Death Becomes You

Chap 2 - Becoming

    The knock at my door startled me at first before spurring me to finish getting dressed. I'd only just pulled on my jeans over the white underwear that I'd picked out. I pulled my shirt up, shifting the bra that was a perfect fit before hurrying to open the door and peek out. Grim stood waiting, frowning as he looked me over. All the shirts I'd found had been white along with everything else but the jeans. And of course the cloak. "I just need to put on my shoes." I said as I hurried back to the closet, sitting right there on the ground in front of it to pull on the shoes. I stood and took two steps before he spoke.

    "You're forgetting something." he said as he nodded back toward the closet.

    I hesitated before letting out a sigh as I moved back, pulling a cloak off a hanger and pulled it on. I frowned as I clasped the cloak at the neck, reaching back to move the hood a little before moving toward him. "Ready?" I asked as I gave him a small smile. He gave a nod and stepped out into the hall, letting me close the door before he was moving. "Can I have a hair dryer?" I asked as I hurried to catch up to his longer strides."And maybe something to hold my hair up with?"

    "I'll see what I can do."

    "Thank you." I feel silent after that, not knowing what else to say. Grim didn't exactly leave anything for conversation. And as I started to think about what my task might involve I wasn't sure if I wanted to talk. "What exactly are we doing?" curiosity had finally dragged me to ask.

    "Collecting a soul. Because I'm your mentor we go for all types. We're not limited to a branch of Reaper."

    "A...what?" I asked as I frowned at him. We'd reached the elevator by then and he'd pressed the button.

    "As you've seen there is more than just me here. As the world population grew, so did my job. I was given helpers and then as corrupted souls started coming in it was easy to build the help to numbers I needed. The Reapers were then given to a branch. Each branch collects a soul based on what's happened to it and the way it died."

    "They. Don't you mean the way they've died?"

    "No, it." he said as he stepped forward when the doors opened. "Don't give it a name, association or thought. There have been too many mistakes with that little slip up. It's better to refer to a soul as it." he said as he leaned over to press a button.

    "That seems a little....heartless."

    "This is a job, Celeste. We have a job to do. If you let your heart effect it then things go wrong. Not just a little wrong, but very wrong. Why do you think there are souls still on the Middle Plain? You call them Spirits, I call them lost souls. They were given a Reaper who cared too much or was swayed by a few tears."

    I watched him for a minute before giving a slight nod and shifted a step away. How could someone be so heartless? Just thinking about it made me feel cold standing next to him. It was like having an ice man. The fact that'd he'd actually been semi-kind to me when he'd first met me seemed more like an act now. When he'd first touched me it'd been to comfort. Or at least I thought. And he'd helped to calm me down. So how could he act like this now? "What's our job then? Or should I have asked which it?" I muttered as I glanced at him.

    He did the same before a small sigh left him. "We're picking up an older man. He's had bone cancer for the last three years. It's finally run its course. He's in the hospital with his children right now."

    "Can you see it or something?"

    "Yes and no. I can see a bit. It's so we know where we're retrieving. When you work more you'll start to get it too. You're shown where to go and then who the target soul is. We used to go by names, but that started causing problems. So we're shown who to make sure there's no mistake."