by S E Rise
The tone of a gentle bell sounded at my entry and the receptionist looked up as I entered the second set of doors. The doors were over sized to meet the diverse needs of their patients yet secure enough to keep them from wandering off down the street. The receptionist was a young woman no more than Twenty-Five years old and the temporary tag on her ample yet conservatively concealed breast told me her name was Cindy.
Her eyes were wide and bright like a freshly born chick and she smiled as she stood to meet me. Her focus remained steady and unblinking.
Someone has been drinking her coffee.
“Hello, welcome to….” She started to say in greeting and I gestured towards the hall to my immediate left.
“Someone has fallen down.” I said at the same time and her eyes followed my gesture, she heard the words and alarm entered her demeanor. Her eyes let go of their focus on me and I saw the Forget Me Spell fall into place. The gesture and information was still there but my part of it was simply forgotten and erased. Everything about me burned away. That’s simply how it worked. Of course, unless you were apparently blind, magical, enchanted or Marley.
Case in point.
I caught the eye of an old crone, her frail body dwarfed by the recliner she had been placed in. Intelligence sparkled within her old rheumy eyes and she threw her hand up in the air, like a gang sign, an old country sign of warding. One meant to ward off evil, about a hundred years ago. The old woman had a little of that old school gypsy magic coursing through her veins. That would explain why she had spotted me.
I tipped her a wink and a smile, and told her not to worry that I wasn’t here to see her. Besides, the sign of Warding you gang flashed at me was to ward off evil. I’m not evil. I didn’t need to tell her that though. Her eyes relaxed and the dull glassy look of the disconnected settled back into place.
The elevator door opened at my approach and I stepped into hear the soothing voice of Perry Como.
And stepped out onto a scene I hadn’t experienced in quite a few years.
The Hallway stretched out to both my left and right. Orderlies and baby blue smocked nurses moved with the speed that only a nightshift worker can understand. But after the initial step from the elevator my feet were rooted in place. I kept my mouth from falling open and raised an inquisitive eyebrow with my hesitation. Eight open doors ran the entire length of the hall. Outside of those doors stood seven solemn faced figures lying wait in morbid expectation.
Oh Boy, what the hell is going on here? Seven pair of haunted eyes turned in unison to note my arrival; four to my left and three to my right. Well that’s a little creepy; I wonder If I look that haunted?
“Looks like I’m just in time for the party.” I said aloud and wasn’t surprised at the lack of amusement I saw in their faces. Reapers tend to be introverted types and rarely bring attention to themselves. The Reaper closest to me was the exception though and she gave me a wry grin. I also noticed that she was doing something different with her hair.
“Nice Jack, good to see you.” She said and I tried to remember how long ago that had been.
“Same here Jillian. Are you doing something different with your hair?”
“Yep, I needed a little change. “
“Looks good.”
“Thanks.”
The nightshift went about their business like we did not exist, I could only imagine how much power our combined presence was giving to the Forget Me enchantment.
I regained control of my feet and edged up closer to her. “So, any idea what’s going on here?”
“Nope. None of these other Dead Heads are talking either. So I’m just as much in the dark as you are.” She said and I was suddenly reminded how much I actually enjoyed Jillian’s company. She was a very attractive woman and if I ever entertained the idea of a romantic involvement with her…Well I could just stomp that idea right into the dirt. After a night of drinking our loneliness away down at Ginger’s bar within the Elixir Hotel, I had watched this lovely creature before me and saw for the first time how she followed the succulent figure of the establishment’s proprietor. That was a look of desire I had rarely seen amongst those that visit the Fade. Ginger was a Gypsy, she owned the saloon, the restaurant and every room of the hotel that surrounded them. It was the most popular place within the Fade to get a quality drink and a decent meal. The place was a sanctuary of sorts as well, the number one rule was no killing on the property. The number two rule was that within these walls Ginger’s Word was law. And, she had her demon companion to insure that both rules were respected and followed. So to make a long story short, I was not equipped to satisfy Jillian’s needs…or maybe you could say I was over equipped.
I felt the compulsion strengthen with warning that whatever was going to happen was going to happen soon.
“Guess I better find my spot then. See you around Jillian.”
“Yep.”
And as an after thought… “Let’s have another drink soon and catch up.”
“Yep yep.”
The look in her eyes told me that “Soon” would be much later and we both knew it.
“Maybe I can help mess up that pretty hair of yours a bit.” I said and let the flirtation float back to her as I walked towards the one empty room.
“You can try…again.” I heard the humor in her response and it gladdened me. The grim stoic faces of the others resembled statues and their emptiness reminded me that I never wanted to be like that.
I fought the urge to stand in line with the others, stepped up into the threshold of the room and felt fate deliver a swift kick to my balls. An older balding gentleman with his arms folded across his chest sat sleeping in the room’s chair. His blue Dickie shirt was untucked and hung over a pair of worn denim jeans.
