The Untold Story of a Grim Reaper: Chapter 10: Murder Reaper

“A tremor is coming.”

 

I awoke laying flat on my back, confused as to where the words of a man came from.

Leaves were brushing passed me and a few got stuck on the fabric of my shirt. I brushed them off me and rested on my forearms. I looked around but I saw no one. I didn’t understand how I got back to the woods. I sat up fully and crossed my legs. 

My peripheral vision caught a black vulture flying passed me. I turned to look over at it. It landed on the ground and cautiously approached me. With all the attention I had been getting from animals I felt like snow white… a dead, scavenger attracting, snow white. 

It started picking at the laces on my sneakers when I was caught off-guard by a voice.

“You could have killed everyone.”

I stood up and spun around, the vulture scurried off. Lilli was standing behind me with her arms folded.

Utterly confused, “What are you talking about?”

She rolled her eyes, “The little episode you had at the campus? You started screaming. You could have killed everyone but I stopped you. You’re welcome.”

“But how? How did you stop me?”

“You already know. I’m a reaper.”

“Well… I just… how can you be dead… and Aaron’s twin?”

Lilli gave a cynical laugh before responding, “I’m sure you’re well aware of our ability to manipulate memory? Aaron’s twin died last year. She was murdered. Him and his family were devastated, you can say I had pity for them so I altered their memories for them to think I’m that twin. They have no memory of her, I mean of me, dying. And I needed a solid cover story.”

What she had done gave me more consent not to trust her. What kind of person makes an entire family forget about their child? Just so that she could have a better cover? 

A thought interrupted me, “How did you find out I’m a reaper?”

“I wasn’t sure at first, but the one thing I did know was that you’re dead. I just couldn’t tell if you were a reaper. But once I heard that scream, I knew. We are creatures of the same cloth.”

A memory hit me, “You… you kissed me?”

She rolled her eyes again, “Kiss of death? Don’t you know anything? Damn, mentors, they were better in my day. Kiss of Death kills people and paralyzes reapers… and other living-dead’s. If I hadn’t stopped you, you would have killed everyone in that school and God wouldn’t be too happy with you after that. You don’t want to stay a reaper forever in Hell, do you?”

“No, no, of course not.”

“Well, I’m sure we’ll find a way for you to repay me.” I didn’t like the sound of this bargain and it read on my face. She detected my withdrawal and said, “It wasn’t all roses for me, it made me partially blind for a few hours, it froze my face, I kept coughing up stuff. So, yes, we will find some way for you to make it up to me.”

“Okay… I guess I owe you.” I frantically checked my belt loops, “Wait! Where’s my pouch?”

Lilli laughed, “Calm down.” She reached behind her and tossed it to me. It might have been my paranoia but it felt lighter. She snickered, “You don’t want to lose that.”

I nodded. Lilli stretched her arms up and raised herself on the ball of her feet. She gave out a large sigh and clapped her hands. The clap let out an unusually loud reaction, causing all the birds to flee from their perches. I just kept staring at the ground. Digging my sneakers in the soft dirt. 

I said the only thing I could think of, “Thank you, Lilli.”

Lilli cocked her head to the side and gave a sweet, comforting smile. A smile I would have never drawn on her face in a million years. It didn’t fit the character I had been growing used to, but I accepted it. 

Lilli asked, “So how long have you been a reaper?”

I calculated the days roughly, “About four days.”

“Four?!” Her reaction was bigger than I was comfortable with, “You’ve only been a reaper for four days? No wonder you’re such a mess,” she laughed, “I burned down an entire village my first day as reaper. You held up a lot longer than me,” she paused before starting again, “what kind of reaper are you?”

I raised my stare to meet hers, “I’m a suicide reaper… what kind are you?”

The disposition she had disappeared. She folded her arms and folded her legs to sit down crisscross on the ground. The leaves and stray dirt around her pushed away in the wind as she settled near me and spoke, “I’m the murder reaper, that’s how I knew about the death of Aaron’s twin,” she shook her head, “I’ve been a reaper since 1691.”

I was afraid to ask but I did anyways, “How were you murdered?”

She shrugged and I could tell an unhappy memory was swirling in her thoughts, “I’m sure you know some stories from this time. I was accused of being a witch, sentenced to hang. I escaped. But my neighbor found and stabbed me in the back,” she picked up a rock and threw it, “I wasn’t a witch. I just owned a black cat, sold herbs, but you know… people will murder if they think it will get them into Heaven.” She laughed but I could tell it hurt her to even speak, “‘In the name of God’ he said! As he stabbed me in my back.” 

