The Reaper's Token

My Cuddly Nightmares Involve Kittens

"I think I should go get the first aid kit," Violet muttered, cupping her hand underneath the other to stop it from dripping.

"Oh! No Dear! Let me get it!" Alice said. She practically took flight across the living room and disappeared into the back.

"Are you okay?" I asked sympathetically.

"Yes, of course, I am alright." Violet snapped. "I created a diversion because you are either incapable of keeping a secret or you are a terrible liar."

She looked out to where Alice had disappeared as she sighed and shook her head in disbelief.

That did it!

"Well, 007, which secret do you want me to keep exactly?" My voice dripped sarcasm, "how and where I met you? That I shoot light out of my hands? That I needed a phone so that I could actually call Alice? Like I said, that is exactly what I was doing - trying to secure a phone when you blew up the place! You still haven't told me why you were there displacing vagrants and stick fighting like an assassin!"

"It's not a stick," Violet said flatly, but her angry eyes flashed. "And you definitely need to lie about your light show abilities!"

"You know, with a smidgeon of finesse, Vi, you wouldn't need so many secrets and lies!" I laughed sullenly.

"Meaning, genius?" She said.

"You gave Alice every reason to be suspicious!" I said.

Violet's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Unless you are this charming with everyone you meet, it's weird to be so hostile to a peer you have supposedly never met."

Violet stared at me. She opened her mouth to say something but looked down instead.

"Alice knows you don't trust her." I said, "It would help to know why."

My eyes lingered on Violet for a moment until Alice raced in with the first aid kit.

"Okay! I've got the duct tape!" Alice breathed shakily and tore off a chunk of the roll with a solid Rip-p-p!

"Duct tape?" I asked as my eyebrows scrunched together.

"It has healing properties for small cuts and wounds," Violet informed me.

"My! That's a lot of blood!" Alice said, holding up the duct tape. Her hands shook as she teetered forward and leaned against the counter.

"I can't do it! Dominic, do you mind?" Alice mumbled. "I think I need a juice box... maybe a lollypop... some sugar." As Alice passed me the swath of Hello Kitty duct tape, her face went pale, and she collapsed in a heap on the floor.

"I was only trying to get her to stop asking you questions," Violet said in shock.

Obviously, her method had worked a little too well.

"Dominic?" Violet paused quietly, reading the expression on my face.

I turned toward her as I noticed the crimson from her hand steadily dripping to the floor.

"What?!! I mean... You're bleeding! She's passed out! How does that even happen here?!! Why are you bleeding? Why did she faint? I don't know how I hurt dead people, but I do, and I... I should go."

I only made it a few steps toward the door before Violet grabbed my hoodie.

"Wait! Dominic! Please," Violet said as I turned around to face her. She had a genuine, gentle smile on her face, and her eyes seemed warm and kind. For the first time since I met Violet, I could truly see her more as Life's apprentice than Keith's.

"Are you the kind of guy to let me bleed out, leave Alice on the floor, and run off with my Hello Kitty duct tape? Leaving isn't going to help you any more than it will help me... or Alice. Please... stay... and give me back my duct tape." Violet grinned and held out her bleeding hand to retrieve the tape.

I sighed as I ripped off a strip and held her wrist steady.

"Are you sure?" I asked hesitantly, meeting her eyes for a moment. I worked the tape quickly over her cut and around her thumb. In no time, I was finished.

"About what? The duct tape?" Violet asked.

Her fingers twisted around in my hand as I finished taping up her wound.

"No. That letting me stay isn't a bad idea," I said, my tone dropping slightly.

"Of course you should stay. You just have to put the bad in perspective because it always follows us." She whispered.

I really didn't know how that statement was supposed to cheer me up, but it did get me thinking.

"What do you mean?" I asked as other questions started to simmer and rise to the surface.

"That can wait. I don't think the hardwoods look all that comfortable. I have a feeling Alice will be waking up soon..." Violet paused as she looked down on Alice's collapsed form.

"She's kinda heavy," I grunted. I struggled to keep hold of Alice's shoulders while following Violet into the living room.

"Just be glad she didn't hear you say that," Violet said as we shuffled toward the plush three-seater couch.

Violet positioned us in front of the white couch and then looked at me with fierce determination.

"I don't think I can take this much longer," I groaned.

"Okay. On the count of three," Violet paused with a nod. "One. Two. Three!" We hoisted Alice up and swung her onto the couch - maybe a little too hard.

Violet draped a soft blanket over Alice as I slid a square pillow beneath her head. The sweet buzz from the drink I had earlier was gone. It was followed by a nose-diving crash.

"Oh, no." She said, "I think I got blood on your shirt."

"Maybe." I shrugged. I noticed my fingers were lightly stained with Violet's blood from taping up her hand. "Is there anything else we need to do?"

"I should probably wipe up the blood in there," Violet said, glancing toward the kitchen. "Alice might pass out again if I don't."

"Right," I yawned, rubbing my sore eyelids.

"You can sleep in Alice's bed tonight. I'm sure she won't mind, especially since you helped me put her on the couch," Violet said.

She sat back down on the arm of the couch with a sigh and pulled her reddish-gold hair into a high ponytail.

"Okay. But I mean, you're good?" I asked, noticing the dark rings forming underneath her eyes.

"Yes. I can at least make sure she wakes up with a juice box. Now go! You're making me tired just watching you," she waved me away with her hands.

I didn't need her to tell me twice. I shuffled down the hall and into the nearest bedroom. It was a room adorned with soft, gold curtains and creamy walls. Warm, white Christmas lights draped over the curtains and bathed the room in gentle light. A comfortable-looking bed faced me. The thick, grey, and gold duvet cover was already turned down. As I sank between the soft, cool sheets, my mind lazily circled around the events of the day. Soon my mind went dark.

My dream started out fuzzy... blurry. I could hear a light mewling. This sound was followed again and again by a sharp yowl and an unnerving thud. As the dream came into sharper focus, I could see a black kitten... dangling and trying to wiggle its tail free from the cruel fingers that grasped it in mid-air.

To my horror, the fingers gave the kitten a shake and then released its tail, sending the kitty plummeting out of sight. Slowly, again and again, other kittens appeared and disappeared in the same way. The fingers soon evolved into a figure. Although the figure was familiar to me, it was also unknown. Every time the kittens were dropped, an unsettling grin appeared.

"No!" I heard a sharp cry as the darkness returned. This time someone was with me - holding me out over a vast inky void.

"Let's see if you land on your feet," the person beside me whispered. I caught his eerily, familiar smile just before he threw me into the dark.