(Jfjcjsnsn never apologize for your panic attacks. do you need, and or want, to talk about it?)
The Reaper followed along. Glad that this wasn't going to be nearly as difficult as she'd originally assumed.
They walked in silence for a while, the path being easy to spot. In all her years being a reaper she'd never seen a path that was difficult. Sure a few trials would pop up here and there, but for the most part her job was easy.
(It was just a reaction to a large amount of stress from school work. I'm alright now. Thank you though!)
Jamie glanced around at the new world, his expression hard to read. He had never really taken into consideration what he would do if he died. His life hadn't been bland, he could say that proudly. Sure his high school years were rough as he was bullied a lot more than past years but he overcame that and moved on. His family loved him and nothing really seemed too bad or out of the ordinary.
So was it bad he was wishing that he had done more with his life? Was it bad he now realized he should have taken more risks?
"What will I be able to do in the afterlife? Will I have the chance to find someone for me? Make friends?"
(Okay. Make sure to take care of yourself! Or else I will aggressively read you a bed time story.)
Ember was a bit thrown off by his question, she'd never personally experienced the after life. So she couldn't say for sure. But she knew Reapers who'd picked leading souls instead of paradise.
"romantically speaking? I'm sure you could find someone. There are lots of people who die before they ever meet anyone." She took another few moments to think, "as for what you can do, everything I'd assume. So long as its not something that would get you cast out of where are you go."
(Hahaha! Thanks!! I’ll make sure I take care of myself!!)
“What about you? Are you the only reaper? Are there more? I thought the Grim Reaper would be cloaked in black and be a skeleton and well, a man…” he chuckled nervously, giving her a shy but genuine smile. It suited his face.
“Did you chose to reap?”
"There are more Reapers, and no I'm not the grim Reaper. He retired a few decades back."
Ember messed with one of her curls, pulling on it and then letting it bounce back up again. As much as she wanted to dodge the final question- she didn't let herself. Its not like this soul would even remember her in a few years anyway.
"No," was her blunt response.
“So he did exist. That’s nice to know.” He joked halfheartedly, his laugh awkward. He fell silent after her responses, fidgeting with his hands.
He glanced at her again and really looked her over for the first time. “How long have you been doing this?”
(its not gliching for me anymore. Yay.)
Ember nodded her head. But what she'd said wasn't the truth. In all honestly the Grim reaper had gone missing. No one knew what happened to him, or where he went. It was a mystery.
"Few hundred years. But I don't age, so I still look the same as when I died." The cause of death always stayed with the dead. So Embers lips had a faint blue to them, and her skin looked super pale. She looked nothing like how she did before she died. Well, her hair had always stayed the same, and so had her bright green eyes. But she'd forever look to be in her twenties.
(Yay!!!)
Jamie himself was paler than usual, as the one who had killed him had jumped him first. It was quite shocking until the loud bang, and then this reaper showed up. Jamie had died just like that. A gunshot to the head, his ears were still ringing from the sound.
“Really? Do you remember the year?” He questioned, shoving his hands into the neat jacket he had on. His eyes wandered over her features, lingering on the blue of her lips. “H-how did you… you know…? D-die?”
"Sometime in the fiveteen hundreds." Ember shrugged. She didn't remember when for sure, but she at least had a vague idea. She defiantly remembered lots of old dresses. Something she didn't miss at all. Ember quiet enjoyed wearing jeans.
"I-" the Reaper didn't remember. Most Reapers didn't. In a way she guessed it was a small mercy. When she'd died a different reaper told her of what she was to become. There was no grief, no 'why did this happen.' Ember had simply accepted it, she wasn't even sure if she was in control of herself when it happened.
She cleared her throat before speaking again, "we're not bonding over death experiences."
He nodded gently once more. He wasn’t sure of what else to do, she wasn’t much for conversation and he wasn’t even sure what to say to her.
“Ah, Sorry…” he murmured, looking down at the path. He lifted a hand to run his fingers through his hair. If he focused enough he could still kind of feel the pain in his head. “Is it usually fresh…? The memory of… it?”
"You forget once you get to the after life, and your scar will go away." Ember pointed to his forehead, but didn't look at it. Death shouldn't freak her out. It was literally her job. But for some strange reason it did. Ember had never been able to look when they died. She especially couldn't look at their scars.
(I'm totally gonna start introducing the villain soon. Muhahahhaha)
“There’s a scar…?” He asked, running his fingers over it, his hand shaking lightly. “A-at least I’ll forget.” Jamie wasn’t usually a coward. He was actually quite brave when it came to needing to be (but look where that brought him… to death herself), but the entire idea of the afterlife terrified him.
(Yeeessss do iiittt)
(Also feel free to introduce other charters yourself.)
Ember nodded her head. Sadly for her, her scar would never fade. That was the curse of being a reaper, a permanent reminder of something she couldn't remember.
He'd watched when Ember reaped the soul. Heck, he'd been trying to lure her there. That's why he'd picked that spot, why he'd picked that soul to die.
His ears where still ringing from the loud pop. Did she see him? He had been hoping to kill her too. After all, the only place a reaper could permanently die was in the human realm. It looked like he'd have to force her here again.
But this time, in her human form.
(Low-key gonna introduce a few characters and make you guess who the bad guy is. Muhahahaha)
(Okay!! I’ll probs introduce some sprits or something)
Jamie shifted nervously, biting his lip. He gave another glance around, sighing sadly. It was almost like an out of body experience. Well it was. He was dead. It still shocked him.
(Heck yiiiissss)
Ember glanced over at Jamie, her curiosity getting the better of her. "Tell me about yourself."
