Reaper

“Wouldn’t it be amazing if my ex came? He would be so sick with himself for breaking up with me before I died!” The ghost of one Lily Brooks was standing beside the table where her lifeless body laid. Her parents had me dress her corpse in a white ensemble that depicted her as pure and virtuous. But the way she was running her mouth, I knew better than most that she was not. Especially in the last fifteen minute of applying her makeup. “Can you add more blush? I look so...” “Dead?” I fill in, rolling my eyes at the apparition. “No I’m not adding more blush.” I toss the make up brush aside and turn leaning against the table. Lily appears in front of me in an act of intimidation. Glaring at me hard as if she had any effect on me. As if her hands could still touch, as if her voice could be heard by anyone other than me; it was funny. “I will haunt you for the rest of your life...” “If you don’t want me to reap your soul before you see your family then I suggest you watch the way you speak to me.” I say flatly and that earns a look of shock. “What do you mean reap my soul? I thought you were just a mortician.” She says stepping away from me. “I am.” I nod as I move away from the table where Lily’s body laid. The smell of her corpse rotting was poorly covered by the perfume her friends gave me. Looking around the room, I see the white shoes her mother sent, heading over to pick them up and put them on her, I hear Lily scoff. “My mom doesn’t even like white on me!” She shouts. “Can you change my clothes? If you just ask-“ “No.” “Why! I could-I could-“ I turn to face her. My eyes locking with hers, arms crossed over my chest waiting for her to finish her threat. Stammering over her words as I glare her down, face paling even more than the flesh of her dead body. “Am I interrupting something?” I turn at the sound of someone’s voice. “Fernie.” I sigh a smile sliding onto my face. There he stood, the only other person that knew what I was and kept me sane. Fernie is the only person in this world I would genuinely call my friend. And he hasn’t changed. The crown of his head completely bald, but still sprouted his white hair from the sides. Smiling at me from behind his white-grey mustache, noticing the smile lines that decorate his deep brown skin. Short, stout and harmless looking. But Fernie and I had history, I knew he was anything but harmless. “Hi Fernie.” I say walking over to him wrapping him in a deep embrace. “I missed you.” “I missed you too Bex.” He hugged me back with the same warmth and for a moment I felt better. “Out of all my former foster kids, at least you’re happy to see me.” He pulled away first giving me a warm smile. Lily Brooks voice was distant now, like she was screaming from a mile away. That’s why I like Fernie, he always helps bring peace. “What happened to this poor girl?” “She went to a party with some of her girlfriends and overdosed on some drugs, they tried waking her up the next morning and they couldn’t. She died in her sleep.” Fernie laughs as he gives me a knowing look. “But the dead aren’t exactly quiet, are they?” “This girl has been droning on about past boyfriends and bitching about her clothes for the last hour!” I groan exhausted as I head over to the steel cabinet at the side of the room and pull out a half empty bottle of scotch and two glasses. Fernie laughs as he moves closer to Lily’s body looking over it with a sympathetic eye. “It’s not her fault Bex, she was young, a college student who had her whole life ahead of her. You and her are practically the same age.” “But no where near the same at all. I’m almost happy I skipped college, I’m not sure I could tolerate being around girls like her. All she does is talk, even more now that she’s dead and has nothing else to do.” I sigh as I pour us each a glass. “Please tell me that you’re life has been interesting. How’s the Otherworld?” “Fascinating. Got myself into a bit of trouble.” He says and we both move to the side of the room, taking a seat at a small steel table with two steel chairs. In fact most of the furniture in this room is made of steel. Surrounded by cold metallic furniture and instruments, and no windows; and I spend almost every day here. My own tomb. “Fernie!” I give a mocking gasp, Fernie laughing at my teasing. “How could upstanding, morally virtuous, kind hearted, renowned scientist, Dr. Ferdinand Moses ever find himself in trouble?” “No no, I earned it.” He says taking a sip of his drink. “When I went into the Otherworld, I knew it was because I wanted to understand the use of magic and it’s properties, using science.” “You didn’t think you’d be stepping on any toes with that idea.” I say still teasing him as I sip away at the scotch. “Well I did. The supernaturals in the Otherworld don’t see science as the magic of humans. They thought I was corrupting the meaning of their magic, but I succeeded!” “Succeeded in what?” “Tracking energy within magic with the use of science. But more so with the tools of their magic.” He says and I smirk at him. “So in other words, you’ve become a wizard.” “Don’t get me wrong. It was the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to do. And, I thought microbiology in grad school was difficult. But I detected irregularities within the magic flowing through the Otherworld. And just recently, I got a body but it hasn’t even started the decomposition process.” “A dead one?” I c**k an