Reapers

Chapter 5: Sometimes the Answers are Worse than Ignorance

Roman sat in the waiting room, his knee bouncing nervously. He turned his phone around in his hand in a pattern, but he didn't feel like distracting himself with it. He could only think about the cat, hoping that they would be okay. They had to be, the poor little thing...

"Mr. Prince?" a vet asked as she walked into the room, making Roman jolt up.

He quickly shot out of the seat and walked over. "Y-yes?" he stuttered. Anxiety coiled in his gut as the vet gave him a sad look.

"I'm really sorry to say, but the cat didn't make it. There was internal bleeding, and we weren't fast enough. Not only that, but the amount of blood loss he had... I'm sorry."

Roman's shoulders dropped in disbelief as his heart broke. He swallowed thickly and told the vet, "Thank you for trying."

She put her hand on his shoulders and said in a soft voice. "It's getting late, why don't you go home and rest. Thank you for trying to help the cat, if it helps we were able to give it pain medication so he wasn't in pain in the end."

"It-it does help a little." Roman fought to keep the tears out of his eyes. "Thank you."

The nurse nodded before turning around to exit the room, leaving Roman to be the only one left there in the dim lighting. He just looked at the ground, making his way to the door.

He felt so defeated and just so tired. It felt like death surrounded him ever since he woke up at the hospital, and even before that! Though, that's only because his brother died so young, and violently too. It wasn't fair!

Roman closed the door to the vet behind him and started heading to the parking lot, the sun already so low. He glanced up and saw a man sitting on the curb, making him frown slightly since the man wore a black cloak with purple fabric stitched on it. It was the same man he saw a few weeks ago with the birds.

His heart stopped when he saw the man was holding a calico cat with a chip in its right ear. It looked exactly like the cat Roman had brought to the vet, down to the black spot on it's eye.

"You're so cute, I wish you could stay with me," the man chuckled, scratching behind the cat's ear. "But I think it's time for us to leave, before anything happens."

The cat opened its eyes, then spotted Roman. It meowed at him, trying to pull out of the man's hold and making the stranger look behind him. Roman held his breath when he saw the man's face. He had seen him before... his sun tanned skin with the small, faded scars and bright purple eyes. His dark purple hair was dotted with bright white spots, as if his hair reflected the night sky itself, and his whole being gave off a slight light. Roman saw him right before he almost died.

The man's eyes widened when he saw Roman was staring straight at him, and Roman felt himself panic.

"Uh... I uh..." he struggled to find his voice. What should he say? "Have-have I seen you before?"

"Um... no..." the starry haired man answered, anxiety clear in his voice. "I'm-I'm afraid I don't know you."

"No, no I have! You were there! At the car crash, and after I left the hospital! I saw you sitting on the traffic light, with the bird! And that cat, he died, the vet said so!"

"I seriously have never seen you in my life, and-and this is my cat! I've been with him all night."

"You just told him that you wish he could stay with you!"

"I... I have to give him up!" An obvious lie. "I don't have the money to take care of him." The cat finally jumped out of Virgil's arms, making the reaper internally panic as he got closer to the human.