i apologize
prompts at bottom
629 words, by google docs
Things Scorpius remembers:
1. Rain. There was lots of rain. Pouring down over his windshield, his windows, his mirror.
2. The need to get to work. He was already late enough, held up at home, and the rain wasn't helping him get there any faster.
3. The other car. It came out of nowhere, really, but he remembers it appearing, a flash of red in the dark night.
4. Darkness. It was dark outside, already, but this was pure darkness, like 'we're in the middle of the woods with no flashlight and we can't even see the stars because the trees are so tightly interwoven' dark.
…
Things Scorpius doesn't remember:
1. Dying.
…
It's a weird sensation. He knows that there's rain still pouring down, but it's not hitting him. He can't feel it all it. It is hitting his body, though. Just not him. Because he's not in his body, he's out of it, looking at his dead body.
There's so much blood. Scorpius feels like he's about to throw up. It's ridiculous, really—he's a doctor and still gets sick at the sight of blood.
Also, he can't throw up.
Because he's dead.
"You sure now?" he asks the man besides him for the hundredth time. The reaper, Scorpius reminds himself. He was a reaper, to bring him to hell. Or heaven, depending.
The reaper nods, rolling his eyes.
"That," he says, pointing to Scorpius' body, "is your dead body. You're dead. Come with me."
"Or not," Scorpius says. "We could just leave this all behind, get some coffee together, have a happy ending where you don't have to let me die and I don't have to be dead."
"Are you trying to flirt with me?" the reaper asks, a look of amusement on his face. "Because it won't work."
Rats. All of Scorpius' good plans include flirting his way out of dying—he's always able to flirt his way out of situations.
"Then I'll just go get coffee by myself," he says, starting to walk away. "I don't want to die."
Scorpius walks a few yard, then risks a look behind him. The reaper is still there, in all his reaper glory.
"Are you following me?" Scorpius asks, tired. He just really doesn't want to die.
"That's my job. And you could want to be alive, but you need to face the facts. You're dead. You can't be alive."
Wow, this reaper is really all sunshines and puppies, Scorpius thinks.
"Besides," the reaper continues, "dying is easy. What's your problem?" There's a shift in the reaper's tone. It's softer, as if he actually cared about Scorpius.
"I'm a little bit scared," Scorpius admits, looking down. He feels weak, admitting this to a reaper. "I'm not ready to die. Why'd I have to die young?"
"If you think you have it tough, read history books," the reaper counters.
"What?"
"Think about it. You're not the only one who died young. There are thousands of people over history who died before they were ten. Be thankful you lived at all." Another tone shift—the reaper sounds bitter now, and Scorpius realises how lonely his job must be—people whining all the time about wanting to stay alive when the reaper himself has never been alive.
Scorpius actually feels bad for him, for this creature.
"Fine. I'll go," Scorpius says with a sigh.
"Wait, really?" the reaper says, looking at Scorpius with joy. "That makes my job so much easier, you taking the express route." The reaper looks up and spreads his arms, his hood falling back a little bit.
Scorpius can see his eyes for the first time—a brilliant emerald. He's trying to memorize them, but he can feel them leaving every time he looks away.
In fact, everything is
slipping
away.
for:
meet cutes [day 9 - dying and flirting with the reaper]
gobstones [silver - scared, express, "are you following me?"]
writing club [showtime - thank goodness - happy ending; days of the month - umbrella day - during a rainstorm; buttons - "think about it"; lyric alley - "i'm a little bit scared"; restriction of the month; liza's loves - dark n' stormy - a storm; jenny's jovial questions - "if you think you have it tough, read history books"]