Chapter 6

I hope she's doing fine. I thought as I intently stare at the wall clock, counting every ticks of a minute and every second that passes by. It's not too long from now until the time of Reggie's reap schedule and I'm so worried if she's doing well.

"Is something wrong, Millie?" Delores appeared at my side all of the sudden.

At normal basis, that could have startled me. But I was too occupied on my sister to even entertain such thing. "It's nothing Delores."

"Is it about someone?"

I nodded, still unmoved like a statue. "I'm worried sick about her. It's her first day on her job and I'm wondering if she's okay."

"Oh I'm sure your friend is doing fine." That didn't convince me and so is Delores. I then heard her sigh in defeat. "Why don't you take a break and check her out?"

"I have works to do."

"No Millie, you're not doing anything. You're too distracted that you're dumping your works on the corner," she gestured towards the pile of papers, folders and envelopes that were untouched since yesterday. "So why don't check your friend first and then come back here when you're okay and can do your job properly."

"Really? It's okay?"

"Don't be silly, Millie. Of course it's okay."

"Fine. I'll go check Reggie now. But I'm not taking the whole day off, I'll be back later once I make sure that she's okay." I gazed towards the pile of works that I'd been neglecting for the past two days. "I'll finish those paperworks today even if it kills me."

"Oh don't sweat yourself out. Just do what you'll have to do and be back here nice and okay."

I really love this lady. She's the mother figure that my real Mom had somehow forgotten to be towards me on the last days of life.

It's only 15 minutes left before Reggie's schedule when I arrived at their school. Looking around as I kill time, I saw some Gravelings are starting to rush towards the school building, climbing and jumping through the walls towards a certain window at the second floor which I believe is the Science Lab.

Looks like Reggie's right. The big science experiment will go wrong. I leaned my back to my car and waited. I'm sure something big is going to happen, the type that's big enough to kill three people at once which is what is about to happen.

"I didn't expect to see you here," Mark said, materializing beside me.

"Whoa!" I flinched a little. I was used to the weird and the unreal but I'm still not accustomed of people just popping out of nowhere. "Fuck Mark!" I exclaimed. "You almost gave me a heart attack."

The bastard just grinned at me, teasing me. "Well, you look cute when you're surprise." I glared in a sinister way on him. "…and angry."

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm checking on Reggie. See how well she'll do on her first day of the job."

"Why do you concern yourself that much on my sister?"

"Because she's your sister, that's why. I actually won't give a damn about her if she wasn't."

Fuck! What is it with him!? Why is it that he always knows how to say the right words at the fucking right time in order to get off guard? I looked away then, trying to hide my flushing face from him.

"Anyway, how about you? What are you doing here?"

"Doing my responsibilities," I said. "I'm Reggie's big sister as well as her superior. So I'm checking on her if she's doing fine."

"Don't worry. I'm sure she's doing fine."

BOOM!

We heard an explosion all of a sudden and I was sure that it came from the room where the Gravelings were piling up earlier.

Hysteria immediately consumed me. That explosion was huge! What if Reggie was still there? What if she was caught with the explosion? No, no, no! "Reggie!" I cried out. But Mark caught me by the shoulder before I could rush towards the explosion. "Let me go!" I demanded.

"Look," he said, gesturing towards the entrance.

I gave myself a few second to clear my head out before obliging. And there I saw my little sister exiting the building with 3 souls following her lead.

"Over here guys," she told the souls as she led them through the narrow crowd of panicking students.

"Reggie, over here!" Mark called out to her.

Reggie saw us and made her way throughout the ruckus. I immediately hug her the moment that she was out of the crowd. "Are you okay?" I asked, checking her for any injury. "You're not hurt anywhere?"

"I'm fine, George. I got out before these geniuses blow up the entire place."

"You sure?"

She nodded. "Yeah." She glanced towards her Reaps. "What now?"

"I'll handle it," Mark said and snapped his fingers, the gate to the other side opened in an instance. "C'mon kids," he told them. "Time to go."

"So Lass, you're a Grim Reaper," said one female soul.

"Yeah. Just got the job this morning."

"Cool," she said before crossing to the light.

"Helga?" I asked.

"Yeah," Reggie sighed. "We're not really that much of a friend but we get along sometimes."

"So how was it?"

"Simple, hard. I can't really explain. I feel bad about them and want to save them. But on the other hand I also know that there's nothing I can do anymore. Their time is up."

