Runo

The medics that had arrived earlier rushed Alice off to the nearest hospital for treatment. And even though none of them said anything to us, we felt that things had turned on Alice for the worst. What gave this away, was their somber silence. Julie, Murucho, and I were unable to follow the ambulance and accompany Alice on the way to the hospital due to an ongoing interrogation being held by the police.

They had locked down the entire mansion, making sure that nobody else got in or left until the investigation was closed. I was hoping that it would all be over soon, for I wanted nothing more than to be my ailing friend's side. But for now, all I could do was wait.

The three of us sat in the dining hall and never once said a word to anybody unless we were spoken to first. Behind us, Kato was telling an officer what had happened up to the point of when he walked into the room and saw Alice. Murucho was sitting across from me, his fingers tapping a nervous beat on the table. He looked like a total mess, and I knew that he was blaming himself for what happened.

He had no reason to be though. The police had already determined that there had been some kind of poison in the tea that had been given to Murucho, but there was no way that our friend could have known when he passed the glass to Alice.

Officers were running back and forth from room to room, hunting for the person that had spiked the drink. It was such a surreal experience when I thought about it; somebody had tried to kill Murucho, that was obvious. But the way that things had turned and played out, could only be discerned as a twist of fate.

Suddenly, I heard shouts coming from the kitchen, and several officers had a man restrained by handcuffs. They then pushed him down on the floor, pinning him under their weight. Immediately, I recognized him as the butler that had brought the drinks out to us. He continued to struggle underneath the three or four officers on top of him, but it was all futile.

One of the officers said to us through gritted teeth, "We found him hiding in one of the pantries. When he saw us he tried to run, but didn't get too far. Quit squirming, you!" The hiding and fact that this person tried to run, could only mean that he was the guilty one. I stared down at this man, wondering how anyone could do such a thing. His eyes looked no different that anyone else's, and I at least thought that the eyes of a killer would be different.

The captive then shouted, "I was just doing my job, alright! It's my job to kill the rich! The voices of those who had suffered unfairly by the hands of the rich told me so! They placed this burden upon me! It is what's right!" Murucho stared down at the man, fear and a disturbed tint glittered in his eyes.

The officers picked the man up and carried him outside, most likely to a police car to take him into custody. After a moment or two, a police officer walked up to us. He then began to tell us what had just unfolded before our eyes.

"This man, he's done this to several other wealthy families, but we've never been able to catch him up until now. It's also been ruled out that he has mental issues. You all are free to leave the building now while we look around for some more evidence. But I do believe that Mr. and Mrs. Marakura want their son to be with them."

Murucho nodded and allowed the officer to escort him to his parents. I couldn't even begin to think about all of what Murucho was going through. It must have been such a pain to know that he had been the target of a killer, and cause of that, Alice was now suffering. Julie and I remained at the table.

She then asked me, "Do you want to go see Alice?" I stared at my reflection in the well-polished wood table, surprised by how tired I appeared to be. "I want to…..But I also don't….What do you think we should do, Julie?" I looked up to her for the answer to my question, but she seemed to be just as lost as me.

She then told me, "How about we try and contact Shun and Dan to let them know what's happened?" I then remembered that I had seen Shun walk into the dining hall, then run the moment he saw Alice, almost as if he had known what was going on.

His reaction puzzled me; normally, he would have jumped into the fire to help, but he ran. Why? Julie snapped her fingers in front of my face, pulling me from the abyss of my thoughts. "Huh?" She stared at me with concerned eyes. "I was asking if you have your phone on you cause mine died….," she trailed off.

Maybe it was because she had used the word died in the wake of all that had just occurred. I nodded and dug around in my coat pocket, then pulled out my phone. Julie took it and dialed what appeared to be Dan's number first. After five minutes, and no answer from him, Julie tried Shun's number.

Again, there was no answer from him either. Julie kept trying to reach the two boys, but to no prevail. The world suddenly started to feel like it was losing its structure, and all I could think of was, What's going on?

Shun

I didn't even stay to see ask what was happening, for I already knew; it was my vision becoming a reality. What had thrown me off though, was how early it had happened. I was expecting in a day or so, not in the same two hour time slot as when I had the vision.

It was almost too much for me to handle. I stopped running and turned it into a slow-paced walk. The heavy reality of this was finally weighing down on my shoulders; Alice was dying. Suddenly, a hand lurched out of the shadows and grabbed my wrist.

My instincts told me to react, so I pulled back. Death then stepped out of the shadows, followed by Grim. I felt my mentors harsh eyes on me, even though I could not see them. He had lectured me about how I had to do what was now my God-given right, and I had just failed.

