Beatrice Harrison is your typical high school sophomore who has had glasses since she was three, but not for the reason that she initially thought. What happens when Beatrice loses her glasses in the woods and witnesses something she shouldn't have...
I was walking around my neighborhood without my glasses, absently playing with my new necklace. Humming, I made my way down to a bridge where I saw someone slumped over, peering down. Everything about them was gray. Even their fiery hair seemed dull and dead. They looked at the ground that was far below with a depressed lust, aching for release, hungering for a finale. I ran towards them.
"Wait!" I yelled, grabbing their attention. They looked at me, eyes blank and apathetic as the ledge pulled at them as if it were a magnet. "Don't jump! You shouldn't have to die."
They didn't speak, instead taking another step closer to the edge, and that's when I saw it, a Negative. It was looming over them, with silent whispers, urging the redhead to end it all. It was hypnotizing them, corrupting them. It's demeanor was poisoned candy, sweet, but deadly.
As fast as I could, I ran towards the person, but stopped dead in my tracks when I saw a masked figure appear besides them. Their mask seemed to be made out of some skull of an animal that didn't exist. Their presence was foreign and beautiful. Adorned in black cloths and white weaponry, I understood what Mason meant by reapers being the keepers of balance. This being was reminiscent of the Yin Yang, balanced and interconnected. I watched in wonder until I saw them lift up their hand, a scythe appearing in hand.
I opened my mouth to scream in protest, but a hand pressed itself against the opening, forbidding sound from resonating within the cool autumn air. My eyes widened as the scythe cut through them like soft butter, the person falling off the bridge like a sack of flour.
My legs gave out, but I was caught. I closed my eyes tightly as I felt myself being lifted high, up into the sky. My eyes opened to see that I was indeed high up in the atmosphere, the sky a cold gray blue as the air nipped at my skin.
"I'm sorry that you had to see that."
"Reaper..." A tear rolled down my face as I spoke, but I didn't want to seem weak in front of a being who was capable of what I had just witnessed. "...w-who was that?"
"Another reaper, a full fledged one." His voice was quiet, scanning his vocabulary for the correct words to use in the certain situation. "Are you scared of me, Beatrice?"
"Yes," I answered truthfully. "Are you going to kill me too?"
"I don't have the ability to do so properly," he replied. "I can only take down small Negatives right now. I need a scythe to sever the spirit, what serves to connect the soul to the body. It's okay to be scared, Beatrice. Humans tend to fear what they don't understand."
I hid my face in his chest, the lack of pulse only slightly alarming. "I'm not sure I want to understand... but some crazy part of me still does. That Negative... it looked different than the others. It seemed small."
"Small?" He seemed to be confused, but shook it off. "Beatrice, that was Depression."
"What?"
"It's a Negative that attaches itself to a living host, sucking the life out of them to the point where they can't feel, or have any motivation to do anything. They take and take and take until there's nothing left of the host. It takes someone strong to live with Depression weighing them down. They're powerful, parasitic Negatives that are terrifying. They attach themselves when you're most vulnerable."
I gulped. "I don't want to see them, Negatives."
"I don't want you to either." We landed at my window, him opening it to usher me in. "If you get lasik surgery, it might go away."
I started crying, the events hitting me like a hammer. "I can't do that. It probably doesn't even work. I just don't want to stand idle while people are getting attacked. I want to help them. I want to help the ghosts find their way."
The reaper grabbed my face in his hands and lifted me up to see into his eyes. He seemed concerned, his green eyes clouding over with worry rather than the clear sheen they normally were. "I can erase your memory if you so wish."
I raised my hand and rested it on his, squeezing it once. I was scared, but I knew that ignorance isn't bliss. Whether or not I was privy to the information, it was true nonetheless. Hiding wouldn't solve my problems. Only by facing my fears could I overcome them.
"I don't want to forget."
He put his forehead to mine, closing his eyes in concentration. "Maybe it's best if you do."
My heart rate sped up due to the contact, fearful of what was to happen to my mind. Would birthdays, friendships, and memories of my mother be whisked away along with the things that only I could see, the things that drove some insane?
I opened my eyes after what felt like an eternity, his eyes staring back into mine.
He couldn't do it.
I couldn't forget.
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