Death and the Girl Next Door

“Okay, here goes.” I hesitated a moment, praying they wouldn’t have me committed afterwards. “He looked like … well … a grim reaper.”

The room grew deathly quiet. All three of them sat staring at me. No movement. No expression. Maybe they didn’t hear me.

Glitch, as usual, snapped out of it first. “Pizza, anyone?” He held the pizza box out.

“Glitch,” I started, but Brooklyn interrupted me.

“That was kind of anticlimactic.” She seemed disappointed.

For some reason, I was rather offended. “Have you ever seen a grim reaper?”

“I have,” Cameron said, raising a hand. “But there’s actually only the one.”

I looked at him. “When you called him the reaper, I thought you were, you know, exaggerating. So there really is a grim reaper?”

With a shrug, he answered, “Not really. I don’t know, kind of. That’s just one of his names. And it’s the one that fits him best, if you ask me.”

“So,” Brooklyn said, “did he have a scythe? You know, like in the movies?”

“That’s funny,” Glitch said. “Pizza, anyone?”

“Glitch,” Brooklyn said, “stop trying to change the subject. But, seriously, did you see one?”

“He doesn’t actually carry a scythe,” Cameron said. “He kills just fine without one.”

Something transcendent tightened around my throat when he said that. My second impression of Jared in reaper form was very similar. He didn’t need any help doing his job. My first was just a general sense of holy crap.

“Though he does have a wicked sword I’d give my right arm for,” Cameron continued.

“That’s right.” I pulled my knees to my chest. “He had a sword in my vision.”

“But he was beautiful?” Brooke asked.

“He was,” I said. “Stunning. Mesmerizing. He was like smoke and yet solid at the same time, and strong, like he could have crushed a truck if he’d wanted to.”

“He could have,” Cameron said, regarding his pizza absently. “Trust me.” He took another bite.

Cameron really wasn’t helping.

I surveyed the room to get a sense of my audience. Brooklyn sat deep in thought. Glitch seemed to be taking it okay. He was holding the pizza box in one hand and munching pizza out of the other, his eyes squinting as though trying to envision what Jared had looked like. Cameron, on the other hand, seemed completely oblivious, like he dealt with this sort of thing every day. I guess he did. I was beginning to understand what he might have been going through his whole life. He’d clearly been desensitized.

He finished his last bite of pizza and stood to look out the window.

“Cameron?” I said, wiping my hands on a napkin.

He glanced over his shoulder then back out the window.

“How did Jared just put those men to sleep?” I asked. “I mean, he just touched them and they collapsed.”

A sigh slipped through his lips. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen that.” He reached up and wiped condensation off a pane with the sleeve of his denim jacket. “And the fact that you felt heat emanating off him has me pretty baffled as well.”

“That’s never happened before?” I asked.

He shook his head.

“Least he conveniently erased all the evidence of our breaking and entering gig,” Glitch said.

“But are we absolutely positive he did?” Brooklyn asked, propping her elbows on her knees. “Those crime scene investigators were up there a long time. They don’t usually investigate that intensely unless there’s been a murder or a kidnapping or something. Who knows, the sheriff could be watching that recording as we speak.”

She wasn’t helping either. My insides were a jumble of nerves and thick, gooey sadness.

After a moment, and a couple of gulps of Dr Pepper, Cameron said all out-of-the-blue like, “Lor, there’s a fact that you’re going to have to come to terms with eventually.”

I straightened, grabbed my ragged stuffed monkey, and scooted back against my headboard. “Okay.”

He seemed hesitant, as though unsure of how to put into words what he wanted to say. When he did speak, it was with reverence, each word carefully chosen. “You need to understand that Jared is good, yes, he’s light.” He fixed his attention on me, and I knew I wasn’t going to like the rest of what he had to say. “But he’s also dark, Lor. He was created for a very specific purpose and has more power than his brothers. When a higher being says dark, what they’re talking about is the absolute absence of light. The absence of good. Do you know what that means?” When I shook my head, he continued. “The absence of good is a nice way of saying ‘evil.’ There’s a part of him that’s evil.”

“But can’t that be said about anyone?” I asked, jumping to Jared’s defense. “Doesn’t every being on earth have the capacity for evil?”

His brows slid together. “Not like this. Not to this degree. I’m not saying he has the capacity for evil, Lorelei. I’m saying he is evil. It’s just as much a part of him as auburn hair and smoky gray eyes are to you. It’s in him. In his genetic makeup. Inherent and pure.”

“And so is good,” I argued.

“True. But just so we’re clear, supernatural beings aren’t afraid of much. You have to be pretty powerful to scare Casper into pissing himself. The everyday poltergeist isn’t afraid of angelic beings, Lor. Yet they’re terrified of Jared.”

I took a sip of soda, then rubbed my face on my monkey’s tummy. “I think he’s more good than evil,” I said, standing my ground.

“You could be right.” He leaned against the window frame. “I’m not saying he isn’t.”

“When I saw him in the forest,” I said, trying to explain, “when he changed, I just … I kind of freaked out. I ran from him. He was so big and so angry and I thought he killed that man, so I ran.”

“Lor,” Brooklyn said, “that was totally the right thing to do.”

“But when I thought about it later,” I continued, “I realized he was protecting me.”

Cameron disagreed. “You can’t know that.”

“Yes, I can. He pushed me to the ground, then changed and attacked them like he was protecting me. I was just so scared when I saw him. I’m such a girl,” I said, utterly disappointed in myself.

Brooklyn scooted beside me and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. “I wish I had been there with you. I’m so sorry you went through that alone.”

I rested my head against hers.

“You’ve had a traumatic experience,” Glitch said. “It’s gonna take a while to get over it.”

“I know, but I think it’s more the loss. I just can’t believe he’s gone. I know how that sounds after everything that’s happened. He’s probably the last person I should miss, but—”

“He’s not gone, shortstop,” Cameron said.

My head snapped up. I watched him with way more hope than I wanted.

“He never left,” he said reluctantly. “He’s been here the whole time.”

“Here? Like, where here?”

“Why do you think I’ve been staked out on your fire escape? He’s close.”

Now for the sad part.

My soul took flight! My heart soared! A euphoric, deliriously giddy sensation washed over me with the knowledge that Jared was still here. He didn’t leave. He didn’t go back to his day job.

“Do you know where he is?” Brooklyn asked.

“No, but I can feel him.”

“What do you feel?” I asked, just wanting that small bit of knowledge to tide me over while I wondered if I would ever see him again.

He ground his teeth, hesitated, then said softly, “Pain.”

I jumped up and ran to the window, searching the distance for any sign of him. “Is he hurt? Is he stranded somewhere?”

“No, not that kind of pain. Pain like yours. Deep. Desperate. It’s disturbing. Between the two of you, I’m on the verge of committing suicide.”