I was unable to bring myself to do this deed, and I knew the punishment was about to come. Death sighed. "I thought I told you to get over it and take her soul. I had a feeling that you might back down, so I followed you and watched the whole thing. You should be ashamed."

My jaw tightened, and my hand had turned into a fist. "Why should I be ashamed for not wanting to take the soul of somebody that I care about?" I asked through gritted teeth.

Death crossed his arms over his chest and said, "You should be ashamed because you, the Reaper who is supposed to Reap her soul, have not done your job. And because of that, she's now suffering cause her soul cannot pass on to the next life. If you really care so much about this person, then why will you allow this kind of torment to befall her?"

I felt myself fly off the handle and shout, "She's not suffering! And I'm not tormenting her!" How could he even make such an accusation? To say that this was tormenting Alice, was such an absurd thing. If anything, allowing her a few extra moments on this planet should have been a blessing.

Death suddenly asked me, "Do you know what it is like to have your soul trapped in your body after death? It's a horrible feeling, and if it is not taken care of sooner or later, then the spirit will work its way out. That's how you get restless souls that wander the Earth. Do you really want that for your friend?"

I adverted my gaze from Death, and focused it on the ground in front of me. Not a single part of me wanted to believe what he just told me. He's saying that to make me Reap Alice's soul. That's got to be it, or else he would have told me this when I first became a Reaper…. But no matter how I tried to convince myself otherwise, it all felt like a lie, and that there was no way around this.

"I-I…I still refuse to do this….." I stuttered. Regardless of whether or not this was more detrimental to Alice than good, I didn't feel that I could bring myself to do what was expected of me. Death shook his head underneath the black hood of his cloak.

"So, you're positive that you're not going to Reap this soul?" he asked me. I nodded to let him know that I still stood behind my statement. He sighed. "Then it looks like I have no choice but to take you to the Reaper council and let them figure out what to do with you."

My eyes that had been closed, shot open when he said that. What would they do to me? Would they pity me for not wanting to take the soul of a person I was close to? Grim, nervously scratching the side of his arm, said cautiously, "Now, don't you think you could go a bit lighter on the little Reaper? I remember many times when you refused to Reap souls, and I wasn't nearly this strict on you for a while. I mean, he is still new to all of this."

I was suddenly grateful to Grim for standing up for me, but I somehow felt that it was all in vain. Death retorted back by telling him, "The council is a bit stricter on these kinds of things now than they were when I was learning. I'm sorry, Grim, but I cannot be lenient on him.

He knows the consequences for something like this." Grim sighed and said quietly, "My….How the times have changed….." Death turned to me and said, "Ready to go?" I nodded and before I could blink, the black cloak of Death swallowed us up.

The moment it lowered, I found myself standing in a medieval looking castle. Banners and tapestries of the different interpretations of Death hung on the stone walls. "The council already knows why you are here. Go up those stairs, and you'll find yourself in the council chamber."

Death then vanished from my side, leaving me to feel as if I had been given up on. But law was law, right? I wanted this more than to take Alice's soul. I did as Death instructed me to and ascended the stairs. Sure enough, I was faced with two large, wooden doors.

Guarding them, were two Reapers donned in black cloaks and holding scythes in their hands. One of them lifted his hand, and the doors swung open. "Proceed," he told me. I walked into the room, and felt a gush of air hit me as the doors slammed closed. In front of me, was a large podium-like structure, and way up at the top of it, were three Reapers.

They took off their hoods, revealing beings that appeared to be in their middle years by human standards. Their hawk-like eyes shot down at me, and I felt the spotlight turn on me.

One of council stood up and said, "You are here today because of failure to fulfill your duties as a Reaper. Taking in account how many days you have been under this position, and also viewing the reason, punishment is imprisonment until seen fit by the council. Guards, take him."

The two guards from the door took hold of my arms, and I offered them no resistance. They led me down a maze of staircases until we finally reached a chamber of prison cells. Each one looked like they could have been from hundreds of years ago, and the smell of mold matched; this most certainly wasn't a pleasant place.

I walked past cells and saw that some of them held prisoners. Their eyes followed me as I walked by, showing me the want to be on the other side of the iron door that held them captive. And this was where the story started; handcuffed to the stone wall of the cell I was locked in, a water droplet falling from the ceiling and onto my scarred eye.

As I sat there on the tightly-packed dirt floor of the cell, I thought about what was about to become of Alice. Death would probably do the job that I wouldn't, or he already had.

There was no way for me to know now. I tilted my head back and shut my eyes. It was too late for me to do anything now, expect to wait out this punishment and then brace for what would await for me outside of these stone walls.

there shall be no upload tomorrow due to the sport known as football. but there will probably be one saturday. also, vote on my poll if you have no already done so, for the poll closes down sunday! read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~