A Black Cloud over Happy Time

Disclaimer: I do not own Dead Like Me or any of the Characters associated with it. Like I said in my other Dead Like Me Fanfic DON'T SUE ME! If you do you won't get anywhere. Some Fat Cats that work at MGM own it, I don't even own shoes.

Writers Note: As you can tell by the title something bad is going to happen at George's place of work Happy Time. Each Chapter signifies one episode so each chapter will be called Episode One, Episode Two and so on and so fourth. Well I hope you enjoy the story and please R R. By the way George's POV will be Bold and Italic.

Episode One

Whenever I thought about us reapers taking people's souls I always questioned Rube on things like why is this person supposed to die? What did they ever do to us? Is this really all that right? He answered me by saying that people die all the time and by taking their souls we make sure they don't have any pain when they die. I always wondered what kind of pain they went through when they were alive and their time hadn't yet come. Did they want to end their pain? Was that the master plan that Death had all along? I never asked Rube those questions but I am sure if I did even he wouldn't have an answer for me.

Daisy, Roxie, Mason and I were sitting at the regular booth at Der Waffle House. Both Roxie and I were sitting on the inside of the booth Daisy beside me, and Roxie beside Mason. We were waiting for Rube to get there so that we could get our assignments, move on and take the soul that was required. Mason was getting rather impatient and started making annoying sounds that were pissing the hell out of Roxie.

"Mason stop being a shit disturber. Just sit still and shut up!" Roxie yelled at Mason who was shaken by Roxie's anger towards him. He stopped and was having withdrawals. "What the hell's the matter with you? Do you have a problem or something?"

"I haven't had any drugs in a long time Roxie. I just can't take the yelling right now. Where the hell is Rube anyway? I need my post it so I can go to my dealer," Mason said as he was whining. Mason started shaking back and fourth as he waited impatiently for Rube to show up to give him his post it.

"Well that's not my problem. You should stop doing this shit to yourself Mason it's not natural. But Rube is late he should have been here by now," Roxie said as she slapped Mason on the side of the head to get him to stop pissing the hell out of her.

"Ow, that hurt! Please make the pain go away!"

"Shut up!" Roxie yelled at Mason as Rube walked up to the booth and took out the appointment book. He sat down beside Mason and handed each of us a post it. "Rube will you please tell this jackass to shut the hell up? He's annoying the hell out of me."

"I can't do anything about it so deal with it," Rube said in his usual tone. Rube was always calm even in the most troubled times. "Those are your assignments. Is there any questions?" I looked down at mine and it said:

E.H. Helter

Happy Time

E.T.D. 10:57 pm

"No questions here," I said.

I had never met E.H. Helter and I wondered what he or she ever did or ever didn't do. I knew that I didn't work with him or her and I wondered why he would be at my place of work so late at night. I wondered what age they were. I hoped that it wouldn't be someone who hadn't ever reached adulthood like my first reap. I just couldn't deal with anything like that again and I wished that I never would. I know that as soon as someone is created his or her whole life is carved out. Their time of death is picked, how they die is picked and where they die is picked. But all that can change if something comes up. I guess sometimes "Death's Master Plan" is wrecked and Death stalks anyone who tries to intervene. I learned my lesson when I tried to save someone. I would not try to do that ever again unless I had to reap someone I loved or someone I cared about.

"Good. Now let's get something to eat," Rube said as Kiffany came to get our orders. "I'll have a Banana Bonanza please and a black coffee. Oh yeah and a side of bacon."

"Anything for you four?" Kiffany asked us.

"I'll have a coffee please," I replied. Mason ordered an egg, bacon and toast as well as a coffee. Daisy ordered some whole-wheat toast and a fruit salad and Roxie ordered two waffles and a coffee. Kiffany went to get us our orders but poured us our coffee and gave us a plate of cream containers. I put my usual cream and sugar in the coffee. Mason opened a couple of packages of sugar, poured them in his hand and then swallowed the sugar. We all looked at Mason with disgust.

"What the hell are you doing?" I asked him.

"You don't understand, I need something," Mason replied in a desperate voice. He definitely didn't look like his regular self.

"Well you could stop doing that. You're going to hurt yourself!"

"Sod off!" Mason screamed at me angrily. He definitely needed something. Mason took another package of sugar, opened it and poured it in his mouth. He then took a container of cream and did the same. He drank his coffee all in one sip and started to act weirder than he already was. He started to say random things and sing songs. He raised his voice and lowered it. He kept doing this and Rube looked like he was getting annoyed. Rube did something that I would never think Rube would do. Rube grabbed Mason by the collar and punched him. All Mason did was smile and then he fainted on Roxie's lap. Roxie looked down at Mason and she looked pissed off.

"Rube could you please get him off me? He deserved it but now he's drooling all over me," Roxie said to Rube. Rube stood up and pulled Mason out of the booth. Mason was now lying on the ground passed out and he still had that same smile on his face. Mason's smile was pretty demented. Rube bent down and started hitting Mason's face with the back of his hand. Mason wasn't walking up so Rube decided to splash Mason's face with some liquid. Rube couldn't find any water so Rube took his coffee and splashed Mason's face with it. Mason sat up and started to scream.

"Jesus Christ! Why the hell did you do that?" Mason screamed in pain.

"Don't aggravate me. You don't want to do that," Rube said in a menacing but calm voice. He was clearly mad at Mason.

"And what if I do happen to aggra… what ever you said?"

"You will feel my wrath. Now go and get what ever you need to make you stop acting like a jackass!"

"But I want something to eat."

"You can wait. Now get out of my face," Rube said as Mason got up and started to cry. "What now?"

