Miss Kiera Jones slowly opened her eyes. As she stared up at the ceiling of her bedroom, the first thing she thought was, "What a weird dream." The second thing she thought was, "Was that a dream?"
It had been Monday evening, but she couldn't remember actually reading to Mrs. Chase, as had been their tradition for the past couple of years. Had she been so exhausted from work that she had gone straight to bed and forgotten the sweet old lady? Had regret over missing their engagement for only the second time ever been what led her to have that horrid dream?
Kiera glanced over at her alarm clock. 5:02AM is said. Still just over an hour before she would normally be waking up. She still felt tired, but she wasn't sure if she could go back to sleep. Something was nagging at her. Well, a memory of someone. She couldn't remember talking to Mrs. Chase at all that past evening, but she remembered talking to Jason. Thinking all the while how crazy this was, she got up out of bed, put on a robe and slippers and pattered over to her front door. She hesitated as she reached to the handle, but then with a sigh of resolution, she swung open the door, marched across the hall, and knocked on her neighbor's door.
Much to her surprise, the door almost immediately swung open.
There was Jason looking not nearly as surprised as she would have expected, but instead nervous and perhaps a bit distressed. "Um..." was all she could manage to say.
Jason frowned. Apparently, "um" had been enough. "Come in," he said, stepping back and gesturing for her to enter.
This was when Kiera finally thought twice about what she was doing. What was she doing? If it had just been a dream, then she was going to look really foolish coming over here to talk about it. If it hadn't been a dream then she very well might be walking into the apartment of a man who had just murdered a helpless old woman. Either way, she definitely should not go through that doorway. And yet, she walked right in anyway.
"Would you like some coffee or tea?" Jason asked.
Kiera glanced nervously around and crossed her arms over her chest to keep her robe firmly shut. She realized she had never seen the inside of Jason's apartment before, and in fact he had only seen hers that past weekend, unless he had sneaked in, like a stalker or a serial killer would. As she looked around, she reflected that it didn't look like the home of a madman. His apartment looked remarkably ordinary. There was a couch and a medium sized TV and a few seemingly random landscapes on the walls. As she looked around the room, her eyes returned to him and she remembered he had asked her a question.
"Oh, no thanks," she said. She chuckled nervously to herself. "Actually, I don't even really know why I'm here."
The relief on Jason's face did not reassure her, though her words seemed to have reassured him. "Bad dream?" he suggested, almost hopefully.
Kiera eyed him suspiciously and remained standing even as he sat down on the couch. "Yeah, something like that," she muttered.
He smiled, just a little. It wasn't a creepy, "I've got you" kind of smile, it was more of a "thank goodness she doesn't think any worse of me" smile. Did he... did he like her? If he was a killer, was that good or bad?
"You know," Jason said, "sometimes dreams aren't what they seem."
"Sometimes people aren't either," Kiera replied, watching him carefully for his response.
He frowned again at that, then folded his hands in front of him and looked down at them. "That's definitely true," he said quietly.
Now was the time. She should just go. She should get out while she could. But she couldn't go. Why couldn't she? Was it dumb curiosity, the fatal trait of the feeble feline? Or was something more going on here? Either way, with a sigh, she realized she was in too deep, or at least perceived herself to be in too deep, to just walk away. So instead, she walked over to the couch and sat down next to him. She immediately felt a strange sense of deja vu, and then realized this was not unlike the party, when he had sat on her couch next to her after everyone had gone, and she had at least half imagined they were about to kiss. This time was not like that. This time she needed answers.
It was as if she didn't even have to ask. She just looked over at him and he looked back and tears welled up in his eyes. "I'm so sorry, Kiera," he said.
At that she leaped up from the couch and pointed a trembling finger at him. "I knew it!" she exclaimed. "I knew it wasn't a dream!" She slowly backed away, but not nearly so much as she should have had she really been afraid.
He stood up, but he didn't approach her. "I'm sorry for your loss," he said, frowning, but somehow managing to keep it together. How was he keeping it together? He didn't know. This woman, this beautiful, perfect woman, could not be thinking anything good about him right now. Why was she still standing here? Why wasn't she running away in terror? Probably shock. And lack of understanding. How could she understand? How could anyone really understand what he was? Hell, he hardly understood it. "The police were here hours ago," he said. "They took her away. They'll notify her family. She went peacefully."
"Like hell she did," Kiera exclaimed. "I saw you. You were there. You did nothing. Well, nothing after. What... what did you do to her?"
