Reaped

Chapter Four

I had my computer out on the island, trying to write a pitch to my editor to get a serial. The words just wouldn't come, though. I knew better than to stare at that screen. I needed to go out, go take a shower, wash the damn dishes, anything but look at that blank screen. I turned some music on and flipped over to the internet to look at some hair dye.

My last name was White because I had pale gray hair, and the foster system didn't have any other name for me. I'd been left at the front door of a church with a note that said Rebecca might be a nice name for me and nothing else. When they filled everything out, my white hair had given them some small spark of inspiration.

I'd spent the first sixteen years of my life dyeing my hair a natural color with the hopes a new family wouldn't think I was a freak. The constant talking to myself didn't help. After the last foster family got me on meds, I stopped worrying so much about looking normal.

I picked a rainbow of neon colors and threw them into the cart and hit the order button before I could back out of it then turned on some music and started dancing.

Movement would help free up the thought process, I hoped. There's a reason I don't dance in public, though. Pretty sure I looked like a duck trying to walk on its wings, but every now and then an idea would come to me and I would write it down before swaying away again.

My hands were in my hair and I spun around the island when a black cloaked figure appeared right in front of me and I crashed into him.

"Charos?" It hadn't felt squicky to touch him. "I didn't think I called you."

"You did not. Moira said I should check on you."

"Okay," I draw the word out and shut my computer. I'm not going to get any work done. "I'm still having some issues believing you're not a hallucination, even though Jake said he smelled Moira this morning."

"I did not know reapers had a scent." His eyes swirl with gold and pink.

"Jake's a shifter. He couldn't see her, but when she was here he could smell her and he said she smelled almost like me," I said. I was betting Charos would smell a lot more like me than Moira had. Now that I wasn't freaking out, I could feel a draw to him I hadn't noticed the night before. "I think it would be kind of hard for him to have the same hallucination I am."

His eyes flashed orange before fading again, "You are not hallucinating." He did something with his sleeves and then reached out and I saw his hand even as I raised my own to meet him halfway. "I am very real, Rebecca."

"I've spent a long time thinking the things that were touching me were in my head. It's going to take me a little while to get used to this." I didn't let go of his hand, though. Touching him felt good. "I can't promise I won't freak out when you show up."

"Moira said," he cleared his throat and then imitated her voice pretty well, "learn some modern things and don't fuck this up."

I pressed my lips together, but I couldn't hold back the laughter at that. "I can show you TV shows, I guess. Never thought I'd be watching TV with the grim reaper." I pulled my hand from his and grabbed my computer, rubbing the palm of my hand on my pants as I walked into the living room.

He followed, not making a sound but his sleeves rubbed together. Apparently the discomfort of not touching went both ways. I sat on the couch and opened the computer, pulling up Netflix since I didn't own an actual TV.

"Netflix and chill with the grim reaper," I muttered, then looked over at Charos standing by the arm of the couch. I patted the seat next to me, "You'll see better if you sit."