Everyone's born with one. A reaper.
When you're born, your reaper is far away. From that moment, it starts to move closer. You never touch it til the day you die.
Not it. He.
My reaper is a he, and he disappeared three weeks ago.
Aesa pulled me to my feet. "Just a second," he said, scanning the area.
I didn't feel dead. I could feel the wind on my skin and my heart hammering in my chest. My hands were trembling with adrenaline. That had to be a good sign.
"Kat," Aesa said, startling me. I had been staring at my hands so intently that I hadn't noticed he was holding out his hand to me again.
"I'm not dead," I informed him a bit giddily, taking his hand again.
Aesa didn't smile, but the corners of his eyes crinkled. "This way," he said, pointing with his free hand. I looked, but he seemed to be pointing towards thin air.
He led me away from the broken highway and my silver car, wading through the faded brown grass. After about twenty yards he stopped and turned to me.
"I need you to think of a place," he said, "Any place."
My mind went blank. "Any place?"
"Anywhere. Visualize it in your mind. Got it?" I hesitated before nodding. "Good. Now we're going to take one more step together."
I looked at the grass before us. It didn't look any different from any other patch of grass we'd passed. I drew a deep breath.
"Okay."
"And go."
As we stepped forward together, the air went...soft. Like a deep, thick mattress. Like holding an overripe peach in your hands and slowly pressing in your thumbs, letting them sink into it. Not hot or cold or anything like that. Just soft.
Less than a moment passed before the softness was gone; I didn't even have time to blink. We were still standing in the grass by the highway. I could see my car close by and the mountains looming in the distance. But the edges of the mountains were vague and unclear, and the light that filtered through the clouds was tinted red, almost as though it was shining through rose-colored glass. More telling was the quiet. The wind had disappeared, and the grass was silent and still.
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"You know," Aesa commented, "I think people usually choose somewhere other than the place they're currently standing."
"I panicked," I responded, taking in everything around me, "Which seems to be my basic state of existence at this point."
Unlike everything else, Aesa seemed more real than ever. The basics were still the same: pale, ashy skin stretched tight over his body, white hair, and jet black eyes set deep in their sockets. His fingers and limbs were overly long for his body, and he was wearing a black hooded coat with loose sleeves, grey pants, boots, and a t-shirt with a vintage ad for spam.
However, his skin lacked the translucent quality it usually had, and his shadow -
"You have a shadow," I blurted out, "You have a - the grass. You're actually crushing down the grass." I knelt down and confirmed for myself that yes, the grass could be pressed down, and then I turned around and thrust out my hand. The softness was waiting just feet behind me. "Where are we?"