"I helped her."
"Like hell..."
"No, like heaven."
Kiera scoffed. "Are you trying to tell me you're some sort of angel or something?"
Jason looked her over. What was she doing here. She clearly didn't trust him. Why had she come over here? Why hadn't she either kept to herself like nothing had happened or done what he had feared she might do and call the police to at least report him as acting suspicious. She didn't know that everything was smoothed over with them. She didn't even know he had already called the police before he just told her. Possibly she still didn't know what all had happened after she had fallen asleep. So why was she here? He had already told her what he was, but either she didn't remember or didn't want to or was giving him a second chance. A second chance to tell the truth, she was probably thinking, when in fact it was a second chance to come up with a convincing lie, because the truth, she would never believe, would she?
He sighed and reflected that some people never learn. "I'm a reaper," he said, repeating the words he had said just a few hours ago to this very same person.
She sneered. People handle shock and anger and grief very differently, Jason reflected. That was one thing he knew very well, but he wasn't sure he had ever seen such fire before. "Like the grim reaper?" she asked.
He shook his head. "No, that's THE reaper. I'm just a reaper. I guess you could say I work for him."
She placed her hands on her hips. This was so surreal. That he would be caught with her and compelled to tell his story. Really, it was remarkable that in all these years, he hadn't really been caught yet. Usually he was so careful. He learned about those he was going to help before the time came to help them. That was half the reason he had moved here, to learn things in advance. Well, Mr. Smart Guy, then why hadn't you known that Kiera would be in that apartment last night? Or somehow, had you known and you wanted her to be there? Had you wanted this conversation to happen?
"How does one get a job like that?" Kiera was asking.
"Your parents love you very, very much," Jason said, fighting to keep from crying, "or at least they think they do, and they make a deal with the devil, so to speak, to save your own life, and in return, you have to spend the rest of your existence helping souls pass over to the other side."
Surprisingly, Kiera didn't scream or run or get more snarky. Her hands fell from her hips and she looked him straight in the eyes. She looked blurry, though. Damn. Was he really crying? He reached up and tried to wipe the tears away and when his sight cleared a bit, it appeared she had moved closer to him. She had actually moved closer to him. Who was this woman anyway and how...?
"But you said heaven," she said softly, catching him off guard.
Jason nodded. "Yes," he confirmed. "I suppose a 'deal with the devil' isn't right. It's more like a deal with fate. Fate decides when life ends and where it continues after. Mrs. Chase got to continue somewhere happy, somewhere you would call heaven."
"How do you know?" Kiera asked. She was just a foot away from him now. How had she gotten so close? Why was she letting herself get so close?
Jason closed his eyes. If she was getting close to do something to him, then let her. If she killed him, maybe everything would turn out okay. But he knew she wouldn't. He already knew that wasn't who she was or what she was doing here. "I felt it," he said. "I can feel it every time. Mrs. Chase was nice, but it isn't always, it isn't always so nice." Just after he finished speaking, he got a start and jumped a little. He opened his eyes to see she had reached out a hand to touch his shoulder.
"Next time," she said softly, "will you show me?"
At that he broke down. He collapsed back into the couch and just started sobbing with his head in his hands. "I can't, I can't," he muttered over and over again.
When he collected himself to look up from the tears, he saw her sitting beside him. Why was she still here? Flee! Get out! Run while you still can! But she didn't, she just sat there, hands on her knees, staring at him as she naively asked, "Why not?"
He shuddered. Maybe now she would strike. Maybe now she would lash out, attack him, kill him, possibly save herself. "Because the next name on my list is yours," he said.
And there is was. Now she had leaped up. Now she was moving away from him again. He was amazed she had stayed this long. "Are you, are you threatening me?" she asked.
"I swear I wish I was," he said meekly, "because then I could take it back, then it could be changed, but as it is..." He shook his head, looking down, and then looked back up at her, "Kiera Jones, you're supposed to die."
And then she was gone. Out the door, back to her apartment perhaps, or maybe outside. Either way, he knew they would be here soon, the police or maybe some psych ward employee or something. It didn't really matter. He could just phase out and escape. He could finish his task and move on. Kiera would be dead and he would be free and he would move on to the next town where they sent him. It wasn't the end. It really wasn't. Jason wasn't even his real name. He would be fine. Except he wouldn't be fine. He knew deep in his soul that if he were the one to reap Kiera Jones, he would never be fine again.
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