Death Is My Frenemy (Book Three)

Chapter 7: Pale Reflections

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BANG!

I snatched my hand away from the mirrors surface with a gasp, and whipped my head around to bedroom door. At its entrance stood my favorite aunt with an outstanding amount of bags in her hands. She was wearing a dark orange blazer and dark jeans, with matching orange heels, and a pair of pumpkin earrings with a little cat head sticking out of each stem. I noticed she had decided to go more lenient with her dye job and straightener, because her hair was a dark blonde, wavy, and longer than her shoulders, the color my mother's hair had been.

"Aunt Sarah!" I bellowed out in astonishment. It always so refreshing to see my aunt, especially when she surprised me with visits "How the--did mom give you her spare key?"

"No. I saw her about an hour ago," my aunt said. I tensed. I had ended my endless journey from the woods at the porch of my house. I didn't get to check on my parents. "She said you stopped by and you guys had lunch."

My nerves relaxed a little. So maybe that was a little bit of a supernatural fill-in in my mother's mind that didn't actually happen. It didn't matter, Mom was alright, which meant Death hadn't hurt my parents. "Was the door unlocked, then? What time is it?" I wondered, my mind wondering to places it didn't want to go. God, I hoped that cross was still hanging on the wall if it was. If not, I was almost twenty percent sure it wasn't my aunt standing in front of me.

She gave me a strange look, nailing me to my spot. "Marcy let me in. It's probably around six-fifteen."

Marcy is home? Marcy's never home these days...

I have to be Death, again.

Before I could say anymore, my aunt flung her skinny arms into the air with all of her bags still intact, and ran towards me with a squeal, squeezing the hell out of me when she pulled me into an embrace."Oh, I missed you so much! You have no idea! I miss going to town with you!" Her words became rushed and filled with emotion.

"Remember that time I snuck you into that male strippers club, and then afterwards we ate those gooey chocolate chip cookies and whined about how unrealistically hot and friendly those guys were, and one of them was on break and standing right behind us in line with his boyfriend? I've never laughed so hard in my life!"

I take that back! Death wouldn't go into that much detail. He's too lazy...

I hope.

"I missed you too," I murmured into her perfume-scented shoulder. I attempted to hold in my own emotion and squeezed her harder. I mean, visiting me after my new guardian angel mysteriously dumped me off at my apartment even though he wants to eat me alive, and then witnessing my mirror do a little dance and tempt me to touch it, didn't exactly make it the best time for visitors. But my aunt Sarah was always an exception.

I peered over Sarah's shoulder to see Andrew, my aunts preppy, mid-twenties boyfriend, who's hobbies were picking on everyone lesser than him and buying the latest polo shirt at Abercrombie. But Andrew wasn't wearing a polo shirt, I realized, he was wearing a white dress-down shirt and dark jeans.

He took the bags from my aunt's iron grip and placed them out in the hallway before sticking his head into the room and saying, with a laugh, "She never lets me hold her clothes. Ever."

There was something noticeably different about Andrew. I just couldn't pinpoint it. He seemed a little more athletic looking, definitely lost a little bit of weight. I watched him walk past my bedroom door into the hallway, and close the door behind him. Before Andrew had actually passed the door, though, his sunken in, tired brown eyes landed on mine, and I could have sworn he smiled.