I felt like I was hearing something Lilli had wanted to talk about for a long time. And this vulnerability she was showing me was so endearing. Maybe we would have each other’s backs as we went through this? She broke the silence, “Why did you commit suicide?”

“I… it made the most sense at the time. Nothing was worth anything anymore. Nothing seemed to matter. And I was so thoroughly convinced by my peers that I didn’t matter… so I figured I shouldn’t exist.”

“Do you remember you living name?”

“Edith… Edith Demetria Rothschild.” She seemed impressed, “Don’t you remember your name?”

“Not in the slightest,” she shrugged and laughed a little, “Lillian and Noa are our actual names anyhow… well they’re our calling. Besides the person who I was died off a long time ago, the name wouldn’t fit me anymore.”

A thought struck me and the words rushed out as soon as it came to me, “How are you allowed to be in a relationship with Salvatore? You know… since we can’t fall in love?”

She chuckled, “Salvatore is a type of daemon, like us.” I gave a startled expression that annoyed her, “Not a demon, a daemon.”

I sheepishly asked, “What’s a daemon?”

“You need a new mentor, Noa. You are a daemon. Basically, it’s a being that travels between earth, purgatory, Heaven, and sometimes Hell. Running common tasks. Basically a messenger, supervisor in the relationship of the dimensions. A daemons purpose differs from soul to soul.”

“So he’s dead?”

“Yes, he’s dead. Not everyone who is brought back to Earth is made to be a reaper.” All the information she was saying was swirling in my mind and I was trying my best to retain it all. “His breed of daemon is called a Taunt. Taunts are messengers with a lot of liberties. More than we have, not as much power, but a lot more freedom. Since taunts are the most avid sentencing someone can receive, there’s like six that go to our school.”

I had so many questions for Lilli that I wanted to ask, but for fear of annoying her I hesitated. She looked at me with her eyebrows scrunched, “Don’t you have more questions? What has the reaper before you explained?”

“He explained the basics…”

The vulture from earlier reappeared from the brush of the wood. Lilli snapped her fingers and patted her shoulder. The vulture followed the command and swung itself upon her shoulder.

“Where’s yours?”

“My what?”

“Your spirit. It’s always with you.”

“My spirit?”

“This is so sad, you really don’t know anything. Your spirit and soul are separate entities. Your soul is what you are. You are a raw soul and a soul can’t die. But a spirit is what you destroyed when you killed yourself, it’s what kept you on earth. When you died your spirit and soul separated. Your spirit is just energy, and remember energy cannot be created nor destroyed but can…”

“Can take new form?”

“Yes. Your spirit took new form and attached itself to an animal. It’s the exterior partner for your soul. Sing something. It should come to that.”

“But won’t that attract people too?”

Annoyed she commanded, “Just sing a song and focus on your spirit.”

I sat and filed through my mind to find a song that could help me focus on the crow. I remembered a song my grandfather would sing to me. He’s still alive and must be just as heartbroken about my death. So I hummed the first verse of the song I would hear before bed but sang the words in my head…

 

Friends, can you hear the wicker drum?

Father, is it true the war is done?

Please, forgive me if I shy from you.

Just show your hands, to prove peace is renewed.

 

Before I could start the second verse, my purple-eyed friend fluttered through twigs and branches landing next to me. I was happy to see it. Lilli directed her vulture to meet my crow.

Lilli sprung up from where she was sitting as if a thought occurred to her, “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours!”

“What?”

Lilli rolled her eyes again as she laughed. She inhaled deeply and on the exhale a pair of misty, grey wings spanned across the wood from her back. I got the picture and mimicked her. She seemed impressed, “Lucky, black looks nice.”

I returned the compliment, “Thanks but yours match your eyes.”

She laughed again, a laugh that could easily be mistaken as something sinister, but I could tell she was starting to like me. This really got my spirits high. Finally, I had someone with me in the same situation. Things might not be so bad.

“Let’s race.”

“But I don’t really know what I’m doing.”

“You’ll be fine. Just getting some practice in will help.”

“Okay, if you says so.”

Lilli signaled at her vulture, it leaped into flight and she shortly ran and followed after it. Rising into flight disappearing over the horizon of the trees. I looked at my crow, it seemed unsure. I picked it up and kissed it on the head before releasing it from my grip. It took off and I did the same.