Disclaimer: "Dead Like Me" and all related subjects, places, characters and names are copyrighted by MGM. I do not own Dead Like Me or anything related to it. All the Characters used in this are fiction, any and all similarities with reality is a pure coincidence. Also if you want to use any characters in your own story/stories please tell me before you publish the story.
Dead Like Me: The Days After Life
"Till Death Do Us Part"
I haven't felt like this since I was alive. I loved her touch, her voice, her hair. Her everything! I just loved her with all my heart. Come to think of it I don't know if I even felt this way while I was alive, but that is so long ago, I can hardly remember… anything.
All I can do is hope that Faith feels the same, I think all the signs are in my favor but what do I know about signs, I never saw my death coming, even with all the signs. All he could hope for is her giving him a chance, even though they didn't meet under bright circumstances, not to mention what Chief once said. "You should never get involved with other reapers, they have a tendency to just disappear" that's what he told us. Maybe he was right, maybe he wasn't. I thought it was worth the try.
You might have guessed that I'm Frank, quite in love with Faith and I hope she is in love with me as well. But I don't know if I should ask her, it was really sweet of Chloë to give us an opportunity two days ago, nothing real happened. We talked all night, we walked a bit but in the end we still went our separate ways. But it all felt so right.
Here I am, back at the bar, 3 days since that new girl joined us. What was her name again? Ow yeah… M.J. nice girl, it must have hurt Faith to reap her soul. She was so innocent, even more so after she told us about her life. Faith didn't at all like it, I think she would be better off in the natural causes team but then again I didn't want her to leave.
Why was I always first in or way too late? I wondered that every day, normally closely followed by either Faith or Alex. I looked over my shoulder but there was nobody there. The waiting was a bane, I'd better take another coffee then. I looked at the bar tender but he had already poured me a cup of coffee.
"You look like you can need it" he said to me and placed it on the bar "on the house" he added with a wink. I just nodded in gratitude, this guy he never listened to our conversations, he never said anything if we had blooded clothes but he could pour you a drink even before you knew you needed it. "and if that girl comes in, tell her how you feel"
I think he also gave us advice without us asking for it. I didn't react I just looked at my coffee, he was probably right but I was never good in that sort of thing. I heard the door open and close and the cold sweat was forming on my back, at first I didn't want to turn around but I looked over my shoulder anyway. It was Alex, thank god it was Alex, too bad it was Alex.
"Hey man" I said to him in casual fashion, he really suffered under his new job, ever since chief left he gotten even more Grey. Man I couldn't believe I just made that joke, "So how are things?" I asked as he sat down on the stool next to me.
"Grim" Alex answered in a short but certain manner, he placed the memo notes on the bar and took off the top two, "I have to run, we have an early shooter" he said, he divided up the memo notes into four stacks, two stacks of two and two of one note. I went by them from left to right, "M.J., Faith, Chloë, You" he said tapping the memos. "Good luck" he added before he stood up again and tapped me on the shoulder on the way out.
Another five minutes went by silently and I carefully sipped away my coffee. It seemed that I would be alone with Faith anyway, although Alex walked in first. It made me anxious, if Alex would've stayed I didn't need to tell her anything. I heard the doors behind me and again I didn't dare to look, this time I hesitated even longer and stared at my coffee, or what was left of it.
"Hey Frankie boy!" the sweet voice, it sounded like a thunderclap this morning, with the lightning to bash away all the hope and replace it all with nervousness. "Hey Faith" I said as I turned around, just when I turned the full 180 degrees I noticed she was very close and suddenly threw her arms around me. "How are you this morning?" she whispered on a very low volume into my ear as she held on to me.
I placed my hands on her back "Better now" I answered, I pulled back my head and looked her in the eyes. Her head came closer, she was really in a good mood, her lips curled into kissing mode, her lips came closer to mine. I wanted this so badly, I wanted to stop this so badly. Jesus Man Make Up Your Mind! But before I could her lips touched mine.