I was utterly shocked, yet I should have expected it. I remained as silent as possible, the cool breeze of the air condition caressed my ear and I watched as she tilted her head up into a casual sniffing position. Her eyes closed in concentration.
Shit.
Her eyes opened, her head turned towards me and she pinned me in place with those magnificent blue eyes. The edges of her eyelids were tinged a faint red from crying but they held power over me just the same. Of all the people in the world, it had to be her Grandfather.
Of course it did.
A look of accusation sat on her brow and I had to remind myself that she was blind.
She doesn’t know I am here. She just senses someone’s presence, not necessarily mine.
She sniffed at the air again, tilted her head as if to get a better listen and began to say something. I could see the words as she began to form them. She stopped though and behind her eyes I imagined the calculations her other senses were adding up for her.
She crossed her arms beneath her breasts and let out a sigh.
I felt time thundering headlong towards the moment of his death.
Her attention shifted from my presence as her grandfather suddenly let out a loud long agonal breath. Her head jerked around as it startled her. The piercing wail of the Cardiac Monitor filled the room as his heart stopped beating and his EKG went flat line.
I had as of yet entered the room, I heard a voice at the nurse’s station call out that they had a code blue and I stepped into the room to reap her grandfather’s soul. He stood beside the bed waiting for me as they sometimes do.
But I stopped and turned as the Cardiac Monitor in the next room blared into life.
That’s when the well choreographed dance of death began. I stood at the top of the hallway and watched as the black wave of death started with the reaper closest to me and rolled out and down the hallway. The wave of black filled the hallway as they each stepped, in perfectly timed fashion, into the rooms awaiting them. I stood there in awe at the morbid beauty of it. As the last two followed suit the hallway was suddenly white again, the screaming blare of eight Cardiac Monitors overrode any other sound and my eyes found what had not been there before.
I felt the pains
of hell beginning to burn their way through me but it was of little consequence to me at the moment.
A man stood at the far end of the hallway. Black slacks, white shirt and black tailor cut suit jacket…and the Black Eye Patch.
The sight of him was so wrong and appalling that it mentally sent me sliding backwards as the hallway elongated in horror. I felt the weight of dread trying to push me to the floor.
He simply stood there. He brought the cuff of his sleeve up to adjust and then he smiled at me. The mentally elongated hallway shortened suddenly with terrifying speed and I was suddenly, though I hadn’t moved, way too close to him.
I didn’t have to wonder or speculate on who this man was. I had seen that easy smile turn into a maddened grin before, as it had now. The man before me was Marley Jenkins, the boy I had known fifteen some years ago. He had finally found me.
“Hi Jack, did you miss me?” he said and his words slithered around me as if he had whispered them into my ear. “Ready to have some fun?”
I felt as well as heard a sob issue from Brin and once again registered the pain screaming through me. I was late with his reaping and I would pay a price for it. I turned back to look down the hallway and of course Marley Jenkins was nowhere to be found. In his place, I found a panic frenzy filled hallway reminding me that I had a job to do. I soundlessly and swiftly crossed the room and reaped her grandfather’s soul. All but the tiniest bit of hell subsided, the residual that remained I had gotten used to over the years. With the return of Marley Jenkins I was reminded of how I had gotten it.
Chapter Thirteen
I had first my encountered with Marley Jenkins when he was eight years old. His father had just beaten his mother to death in front of him. Her blood still leaked from the split skin of her flesh and I watched a large drop slide off his father’s knuckles and splash onto the dirty kitchen floor. I watched the father’s eyes turn to me and then slide away. Marley held his mother’s battered head and his crying had stopped. His mouth angled slightly open, his brow furrowed and his cold dark eyes stared piercingly up at my presence.
“Are you an angel?” he asked as I took a stepped forward.
I tried to ignore his question.
I made it another few steps and he tried again.
“Are you angel? Are you here to help my Mama?”
The father bellowed something unintelligible. I knelt down and tried not to meet the boy’s eyes. I didn’t like the way he was looking at me, I wasn’t used to being so thoroughly scrutinized. I knew the moment he blinked it would be over with but the kid’s gaze still unnerved me.
So I answered him.
“No, I’m sorry but I am not an Angel.” I said, knelt down beside his dead mother and pushed a small breath of wind towards his eyes. His eyes watered but did not blink.
Damn it kid, blink and let me do my job.
“Are you here to take my Mama?” He asked and to this question I looked him straight in the eyes. How deep the boy’s eyes were? Broken shards of glass dotted the boy’s arms and legs with red rivulets and a long thin sliver protruded from the corner of his mother’s eye. The boy’s eyes continued to pin me as if in accusation. I was not the one who did this… I am only the means to an end.
“This will make her feel better.” I said and I don’t know why I did it, I have never done something like this…I am not one prone to random acts of kindness, so, when I reached across and pulled the long thin sliver of glass from his mother’s eye I should have expected that there would be a price to pay. The sliver pulled free with the slightest of effort. I felt it cut me then and I should have stopped. But I did not. I set the shard aside and looked once more to the boy. His eyes held volumes of pain and I did not want to be the one to give him more. He had seen enough.