She knew getting to know him would be useless, but it was better than making this whole journey in complete silence. At least that's what she hoped for.
“About me?” He questioned, his eyes going wide. “Well, I’m pretty average. I played the quads in the high school marching band; grew up with a secure, normal family; had average grades; and pretty much just read or carried on in school. I am- was about to start college again. Guess the only interesting thing that ever happened to me were those short few years I had a rather aggressive bully.”
"A Bully huh?" Ember glanced at Jamie. Getting him to talk about his life was a bad idea- she knew it could make him quite sorrowful. "I believe there's a special place in hell for them." She knew for a fact her 'Bully' was in Hell. There was no way a murder could make it to a place of peace. Besides it had been hundreds of years since she died. There was no way he could be alive still.
“Ah, he’s old news, though I can’t help but to agree with you. I do hope he burns.” A sudden twist in emotions clouded his eyes - something that tasted like bitterness and hurt. “Bastard pulled weapons out on me.” A dark chuckle tumbled from his throat but he cleared it away, grinning at the reaper who had taken him.
“Oh well, you can’t control what other people do, now can you? The past is the past. And life was life… All I have now is the afterlife.” Jamie sucked in a breath. “What’s it like? The afterlife?”
The sudden change in atmosphere made Ember stop, her eyes sliding over to Jamie. She shouldn't have been shocked- but she was. "That was dark." She muttered, and resumed her walk.
"The after life," Ember frowned. "Well if you end up in Heaven, I'd assume its nice. Hell of course wouldn't be. But you seem like a nice enough person." She shrugged, despite what he'd just said a few moment's ago.
Jamie didnt react to her mutter, in fact he acted as if it had never happened. Those emotions were better left dead.
“I haven’t really done anything bad… I mean I’ve drank before and had my fair share of time in the bed but nothing really bad… oh god. Is that enough to send me down there?!” He asked suddenly, his eyes widening. Now he looked more like some innocent child caught red handed than some adult who had just wished his bully to burn. “I’ve only slept with two people! And it was only one time each! Okay maybe two!” He flushed a bright red, laughing nervously.
Ember burst out laughing before she could stop herself. She was sure most Reapers would have taken a more kind approach- but that had never really been her style. "Hey even if it does get you sent down there I'm more than sure it'd just be bragging rights. I mean, could you imagine a virgin giving to Hell?" She couldn't stop her laughter. But it wasn't long before she did stop. "Don't worry about it to much. I've seen people who spent every other night in someone else's bed, and they didn't do to bad. I think as long as it isn't cheating or, (TW WARING) rape, you're all good."
His face went an even brighter shade of red. “Y-yeah… that would be strange.” He laughed nervously, rubbing at his neck. Her next words made his eyes widen again.
“Oh! No, never. I couldn’t force anyone into that kind of thing.” He promised with a small head nod. “I’m so out of my comfort zone out here. I don’t know what to expect or where I might end up. Hell, maybe those homophobes were right and I’ll end up in Hell for liking both men and women.” He huffed, glancing up at her. “Either way, it’s out of my hands… that scares me if I’m being honest with you. Ha… honest.” He paused for a moment, his wild mind suddenly slowly a little.
“It’s funny. I used to be so shy and researched but now that I’m dead I’m spilling everything to you, who is practically still a stranger to me. Maybe I’ll just tell you everything I’ve ever wanted to say about myself, you might find it boring but it’ll satisfy me. At least I told someone before I was sent to hell or heaven or wherever I’ll go.”
"Homophobes can suck it for all I care. You won't end up in hell for something like that." In Embers time she hadn't even herd of same sex couples. (TW) But after she'd became a reaper it seemed that so many had been killed simply for that reason. It broke her heart to see them- in fact they had been the ones she was nice to. It seemed to help them in a way. lots of them had Became Reapers too.
"Go ahead. Its not like we've got nothing much better to do. As long as you don't stop walking, talk as much as you'd like." She shrugged, but her mind still wandered back to that bit of darkness from earlier.
Sure darkness laid with in everyone, and sure it showed itself on the journey to the after life. She'd never actually felt a change in atmosphere. But why worry about it? Its not like something like that would happen again. At least that's what she hoped for.
“Oh now that’s a huge relief.” He chuckled, brushing off his clothes as best he could. He wasn’t quite sure if he was exactly tangible but it felt like it.
“Ah, more irony. My reaper is the one who encourages me.” He grinned wider, shoving his hands in his pocket. “Thank you for letting me talk, though. It helps ease my nerves. I think if I’m more relaxed I’ll accept that I’m dead a little more than I do now.”
Ember opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a low growl. She cursed. Talking had taken her focus, she hadn't been watching for crawlers.
Crawlers where morbid looking creatures, with a human shape. Expect they walked on all four and ran at horrifying speeds. A gray tone to there skin only made them blend into the land- making them that much more terrifying.
Ember practically threw her scythe into Jamie's hands, and pointed ahead of them. "Less than a mile should be the town I told you about, Run." She knew her scythe would only slow him down, but chances where that the crawlers wouldn't follow him. But if they did, at least he'd have a weapon.
For as long As Ember could remember Crawlers hunted Reapers. They had been a fluke. A mistake created by a Reaper who failed to deliver a soul. That soul had stayed in the reapers realm, and slowly became something inhuman.
And For its revenge it hunted Reapers, killing them and dooming the soul to become a Crawler as well.
The towns had been set up not long after that. A safe place Reapers and souls could rest along the way. For some reason unknown to Ember, Crawlers couldn't enter the towns. And she was counting on that fact at this moment.