'Til Fear Do Us Part (A Grim Awakening Book 1)

by Michelle Gross

  I could tell he was tense as he prowled closer. The echo of his boots seemed to 'thump' in my head louder than the cave crumbling around us. His boots, his clothes, everything was the same as Killian. But he was different. I felt different about him than I did Killian.

  He stopped in front of me. His skeletal hands shot out. He grabbed my hand and jerked me to my feet. I ignored the pain I felt every time I moved my body. All my injuries seemed to flare to life letting me know they were there.

  He pressed my body into his bones. I stared up in horror. The blue around him was finally back around him, but when he saw the look in my eyes the black came raging back. He grabbed my hand. I realized when it was too late what he was doing. I turned to reach for Killian, but we left him there.

  The dark hit me full force, slipping through time and space, into more lights. Then the next thing I knew I was being tossed onto my bed. I looked around my peaceful, quiet room. It felt like a stranger's room.

  I looked to Grim standing before me. He wasn’t broad like Killian because he was a skeleton yet… he still managed to make the room feel small exactly the way Killian had.

  “What about Killian?” I asked immediately

  He didn't answer me. He just stood there looking at me with that eyeless face of his. No skin. No flesh. Just a skeleton. I felt nothing. Fear’s words nagged in the back of my head.

  She could never love you.

  As if he could tell what I was thinking—he turned and within a blink. He was gone.

  My chest ached. I grabbed it as I staggered to my mirror.

  I saw a girl in a white bloodied dress, ripped open in the chest area, exposing the nasty claw marks against her breasts. She was bruised and cut in so many places.

  That girl looked wild and scared.

  Weak and foolish.

  She didn't know anything. Yet...

  She survived.

  Yes, I was alive. I didn't smile, though. A voice in the back of my head tugged to the surface.

  But, are you really?

  Chapter Eighteen

  -Molly-

  I appeared in the hospital after leaving Fear. I let the smile creep its way onto my face. When I had been called back to his side, I hadn't expected him to be the loser. I took pleasure in seeing the entity injured and hurt. Although it wouldn't last long.

  And, he was furious. Fear was a force to be reckoned with. He always thought out every single one of his plans. If one of those fell through, no fuss, he had plenty of more.

  Devious bastard.

  I grumbled as I walked through the hospital, out of sight, out of mind. I walked through all the doors in the hospital instead of opening them. I couldn't open them even if I wanted to.

  Which sucked, but I knew of a lot more stuff that sucked worse. Namely, being a ghost. Also, dying as a young girl and being stuck in that body for three decades.

  I stared down at my rag doll dress, the same it had always been since I died. Blood covered a huge chunk of it. How nice would it be to change into some new clothes? I sighed, dreamily.

  I stared down at my flat chest and short height. I was forever stuck in that state. The state I died in. How nice would it be in I had boobs? And maybe a bit of curves to go with it. I wasn't asking for much, as long as I could get some.

  Ah, a ghost could dream.

  A pretty young nurse walked right through me as I walked the hall. I tipped my head back and glared at her before running to her and slapping the papers out of her hand. The papers fell around her feet and she bent down to pick them all up. “I'm such a klutz,” she groaned and I grinned.

  Ah, don't judge me. What was a ghost to do, if not mess with the living? I twirled back around in the direction I was heading and ran through the halls, humming, pretending to be the young girl that I looked. I even held my dress up as I ran.

  Because I was Molly. Molly, the dead girl.

  I stopped short, dropping my dress down when I reached the room I was supposed to. I passed through the door into a dark room. A boy, well I wouldn't call him that. A young man, broken down and sickly looking lay on the hospital bed.

  I sighed and walked next to the bed. Don't think about it, I told myself. Most of the time, I did the job and never thought to question the things I did. I met demons when I was a decade old ghost and discovered there were a lot more than ghosts hiding beneath the surface. I also learned I could become something more than just a ghost girl.

  I could leave this body of a child and finally become a woman. Something I was denied as a ghost. Fear had promised me just that if I continued to do as he asked. I was his right-hand man—ghost. I just have to do all his dirty work to get what I wanted. And that is to become a woman. When that happened, I would also have feeling again in my body. I would know what warmth felt like again. I would feel the coldness of each winter. I would feel the sunshine against my face. I would eat again and remember what ice cream used to taste like. I had forgotten what everything felt like. But, I just had to do what I was told and I would have it all again.

  Normally, I didn't care. Normally...

  I just did what I had to without letting myself think about it. But there were moments, rare ones, like right now when my guilty conscious slipped through. When that happened, the hardened soul I made myself become, flickered and some of the goodness peeked out.

  Stupid goodness.

  I took another look at the young man. Some sort of tube ran out of his neck and I wondered if maybe if I just left him alone, let him be, he might just die on his own? As soon as the thought crossed my mind, I swatted it away. No, Fear wouldn't have sent me here if the boy was already dying. The boy was meant to live.

  I despised the thought of taking the life of humans. I never had before. First, there was the human girl Melanie. I never succeeded, but if Grim hadn't kept interfering, I knew I would have. I felt the pinch in my chest and ignored it.

  Now it was her friend. What was his name? I tried to think of his name. No, it was probably best I didn't know. I was here to kill him anyway.

  I stared at his palm and saw Fear's mark. Stupid boy. He got caught up in the girl’s problems and now because of it, he would be a bigger part of Fear's plan.

  What would Fear do with the boy once he owned his soul, I pondered. It wasn't my job to know. I sighed and climbed the bed until I sat on his chest. I wanted to get this over with before the nagging in my chest tore me to pieces. I knew what I was doing was wrong.

  Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

  Sometimes the urge to run from everything and never look back would hit me. Then I would remember I could never go back to just being a ghost. I missed my chance to move on. I couldn't now, not after everything I've done. I was sick thinking about it. I would never know what it was like to walk into Heaven’s gates. I would only be sent down to Satan's flames where I'd know nothing but pain and agony.

  Okay, enough with thoughts in my head. I pulled the magic knife out of my dress that I kept in the side of my panties. The knife would leave no trace behind. It would look like he died of his injuries instead of what I was about to do.

  I brought the knife over my head. It was that moment the young man opened his eyes. I stood there, frozen, forgetting that I was a ghost and he couldn't see me. His eyes scanned the hospital room, in shock and fear, as if he were only realizing now that he was in the hospital. My chest tightened. I closed my eyes.

  I sunk the knife into his chest.

  Melanie's Story Continues In...

  ’Til Grim's Light

  Available Now!

  Author's Note

  Thank you for reading ’Til Death Do Us Part. I hope you liked it and of course I’d love for you to leave a review. I love to read feedback and as an author I am always wanting to improve.

  Now a little about myself... Hmm.

  I'm a mom to twin girls who love to keep me busy. When I'm not playing, feeding, and chasing after them or picking up after their father, I try to get some writing in.

  I
enjoy adventures—in and out of books, reading, watching my favorite TV shows. I might have a slight obsession with Korean dramas and their men. Maybe, it's more than a slight obsession if you were to ask my family and friends, but that's okay. They still love me.

  ’Til Death Do Us Part is my first published novel, but book two is right around the corner.

  If you'd like to get in touch or stayed updated on when my next book will be out, feel free to on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michellegrossauthor/

  Twitter: @AuthorMichelleG

  Instagram: @michellegrossmg