Reaper's Touch

Gus: Games

"Grief has its own time frame. It has its own itinerary with you. It has its own power over you, and it will come when it comes."
-Elizabeth Gilbert

"I know we're both thinking it," Hex said.

She and Gus were in the toy aisle trying to pick a board game to buy for their dinner with Lucas and Nora later.

"What good would it do?" Gus asked.

"Nostalgia, at worst. At best? Who knows? We can scare Nora! It'd be hilarious!"

Gus reached for the Ouija Board box and took it off the shelf. He turned it over to read the back. Hex continued,

"It's fake as fuck anyway! I heard that it's the tiny muscles in your fingers that push the planchette around," she said, moving her forefinger like a caterpillar, "And your unconscious mind does it without you knowing. That's all it is."

"Do you remember what it told Adam? About when he would die?"

Hex's smile faltered. "Seventeen. But so what?"

"It knew. It knew! That's creepy as hell!" Gus exclaimed.

"Or," Hex said, "Maybe Adam knew in his subconscious, and that's why. He talked about death a lot. He was obsessed with it, with ghosts, with angels, God, demons. He always felt closer to that world than this one. Is it so hard to believe some unconscious part of him wished for death and his subconscious moved his finger to that answer?"

"I never thought of that."

It was sad thinking that what Hex said might be true, and Gus tried to push it from his thoughts. He looked down into their shopping cart, which was filled with the ingredients for the spaghetti dinner they were cooking tonight. Jeff's house could feel big and lonely, and they invited Ember and West and Lucas and Nora as often as any of them could come. It was comforting being surrounded by a group, like they had been in the old days. Tonight Ember and West already had plans, though, so they were on their own with Nora and Lucas.

"So yes or no on the game?" Hex asked impatiently.

"Do you remember how old it told us we'd be?" Gus asked quietly.

Hex laughed. "You and me both got something in the 80's range, and that's a long enough life for me. And Jesse... well..."

"Twenty-one," Gus said, nodding. "I remember that. Ember was hysterical about it."

"That's this year, by the way. Not like it matters," Hex said.

"Not surprising if he's still as bad off as he was when we ran into him a few months ago," Gus said.

"He deserves it."

"If the board is right, I'll still be sad."

"I won't," Hex replied stubbornly.

"We'll see," Gus said quietly.

"Huh?" Hex looked at him with sharp eyes.

"Nothin'."

"No. You said we'll see, like you don't think I'm serious about how much I can't stand the guy!"

"He was our friend once. That time, you know the time we were on the streets and with our group, means a lot to you. You said so at the bridge that day with Ember. And he was part of that. He's part of those memories, and that part of you will be sad," Gus said.

Hex blinked and started pushing the cart. "Gus, you sure get introspective sometimes."

"What the hell does that word mean?"