In Love with Death *A Grim Reaper Story*

Chapter 4

I took in a deep breath not realizing I was holding it in. I sighed as I went to the sink to wash mine and my mother's coffee mugs.

I was in the middle of rinsing the cup my mother used before I realized it was my dad's favorite coffee mug. It was a simple blue mug with a white rim but he refused to use any other one. A tear slid down my cheek, I wiped it away fast. I hated crying. I dried the cups and put them in place. Just then my phone went off. It was a text from my mom.

After I deal with the funeral arrangements I'm going to go to grandma's for a while, might stay the night. Call me if you need anything.

All though I wanted to take care of my mother myself I could understand why she wouldn’t wanna be here. I knew my grandma would take better care of her anyway.

I decided to clean. It was the one thing I did whenever I didn’t want to think. I put my favorite senses fail cd into the house stereo and let the music fill the house. I dusted every inch of the living room cleaned every mirror and picture frame avoiding the pictures inside them, and wiped every part of the counters and cabinet doors possible. I even reorganized the pan tree and cleaned my bathroom. I was about to reorganize my closet when the door bell rang.

I opened the door to see Josh with DVD's in one hand and a pizza in the other.

"I thought maybe a few stupidly funny movies and junk food could do you some good" he said with a small smile.

I smiled back, although it probably looked like I forced it, and I let him in. He handed me the DVD's as I took them into the living room and set them on the coffee table. I walked into the kitchen where Josh was served pizza on two paper plates.

"You eat I’m not hungry," I said pushing the plate away from me.

"Okay, if you can tell me when the last time you ate was and what it was then you don’t have to eat the pizza," he said raising his eyebrows. I realized I actually didn’t know when the last time I ate was.

"Yeah that’s what I thought now eat," he said handing the plate to me. I sighed and took the plate as I started to walk back to the living room.

We watched The Hangover although I paid no attention to it, it's not like I didn’t know what happened, I had seen the movie countless time with Josh. The movie finished and Josh shut off the TV and turned towards me.

"Lex I hate seeing you like this," he said with sadness in his voice.

"Like what, I'm not doing anything." I retorted.

"Exactly, don’t get me wrong I don’t want you to cry or anything but you’re not doing anything, it’s like you’re in zombie mode." he said with a small frown.

"I know, it’s just I don’t know how to feel. After last year everything changed. We weren’t close anymore. I feel like I already lost him way before last night." I said as I played with the hair band that was around my wrist.

"Come here," he said reaching for me. I scooted closer to him and let him wrap his arms around me. I rested my head on his chest and the rest his chin at the top of my head. "I'll always be here for you okay punk."

I smiled, "Okay jerk."

I was about to close my eyes when I noticed something. Black fog. It was under the coffee table. I jerked up to find the source. I turned to face the back of the couch only to see Grim's eyes slowly fading away with the rest of the fog. I may have been imagining it but it seemed like there was a great deal of sadness in Grim's eyes.

"What are you trippin on?" Josh asked staring at me with an eyebrow raised.

"Huh? Oh nothing I thought I saw something that’s all." I said sitting indian style on the couch once again.

"You need to lay off on that dope, that shit has you seeing things." Josh said smiling.

"Calm down I only smoke cigarettes" I laughed as I punched him playfully.

"Yeah I know but you should stop smoking those too" he said punching me back. "So when is your mom coming home?"

"She's gonna stay with my grandma for the night, can’t blame her for not wanting to be here." I said getting up to throw the paper plates and napkins.

"Want me to crash here tonight so you're not alone?" he offered following me into the kitchen.

"Nah its cool, I’m a big girl. Besides don’t you have a big date planned with Tina?" I asked with a smirk.

"Its Tanya this week" he smirked.

"Oh sorry I get a little confused since there’s new meat every week." I said sarcastically.

"You make it seem like I'm some huge slut" he said.

"Cause you are a huge slut" I said smiling.

"Ouch" he laughed. "You sure you don’t want me to cancel, you know you come first before any hole I can get my dick in."

"Alright that’s my queue to kick you out." I said

"Aw I was just playing you know how I am." he said

I smiled "Yeah I know it’s one of the things I love about you, but you need to get ready and go buy condoms because the world is not ready for a little josh running around."

"You sure you don’t want me to stay" he said once more.

"Josh, I gotta deal with this sometime and I can’t depend on you forever. I need to handle my own shit and start to move on." I said as we walked to the front door.

"Well still if you need me, call me no matter what time, even if it’s right before I get it in, I'll drop everything and leave the bitch hanging." he said laughing.

"Well if that does happen go ahead and go through with it I'm sure it won’t take that much time." I said smirking.

"Hmm maybe zombie Lexi wasn’t all bad." he said hugging me "just playing you know I love you, you little smart ass."

"Love you too. Goodnight"

"Goodnight Lex, I'll text you later." He said as he walked back to his car. I shut the door behind me and started to clean up the sodas and the rest of the pizza.

Just as I was putting the leftovers into the fridge, I felt the familiar cool breeze. I closed the refrigerator door and sure enough there was Grim, his hands in his pockets, next to me.