My Boy Fills Coffins

Chapter One - Any Laughing At My Garden Gnomes Was Invalid.

Chapter One - Any Laughing At My Garden Gnomes Was Invalid.

That breath on my neck should have spooked me, but all I could smell was coffee, and that alone made me wonder where on earth sold coffee at this time of night. The second thing that occurred to me was that I wanted some coffee. The third was that my personal space had been invaded, and that it might be a good idea not to leave the house alone after nine p.m. any longer. All I had wanted was some mascarpone cheese for the chocolate desserts I was whipping up. Sure, it might have been half three in the morning, but we all have those cravings. You know, those craving where you have to have some form of chocolate dessert otherwise you can’t sleep? Or maybe I’m the only freak who has those cravings.

But anyways, where was I? Ah yes, the breath on my neck. I was cornered really, in the dairy aisle in a twenty-four hour supermarket. There was nobody in sight. My fingers tightened around the carton of mascarpone, and I took a deep breath.

“Good girl, sweetheart.  Don’t drop the mascarpone and don’t make any noise.” They whispered harshly in my ear, and I nearly laughed out loud. Sorry, but I have a nervous laugh. I laugh at the most inopportune moments, funerals, being threatened in the supermarket, when someone falls over, in maths. I’m sure you get the idea. I bit the inside of my cheek, willing myself not to dissolve in a fit of giggles. 

“Now, I’m going to bring you to the front of the store and you’re going to do exactly what I say, okay?” Mr Coffee Breath snarled, and I swallowed my laughter. He tugged me close to his body roughly, and I emitted a high pitched squeak. I felt the blood rush to my face at that inhumane sound, but the man chose to ignore my pathetic impression of a mouse.

The man yanked me down the aisles of milk and bread, his ragged breathing the only sound I could hear. I hadn’t seen him yet, he seemed to have deliberately put it so that I wouldn’t catch a glimpse of him. Sneaky, I must say.

So when that man collapsed and I hit the cold tiled floor with him, you could say I was mildly surprised. I took in a shaky breath, the impact had winded me. I rolled over to look at the man, and the breath was knocked out of me again. He had a trail of blood running from his forehead to the floor, his eyes were glazed over and his limbs rested at awkward angles. Overall, it was pretty clear that he was dead. I’m not a health professional or anything, but it’s fairly obvious to me that a fall like that wouldn’t kill anyone. I frowned at his body, wondering what my next course of action should be. I’m a sixteen year old girl, I’m not used to people just falling over dead suddenly.

“Don’t touch him. His soul’s still raw, just move away from him.” Another deep voice resonated, and my heart skipped a beat. I scooted across the shiny floor, putting at least a few feet between me and the body. Something in my bones told me this wasn’t right, that something unnatural was happening.

A man rounded the corner of the aisle, and he took in the scene calmly. When I mean man, I mean someone just a few years older than me at the most, but he definitely wasn’t a boy. If you had asked me to describe him in one word, I would pick dark. His dark scruffy hair fell over his forehead, and slightly tanned skin was pulled taut over his hollow cheeks. He was big, towering over the shelves in the store. He smiled softly when his eyes landed on me.

“Hello, Autumn. Don’t worry about the blood; I’ll clean that up later.” The words rolled off his tongue like honey. His voice could have put me to sleep, but I was too strung out to sleep. He neared the body of the man, and dealt it a swift kick with the corner of his battered shoe. The body didn’t respond in any way. He shot me an amused glance before placing a hand on the dead man’s forehead and whispering something.

“Ut quiescat iam abiit. Tempus est discedere. Volo te, fili hominis.” He muttered, blessing the man’s body after. He gave me another look, clearly fighting the urge to smile just like I had been less than five minutes ago, “This is the part where you run away screaming, or faint. I really don’t mind which one you go for personally, Autumn.”