Death Lurks at Home

Shut up

"Hey. Wake up."

I felt someone try to wake me up but I wasn't opening my eyes. I was to tired.

"Wake up now."

I pulled my blanket over me and tried to fall asleep again before realizing I'm the only one who lives her. I went to get up to confront the stranger but suddenly flew off the bed by a foot connecting with my stomach.

"When I say to wake up you better wake up. I hate having to repeat myself." The voice said and walked over to my desk chair.

"Hey. Who are you?" I asked in urgency considering this is a stranger and ran up towards them to attack but was somehow held back. Upon observation I saw them wearing Jeans, black sneakers, a red hoodie and they were wearing a mask that covered their whole face.

"I guess since it's bad manners to not introduce myself, friends call me De but you aren't a friend. You're an associate." They responded.

"Wait. Why are you here?"

"Oh you're hopeless. I was originally supposed to collect you but Fate had other plans for you. Call me Dev. Now get dressed. I'll wait in the livingroom. Fate and Hope would get angry at me if I didn't bring you in one piece so I guess I have to protect you. I'm hazy on details too so it's best you ask them when you see them." And Dev walked out of my bedroom.

I was curious about the fact they held such a monotone voice as if they didn't care. I could run away but if there are people looking for me I wouldn't be able to hide and since Dev didn't kidnap me I guess I could trust them.

I got dressed and ran out to the livingroom to see Dev there but their hoodie was off and so was the mask. I saw a girl with blonde hair sit before me.

"Alright let's go. I don't want to be there longer than I have to." She said. Despite her shining hair, her voice and facial expressions never changed from its dull and expressionless tone.

Reluctantly I followed her. She was relaxed and looked as if she didn't care much about me or if I were to run away. Not before long, while lost in thought, we became lost in the nearby woods.

"Stay put." She said and took a knife out of her hoodie.

Before I could react, she threw it into the ground and suddenly, I wasn't able to see sunlight.

In a few short moments i saw a glowing light from Dev.

"Hey. Keep still. If you keep flailing I'm going to get smacked and then I'm going to kick your ass." She said.

I noticed we were still falling but Dev looked relax as she was sitting cross legged and emitting a glow from her hands to light up the rather long fall.

"What's happening?" I asked her.

"Oh. We're traveling to Hope and Fate." She said with a sigh, as if she was annoyed.

"But why are we falling?"

"Because this is the fastest route."

I stopped talking. I wasn't getting the answers I wanted and I probably never would until I meet Fate and Hope.

I studdied Dev more as we were falling. She was very calm yet her face held boredom. She looked as if she was waiting for something to happen or just waiting to go home after a long day of work. Though the ends of her blonde hair flew up reaching for the sky, most likely causing a mess of tangles, her hair was shinning bright without a flaw. I saw her eyes. It was the first time i made some eye contact with her. Her eyes were a dark shade of brown. She looked like a girl coming out of highschool. Her red hoodie was tied around her waist, letting me see she had a plain black shirt on.

I felt embarrassed that I never introduced myself since she is rather new to me but other thoughts flashed through my mind. I wondered if I was dressed correctly. I look like it's casual Friday at the office. Black dress shoes, jeans, and a button up blue shirt.

Suddenly Dev's light goes out.

"What Happened!" I asked in a panic.

"Relax. Just don't tense your body and the fall will be painless." She said.

Though it was dark, I could see light at the bottom of the fall I could see Dev was laying on her back rather casually.

"Like I said. You should relax." She repeated herself but it was to late.

My body was falling towards the ground but landed rather gently. I looked up and saw Dev land on her feet without falling. She moved right ahead as she expected me to follow.

"Dev. Where are we?" I asked her having no clue what this place is.

"My siblings call it Utopia but I call it hell. No one can get hurt or die here but apparently there isn't an ounce of compassion for family here." She said as she led me pass buildings and statues.

After many twists and turns in this Labyrinth of a utopia, we stopped at a palace.

"Whoa!"

"I guess you could say that. Welcome to my families home." She said unimpressed.

She began to lead me around the palace until we came to a thrown room where four people sat yet there was three extra throwns.

"Servant! You finally brought him!" Called a peppy girl with long brown hair and dazzling, unnatural purple eyes.

"About time. She takes forever." Said a male. He had long blonde hair pulled into a low pony tail that was drapped over his shoulder. His emerald eyes sent a cold glare towards Dev.

"Oh hush. She probably stopped to cry about how no one likes her." Said another man as he looked to his left where an identical man sat.

"Oh what a pity. But we all know how much of a low life she is." He said. It was scary how similar they looked. Both had raven black hair and were identical in every way except the eyes. One had blue eyes while the other had brown.

Dev ignored all of them and turned to me. "The girl all the way on the left is Harmony. The blonde on her right is Life, and the twins are Fate and Hope. The blue eyes is Fate, the brown eyes is Hope." She said and glared at Life.

Life laughed at her childishness. "Mad about something sister?" He asked her mockingly as if he knew.

"You're sitting on Dad's thrown. You know he left that to me. I'm the rightful Heir." She said. The anger was clear in her eyes. They flashed a dark red.

"But daddy isn't here anymore. You could take it up with mom but you took care of her." Fate said with a laugh.

"Dad and I took care of mom you all just tried to kill him!" She yelled.

Before Life could retort, Harmony sighed. "All of you, stop. We have James here. He's probably confused beyond belief right now. No doubt our no good traitor of a sister told him nothing." She spat with venom in her voice.

"You told me to not tell him anything." Dev responded.

"Whatever Death." Hope said to try to shut her up.

"That isn't my name!"

"Well it is now."

"No! The name dad gave me is-"

"Anyways James. Since our sister is terrible at her job-"

"You have me do tasks that interrupt my job." Dev said as she had her back turned to them.

"Since she is terrible at doing her job, you are going to work along side her. We're sorry to have you do this but at the same time we aren't." Life said. "Now leave."

"Gladly." Dev said as she walked away.

I didn't want to stay so I ran after her.

"Dev! What is going on?" I asked her.

"Like you'd under... you're the new reaper. I have some things to teach you then." She said and continued walking.