"I know the feeling," I said, placing my hands on her shoulders. "Good job on your first day."

"Thanks."

"Where is Reggie going?" Mark asked as he buckled up on his seatbelt.

"I don't know, she said she's going to find a new job."

"Isn't she's already working at a fastfood chain?"

Yeah, she was before I came along and screwed it up. "She resigned when she and Mom left for Canada. Now, she wants to have a new one while staying here."

"Aren't you earning enough for the two of you?"

"Well, my money can't buy my sister's pride." She was so not like me when I was still alive. Reggie's only 16 but already wants to independently face life. Unlike me who even at the age of 18 was still leeching from our parent's paycheck.

"I see. So where are you going now?"

"Happy Time. I still have a lot of works to finish."

"Are you free tonight?"

I don't know why he is still asking when he knows the answer. Of course I have a lot of free time after work. If I don't have a reap schedule, the rest of the day is mine for the taking. I shifted the gear and drove towards the street. "Yeah. Why did you ask?"

"Drink?" he offered.

"Where?" I asked.

"Hmmm…How about your place?"

I deliberated for a moment. But what the hell, I'd already welcomed him into my home and moreover into my bed, so what's the point of having second thoughts having him around again. "Bring a bottle of good tequila and we have a deal."

I turned to my side to face him but what welcomed me was an empty seat. Soon after that my phone received a text message. Looking for tequila right now. ^^

"Fuck you," I mumbled and shook my head. Yeah, fuck him. Fuck him for just pooping into my life. Fuck him for making me smile like this.

I sort of noticed that it was morning already when dim rays of lights started to shine through the window. I had been half-asleep for the rest of the night and most of it was spent just lying and feeling Mark's strong arms wrapped around me.

Yeah, we did it again. Two nights in a row. Call me a bitch but duh, I'm not a nun and he's definitely not a saint. We are two horny individuals with libidos fueled by tequila and lots of flirting. Of course it will end up with our clothes flying at the end of the night.

"Mark?" I silently called out to him, checking if he's already awake while staying unmoved from my position.

"Yeah?" he murmured.

"How does it feel?"

"The what?"

"Living for eternity, for thousands even millions of years? How does it feel?"

"Wearying," he simply said. "With no friend, companion. You're watching everything mobilize and progresses while you remains unmoved, stuck doing the same thing over and over again. Really wearying. Why did you ask?"

"Well, I'm immortal but I'd only been living as a Grim Reaper for 6 years. I haven't walked yet on the lifespan exceeding what a human being should just have so I still don't know the difference. I always wanted to ask either Rube or Daisy before but I never had the chance."

"It's not permanent anyway. You'll meet your quota someday and cross to Heaven."

"Yeah I guess so," I said dreamily, shifting my head in order to place his face within my field of vision. "Speaking of Heaven, have you seen the place?"

"Of course. Every time I get the chance, I always check the place. And way before when the population of the world was still below a million and I was still doing all the works alone, I always go to Heaven to accompany the souls that I fetched."

He'd seen Heaven? And been there too? I'd got to know this. "What does Heaven like?"

He closed his eyes and said in a wistful tone. "It's Heaven…beautiful, serene, everything that can make you happy and at peace are already there."

"Then why don't you stay there?"

He laughed, low and gentle. "Heaven is not for me. God didn't create me to belong to Heaven or even Hell, he create me to belong here to place order on things when life has ended."

"That sucks!"

"It does. There's no readily made Heaven or Hell for me. If I want one I have build one on my own, here on Earth where I belong."

Geez, I feel bad for him. In the past, I sometimes think that the people on the higher tier on our job have privileges that I can never had. But it was actually the opposite, my job as a Reaper will end sooner or later but for Mark, it is for eternity. Like he said, no Heaven no Hell, just an infinite existence doing the same thing over and over again. God, if that had happened to me, I might have gone crazy already. "If that's so then why don't you quit being Death?"

"And let 6 billion souls fall into chaos?" he shook his head. "I don't think so."

"But that's not fair, how about you?"

"I must find a way to be happy on my own effort. Just like any human being does."

The irony on that could have been funny if the mood is not just gloomy. He's far beyond being a human yet he strives like one. "Well, did you?"

"One way or another."

"Are you? Right now?"

"Yes," he sincerely said and kissed my forehead.

END OF CHAPTER 6