The Story of Zandry the Reaper

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The following Monday, Zandry received a reminder to come into the office at 8:30 PM. A bit more motivated this time, she actually showed up on time, scythe in hand.

“Ms. Stapleton, as I promised, today we will be moving on to practical training.” Will began.

“Finally.”

“Right. Well, if you’d follow me, I will demonstrate a soul collection.”

҉

Will had taken her out to the countryside, figuring it would be an easy first lesson, since no one was around. It was bleak and drizzly out on the field they landed on, with a small cottage sitting a ways off.

“Earlier today, I received a fax stating my next target is the old woman inside that house. Tonight, she is scheduled to die. It is my job to determine whether this should be allowed or if she should continue to live. I warn you, this may be graphic. Are you ready to witness the death of a human being?”

Zandry just stared at him. He nodded and began to walk towards the house.

“Couldn’t you have dropped us off a bit closer?” Zandry grumbled, stumbling through the mud in her high-heeled boots.

“Perhaps you should choose more practical attire next time.”

“Shut up.”

Eventually they reached the cottage. Will silently opened the door and Zandry slipped in behind him. He soundlessly gestured to a small bed in the corner. A large lump was slumbering on it, hovering between life and death. Will approached it and pulled back the coarse blanket. He then drove his hedge-clipper scythe directly into the old woman’s heart. Suddenly, a burst of luminous ribbons began pouring out of her body.

“What’s going on?”

“This is the most important aspect of a Grim Reaper’s occupation- the cinematic record.” Will declared.  “Every scythe has the ability to do this. By piercing a human’s heart, we can extract memories from their soul and, by doing so, we can see their entire life through their own eyes. We do this to calculate whether or not the person should continue to live. Pay attention, now.”

The ribbons spiraled into the air and a perfect image of the old woman as a child appeared before Zandry’s eyes. She stood transfixed as her life gushed out before her.

Pearl was her name. She was a plain girl who fell in love with a plain boy in London. They got married and bore their first child a year after. One day, her husband decided the family should move to the countryside and start a small farm, so they blew their savings on a mule and covered wagon and turned north, where they purchased a plot of land. It was useless. The crops never grew, the mule died, and the family was left to live off of rabbits, roots, and whatever else they could find for the rest of their miserable lives. Pearl was the last one left. Lonely and starving, she gave up on life. She was actually much younger than she looked, but years of hard work and poverty left her feeling old and hopeless. And so she awaited her death.

Will moved to the body and, with his scythe, severed the record from Pearl’s heart. She stopped breathing.

“So, Ms. Stapleton, do you understand why I had to kill her?”

“Of course. There was nothing left for her to do; she was just taking up space. Can we go now?”

“Almost.” He knelt down and lifted the corpse. He carried her out to the field and dropped her in the mud. “Now she will decompose faster.”

Zandry smirked, somewhat admiring his steely attitude. He extended his arm and she took it. They immediately dematerialized from the field.

҉

Zandry and Will appeared in a similar house the following night. This time it was an intoxicated man passed out on the floor.

“You try it this time.” Will commanded.

“With Pleasure.” She stepped right up to the man and punctured his heart with her sickle. The cinematic record immediately began to flow from his heart and she watched as his life flew by.

“By god, he’s even more boring than the old hag! She complained. She separated the memories from the source and the man promptly died. “Is every case like this?”

“No, not at all.” Will moved to sit on a stray barstool. “Sometimes the decision can be quite difficult. For example, it is always hard to kill a small child. Sometimes we are too late to save the human and in others, a being of higher power gets involved. If an angel or demon ever present, the reaper usually backs off either in respect or to save his own neck.”

“Really, so angels and demons actually exist?”

“Unfortunately, yes, they do exist.”

“Hm.” Zandry thought for a moment. “So… have you ever been too late to save someone?”

“No, but Grell has. Someday you should ask him about the serial killer and her explosive camera.”

“Explosive camera? I would like to hear about that.”

“I thought you might.” He stood up. “Well, Ms. Stapleton, do you think it’s about time we headed back?”

“So that’s it for tonight? No more useless sacks of skin to butcher?”

Will smirked. That heartless bitch.

҉

Will returned to the office and collapsed in his chair. Knox looked up. “How’d it go?”

“Excellent. That woman is a natural.”

“Really? Cool.”

“Yes, Grell was right to bring her here. She is a sizeable contribution to society. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if she surpassed us all.”

“Wow. Grell picked a good one then?”

“Yes, somehow he must have sensed her potential.”

“Hn? I thought he was just trying to replace me ‘cause he thinks I’m boring.”

“Yes, there’s that, too.”

“Wait, so, is Grell really a genius or just a superficial jerk?”

Will sighed. “I have been trying to figure that out for years.”