Hello, Death

Chapter One - The Reaping

It was about a day ago that I almost let someone escape a Reaping. Actually... I did let someone escape it. It was a Saturday morning when I was on my way to collect some souls. An average beginning really.

I was readying myself to reap more souls while watching humans wait for vehicles to come and take them away from their ordinary lives. It was a cold December day in New York City, the breeze went through my unruly black hair as I took a stroll through the loud and busy streets. Christmas was weeks away and everyone was shopping for whatever they could get their hands on. How exhausting.

While I was watching cars go by and people walk and talk on their phones, a woman about nineteen years old came up to me with a calm smile and said, "Nice costume."

The human eye wasn't meant to see magic or any type of inhuman kind of creature, nonetheless a being like me. A Guardian of the Nine Realms. Death itself. So in the instance of a human being able to interact with a Guardian, we are told to avoid contact at all costs. Of course, I've never encountered it until now. 

I stared at her with dark, bewildered eyes as my blood ran cold. Then I quietly whispered to myself, "You shouldn't be able to see me..."

She just shrugged unbothered and tilted her head teasingly, "Is it bad that I can see more clearly than others?"

I didn't know what to say, but then I recalled some people usually see Death just before they die. It was a rare occasion, but maybe that was what it was. It meant that it was almost time for the Reaping.

Not even a second later, a large city bus came drove over a curb, and smashed into one of the stores. The polluted air was filled with screams of young and old. The sound of metal scraping metal, fire blazing from the vehicle, and then... a silence washed over the chaos. The Reaping has just begun.

I stepped back and watched as time froze. A soft glow came from the dead, their shadows crept out from the vessel and the grey silhouettes floated toward me, the questioning looks they had still made me uncomfortable. They reached for me, asking me questions about their families, but I raised my hand toward the souls to release a looming shadow that spread across the souls, stealing the shadows and transporting them to a place where they would be judged. A spiritual courthouse, if you will. 

Except... one remained untouched, her body was still intact and fully alive. She wasn't frozen, but she stood still and watched the Reaping take place. I snapped my fingers and time slowly came back to its original pace. People ran frantically to the bus while fire trucks and police sirens were wailing in the distance. Some people cried, some people screamed, and some people stayed silent and observed the scene.

I walked up to her calmly before asking, "Why aren't you dead?"

It was forbidden to interact with those who could interact with higher beings, but the count would be off if she was supposed to be reaped...and she was just standing here. This was the first time this has ever happened to him. What else was he supposed to do? Not confront the problem?

"Are you mad that I didn't die?" She teased me with a smirk.

My eyebrows furrowed, "I never said that..."

She smiled and looked at me. Her left eye was blue and her right eye was green, they were dull like she's never been happy before. It was...oddly familiar.

Of course, I can't say that I've ever been happy either.

Crowds formed around us while the ambulances and police arrived, trying to figure out who died and who survived as well as investigate who was the cause of so many lives being lost.