The Reaper

Chapter 3

Reaping was an art.

At least that was what Randy was always telling me. But I found it hard to believe, especially when the location of the art was currently a moldy apartment with cat pee soaked into the carpet and dirty dishes stacked so high they would be a quite effective fortress.

But, someone had died in this place. And when someone died, you called me. Besides, it wasn't like you could choose the location of your death. If you could, I would have a lot more jobs at say, Buckingham Palace. Who wouldn't want to meet their demise there?

But fate was not so generous, so I was stuck in that apartment, trying to find the door the spirit was behind. Honestly, I was having trouble finding a door at all.  The muck was so high I could swim through it.

As I approached a particularly high pile of garbage, Ares shook vigorously in my hand. Tightening my grip on the scythe, I pushed the giant mound of trash aside. And as luck would have it, the door was behind it.  Grinning at my luck, I opened the door.

This time I found myself in what appeared to be a study, although I couldn't tell due to the multitude of Chinese takeout boxes scattered across the floor. In a big blue easy chair, I saw the spirit of an elderly man, unmoving. Heart attack was my first guess at the cause of death. But I was not a doctor, so I had no business diagnosing.

By now, Ares was going bonkers. As I approached the spirit, the vibrations only increased. I glared at my scythe, hoping it would get the implied message and calm down. So far this job had been easy enough; I wasn't going to let Ares make it difficult.

Luckily the old man was still when I got close enough to him. Biting my lip, I closed my eyes. I had no idea why, but I had no desire to see what happened when blade met spirit. But I had good aim, so my scythe never missed.

It didn't miss the old man, either.

~

"Dude, where were you?" Ben asked as I stepped back inside my bedroom.

"Out," I replied simply. I sat down on my bed, grabbing Ben's homework in order to look over his work.

"Out where? You never go anywhere without telling me," he said, looking up from an old comic book.

I bit my lip. I hated lying to people, especially my best friend. But the Grimm Council would never let me hear the end of it if anyone ever found out. "Just out,"

Ben sighed, but dropped the issue. Good thing too; I was running out of things to tell him.

"Okay, back to math." I said, getting back to Ben's homework. "Nice, all of these are right."

"Easy when you have a calculator." Ben took his cell phone from his pocket.

I rolled my eyes, giving back the paper. "I don't need a calculator." I bragged.

"Well then you're inhuman. Nobody can do this without a calculator."

I grinned. "You owe me for this."

"I know. I'm thinking hair gel." he said, grinning back.

I shook my head. "Over my dead body."

"That could be arranged."

"Shut up," I responded, tossing a stray candy wrapper at Ben's head.

Ben fell to the ground, gripping his head and gasping. "The great warrior has slayed me!" he choked out before falling to the ground.

Deciding to play along, I kneeled next to him. "What have I done? My best friend, killed by my blade!"

"Just kidding, I'm alive!" Ben shouted, bolting upright.

"Come on, I was just getting into it." I complained.

Ben smirked. "Be quiet. But seriously, next time? Hair gel." he said.

"Never."

Ben sighed, standing up. "Well, I have to go. See you at school?"

I nodded. "Of course."

AUTHORS NOTE: This was more of a filler chapter, hence the short length. Once the main action starts happening, the chapters will become longer. Quick question, when should the earth first get attacked, and how should it happen?