IF

How Hard Can It Be?

The agreement is very simple.

Eyrin and Leo will become substitute soul collectors for thirty days so Death and his supervisors can have the dream days off their jobs.

After that, Eyrin will be stripped off the curse she's been dealing with for nineteen years and Leo will get to cross over, without suffering the hell in the Afterlife he's currently in right now.

There's only one thing they have to keep in mind though.

In collecting souls, no one should mess up.

"I mean, how hard can it be right?" Leo said before they got out of the house that morning, acting so damn confident about his new job.

An hour later, instead of collecting their first soul, they're running as they're the ones being chased by it.

Eyrin no longer has even a single drop of pride left in her. As she's running along the foot bridge connecting Baclaran and Taft Station, people cannot keep themselves from looking inquisitively at her.

She perfectly understands though. Who in their right mind will have a sprint race under the heat of the sun, screaming their hearts out while brush passing people out of her way? No one except someone like Eyrin who's barely escaping the gnarled hands of that enraged soul they're suppose to collect. She's the only one who can see it so literally, no one can understand.

Soon as she gets off the bridge and down the busy roads of Taft Avenue, she got used to the awkward stares she's getting but blaming Leo, who's running ahead of her, that she'll never get tired of.

As she clutches the medallion tightly to her chest, she still tries her hardest to think about how it can work. If only the reaper they met earlier has had the chance to explain maybe they won't be running like mad people. If only Leo and his cockiness did not get in the way. She sighed. She remembers every detail of it.

- - -

"Good morning, sunshine." Eyrin groans as she shifts around her bed. As she runs her palms through the softness of the sheets, she knows she's fully awake. A smile curves on her lips but as she does not want to hurt her eyes, they remain closed. But eventually, she knows, she'll be back to sleep.

"Don't slack off, we have work to do." She feels a warm breath of air tickles her left ear. She giggles but as soon as realized it, her eyes shot open as though it's a Monday morning, when she forgets to set up her alarm on a Sunday night.

"Get off me!" She screams, cowering to the end of the bed, clutching the sheets to her chest.

Leo's just standing there, scratching the back of his neck. "I just didn't want to be loud so I thought I should just whisper it to you. I've been trying to wake you up for thirty minutes now."

Eyrin runs her hand around the place she feels the his breath touched. Another unusual thing she should take note of. "Why does your breath even feel so warm?" she asks but does not wait for him to answer. Instead, she gets up, grab the towel for the drawer and stays the preparation for their first day.

School comes first of course so they decided to start the internship by noon, after class. They had a not so pleasant visit last night from one of Death's supervisors. The name is Allen. They weren't sure about the gender of its current form because of the paper wrapped around its face and the oversized hat shading the exposed features, but from what they can see outside, starting with the strong arms, they knew it was in a form of a guy.

Allen will be their mentor for the week. He made it the task clearer for them last night and as Eyrin can remember, they will not take souls from dying ones, the reapers will, and after that, that's when their job takes place.