As if floating in mid air, I felt weightless. I must be dead and this is heaven, Ok sorry that was lame, but when her lips broke the connection I felt so helpless. I wanted to tell her something but how could I… not like this. I didn't want to hurt her.
"Alex is off to do a quick reap, an early shooter" I said when I caught my breath and sanity. I picked up Faith her memo, "he told me to give you this" I said placing it in her hand immediately breaking the romantic moment. She took a step back and looked at me disappointed, I knew what she wanted "Sorry I have to wait for Chloë and M.J., I can't come with you"
She always smiled, to cover up her sadness and disappointment but now she didn't, she looked down to the floor and took some more steps back "I guess I'll be seeing you around again then" she said then she turned around and walked off to the door. At that moment Chloë and M.J. walked into the bar, she said hi to them.
When Chloë got to the point where I could hear her she asked me "What got into her?". I just shook my head, frankly it was none of their business and I didn't want to talk about it. Two solid reasons I'd figure.
"Alex is on his way already, he had an early murder, or suicide, something involving a gun at least" I said to Chloë, I noticed that I got a little dim as well. I handed Chloë two memo notes and held out the one I had for M.J. but she didn't react at first "it's your reap" I told her with a reassuring smile. What else could I do to this beautiful young girl. She reached out and snatched the memo from my hand she didn't look at it and put it straight into her pocket.
"Well if that's all, I'll be going" Chloë said looking at M.J., she just nodded. Chloë turned around and walked towards the door but M.J. looked at me questioning, she knew something was wrong. "Don't ask" I whispered just loud enough for her to hear. She slowly turned around and walked to Chloë who was keeping the door open for the new kid.
With a sigh I got up from the stool and grabbed the memos from the bar. I should've stayed in bed today, it's all going wrong. "Thanks for the drink mate" I said in a raised voice to reach the bartender who was in the kitchen, he put his head through the door, "Anytime" he said and gave a friendly single wave.
As I pushed the doors open I felt a cold wind, it became more grey in the air and it was probably going to rain, I really should've stayed in bed this morning. I walked a bit but then I realized that I had no idea where I was going, I just wandered. I reached in my right pocket and pulled out the two memo notes, luckily I walked the right way, I was fairly close to the first reap but the other reap was quite some distance.
I walked into the cigar shop which was the scene for the first reap, I immediately wondered who it could be because the shop owner had another name. There was a man trying his luck on one of them scratch and win tickets, it seemed that he was lucky today.
"damn you Wilkenson, you don't want to know how long I tried that!" the shop owner let out in a loud whoop. Wilkenson, I looked at my memo note, this was the guy and he was shit out of luck. He was in ecstasy, happy and jumping around like a mad man, he was on his way to the exit when I smiled at him and congratulated him with a shoulder pad, and thus taking his soul.
He thanked me for my kind words and rushed towards the door, in all his happiness and joy he didn't see the other guy opening it, the big old heavy wooden door smashed into his head and snapped his neck. The fall to the ground didn't do him much good either.
The soul of mister Wilkenson look in awe to his body and then to his ticket. He sighed, "I never won anything" he said to me sadly, I wondered how he knew that I was the reaper, "but when you touched me I knew that this wasn't much good either" I just smiled and nodded.
"Well at least you died a rich man" I told him padding his shoulder giving him a grin and a wink. He reacted by raising his shoulders "it's not much good to me, I think that in heaven I don't need money" he seemed to be thinking of something "you take the ticket" he finally said
"But sir I couldn't accept that" I told him, he won it he should let me bring it to his kids or wife. "well I know I didn't have much of a good job but you seem to even worse off" he grinned at me, "and I don't think many people will be grateful for what you do"
He was right about that, some people wanted to hit you, most of them cursed you, as if we wanted this job. "Come on mate, take the ticket, take the money" he pushed me, I looked back at the owner who was in panic and calling the ambulance the guy who walked in seemed to be in shock and didn't see anything. I kneeled down to the man and pretended to feel his pulse, off course there was none but in the meanwhile I pocketed the ticket and stood up again.
