Grim

I awake to the grim reaper himself staring down at me.

The weird thing is that I don't feel scared somehow. I feel at ease and protected. I feel safe and loved. Happy to have him here with me.

"Good morning, sunshine! How was your sleep? Cool cool. Um, yeah, get the fuck up, hotshot. We got work to do..." he trails off and shakes his head as if in disbelief.

I didn't even get time to answer him. He immediately answered it for me with such arrogance that I was surprised I felt the way I did about him. How could I love someone so thoughtless and rude?

He moves across the strange room I have found myself in. It was a gliding motion as if he's floating in midair. It makes sense, him being the grim reaper and all.

"Where are we going? And what work do we have to do?" I ask him.

I am left completely in the dark about everything so far.

"Must I always explain this to you every time you die and I bring you back to life again?" he snapped.

"I don't understand what you mean..."

"I'll let you in on a little secret of ours. You work for me and help me bring the souls of the damned where they truly belong. I help guide them along through the afterlife, you see."

He pauses.

"You are human and can cross between the realm of the living and the realm of the dead. Every time you cross over between both realms, you lose 5% of your memory. The part usually where I have to explain everything to you all over again..."

I take a moment to let it all sink in.

My memories slowly start to return to me. I close my eyes and I can see someone on the floor dying, blood spilling out every which way from their body. Lifeless and dull eyes stare back up at me. They feel familiar to me. They say something to me, but I can't hear what they're saying. Then, suddenly, their eyes snap shut as the process of dying has finished.

I am left all alone, sobbing profusely.

"You signed a contract," the reaper continued, as if he was seeing what I was seeing at the same time. "You took the place of your sister, so that she could go on living, but you paid the price heavily. She has no memory of you ever even existing."

My mouth fell open in complete shock and confusion.

What have I done?

—————~>

I remember her.

The missing piece of the puzzle was right in front of my eyes the entire time. How had I not realized this before?

She sacrificed her sanity and well-being for my sake so that I could go on living my pathetic, little life. I had everything I could have ever dreamed of, while she was with some narcissistic, death god.

I felt deathly sick to my stomach. I doubled over in pain, clutching my stomach for dear life. I had never felt anything like this before.

I guess there's a first time for everything in life.

What a sick fucking joke.

I thought about the events leading up to my death. It was supposed to be my wedding day. I was getting married to the CEO of a multimillion dollar company who owned a mansion and his own private jet. He had stacks of cars all lined up in the garage like game trophies. I had everything and I didn't even have to ask for it. I could buy whatever I wanted to whenever I wanted to.

My sister never had that chance a day of her life. She had nothing and was living on the streets after our mom had kicked her out of the house for not getting a job when she wanted her to.

What a sick fucking joke...

She was never the pathetic one and I always would be. I could have saved her, but instead, I sat there and did nothing about it.

I watched her crumble.