If he wouldn’t trigger the Forget Me Spell then I would. I set my hand upon his forehead and began to bring it down to cover his eyes.
“Are you going to take my mama now?”
I felt his eyelashes flutter beneath the pads of my fingers as I tried to shut them. A thin smear of own red blood marked his forehead from my gesture. I had felt the cut when I extracted the sliver of glass from his mother’s eye but I did not think it deep enough to make me bleed. It is a very rare thing to draw the blood of a reaper and it surprised me. I did not like the situation, the oversight I had made or the feeling I received with my act of kindness.
“Yes.” I answered, reached down and reaped his mother’s soul. She gave a final gasp at the violation, an erratic final heartbeat and he dropped his gaze to her face.
“Mama?” He asked and I watched as his eyes shot open at the sound of her death.
I stood and exited through the front door. A warm night breeze caressed my face and I tried to push the look in the child’s eyes away. A dog was barking down the street and I expected to see curious neighbors watching from their porch steps.
“Mama?” I heard his small voice say one final time.
Even as the neighborhood remained quiet I found the path I was looking for and stepped onto it.
Surely someone has called the police.
My job here is done.
Three hours later I stepped off of that same forgotten path and headed back towards the house. There was no crime scene tape, nor were there the flashing lights I had expected. The neighborhood was utterly unchanged and I heard the dog bark once more down the street.
Shit.
The mother’s body still lay on the kitchen floor and the boy stood in front of his father’s sleeping form and still the red line of my blood on his forehead shown like a beacon. His father was passed out drunk in his recliner, he had no idea his life was only seconds away from ending.
The 357 magnum looked enormous in the boy’s hands. He had managed to cock the hammer back and level the end of the barrel towards the opening of his father’s mouth. His eyes were clear and focused and had found me as they had before.
“Are you sure that’s what you want to do?” I broke my own rule then and asked. I felt a tremor of pain start at my feet. The father’s soul would be reaped, I had no doubt, but I had to say it none-the-less.
“Yes.” He replied and continued before I could say anything else, “Are you here to take my Daddy?” The gun was heavy and I could see it taking a toll on the boy’s strength. “Will he go to hell?”
“Yes.” I answered to both questions.
“Good.” He said, put the barrel of the gun closer to his sleeping father’s mouth and pulled the trigger. The barrel of the gun bucked upwards and sent the boy flying backwards. I saw in slow motion as a chip of the man’s remaining front tooth flew upwards. The force of the recoil did not however keep the weapon from its intended purpose.
I reaped the father’s soul as the boy watched; his eyes wide with shock. I watched as splatters of his father’s blood mixed with my own on his forehead and I was relieved. Relieved because I did not like seeing my own blood marking the boy.
“Tell the police your father killed your mother and then you tried to stop him as he killed himself.” I said and felt his eyes follow me as I walked toward the door.
He wouldn’t remember it but maybe the thought would stick with him anyway. He was too young to go to prison.
*****
I felt his eyes still pinning me in place. Damn kid…just let it go and forget me already.
“Can you take me to my Mama?” his tiny voice asked from the top of the porch. I knew I was going to turn around as soon my foot hesitated on my next step. Damn it. As I said before, I am not prone to random acts of kindness. So I was even surprising myself.
“No, but I can take you away from here.” His face remained expressionless at my response. He hesitated for a long moment and I was actually pleased. I really didn’t want to be around the kid any longer than I had to. There are those who are good at these sort of things…I am not one of them.
“Come along boy, let’s take a walk. Hold my hand so you don’t lose me. I’m going to take you to so
me place safe.
Maybe I can figure out why the Forget Me spell isn't working on you.
Chapter Fourteen
Unfortunately, though it had started with a kind gesture it transformed in to something terrible. I’m not sure where it went wrong. I spent a couple days with the boy and I realized that I really didn’t like the kid. That sucks to say but it was true. He had quickly snapped out of his inner turmoil and trauma over his mother dying and killing his own father. There was a cruelty to him that I hadn’t seen before. Having him around me made it almost impossible for me to do my job. I would have him stay just out of sight as I completed my task, this apparently wasn’t to his liking and I would look down and see the boy standing there. Oblivious of his surrounding, I would find him touching the body as if no one could see him as well. It was very strange and it made more than a few people angry. One lady hauled off and smacked him across the room.
“Get the hell out of her you goddamn ghoul.”
To this he smiled and I grabbed him up by his neck.
“Have you lost your mind?”
“What? I’m not afraid. Nothing will ever hurt me again.”
“Why would you think that?”
“Because I have you.” He said and I definitely did not like the way he said it.
“I am going to make this very clear to you. I am not your father …” I started and he interrupted.
“No because I killed him.” he said and I saw there was not an ounce of remorse within his eyes. The boy was a psychopath.
“I am nothing to you. Do you understand? I cannot and will not care for you.”
