Reaping Me Softly

Chapter 9 - His Wishes

For Simeon, death is something humans' can't avoid. It is inevitable. If it's your time, then it's your time. An ordinary human can't see the future that awaits them, they don't know when they're going to die. That was why they were always reminded to be kind, to spend some time with their loved ones because who knows when?

Death will come and chase them. A newborn, children, adults, and elderly people... Death is indiscriminate.

It chooses no one and that is the bitter reality of life. It doesn't care if you just started exploring the world.

As for Lia's case, Simeon was overpowered by his emotions. Alright, he's Death, literally. But for some reason, he suddenly pitied the unborn child. He felt like Lia's baby would curse and blame him for taking his mother away from him. Before, he truly doesn't care about the family that would be left behind.

But now, he suddenly forgot everything.

Thinking about it annoyed the hell out of him.

It's not as if he can control the time! If he could, he would prolong Lia's life! But he was just a reaper following the God of Death's order.

"She can't remember a thing?" Alec was confused. "How? You don't have the power to erase one's part of memory, Simeon."

He sighed deeply. "That's I don't know, Alec. She can't seem to remember me telling her that she will die soon. How could that happen? I don't know."

When Lia told him to leave her house, he politely obliged. But when morning came, he came back and was confused too, like her!

"Then, what could be the reason? Why can't she remember you?" Alec asked again as if he could give him an answer.

Although he wanted to disagree with him but chose to keep his mouth shut. The pregnant woman knows his name, even created a drama in front of him! Telling things he couldn't understand. Even the soul he fetched the other night knows Simeon.

Damn... Is the human world too small for him? What if they were his acquaintance when he was still alive?

"She thought I was a dream," he uttered. "Maybe she believed that I was just part of her dreams..." He leaned on the sofa and crossed his legs. "Does this happen to you at work? They would shut you up and believe that it's not real."

"Oh..." Alec nodded. A hint of realization crossed his face. "I heard humans can't remember their dreams, Simeon. Maybe that was the reason why she can't remember you."

Sighing, he clenched his jaw. Now what? Does he need to go to the woman again and tell her that her time is approaching? Shall he force her to believe him this time? Because honestly speaking, he doesn't want to repeat himself.

Dahlia was stubborn. She should just believe in him and make the best out of her time!

"What would you do now?" Alec stood up. "You need to inform her, though. Or better yet, don't show yourself to her until death. Say, surprise! I'm Death and I'm bringing you to the Soul Society for litigation," he advised then, laugh at his own silliness.

"You know what?" He took the pen from the table and put it inside his pocket. "I need to go, Alec. If you'll stay here, lock the door."

"I'll go with you, of course. I'm on a day off," he insisted. Alec grabs the black coat that was resting on the armrest and swiftly slid his arms inside.

"You will just pester me," Simeon replied, grabbing the key of his apartment. "Reapers don't have a day off. You're making your rules again."

"Well, what can you say? I'm Death..." he boasted.

Simeon just shook his head and head out of his apartment located on the top floor of a tenth-floor building. They used the stairs as they were avoiding interacting with humans. Although only those who are near to die can see them. Still, climbing stairs is what normal people would do if the elevator's not working, right?

Good thing there were only a few people climbing up and down the stairs. Meanwhile, Alec was passing through the human body.

There were even a few people who stopped. Must be him...

"Stop acting like a child!" he shouted, which made everyone near them stop.

"Did you hear that?" One of them asked. He could sense the fear in the woman's voice.

"Who among you shouted?" Another one.

He sighed deeply and glared at Alec who was laughing without a voice. And now, everyone would probably think that this building was cursed. That the renters were living with the ghost which is kinda true, anyway.

"Where are we going, by the way?" Alec finally asked, then glanced at his iGrim. "I forgot, I still have a soul to fetch minutes from now. I will just follow you after I finish work."

Simeon made a face. "Just get lost, Alec. I have work to do and you're not really helping."

