Trigger warning
There are mentions of suicides and suicidal thoughts in this story. If you have any such thoughts, please talk to someone or call your national helpline.
"Flashback? The Underworld? You're from the U-Underworld?"
"That's right." The Lady took a seat on the couch on the far side of the wall, leaning against the cushion like a fox "Back in the day people used to call us…" Her smirk from earlier today returned easily.
"...Grim Reapers."
This had to have been a joke, or some really weird prank. Maybe I was dreaming! I did hit my head after all. This was all just a concussion induced dream. I gave the unconscious body behind me a short glance, watching my chest rise and fall with each breath. Nope, this wasn't a dream.
"If you're Grim Reapers, then why do you look like that?" I turned back to the Lady. Antagonizing the capes probably wasn't the best idea, but I was already dead wasn't I? What were they gonna do? Kill me? I snorted. "If you're looking for the psychiatry department, you're on the wrong floor."
Grim Reapers weren't real, capes were, and most of them were pretty crazy right? I should've kept my mouth shut. Not literally, my mouth being zipped up by the cape Lady felt uncomfortable.
"It's true. We even have our employee IDs." The Guy pulled out a badge attached to a lanyard, with the Lady following his examples.
"You must have trust issues." The Lady placed the both of them in my hands, rather gently too.
A picture of the Lady in a plain white shirt on the badge stared back at me.
Soul Management Division Crisis Response Team.
Team Leader Ryeon Gu.
Flashback Inc.
The guy's badge had a photo of him in a white button up shirt and a solid black tie.
Soul Management Division Crisis Response Team.
Manager Ryung-Gu Lim.
Flashback Inc.
"I feel like I'd mess up your names if I tried pronouncing them." I said after a few seconds in an attempt to break the ice. The two of them were staring at me rather intensely, or was that just me being paranoid? The IDs looked legit, but they also could've been made at some office supply store. Why did life have to be so complicated?
"You live in a town that has a gang run by Asians, you'll be fine." Ryeon snorted. She grabbed her ID and stuffed it into one of her pockets.
"So um, are you guy's actually Grim Reapers?" Playing along was the best chance I had at surviving.
"How many times do I have to tell you, yes?" Ryeon scratched the side of her head. "That's what we used to be called, but these days it's more like a corporate job."
Yeah right. Didn't Grim Reapers wear black robes with hoods instead of wearing clothes so expensive that they were probably worth more than my Dad's truck combined? All the cartoons and drawings of them also had plenty of skulls and scythes too. Most depictions of Grim Reapers in classic literature were masculine, I've never heard of a girl reaper before.
And I never expected them to be this hot.
"Whatever stereotypes you're thinking about are outdated." Ryeon fixed her collar coolly. "The media has a habit of ruining everything these days. Did you expect us to look like western reapers with a skull head and a large scythe?" The way she said that last part was a bit too aggressive for my taste.
"I-I'm sorry!" I looked away. Maybe I shouldn't have been antagonizing them.
"It's fair." Ryung-Gu shrugged. "Since we're not really alive, the only pleasure we have that we can really enjoy is dressing up." He extended his arms, fixing the sleeves of his expensive coat.
"So are you guys here to uh, collect me or something?" I wrapped my arms around myself. Was someone going to pull the plug on my body? How was Dad even able to afford a room?!
"No, stop making assumptions." Ryeon remained motionless as she spoke, while Ryung-Gu pulled out a way-too-large-to-fit-in-there tablet from his jacket.
Suddenly, he was standing next to me in a blur, causing me to flinch. He used the tablet to hide the bottom half of his face. "Taylor. Would you please take a look?"
The tablet was playing a video which was paused, taken from an angle that shouldn't have been possible out on the jetty. The video was paused at the moment Gerry jumped, with my hands holding onto him.
"What's this?" My voice cracked. Ryung-Gu pointed at me on the screen.
"This video footage is from yesterday. We're fully responsible for the incident at the jetty. Of course, you not moving along when asked did complicate our jobs a bit." Ryung-Gu explained. D-Did that mean Gerry was supposed to have died? Why were they trying to save him then?
"I was trying to help." I spoke up, clearing my throat afterwards.
Ryung-Gu continued to give me a blank stare. "I'm still not wrong. Anyways, it is true that you went through an unexpected event because of us, so we are here to offer you a deal." He flipped the tablet, revealing the expensive case that protected it.
"So you're not here to kill me?" I said that without thinking. Instead of getting offended, Ryung-Gu and Ryeon kept their same passive facial expressions, though Ryeon's held just a pinch of annoyance.
