Chapter 4
Grave Future
Something tapped at Kai's shoulder. The dual haired teen grunted and shrugged off the feeling. He knew this had to be the third spirit, but he was busy finishing his essay.
Wasn't winter break supposed to be the one vacation teachers decide not to hand out extra work, because everyone is celebrating one holiday or another? Didn't they realize that all the work they gave over winter break would have to be graded later, and unlike their students, the teachers wouldn't have two weeks off to do so? Talk about not completely thought out.
There was another tap on his shoulder. Couldn't this spirit see he was too busy to care about how he was screwing up his life?
Turning in his computer chair, he glared up at the new spirit, which was dressed as the grim reaper, but there was a slight difference. The black hood draped over the top half of the face, covering the rest in shadow, but Kai could see the tan skin of a person. This grabbed Kai's interest, and he dropped his gaze to the spirit's hands, which were made of flesh and blood.
In all his life, Kai, had hear stories about the grim reaper being a skeleton dressed in a black cloak with a scythe, and while this version did have the cloak and scythe, it was the furthest thing from a skeleton.
"Hn."
"…"
Kai raised an eyebrow at the figure of death. He was waiting for the introduction that usually accompanied the appearance of a spirit, but it did not come.
The spirit lifted its free hand and pointed at Kai.
"Yes?" Kai asked, mockingly. "Are you here to show me the future, or are you one of my annoying fans?"
The grim reaper continued to point.
Kai's eye twitched. He was starting to understand way people said pointing was rude.
Unlike with the other spirits, who when they took Kai to another time, the room didn't change instantly. This spirit made scenery grow from the ground. The floor shook as buildings emerged from Kai's carpet, which had changed to dirt and snow without his noticing. People grew like trees alongside the rows of dead plants and buildings.
"Hn," came Kai's trademark, "If that was supposed to impress me, it didn't."
The spirit didn't comment.
It had stopped pointing at Kai, instead pointing in the direction of a group of people.
Kai frowned and shook his head. "I don't need to hear their conversation. I know what is supposed to happen. They are going to be talking about how they are glad I'm dead, however they will never say my name, because I'm not supposed to find out my future self is dead until you show me my grave."
The grim reaper continued to point.
"You're not going to let this thing go are you?" Kai asked, but like he predicted it would, the grim reaper remained silent and pointing.
Sighing in frustration, he walked up to the group, invisible to their eyes and listened in on their conversation.
"Nice to know the jerk finally died."
"I bet he died at work. He never did stop working."
"One less heartless bastard in the world."
Kai nodded his head at each comment, memorizing the faces that went with them. He'd insure that these people would suffer when he would eventually meet them. No one, whether they be in the future or not, insulted him.
He felt a tapping on his shoulder, but ignored it. He was determined to make the third spirit speak. Ironic. Normally he wanted silence, but this spirit irked him enough that he wanted it to speak just so he could insult it.
Another tap.
A few minutes passed.
Another tap.
Again, a few minutes pass.
Another tap.
He heard rustling behind him, and Kai's curiosity getting the better of him, glanced over his shoulder. He made a very un-Kai like squeak, and ducked as the grim reaper tried to chop off Kai's head with his scythe.
Even though he wasn't part of the world, for was he on some spiritual plane at the moment, he could feel the cold of the snow. The cold added to his fuel as he pushed himself from the ground and stared heatedly at the grim reaper, who he swore was giving him an innocent look, even if Kai couldn't see its face.
"What was that!" Kai screeched indignantly. "You're supposed to help me, not kill me!"
Kai didn't even get a shrug from the figure of death. What he got was a finger pointing in another direction.
Out of the three spirits, so far, he hated the grim reaper the most. It had to have a mental condition with the way it didn't speak, and pointed instead at random things, like a child asking what something is. Did it not understand that Kai knew this was the future where he was dead and no one cared! It was most infuriating.
Then there was the way how it had tried to kill him. Granted, it was the grim reaper so taking souls was part of its job description, but not his soul, at least not yet. Perhaps it had gotten confused and thought Kai was the soul of his future self.
Mentally screaming at the spirit, and imagining himself bashing its head into a table and then drowning it in the ocean, Kai followed the path pointed out to him.
As he walked the empty streets of his hometown, he recognized the older faces of people he had known growing up. They were all smiling and beaming at another. Idiots. That's what they looked like, idiots. Morons, who had yet to realize the horrors of December.
Among the people were two people Kai remembered. They had been friends of Tala, if his memory was working properly. The short blue haired one with a big nose was Ian, and Spencer was the name of the tall, muscle-bound, blonde.
"Hey check out what I stole from Hiwatari's mansion," Ian snickered, holding up a sheet of fine silk.
Kai rolled his eyes heavenward. Out of everything Ian would steal he would choose that. He was a moron like the rest of the world. At least there was one upside to this. Kai now knew he had lived long enough to get his inheritance and buy a mansion. Hopefully it was very big, and intimidated people when they walked passed.
"You actually stole that?" Spencer questioned. Obviously Spencer agreed with Kai on the matter. What do you know, Spencer is one of the few intelligent people in the world.
Ian, of course being dimwitted, or at least in Kai's point of view, didn't notice the unimpressed disbelief emitting off of Spencer. So he proudly replied, "Yup."
How Kai would love to throw a rock at Ian's head.
Instead he had that annoying tapping on his shoulder again. Having learned from past experience what would happen if he ignored the spirit, Kai faced the grim reaper, who was once again pointing.
"This had better be my damn grave," Kai mumbled, walking off in his given direction.
The more he walked the further away he was from the city. There weren't any people walking around anymore, and the noise level had dropped drastically.
In a field of grass stood a lone tombstone.
"Finally!" Kai proclaimed. "It's over!"
Beep.
What was that?
Beep.
He knew that sound, and knowing what the cause of that sound was made his eye start twitching again in annoyance.
He fixed his glare on the grim reaper, who had stopped pointing long enough to roll up its sleeve and look at its wristwatch. It pressed a button and the sound ceased.
The grim reaper threw down its scythe with a sigh, and tossed off its hood.
Kai felt his jaw drop with a gasp. The words left his mouth before he could silence himself. "I know you!"