"I'm sorry sir but I have to go, he has no pulse, you should call the coroner" with that I left the shop padding the man who pushed the door in the guy's face on his shoulder "there was nothing you can do, it was destiny" I knew I told him this so he felt better, I never did believe in this destiny shit, but bit by bit it seemed to be the most logical explanation to all this.
Wilkenson smiled at me one last time "don't spend it all at once lad!" he said and walked into his bright blue light. I wondered what was behind that light still, from the first reap I wondered what was behind it and why I didn't get any. It took some time getting over the fact that I never got a light.
I had forty minutes to get to the central park, all I could hope is that it wasn't too busy and that I could quickly filter out the risk factors and reap the man before his death. The bus was loaded with people, even some in odd outfits, as if they were living in the dark ages. I wondered where they were going.
I didn't have the time to ask them though, this was my stop, and I made my way towards the exit but I heard the two broad warriors talking behind me. They were getting off here as well, I so hoped they weren't two of those Life action role playing guys, last time I needed to reap one I couldn't get the real name because they wanted to stay in character.
But all my hope disappeared as I walked out to the park, a whole herd of them LARP guys and girls. Roaring their made up victories and adventures. Drinking genuine dwarven ale and chewing away on juicy steaks. I walked into the group, this was going to be annoying, to say the least.
Looking at my memo note I had no idea what to do next, I had this guy's name but he would never go by that name on this kind of event. I tried to play along with the people at the scene, "Here me! I am looking for a brave adventurer who goes by the name of Sanders!" I shouted in the group. There was one guy looking up and he walked up to me.
"Aye Sonny" he said sticking to his character "I go by the name of Trion son of Gloin now" he told me with a wink. I tapped his shoulder thus removing his soul, "is your wife called Mary Jane" I can't believe I just used the name of a dead teenage girl. The "dwarf" shook his head.
"nay, I know no women who go by that name" he answered me with a broad smile "Sorry lad you must have the wrong adventurer" he said right before he turned around and walked back to his mates "Haha!" he let out in a loud whoop "I don't know what that guy was on about, lost his way or something" with this he took a large bite out of something that had to go for mutton leg, the bite must have been a bit to big, he couldn't chew it all up.
I looked down at the ground whispering to myself "I'm pretty sure I had the right adventurer". I heard a chocking sound and a dull landing of the broad dwarf. All his fellow adventurers ran to his aid, but there was no magic nor any potions that could help him. He was lucky he dropped out of character for the second he walked towards me, otherwise he would've felt all that horror. And had a trouble talking now as well.
When I looked up I saw his soul watching down on his body he almost puked. He turned around and looked at me. He talked to me in something that must've been his normal voice and accent "I had a feeling about you" I just raised my shoulders and said "nothing but bad news"
Sanders walked towards me, "so what's next?" he asked. I couldn't answer that question truthfully, I didn't know what was next, I never been there. "some blue lights, you might want to call it heaven" I answered him. He smiled, "Aye! Heaven would do" he let out in his character's voice and accent again.
As I turned around to lead him the way I looked upon the bright blue light that was in front of us, I just put out my hand to point him in the right direction. As I looked into the light I could see some sort of fortress and a battle in front of it beyond the fog. "There you go, insta-heaven" I said, I really wasn't myself today, I couldn't comfort anybody today.
Trion didn't seem to care at all he just smiled with a twinkle in his eyes, he then raised his sword and ran towards the field shouting "To Arms!" he really seemed to enjoy this, even after death. The lights slowly got smaller, the sound of clashing blades was the last thing I heard before it closed.
I thought it was quite ironic, I've been in a LARP workshop once, they told me the most dangerous thing about LARP'ing was the weaponry, if it would be used the wrong way you could stab somebody with it, something to do with the charcoal core or something, but the two deaths I had in the LARP world was because the first fell and the last choked in his meat.
Back to the bar, that is where I had to go. The lottery ticked was burning a hole in my pocket, I would go cash it tomorrow and give some to every reaper, Wilkenson was right, we deserved it, every last cent of it. I tried to ease my conscious with repeating this thought over and over again. And it worked to some extent.