eyebrow at him. “Yes.” He gives me an even look. Putting the glass down noticing how serious he’s being. “Did it have a pulse?” I ask. “Not one beat. No breath, no brain activity and I just got back from my lab to confirm this. I’ve tried talking to the Dragons-“ “I’m sorry, the Dragons?” Almost laughing out loud. “What in the blue hell made you think the Dragons would ever give you the time of day?” “I had to at least try.” He sighs drinking more. “Yeah yeah, I get it. Did they listen?” “They wouldn’t hear a word. Even as I was being dragged out, I tried to tell them that there was something very wrong. The magic in the Otherworld, it isn’t flowing like it should. It’s twisting in odd directions veering off and going where it shouldn’t. Defying itself.” Looking to Fernie, seeing the frustration on his face, I hadn’t seen him this passionate in a long time. “There has to be something incredible going on if that happens.” I say, giving him a sympathetic look. “And I may not understand a lot about magic itself, but I know when things look out of place. Even by an inch. I trust your judgement Fernie, if that counts for anything.” “Actually I’m happy you said that.” He says. “I can’t figure this out on my own.” “Fern no.” I stand with my drink. I know what he is going to ask, and he knows better than to ask. “Bex you are the only one qualified enough to actually help me figure out what’s going on.” He says standing with me abandoning his drink on the table. “The Otherworld is not a good place for me. Especially being what I am! Remember the first AND last time I was there? There were even more souls over there than here! At least here I can outrun them.” I say throwing the drink back feeling the burn roll down my throat, heating my chest. “I understand. But you’ve honed your abilities a lot more since then. Then, you were only a child but you’ve grown now. You’ve mastered yourself and you’re stronger now.” Fernie lays a gentle hand on my shoulder. I sigh, a heavy feeling drifting between the both of us. It’s been long since we’ve last seen each other. “I can’t do this without you. You’re the only other mind brilliant enough, also with the proper skill set to help me figure this out.” Gently whispering as he squeezes my shoulder. The heat of his hand defeating the coldness of the room. Appreciating the heat of his hand, considering most people I talk to can’t even feel heat at all. After a beat I sigh. Of course I would help Fernie, this man was my foster father, there is no way I could ever turn him away. “Ok.” “Ok.” He repeats after me. Taking both of my shoulders in his hands he turns me to him. “I know this isn’t easy for you, but thank you for doing this for me. It really does mean a lot.” “You know I would do anything for you, Fernie.” I say giving a nudge to his pudgy stomach, the fabric of his blue collar shirt wrinkling. “But I better get some food out of this or I will b***h the entire way there!” He bursts out laughing, pinching my cheek as a father would and I let him, even if it makes me feel juvenile. Later that evening, after a few words with my boss and packing up my things, I see Fernie waiting by his Volkswagen Beetle. The car still having that icky yellow color I despise. Fernie keeps saying he’ll repaint it to a nice blue, but I know he’s gotten attached. We make the trip to a truck stop diner, and Fernie immediately begins to fire. “So how’d you get the body?” I ask. “There is an associate of mine, the only one who will listen to a thing I say over there. But he’s what you’d call a shady sort of character.” He says as he pulls his briefcase onto the table. Just then the waitress comes. A kind older lady with a red lipped smile, whipping out her notepad she looks to us. “Hello Munchkins!” She says cheerfully. The remnants of a valley accent in her voice. She seems so nice. “What can I get y’all? It’s cold tonight, how about some hot chocolate?” “I would really enjoy that, thank you.” Fernie speaks up, smiling at the lady. “Me too, but let me get the steak with fries and my friend here will have the giant chocolate chip cookies we know you have stashed in the back.” I say smiling cheekily. “Only for you.” She says tapping her finger on my nose before turning away and walking off. Just as she leaves Fern lays out dozens of photos on the table. “What about the shady dude?” I ask intrigued as I look over the pictures. Photographs of a deadman lain on a wooden table. Noticing the dark lines tracing his veins on his arms. Flipping to another picture to see the man’s face, most likely mid-forties just by the way he looked. But he was also from the Otherworld and people don’t age as fast over there. “There is no telling how old this man is, but he definitely looked like he had some fight left in him.” I note as I flip through each picture. Every single one of them focused on certain parts of his body, but one picture catches my eye. “It was definitely a shock to my associate. He knew the man. He claimed this poor friend of his had more than a century left. He swore up and down that his death was no accident either.” Fernie sighs as he stares over the pictures. “Yeah,” I scoff. “It don’t look like it neither.” I say setting the picture down for Fernie to inspect. “The picture itself shows the man’s torso, and on his chest is a hand print that seems almost bruised.” “I was thinking about that as well, and when I saw that I did a little