I Belong to the Grim Reaper

3

"Wake up!" Britt stood over me, her arms latched onto me, violently shaking me from my nightmare. The sounds of my screams drowned out my own reason and her words. "It's just a dream! Wake up!"
Britt said again. "You're okay!"

I blinked slowly, my mind adjusting to reality. Sade and Nile were here too. Nile gave me a puzzling stare while Sade looked kinda scared and sad. I took a deep breath and dashed from under the blanket. "What's wrong?" Britt gave me a ponderous stare.

I inhaled a gasp of air before I looked down.
I looked down at my thigh and ankles. A huge bruise on the back of my thigh and a fresh cut wound seeping red blood from my right ankle. "Oh my god, look.." I said more to myself than anyone else.

"You were sleepwalking," Britt added. I found you outside in the hallway when I woke up to pee in the middle of the night. You were just walking in place against the door."

"I saw you too," Sade chimed in. "Have you seen the doctor about this?"

"Are you all listening to yourselves? I didn't get this from sleepwalking!" I felt as if I had been betrayed because they were staring at me in disbelief.. like I was crazy. "I have never walked in my sleep a day in my life! I was running from that psycho in my dream. This bruise," I twisted and displayed my thigh to them, "is from him. The cut on my ankle too. He has a scythe and he's fucking psychotic. He likes to chase me. He's a fucking sicko. He whistles when he chases me like he's enjoying this," it made me shiver.

"Are you listening to yourself?" Britt retorted.
"I'm not crazy!" I shouted. The looks on their faces told me I was going nowhere. "Fine then." I grabbed my things in a hurry.

"Where are you going?" Britt asked. "Just stay here. You know Sade's dad is a doctor. Maybe he can help you."

"I'm not crazy," I said again with a roll of my eyes. I slammed the door in their faces. I zipped my jacket and hurried home.

..

The bathroom was foggy from my hot shower. I wrapped myself in a towel and skipped to the kitchen. I checked my phone for new messages and there was only one.

Just one. From Jake.

"Hey babe. Only three more days until I see you again. I miss you." In the background was a busy, bustling city, car horns and buses passing— even the passersby little "excuse me"s could be heard. "I wish you were here with me. I'm on my way to the office but I had to tell you I saw the prettiest navy blue winter coat and I want you to have it. It should arrive before I return. I figured express delivery for my special girl. But, I have to go. Love you."

"End of message." Beep. "Would you like to replay message?" I hung up and dialed Jake's number. It rang but no answer.

I sighed and rambled through the kitchen. I opened the refrigerator and found a strawberry yogurt that I consumed while making myself a sandwich.

I finally settled into some clothes and laid across my couch, my fingers thumbing on the remote as I flipped through the channels on the television. I found a true crime documentary and ate a bowl of popcorn. I felt my eyelids growing heavier; it was hard to move them— it was hard to move alone. The slow blinking and my body gradually sinking further into the couch felt all too real.

The phone rang bringing me out of my slump. I blinked and yawned, grabbing my bowl too. I reached for the phone and finally said hello.

I dumped the seeds In the trash and placed the bowl in the dishwasher. I couldn't hear anyone on the other line.  "Hello?" I said again.

"Are you okay?" It was Sade's soft voice.
"Yeah I'm fine. You?"

"We were thinking about you. We're coming over in a few. If that's fine," Sade said basically in a whisper.

"Of course it's fine," Britt said.
"AND WE HAVE DINNER," Nile inserted herself. "I miss you girl. It was my first time seeing you in three weeks. We're coming over. Love you, see you soon. Bye." The phone hung up.

"Of course they're coming," I glanced at the clock. Still early. Only 4 o'clock. I pranced through my home cleaning up before they came.

I finished up and reserved myself a special seat on my couch. I relaxed my shoulders into the couch and that's when I heard a knock. "Let us in!" Nile said.

I unlocked the door and they stumbled in, hanging their coats one by one. Nile locked the door behind her and we all proceeded to the kitchen to find plates for our dinner.

"How long is Jake away?" Nile asked, her brow slightly raised. "This is a big ass house to be all alone in."

"Just three more days," I said happily.

After dinner, we surrounded ourselves in the living room with games and when we were bored of those, we settled on watching Mean Girls. The clock read 8:45.

"Time flies for sure," Nile said. "We should get going."
"Yeah," Sade softly agreed.
"I think I'll stay with you tonight if that's fine," Britt looked at me.
"Sure," I shrugged.

"Oh, here." Sade gently passed me her father's business card. "Just in case you change your mind."

"Good night," Nile and Sade left waving. I turned around and Britt was gone to the shower. I returned to the true crime documentary channel, tucking myself into the blanket.

This episode was about to end. My eyes grew heavy as A new episode was about to begin. I only caught the beginning of the episode.

The killer had slashed his victims multiple times until they bled out and then stuffed them in his cellar in trunks to rot.

I felt a yawn overcome me, my eyes closing, the tv sounding further away.

"We interrupt this program with a special message!" Static waves showed on the tv and then the smallest black dot popped up. It was so tiny and it just seemed to grow and grow until the tv screen was entirely black.

A flash of a hooded creature in his cloak, illy teasing with his scythe crossed the screen. It made me jump. Every time the tv flashed, he came closer. I jumped from the couch and ran upstairs.

"You can run," he whistled through the tv screen, "But you just can't hide."