A Taste Of The Afterlife

Nineteen: Retribution

The next few days went by pretty smoothly. I would bother 15 in the mornings when he arrived at work, telling him the events of what happened when spending time with Luce. Then lunchtime came and I would turn my attention to Luce and eat with him in his office. He would flirt with me and try and talk me into ditching work with him, which I'd decline of course. Since I didn't want to be stuck in purgatory all day, I'd go home and bother Ray who'd ask me if I'd have sex with Luce yet, which I haven't for the record. My virginity is surprisingly still intact. There was a close call.. but I won't get into that. Just thinking about it makes my skin all tingly..

Putting that all aside, I felt better than I had in days. I was in the clear for no longer deteriorating but something new came up. I found myself fading in and out as in mentally and it caused me to lose time. I could be sitting on the couch, watching tv with Ray suddenly come two and realize it's 4 episodes in and I had no recollection of what I just watched. And it was only that for the first day it happened so I didn't think too much about it. But it got worse today and now I'm scared.

I went to 15's office at the beginning of the day like I do. Nothing weird happened. I went with him to see a soul he collected. Normal. Met a different angel. We leave, eat lunch together since we were already out and about, I leave to visit Luce. I watch him work for a bit which seemed normal but then I looked up at the clock. I had faded out for an entire hour. Luce didn't notice, too engrossed with his work which I was glad for. He's finally on a regular sleep schedule and I didn't want to worry him about my mental state any more than he already had, especially if it turns out I'm still deteriorating. I just need to keep happy, right? How hard can that be?

Nearing the end of the day, Luce claims to be finished with work and was eager to spend time with me before I head to 15's. But after confirming with Arwan, once I leave, Luce will go back to his work rather than going home himself like I assumed. I felt bad for taking up his time but Arawn says if anything, my presence gives him an energy boost to finish earlier than he usually would. I don't believe him but I pretend I do since I wanted to keep hanging out with Luce. It's a selfish action but now that he's not trying to get into my pants anymore and is more focused on just simply spending time with me, I don't think I'd be willing to give that time up. He's surprisingly sweet.

Luce and I are cooped up in his room, his tablet in my hands as I'm sitting on his lap after he convinced me to do so. His arms are wrapped around me and I had forgotten what I had been watching for the past hour. I check Luce to see if he noticed but he was asleep. I leave him be but decide to entertain myself through other means like taking pictures of him as he slept and editing them in dumb ways. My giggling at my creations is what wakes him up.

"..What is so entertaining?" he asked, sounded a bit annoyed. I wasn't sure if it was because I woke him up or because I was entertained by something other than him. After the photoshoot, Luce's jealousy has shone through. Apparently, he's been jealous of 15 this whole time but because he and I are close, he doesn't say anything about it. He said he'd rather simply be jealous I had such a close friend than if I ended up with a horrible reaper who was ruthless to me. Aside from 15, associating with anyone else was impossible. Arawn and Ray are exceptions of course.

I lift up the tablet to show him what I did more clearly. "My greatest work yet."

His annoyed expression softens and he chuckles. "I'll agree to disagree."

"You don't like them?"

"They would be better if I were awake."

Frowning, I look the pictures over that I hadn't edited. "I don't understand how you could complain about how you look when you sleep. Even you said your only bad side was your back since no one could see your face, but even then it's obvious you're attractive. It's unfair'"