Start of Elysium & Purgatory (Prequel)

2- Cuddling & Dinner

3 months later

"Careful, Krista! Watch your step there." Hayden's voice resounded behind me but I didn't even care.

I stumbled out the room and into the washroom just in time to unleash last night's dinner into the sink. With a huge splat, the sink was covered in chicken chunks and gravy. I almost puked again but I kept it in.

Quickly washing off the sink and my face, I waddled back to my bed and slipped in, under the sheets. Holy fucking- how do women stay pregnant for 9 months? It's so tiring! Plus, all the puking, aches and mood swings are annoying. The only reason I was still okay with this is because I can't wait to see our child.

Just then, a sharp pain ripped through me making me cry out in pain. I curled into a ball to minimize the pain.

"You okay?" Hayden laid beside me, looking worried.

"I'm fine.", I gritted out, the sharp pain was almost gone.

With one glance at my pained face, Hayden rolled over and started cuddling me. His touch immediately calmed me. How the heck does he do that?

"Chill. You are okay." Hayden's hold tightened on me and he kept on muttering in my ear. I turned around so that my face was on his chest. Looping one arm around him back, I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

The warm, musky scent of Hayden engulfed me, making everything calm and relaxing.

~~~~~~

The door opened slowly to reveal a grim reaper standing there with a food tray in its hand. I immediately felt disappointed that Hayden wasn't here but I couldn't really blame him since the numbers of souls incoming hadn't really decreased.

I gestured the grim reaper to come in. It nodded its hood covered head before stepping in and putting its scythe in the corner of the room.

It handed me the tray and sat down beside me. I looked at it in confusion. Why was it sitting here? Its job was to help incoming souls.

"Sir Hayden told me to stay here until you finish your food.", it whispered in a garbled up voice but I understood anyway.

Grabbing a slice of pizza, I started chewing.

"So, grim reaper, what's your name? I wanted to put all of your names on name tags but Hayden stopped me." I frowned at the memory.

"Miss, it's Kalol." I smiled in acknowledgment before eating the rest of my pizza.

As soon as I was done, I handed my empty plate to Kalol, my favorite grim reaper at the moment. Grim Reapers were supposed to sort souls, not take care of pregnant women. I could tell that Kalol was uncomfortable but it sat through the whole thing and that was why I respected Kalol.

I couldn't believe that I was saying this but grim reapers can be really adorable sometimes.

"Do you need anything else, miss?" The grim reaper stood beside my bed, it's scabbed hand was holding my plate.

I smiled before shaking my head. The grim reaper tipped its head forward before making its way to the door. He left with his scythe in one hand and an empty plate in another. If other reapers saw it, they would die of laughter. I could already imagine all the other reaper's dry laughs when they looked at Kalol.

I sat up and reached for the book on my bed stand. Before I could even start, I was plagued with thoughts of Hayden. Hayden standing in one of the caverns, Hayden grinning down at me on our wedding day, Hayden opening the elevators, just Hayden. That was when I realized that I was sobbing. Not light sobs but huge, heaving sobs. I didn't even know why I was crying but I continued on since I couldn't really stop.