REAP

Don't

All around me the air is howling and my hair is lashing. The cold bites at my skin and stings my lips, but I stand motionless. Not far away, a dark silhouette is lifting a leg over the flimsy railing of a local bridge that suspends over a craggy river.

I blink, and I'm right behind him. As usual,

I feel it.

The

pain.

I breathe it in, his suffering, his longing. His hope that is sinking out of him faster than air in a whoopee cushion.

He's almost gone.

But,

not yet.

This is my job. But,

this?

It is not my job.

It's another reaper's. In fact, not just any other reaper's. It's a council member's.

His fingers dance behind him on the frigid metal like a pianist's does when nervous. He licks his bloodied lips and presses his eyes shut, silently sending a tear down his hollow cheeks.

There's nothing left here for me.His eyes snap open with determination and he let's go of not only the railing but the world.

And that's when I reach.

11:52

The boy looks up at me from the hard concrete bridge with a dazed look.

"Why did you do that?" He looks down, and bites his lip.

Me? I look to my hands.

Why did I do that?

I don't answer, because I have no answer. But another voice takes hold of the silence.

"You'll pay for that, Aria." The council member's raspy breath falls cold on my neck. The mortal can't see him, so I pay the reaper no attention. I've already broken so many rules, I can't afford to have a boy learn of us.

The boy stands.

"I said, why did you do that?"

Anger seeps into his voice, and I blink.

But I go no where.

The boy looks at me furiously, his eyes are wide and filled with anger- and I have no where to escape to. No where to hide from the shame.

I will not only be shamed by others, I will be shunned.

The upset human extends an arm, reaching to shake an answer from my dead lips, but my blink kicks in and I'm transported to Headquarters.

"Hello, Aria." The sickeningly sweet voice of Melissa, my quadrant's leader, snaps through the air sarcastically.

Memories of being a young reaper and keeping my head down in the quadrant leak into my thoughts, I never wanted to upset this woman. No one did. Not only would she punish you for out of line actions, but she'd make sure she made it an unforgettable and humiliating experience.

I bite my lip.

"Hi," I stutter for the correct word to make the greeting more formal but can only manage a small "ma'am."

"I'm sure you," she licks her lips and adjusts her posture to a more condescendingly powerful one, "dear, understand how wrongful and utterly chaotic you have been tonight."

"Yes, but-"

She laughs, curling a pen into her bird-like grasp, "How stupid of me to think someone like you could comprehend such a concept, sweetie. You see, you have made things...complicated for me. Therefor, I no longer see you of any use." She finished with a big cheesy smile, allowing her oozing southern accent to echo across the quiet office.

All eyes were now on me.

"I'm saddened to say you've embarrassed your quadrant enough and we can no longer house you nor employ you, goodnight." At this, I look around and everyone's gaze has dropped from me- including Melissa's.

"But where will I go?" I ask pleadingly.

I'm treated with silence.

I gulp, processing my new invisibility. Of course, I am not really invisible, but it feels like it because no one is allowed to interact with outsiders or else they'll face the same punishment.

But, where will I go? I have no friends besides reapers. Surely humans would notice I don't age. I mean, someone can only look seventeen for so long before suspicion is roused.

I back out of my former leader's cubicle and rush to find my best friend. Even though I know she can't talk to me I keep the hope that she may listen.

I find her in her room bent over a list of assignments. She looks up at me, a warm smile peeling back, welcoming me to her. "Hi there! I haven't seen you today. Where have you been?"

I panic and immediately decide not to tell her about being shunned, I want to enjoy these last few moments with her.

"I was out. I had a bunch of things to check off today. How are you?" I cross the room and sit down next to her, watching as she arches a perfectly manicured eyebrow at my mysteriousness. But she doesn't question it.

"I'm good... I've been really bored today. That bitch Melissa gave my assignments to her precious little son. I can't stand her."

"Me neither," I say bitterly.

"I don't understand how she just gets away with her favoritism! It's so obvious, why doesn't Raquell call her out on it?"

"I don't know, Ren. I have two theories. First one is: She has absolutely no idea what goes on here and really just doesn't care to ever take the the time to find out... And the second is that she does know, and just doesn't give a flip. You know, it is a possibility she's just been dead so long she's become numb to the doltish behavior of a nobody who just decided to rule over a handful of Reapers."

"I suppose so." Renae closed her book, rolling over to sit up so she could be eye to eye with me. "But I still don't-"

BEEP.

A loud, annoying chime that we are both well acquainted with blared, warning us an announcement is soon to follow.

"Fellow Reapers,"

"Speak of the devil." Ren mouthed.

"Any reapers caught socializing, aiding and or communicating with Aria Farris will be immediately removed from our system and no longer welcome in the housing that is so kindly being provided."

Uneasiness fills me as I look to Renae slowly backing away from me, "What were you doing today, A?" Terror floods into her deep brown eyes and she lays a small hand on the door knob, ready to leave at any moment.

The intercom chimes in again,"Thank you, have a nice day." Unlikely.

I know this will be the last time for me to ever be around her, or speak to her, so I let my last words hold the truth. What she will believe once rumors begin to fly, I don't know. But I do know this-

"I touched a claimed human." And I blink.

This time, into my own room. But all my things are gone already. I literally have

nothing.

I curl up on the floor, allowing the emotions to overcome me and wash out the busy world outside that will continue to live on with out me.