Phantasm Pile Up

Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Cleaning Up His Act

"The punishment is effective immediately after the violator, Grim Reaper Clay, is reached by the chosen messenger, Grim Reaper Ona."

The woman, which is now known as Grim Reaper Ona, looked at him with a neutral expression, although you could still see how pathetic she thinks Clay is by looking at the expression on her face.

"Did you understand that? Or do I need to explain it to you thoroughly?" Now she's treating him as if he's an idiot.

"Ugh, I got it" Clay replied in annoyance. His expression didn't change one bit and he just stared at his fellow reaper. He doesn't recognize her, I mean he doesn't really recognize any of his co-workers but this one isn't familiar to him at all.

"Are you new?" He asked, with genuine curiosity.

She ignored the question "do you have any questions regarding your punishment?"

"Are you new?" He asked again, he's really really curious.

"If there are none, then I will get going now, goodbye Grim Reaper Clay, I wish you the best of luck," she said and just walked away.

Clay remained silent for a few seconds after she left. He sighed and rubbed his hand over his tired face. He doesn't want to be punished, he's regretting all of his life decisions right now. He should've harvested a soul at least once a year so that at least he's doing work and his punishment wouldn't have been approved. These past 3 years, he did absolutely nothing but eat and sleep, now he needs to actually do some work or he'll be a human being.

A human being!

If he becomes a human being, he won't be supported by the higher-ups anymore, and he can die if he doesn't eat. He knows a lot about how humans live, they work every day for 8 hours so that they can have money to buy food. Becoming a human being is the worst thing that Clay can be, just look at him, he's literally a supernatural being, yet he looks so miserable. If he becomes a human, he'll probably die in just 2 weeks.

I should get started right now.

Clay tries to stand up to get dressed but noticed the mess in his apartment. This puts him off.

It's mostly made by Ona when she came here, like the door that she absolutely wrecked, but he was sleeping for days that dust settled everywhere. The floor, the furniture, the mattress that he was sleeping in, and even the couch that he's currently sitting on. He stood up and look at his rear, he was wearing black sweatpants, so dust is visible on his butt.

"What a pain"

He went to find a broom and other cleaning supplies from the closet on his balcony and started to get to work. He dusted, swept, mopped, did the laundry, changed the pillowcases, bedsheets, and curtains, and took out the trash. He did everything he could until he was the only one dirty in his apartment.

Grim Reapers don't sweat, but he sure feels sticky from all the dirt that he just cleaned. His apartment does have a bathroom, but the only thing in there is a shower and a sink, there's no toilet nor a tub, he doesn't need those. Although right now, all he wants is to soak in a bathtub.

You might be wondering, it's an apartment, why doesn't it have a toilet. Well, this one-bedroom apartment was originally built by the heaven organization, the company where non-humans like Clay work. They built it to accommodate new reapers and to help them blend in with society.

Usually, once reapers have adjusted in the overworld enough, they move out and buy a better place. Clay didn't do that, he's been living in this tiny apartment for 66 years.

He thought he was finished cleaning, but he was only done in the living room, he cringes at the sight of his bathroom as soon as he opens the door.

"Fucking disgusting"

The bathroom's floor was wet, he must've forgotten to mop them dry before he went to sleep. He lives in a cheap apartment, so bacteria easily grows in his home if not cleaned thoroughly enough. He didn't wake up for days, and mold started to grow on the lower part of the walls because of the moisture.

He went back to the balcony and grabbed more cleaning supplies from his closet where he keeps his broom, mop, cleaning detergent, and other supplies. He grabbed some gloves, bleach, and a sponge and went back to the bathroom to continue cleaning.

He scrubbed as hard as he could, he absolutely detests mold.

Once he's done cleaning, he put all his supplies where it belongs, making it seem like he didn't touch them at all. He washed his hands and took a shower. When he got out of the shower, he dried himself and put on clean clothes. His hair still needed washing too since he hasn't had a haircut in months. It's getting long, it's already past his waist.

'Should I cut it? ' he thought about it then he went to find the scissors, he didn't find them. So he thought about tying it up in a bun, but he couldn't find a rubber band.

'Damn it!'

He decided to just comb it and leave it be. Thankfully, his hair is naturally straight and luscious, although all he uses is a cheap shampoo from the convenience store, it's perfectly styled and it sits nicely on his head.

One day, God realized that reapers should always be presentable so he made it like that. Kinda wish He did that on humans too, smh.

Clay has an oval-shaped head. Although his face is more on the average side, his middle part made him look quite handsome. He has high-arched brows paired with big round eyes and small-sized irises. This gives him a surprised look, although he tries to look as nonchalant as possible, he always looks like he found out what Victoria's secret is. This surprised look, instead of making him look weird, became his charm.

He's finally ready to go out. For the first time in 5 days, he's going out of his apartment, and for the first time in 1 year, he's harvesting another soul.

He stands in front of the door, grabs the doorknob-

"Almost forgot!" He suddenly exclaims.

He almost forgot the most important thing that a reaper should wear, his top hat.

It's a black top hat that has a sheer black veil, hanging from it. This hat makes reapers
become concealed from the eyes of mortals, although they wear the most eccentric clothing, with this hat, they're as unnoticeable as dog shit.

The veil that covers their face helps their eyes see the shadow of death. A shadow of death always follows ghosts, it's different from normal shadows since instead of having a dark color, it's white.

His top hat compliments his all-black outfit. A black long sleeve turtleneck underneath a black waistcoat paired with black trousers, he's also wearing his only pair of black dress shoes. His outfit suits him perfectly, especially since he's tall.

Once he's done fixing his top hat, he grabs the doorknob again and twists it. He takes a look at his wall clock one last time, 11:00. As soon as the door was open, he shut his eyes in surprise.

That's right, he forgot, his apartment faces the east, right in front of the blazing Sun. And his apartment is as dark as a blind person's sight, he needed the time to adjust his eyes.

'This is why I hate work.'