Back in the bar, Chloë and M.J. were back already, they were still reaping together or so it seemed. All we could hope is that this new kid could take all the pressure and gore, losing her might just be a strike to many. "Hey sunshine" I said to Chloë when I got in hearing range, I always called her that out of sarcasm.
She just nodded in acknowledgement of me saying hey, M.J. waved to me, and then immediately turned back to Chloë, "Just tell me and I'll stop whining! I promise!" she said, what the hell was she talking about. Probably girls stuff, I probably didn't want to know. "I am not telling you anything you nosey little creature" Chloë answered. She really lightened up next to that girl, we all needed a boost in confidence and hope every once in a while.
"Any of you know where Faith is?" I asked them without bothering sitting down. M.J. just shook her head and Chloë took a deep breath in and out. "she left right after we came in, she seemed upset. She probably went home" she said with a small smile on her lips, she wanted to comfort me but it didn't work. I should never have broken that moment this morning.
"Thank Chloë, bye M.J." I said as I turned around and made way to the door "I have some unfinished business to take care off" I said to them, as I knew they were wondering what the hell was going on. I knew this didn't really answered any of their questions but I hoped it would ease them a bit.
It was a long walk from the bar to Faith's apartment, but I think the fresh air and time to think about this all did me good, I knew what I wanted to tell her. I don't know if she would agree with me but then again I made up my mind.
I knocked on her door, I just hoped she would open for me. a single click notified me that she did. She looked through the small opening the chain on her door allowed. "hey Frank" she said in a somewhat tired but happy voice. The door closed for a split second and then she full opened the door.
She still didn't forget about this morning, she didn't hug me, she didn't even touch me. She didn't know what to do. "I want to talk… about us" I started. A great lump of confusion and sadness got stuck in my throat I had no idea to tell her this.
"Well you better sit down on one knee if you ask me this" she said with a faked confident smile. It quickly disappeared from her face when I slowly shook my head, "I am sorry" is all I said. She bit her lower lip as she tried to keep in her tears. "Why?"
"Trust me it has nothing to do with you, I just don't think it's a good idea to get involved, I mean we're both reapers, all we do around each other is see dead people, I don't know about you but I think it's not healthy for a relationship" I told her. She could barely hold in her cries.
"You know, for some time I would've cried when you told me this" Faith said in response to me, I really thought she wanted to cry, even though she covered it up. Her voice was trembling she did her best to cover up her hurt. With a short smile in my direction she probably wanted me to not feel bad, but I did.
I shook my head and took a step closer to her "You don't have to explain Faith" but she quickly took a step back keeping the distance between us and shook her head, "I want to explain" she said she really wanted me to know how she felt.
"For some time I thought you were the one and only true love, the one love I never met in real life" she started, her voice was trembling and tears finally rolled freely over her cheeks. It took a second or two for her to regain her control and she swallowed the tears. "But I know better now…"
I shook my head, if I knew this was for the best then why did I feel sick? My mind told me to let her go, it was for the best. By my heart told me to reach out and grab her and hug her. I looked at her in an uneasy moment of silence we both were to proud to let any more tears escape our eyes.
Faith was the first to break the silence, "If that's all" her voice sounded calm, no more tremble, no more hate or pain. "Will you please leave me alone now?" I couldn't believe my ears and it hurt my heart when she said this, but she was right, I had to leave, I needed fresh air.
I looked into her eyes one last time, too see if she was serious but her eyes were firm, she made her decision. "ok" I said, there was so much else I wanted to say but I couldn't, the words wouldn't come out of my mouth. I turned around and saw the door, it was still slightly opened. It only took me two steps to be able to reach it but the entire way I hoped that she would call me back.
Too proud to turn around myself and she was probably to proud to call me back. The door closed and the groaning of the wood echoed the sound of my heart. I wanted to turn around and knock, I wanted to kick in the door and kiss her. Something stopped me, I guess all those married couples are right. Death really does part.