"No one loves me, no one," Mason said as he left the Waffle House in tears.

"Well that solves that problem!" Rube exclaimed.

"Thank you for getting rid of him. He sure was annoying me," Roxie said thanking Rube. About 20 minutes had past and Kiffany brought us some food.

"Where's Mason?" Kiffany asked surprised that Mason was gone.

"He was being a constipator so I kicked him out. He's not coming back until he sorts some things out," Rube replied to Kiffany's question.

"Well I don't want this food to go to waste and someone's going to have to pay for it."

"Don't worry I'll pay for it and I'll eat it, I could always eat some extra food," Rube said as Kiffany put the food down. Rube took Mason's plate and scrapped it onto his own.

I arrived at Happy Time with 10 minutes to spare. The glass on the door was smashed. It looked like there was a break in. But who could possibly want to break into a temp job office. They were probably trying to steal computers, as that was the only thing valuable in the whole office. The office was completely dark except for a room in the back. There was a dim light on and I approached the room not expecting anything bad to go down. I didn't know if there was any danger, I just needed to do my job. I peeked inside the already opened door and on the floor I saw a collapsed teenager laying down face first. I ran up to him and started shaking him.

"Are you okay?" I asked. He still wouldn't wake up. "Hey wake up, wake the hell up," I started to panic but shortly got a hold of myself. "Screw it I'm leaving!" I started to give up and just as I did I saw a police officer walk in the door with a flashlight and a grip on his gun. The police officer was tall and I hate to say it but he was fat! He looked like the typical police officer. I ran underneath the closet desk so that he wouldn't spot me.

"Is anyone here? This is the police and I command you to come out and surrender. If you do not come out with your hands over your head I will use any force necessary!" The officer said as he continued coming towards the collapsed Teen. The officer arrived at the spot where the teen was and dropped his gun. He bent down and went on his knees. "My name is Earl Helter and I know First aid, may I help you?" Earl said. Earl rolled the teen on his back and tried to start chest compressions.

I saw a Graveling from the corner of my eye kick the teen. The teen looked like he was knocked out cold until his hand moved. The teen grabbed the gun and kicked Earl down to the ground. He cocked the gun and aimed it at Earl. I reached my arm out and took Earl's soul; I then went back under the desk and closed my eyes. I heard gunshot after gunshot. After the 5th shot I heard a clicking, there was no bullets left and there was blood seeping out of Earl's head and side. The teen ran out of the office, taking the now empty gun with him. I stood up and looked at the lifeless body of E.H. Helter. Earl's soul was now standing up beside me. A look of bewilderment was on his face.

"Am I really dead?" Earl asked me. I looked over and nodded my head.

"Yes you are. You really had a gory death," I replied. I walked Earl over to the door and he didn't look like he was ready to move on quite yet. "I guess now it's time for you to move on to the next life."

"I just can't believe it. I'm only 25 I can't die yet. I suppose your dead too. Tell me, how did you die?"

"I was killed when I was 18 by a toilet seat from the MIR space station, I didn't even know it was coming. One minute I was alive and the next minute I was dead, I mean undead."

"Did you kill me?"

"No, I reaped your soul before you died. Something called a Graveling killed you."

"You saw the teen that did it. Could you go and report him to the police?"

"I could do that, but I'm not supposed to interfere with the living. He'll probably be charged for murder and die in a standoff. He took your gun and I believe that he will probably try to get it loaded. Then who knows, he'll probably run and try to kill another police officer. I'm pretty good at predicting these things. You see Earl, Death has a master plan and Death works everyone into it, so this teen that shot you will get what's coming to him one of these days."

"That's not enough reassurance. I need to know that he is put away before he murders again,"

"The unfortunate thing is that I didn't get a clear look at his face. I didn't and I'm sorry, I only saw the murder take place," I said, as there was a police cruiser in the window. It looked like it was Earl's final destination. "Well I think your ready now Earl. All you have to do is go into the police cruiser."

"I think so too, and if you could, would you please report this to the police, it would be very much appreciated," Earl said as he went towards the cruiser. The cruiser soon disappeared, as did Earl.

I bet there were happier times in Earl's life. As Earl disappeared I wondered what he had accomplished in his life. I wondered what his hopes and dreams were. I also wondered if he regrets, what his last thought was. I might never know, no one might ever know. I hoped that justice would be brought upon the murder of Earl. The murderer was so bloodthirsty, so violent, and so ferocious. Earl didn't deserve to die. He didn't do anything wrong. All he did was try to help this teen, and then he gets shot five times, for no good reason, probably just for kicks. Now I knew two things I couldn't deal with, the death of kids and reaping people who were murdered in such a bloodthirsty way for just trying to help.

I knew that I was still having trouble coping with my own death as well as this one and many other deaths I had the 'pleasure' of seeing. I at least hoped that this would never happen again, that this was the last one I had to deal with, the last one ever. That's what I hoped at least. If I knew Death's master plan like I thought I did, I knew that this would happen again and I hoped that I never had to deal with it again. At least that's all I could do, hope. I know I didn't have it so bad because I am still on this earth and I can interact with the people I cared about and loved when I was alive and the people that I care about and love in my afterlife. Most people don't get that privilege, one minute they're alive and the next minute they're dead, leaving behind the people they care about and the people they love. The people they leave will never be the same as they were when the person they loved was still alive. At least I can give reassurance to the people I loved and cared about with the little things, like leaving little notes telling them that I'm okay. I know that Rube doesn't like it but who the fuck cares? I know I don't.

Writer's Note:So how'd you like it. I hope that you didn't find it too short or too long. Please RR and if you do give me criticism then please make it Caonstructive Criticism. Well that's it for now.