Keeping Secrets (Book 1)

Chapter 13: Death

When I opened my eyes, I had no idea where I was. Everything was dark, and I could barely make out the shadows surrounding me. I felt like I was deep in a forest, but I couldn't be sure.

"Hello?" I called out.

Nina had said Death would find me, so where was he? Was this a normal place for people to wind up? What if Death couldn't find me here?

I took a hesitant forward. Surprisingly, when I moved my left leg, there was no prosthetic. My actual leg was back - as if it was never amputated in the first place. I've never felt more relieved about anything before. I could have cried.

"Dylan Fletcher," a spine-chilling voice said behind me, making me forget all about my leg.

I spun around, coming face-to-face with who I assumed to be Death. He, unlike anything around me, I could see clearly. I had expected someone who looked like the epitome of death, with either a skull-head or really old, wrinkly skin. Instead, he looked young, maybe around my age. And he was hot, like if I didn't have a boyfriend, I'd be thinking some real nasty thoughts about him right about now.

"We meet again," Death said, slowly, carefully. Each word was spoken so clearly, it was like I could feel them within my soul.

"You're Death," I said. He gave me a single nod. "And we met before - when I almost died in surgery, right?"

He ignored my question. "I saw potential in you, Dylan Fletcher. It's why I sent you back. I didn't expect you to return to me so soon."

"Yeah... about that... I'm not staying."

I glanced around me again, the shadows becoming more solid. It looked more like a forest now, which meant I was probably right in that assumption. But I didn't know why I'd be here.

I returned my gaze to meet his. His eyes were the deepest black I've ever seen. "Where are all the ghosts? What happened to them?"

He laughed. "So you've noticed. They... were becoming problematic."

Now I was really confused. "Problematic? What do you mean? What did you do to them?"

"You're smart, Dylan Fletcher, I'll give you that, but not even you would be able to understand."

The more he spoke, the clearer our surroundings became. We were definitely standing in the middle of a road somewhere in the forest. It was started to look vaguely familiar.

But I couldn't focus on the trees. I needed to get answers. "Try me. I want to understand."

Death smiled. "I like you, Dylan. You have a sense of humor. I don't see that too often." He paused for a second before going on. "Last time we met wasn't like this. You weren't so... confident."

He looked around the place and it finally dawned on me why I felt like I knew where we were. This was the spot the accident happened. This is where Jenny died. Why would I be here?

I tried to ignore that, though. I was running out of time. "What did you do to the ghosts?" I demanded.

Death raised his hand up to examine his fingernails. I could tell they were dirty, which immediately lowered his attractiveness level. It took me another few seconds to realize it wasn't dirt that caked his fingers, but blood.

"I did what I had to do," Death finally said, still looking at his hands, "to remind them who is in charge. They seemed to have forgotten."

The image of Jenny begging for my help popped into my head. How could I forget the blood? The pain she was in?

"You hurt them," I stated. "My sister - she didn't do anything wrong and you hurt her!"

Death's eyes snapped to mine. "Jenny Fletcher. She was quite the fighter, wasn't she? It was a shame I had to take her. There was no sending her back that night. I just had to keep one of you."

"Then why did you take her instead of me? She should have lived!"

Death, instead of answering me, looked behind me, like he was watching something. I turned to see a pair of headlights heading straight towards us. I scrambled off to the side of the road out of instinct, but Death stayed where he was. The large pickup truck drove right through him and I watched as it barreled into another, smaller car. My car.

I watched, frozen in horror as my car was pushed into the woods, slamming into a tree. The whole car turned into a crushed mess of metal within seconds. It's hard to believe I did actually survive that.

Then, Jenny was standing outside the car, screaming. It took me a second to realize she was yelling out my name. "Dylan! Dylan! Oh my god, somebody save my brother!" She even ran up to the other driver, who had stumbled out of his truck, trying to get him to hear her. He didn't even go near my car, only inspecting his own. It's a good thing he ended up in jail.

"You see," Death said, "I had no choice. She was dead before I ever got there. You, on the other hand, were a different story."

A tear rolled down my cheek as I continued to watch the ghost of my sister pleading for someone to help me. I never realized how much she was trying to save me, even after she was already dead. It made me even more determined to save her now, which meant I couldn't let Death keep distracting me.

I wiped the tear away, turning my gaze back onto Death. "Tell me what you did to them," I demanded. "Where are the ghosts?"

His lips formed into what could only be described as an evil grin. "How about I show you?"

From out of thin air, he pulled out a scythe. It reminded me of the kind in those old grim reaper tales. After another second, I realized it was identical to the one of the cover of that book I found, which meant that D.H.R. person had actually met Death too.

But I didn't have time to think about that, because Death started towards me, looking like he was ready to kill. I didn't know if he could kill me, but I didn't want to find out. I needed to get out of here.

So I thought of Nina and her little shop where my body was. It took a few seconds of concentration, considering I was also trying to avoid being sliced in half, but eventually I found myself standing next to Nina, who was sitting on the floor next to the couch.

"Wake me up," I demanded, startling her. "Now!"

She fumbled for the needle. The whole time, I kept scanning the room, waiting for Death to appear. I wasn't sure how long it would take him to find me, but I hoped it was long enough for me to have woken back up.

Nina stuck the needle into my arm and I waited for something to happen. But nothing did.

"Why isn't it working?" I asked, suddenly starting to panic.

She put her fingers to my neck. "You do have a pulse, even though it's weak. I don't know why you're not back." Then she looked up at me. "Did you talk to Death? What happened?"

I shook my head. "I think he killed them. I don't know, but he's trying to kill me. I need to get out of here."

"Dylan Fletcher."

My body froze at the sound of his voice behind me. He found me.