"First of all, that's not our department, and you have plenty of years left." Ryung-Gu rubbed the bridge of his nose. Ryeon remained silent as she sprayed her neck and wrist with some perfume.
"Really?"
"Yeah, you'll be fine unless you run into an unexpected accident." Ryung-Gu explained. He showed the tablet's screen. It had a strange chart with my name in the center surrounded by symbols that I didn't understand. "This is the timeline of your life, and as you can see right there-" He pointed at the corner of the screen. "-you being unconscious because you hit your head on the jetty was not in the plan."
He placed the tablet in my hands, allowing me to get a better look. The words slowly changed to English.
"Unless they die from an unexpected accident, people's life spans are approximately pre-set."
This was a lot of information to handle. My breathing started to slow, was I even breathing?
"Our registration and record's team calculate the karma of a soul in their past lives, and then decide the life span and major events in their new life."
Mom dying was just a simple accident? I tightened my grip on the tablet, pressing my thin lips together. If everything was already pre-set, then Mom's death could have been prevented, she didn't have to die. She wouldn't have left me and Dad behind.
"Due to the incident at the jetty, an unexpected accident was added to your timeline." Ryung-Gu pointed his pinky at me. "Right now you're supposed to be at home sulking about winter break coming to an end soon." He shoved his pinky in his nose, scratching the insides. "But now you're here unconscious because of our mistake."
"So you feel bad I ended up like this two weeks early?" I snarled. I had only given the chart a brief glance, anything past a month was blurry. "You're here to wake me up then since it's your fault."
Ryung-Gu took a seat next to Ryeon, and shared a glance. She spoke up for the first time in a few minutes. "It's already been determined that you'll be unconscious for three more years."
My body froze, as if I lost control of it, and I felt my heartbeat slow. Three years? I was going to be stuck in a coma for three years? It'd be time to graduate by the time I woke up. So much would change, for better or for worse.
"The Jetty Incident has already been recorded on your timeline, so we can't change that." Ryeon crosses her arms. "I'm very sorry about that."
I didn't meet her eyes as I continued to stare at the tablet. She gently took the electronic from my hands.
"We're here to offer you something that has been approved by the company. You want to do something with your life right?"
I nodded slowly. My heart was pounding, its sound filling my ears.
"Your Father, Daniel Hebert, did his best to help keep his people employed in a dying city, and your late Mother, Annette Hebert, was a professor, educating the people of tomorrow. You were bullied by your best friend Emma Barnes ever since you entered high school."
My head shot up, my eyes wide. T-They really were Grim Reapers if they knew all of that.
"Your soul has gone through three lives, and in your second life you were a toxic friend to others, driving everyone who cared about you away, with physical and mental means."
What? Was nothing truly of my own free will?
"However, in your third life you were a loving, single mother, sacrificing yourself to raise your children the best you could." Ryeon looked up from the tablet. "Because of the damages you caused your friends in your second life, you were meant to be betrayed by someone close to you, and struggle to make friends. And because of your third life, you were guaranteed to have parents that would love and care for you no matter what."
That wasn't fair! That wasn't me! Emma's turning her back on me was already predetermined? Was it just our destiny for everything to turn out this way? Life was unfair, and cruel.
Ryeon snapped her fingers. "You were horrible in your past life, just accept that."
"How am I supposed to accept that!?" I nearly shouted. "How is any of this fair?"
"And that's why we're here." Ryeon shrugged. "If you accept our deal, you can wake up from the coma earlier than the expected date."
A deal? Three years was a long time to be asleep. I didn't want to leave Dad all by himself, he was already spending too much money keeping me alive.
"What's the offer?" I balled my hands into fist. Ryung-Gu kept picking at his nose while Ryeon spoke.
"Our team originally had three members, but another team stole one of them so now we're understaffed." Ryeon's smirk made her look scary, like a lion that was on the hunt. "So work with us as the third member of my team."
If I had been drinking something I'm sure I would've spat it out.
"If you perform well, not only will you wake up earlier from your coma, your karma from your second life will be negated." Ryeon snapped her fingers, turning the tablet into a folder. "I personally think it's better than laying in a hospital bed for three years."
I licked my lips. That was an extremely tempting offer. If everything was predetermined, wouldn't it be better to do whatever it takes to wake up earlier? Dad couldn't be alone for so long.
"So, are you going to take it, or not? We don't have much time so choose now." Ryeon extended her arm, holding out the contract. I didn't have to think twice before I made my decision.
"I'll do it." I took the contract, it felt heavy in my hands.
"Great choice." Ryeon's annoying smirk looked like it was firmly etched onto her pale, gorgeous face.
I hope I made the right choice.