Time-Line Setting: Some point in season one.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or the show. I am not affiliated in any way, shape or form with anyone who does.
You may wonder why I'm standing here with a fake smile on my face and a big pile of shiny blue balloons in my hand. You may wonder why I'm looking so cheerful outside of a hospital, a place that doesn't exactly hold good dreams for reapers.
Well it isn't my choice.
No, Rube sent me here. And this reap is seriously fucked up. You'd think that someone up there gets off on the injustice in the world.
I'm not here to get the soul of an old woman who falls down some stairs or a near-dead guy who gets hit by a bus. No, that would be too easy. I'm here to take two parents. New parents. They only had that kid a few hours ago.
So that's why I'm standing here, pretending to be a delivery girl, with a large card reading 'Dawson' so that they identify themselves to me. For a moment I consider hiding the card, just leaving the balloons and run away
It's too late though, a pair of shiny happy faces are peering at me, a healthy baby boy in their arms. I wouldn't have gotten away with it anyway. They'd be consequences. There are always consequences.
"Hello? Who are you?" She sounds sweet. She barely even sounds tired; it must have been an easy birth. She looks down at the kid and smiles and my stomach turns over again.
But what has to be done has to be done. I clench my teeth together and I try and sound cheerful, well aware that my voice sounds completely fake. "Hello. Are you Mr and Mrs Dawson?"
"Yes, that's us."
"A. Dawson and S. Dawson?"
"Yes, I'm Samuel and this is my wife Amanda." He gestures to the balloons, "are these for us?"
"Yeah, they're all yours." He takes the balloons from me, smiling. I manage to pat his arm as he takes them, taking his soul. I do the same to her, pretending to get a closer look at the kid. "He's pretty."
"He's our son." She says it like she's proud, like she's achieved something. I suppose that she did, but I wonder if she would have had the kid if she knew she was going to die today. If she knew that she would never get to see if grow up, and that it would grow up never getting to see them.
"He's nice. Congratulations." I can't be bothered to smile anymore and the sorrow comes through my voice. I think it frightens them a bit because they make excuses and get into their cars.
I get onto a bus following them. Rube has already told me that the kid gets out of this okay, but I want to make sure for myself. I need to know that Rube isn't just shitting me to make sure I reaped the souls I was supposed to.
The car speeds along the road as the bus speeds behind it. I look at my watch and its 3:13. There's less than a minute to go.
Suddenly their car skids out of control. The bus brakes sharply and people start screaming as the car crashes through a barrier.
I squeeze my eyes shut. I can't block out the sickening crunch of the metal as it twists but at least I have to see three morelivesbeing ruined.
