Alice in Between

Chapter 1: My Name's Alice

"Stay away from us, please!" The woman screamed in terror, covering her child's eyes so that he couldn't see the deep, dark holes in my face where my eyes should've been. "I'm not going to hurt you," I muttered. This is where I would've rolled my eyes, if I'd only had a pair of them.

The woman ignored me and pushed her child behind her, crying. "Run. Run like the devil is behind you." She paused and turned to look at me. "The devil is behind you."

The child ran, as fast as he could, his sneakers pounding on the dirt. I sighed. The woman seemed so helpless, shaking quite visibly in her thin dress.

"Didn't you hear me?" I asked. "I told you that I wasn't going to hurt you. It's okay. I don't eat humans. They seem like such helpless and pitiful creatures that I can't bring myself to kill them. You see, human lives are precious. They only happen once-unless there's a flaw in the system, like what happened to me."

The woman wiped at her overflowing eyes. "You-you know what happens when you die?" She blubbered. I nodded, smiling my crooked smile. I was fully aware that it was much too wide, and full of menacing looking small, sharp teeth. The woman started crying once more.

"Oh yes," I hissed. "My whole life revolves around death. After a human's life they become nothing more than an idea, fading more and more every day until they finally wither away completely. That is, unless something goes wrong, and you get stuck in between the transition of life and death."

"That's what happened to you," the woman finished. I nodded. "So there's no heaven or hell? Have you met God? Have you met Satan?" The woman spit out questions at me, her eyes wide.

"From what I've experienced, there is no heaven or hell. God and Satan have either never existed, or use they used to exist, but they've long abandoned us.", I snapped back. 

"Why are you here then, if you aren't going to eat me?" The woman asked.

"I need a partner. Someone I can work with. I thought your son would be perfect." The woman looked frantic. "Not my son!" She exclaimed. "What do you even need him for? You look like you're doing fine on your own."

I waved my hands reassuringly at her. "First of all, I won't take him unless he wants to go with me," I offered. "Also, I need a a partner to help me collect the dead souls. It's my job, I'm kind of like the grim reaper." After a long silence, the woman sighed and took me by the hand. 

"Are you sure you aren't going to eat me?" She muttered. I nodded, following her.

"What's your name?" The woman asked after a while. 

"Alice. What's yours?"

"The name's Amelia," the woman smiled, wiping away her dried tears. "But you can call me Amy."

I will try to update this story frequently, but I can't make any promises.