.

Mum petted my head. "I know it's hard sweetie. Your dad had some rough times when it was his job but it gets easier." She promised me.

I sat up. "Mum, the boy I really likes thinks I'm a freak and now he's asked some girl out. Everyone at school thinks I'm a freak and I have no friends. I don't want it to get easier. I want to be normal."

"I know." Mum gave me a sad smile. "Well maybe if you didn't dress so baggy. Wore a dress. Did something with your hair." She ran a hand through my hair. "How about we go shopping this weekend?" She suggested.

I smiled. "Thanks mum. I'd like that."

Mum hugged me. "How about I make your favourite for dinner? Double bacon cheeseburgers."

"That would be great." I nodded. "Thanks."

"And this boy whoever he is. If he doesn't see how great you are then he's so not worth it." Mum got up and left the room.

I sat up in bed and opened my laptop. I don't know why I did it I guess everyone needs to vent sometimes and it was private so it wasn't like anyone would ever read it. I made a blog.

Somebody's Girl: The Manifesto on How to be a Grim Reaper

All my life I've been told you're special, you have this great destiny, a wonderful duty to help mankind pass over into the great unknown. Being a teenager sucks. Being a teenager and a Grim Reaper sucks even more. I mean who wants to date the girl who talks to herself? Or spends her time hanging around old people's homes, or cemeteries, or funeral homes or all of the above. So I'm a freak. I don't have a social life my best friend is a 40 year old librarian who hasn't been on a date in a long, long time. So what's a girl to do? My mum thinks that a change in wardrobe might help but I'm not so sure. All I know is I'm sick of living on the side lines. I'm sick of being nobody. Now I want to be somebody's girl.