"Harsh," the latter said. "You'll just stalk Dahlia Possenti again just like what you did yesterday, right? You're the first Grim Reaper I know that stalks the soul he'd reap soon."

"Shut up."

Alec just rolled his eyes but, then without saying a word, he walked in the other direction and vanished. Meanwhile, Simeon blew a deep breath because he was guilty. He did watch Dahlia yesterday. When she told him to leave, he did and came back to her house two hours later.

But don't get him wrong, he just sat on her study table in her room as she slept. He didn't do anything but watch her all night. The way she switched sleep position on her bed, even heard her small snores and said nothing when she murmured inaudible words.

She even kicked the bolster away from her, letting it fall to the ground. He had to pick it up and put the long oblong shape pillow on her side. But it didn't just end up with kicking and picking. He had to cover her with a blanket because she was shaking in the cold.

It was his first time watching someone sleep. It was weird and a bit satisfying on his part.

And honestly, he felt the urge to watch her sleep again. Call him a creep, stalker, or what but, he was liking the idea of watching her. Not in a bad way though. She would probably kick him out of the house again once he does something that could harm her, and she will definitely not hesitate to curse him, again.

He leered at his Igrim and stopped when her name popped out of the small screen, followed by a text.

"Reap her soul..." he whispered.

For some reason, his legs got wobbly that he had to support himself from falling. He settled next to the big wall and put his palm on the hard surface.

He's Death... A grim reaper but why is he feeling sad? What does that even mean? Emotion doesn't have room in their nature of work yet, he's feeling something and it wasn't good. Thinking about it confused him.

He composed himself and tried to shoo his thoughts away. Simeon was fast enough to go to the hospital and from the outside, he could see her going out of the ambulance with some nurses accompanying her.

But what caught his attention was the guy beside her, holding her back with gentleness.

His brows furrowed. "Who was that? Why is he holding her like that?"

"Jealous?"

He almost jumped on her position when one of Alec's followers appeared beside him! It was Josh and the smirk on his face made him want to punch him!

"What are you doing here?" he asked coldly.

"Our boss asked me to join you. I wanted to say no, but I just received a name." He raised his hand, referring to his iGrim. "I saw you here and heard what you said loud and clear."

"And you assumed that I was jealous?" He faced him, hands inside his coat pocket. Leaning on closer to Josh, he squints his eyes. "What am I? A human?"

The latter shook his head fast he thought it would fall off onto the ground.

"No... No! Of course, you are not! Forgive me!" Josh closed his eyes, clasping and rubbing his hands together. "I will not talk anymore, Sir! I'll zip my mouth and will keep myself from telling you nonsense."

Simeon, on the other hand, stood straight and put his hand on Josh's hair, tapping his head.

"Good," he praised.

He started walking towards the hospital to follow Lia. He has an idea in mind while she was in an ambulance earlier. But he thought... Lia has one more month left in this world. Did the Death of God commit a mistake in identifying her death?

Honestly, even Death could make a mistake. Sometimes, the actual date of death of a person doesn't match with the death certificate given to them by the Death God. It wasn't new however, he wanted to believe that Death didn't commit a mistake this time.

If today is her time, he rather has someone fetch her than him. He can't bring himself to do it, not in this situation wherein a baby will be left behind. She won't be able to hold her baby, as she will die right after giving birth.

He doesn't usually believe in miracles as they don't exist in Soul Society but, he thought it wasn't a bad thing to ask for one. He wishes that something unexpected would happen that could prolong her life.

There were humans who were saved before. They were supposed to die but for unknown reasons, they were rescued and still living their lives until today. He hopes that something similar would happen to Lia... As he heard from Alec that the human world has a lot of mysteries.

"Damn it..." He normally craves souls. He could still remember how excited he was when he learned that Death God allowed him to fetch spirits for real, yet he wasn't feeling it anymore.

As of this moment, all he wanted was for Lia to live more.