Synopsis - A routine reaping yields a pleasant surprise for Grim.

Rating - T

Genre - Horror/Drama

On the Flip Side

Mandy's weightless somersault over the highway barrier still rattled around her aching skull. She could feel the bassy rumble of passing cars through the wheel embedded in her chest. Her sodden jeans stank of piss and her throat was dryer than Grim's butt. She shivered in the sheet rain that streamed through the broken windshield as though Death held her throat in hand, even though he hadn't actually arrived. A passer-by had threaded his hand through the jagged drivers side window to hold hers.

The shadow of a bony revenant extruded from the tarmac like sentient oil. His skull image wavered in the rain that sluiced down the glass.

'Tremble, mortal!' he boomed, arms extended, his scythe shining with street lamp fire. 'Tonight, the bell tolls for thee!' Grim crumpled, his sockets widening. 'Mandy!?' he squeaked.

'H-Hi Grim,' she wheezed, managing to sound unimpressed.

'No, no child!' Grim cried, his scythe disappearing as he passed through the concertina of metal to grasp her hand. 'Not yet. Yer can't go like this.'

'Grim,' Mandy growled, 'Don't...be...a...bonehead!'

'No!' he declared, 'I can't do it. I can't reap yer.'

'What do you suggest?' she spat up blood in an agonising convulsion.

'Well...Dis would do it,' he put his inferno fingertip to her temple.

On the highway edge where Grim stood in woodland shadow, moonlight darkening his sockets and highlighting his bleached bones, Mandy tried to get comfortable against his shoulder as he opened a green vortex. Grim had put her body back together but she felt as weak as Milkshakes after Billy's hottest curry.

'Grim, you're like a bag of bones!' she complained, his collarbone jabbing her neck. 'Couldn't you have brought a pillow or something?'

'Well, what do you expect, woman? I'm a walking skeleton!'

'I expect better next time.'

Grim muttered in fury.

'Aren't you going to get into trouble for this?' she asked, registering his dusty, old-library smell. It reminded her of the better parts of her childhood.

'It'll be worth it,' he said darkly, his face spreading slowly into a menacing leer. 'Yer not gettin' away from me so easy, child. Yer owe me for the dresses yer made me wear, the flowers yer put in me ears! It's Grim's turn to be in charge now.'

'What're you talking about, you bonehead?' Mandy started to tremble with slithering, mortal fear. The good feelings went away, leaving visions of Grim's revenge.

'I saved yer life, girl,' he stated smugly. 'Yer owe me. By the cosmic rules, yer life is mine.'

Mandy scowled. 'I didn't think you had the balls.'

She could see the fine detail of his skull, elastic white fibres that flexed like a net of collagen when he smiled. His sockets were deep and full of supernatural presence. Her insides knotted in visceral fear.

'Old Grimmy's gonna even the score, child,' he said merrily. 'For all eternity. Or at least...until I get bored. Yer luck has finally run out.'

'You wouldn't dare,' she hissed.

'Don't dare me, girl.' His voice was like the slam of a stone door in the dark. 'Yer on the flip side, now.'