experiment, to test if the man was still alive of course.” Just then the waitress comes back with our hot chocolate before departing again. “Using some magic to see if there would be a reaction from the body itself, and if it was alive, it would.” “I’m interested in what’s flowing through this man’s veins to make them dark like this.” I say holding up a picture of the man’s leg, dark veins decorating the pale skin. “I extracted some of what was inside of him, and that in itself is hard to explain.” He says. “This man, had no reaction to any magic that I did. But the minute I extracted a bit of that liquid, there was a reaction.” “I’m guessing not from the corpse.” I say. “No. The liquid itself!” He says, his tone hushed as we were two of only five people in the diner. “The minute I extracted it, it was odd. It moved. Like it was a creature of its own.” His eyes shining with obvious fascination. “Fern, you forgot that you’re a scientist. What do we usually call this in the real world?” He sighs. “We’d call it a parasite.” “Correct.” “But you need to see it.” “Fern me seeing it isn’t-“ Just as I’m about to argue, Fernie reaches into his pocket and pulls out a Petri dish. Inside of it, twitching madly is an gooey black sleek looking substance. No form. No shape. No definitive characteristics or features aside from the color and movement of the thing. I take the dish from him, holding the dish up, to get a better look. The thing twitches again, webby slick strings sticking to the dish before recoiling back and slinging back out again. As if it was trying to break itself out. “This is what you extracted from your friend?” I ask c*****g an eyebrow in fascination at the thing. “It’s strange isn’t it.” “Entirely.” I say handing the dish back to him. “But you need to explain what I have to do with this.” Fernie gathers all the photographs as the waitress comes back with our food. Setting my steak down in front of me and the cookies in front of Fern. She departs again and Fernie takes a cookie dipping it in the hot chocolate before taking a bite. “If I miss anything from the human world, it’s hot chocolate. People in the Otherworld don’t have much of a taste for chocolate.” He says. “I’m sure they don’t have a taste for anything from the human world, considering how they’ve cut it off.” I say with a chuckle. “I’m sure the dragons and elves are frolicking in their Utopia, untouched by human filth.” Sarcasm lacing my tone. “Believe it or not a lot of them think that way. The minute I went to explain my findings, they only saw that I was human and turned me away. I guess, in their eyes at least, what could a lowly human like myself tell them about magic.” The tone of his voice, the melancholy, he’s used to people not listening. “You forgot that you are a brilliant educator, philosopher, scientist, you are not something to be over looked.” I say in hopes of cheering him up. He gives me a small smile, I’m guessing in thanks for my attempt in trying to cheer him up. “Bex, I’m sure you could use your abilities to find out why this parasite was in that man, and why he’s not completely dead.” He says. “You have your magic, and your magic is just right to help me figure out what happened to that man. And, to see if what’s happened to him is what is causing the disruption in the flow of magic. “You think a dead man is responsible for the disruption of pure energy? In the Otherworld of all places?” “Don’t laugh at me, Bex.” He says in warning. “I’m not laughing at you Fern, I’m worried. What if this is not as big as you think it is. What if this is a normal occurrence?” I argue gesturing to his briefcase sitting on the seat beside him. “The Otherworld is not the Afterworld. In the human and Otherworld, if people die then they die, end of story. They die, then get buried or burned, and then decay; just like us.” “Okay? So here’s the next question, what if this is bigger than you can handle? What if what you find is too big of a problem for you to solve?” I ask leaning forward in my seat. “You’ve already went to the Dragons, they’ve already dismissed you. I’m damn sure the Elves would be too bitchy to even consider helping. What’s the plan here, Fernie?” “I have to at least try. Or the next best thing, leave something for the bigger man so they can solve it.” He says, his face written with determination. “You’re going to do this anyway whether I help you or not aren’t you?” I lean back crossing my arms. “I would if I could Bex. Trust me, I don’t want to pull you into this and put the only family I have in danger.” He says his hand reaching across the table to me. “But I’m afraid there is something very wrong happening, and I’m afraid this will kill people. I am afraid of knowing something was wrong and not doing anything about it.” He says, his fingers wrapping around my hand in a tight grip. He was desperate. After a beat I sigh, rubbing my eyes in exhaustion. “I’m gonna have to ask for a couple of sick days.” “Thank you!” Fernie cries. “Thank you, thank you Bex. I know this wasn’t easy for you, but thank you for deciding to help me.” “Fern you know that if it’s you or the world, of course I’d choose you.” I say and he smiles at me, his adorable cheeky smile that has me grinning with him. “You’re my favorite daughter you know that?” He says. “Mother fucker I’m your only daughter!” I say making him burst out laughing, and for a moment there is peace again.