The Reaper's Token

Violet Goes Kaboom!

"You know it didn't turn out half bad." Violet chuckled as she twisted the picture Gladys had caught of us between her fingers.

"You know Gladys," I groaned, "she's got that perfect comedic timing."

Violet held up the picture and showed it to me. It captured us sporting painfully grimacing faces and awkward elbow-hand holding.

"Why do you look shorter in this picture?" She asked.

"Did Gladys say that my laminate identification card would come through a fortune cookie?" I asked, ignoring Violet's question.

"I don't know. Maybe. Let's drop our stuff here." Violet shrugged as she picked out a small, booth and I gratefully dumped the stack of pamphlets on the table.

"Seriously? You don't know? Wouldn't you remember if your ID card had come through a fortune cookie?" I asked.

"I just... don't remember it. Okay? I mean, it was different... like I got Teleported to a festival earlier this morning... weird happens all the time here, and I'm hungry." Violet stated, abruptly changing the subject.

"Okay," I said. "Any place you want to go in particular?"

Alice stalked up behind Violet as she quickly tapped on her shoulder. She whispered something into Violet's blond curls, and Violet's shoulders dropped.

"Okay?" Alice asked cheerfully with a wink as Violet's cheeks started turning slightly pink, and she avoided direct eye contact toward me.

Alice scampered off as Violet let out a huff.

"Alice wants us to try out your ID in the cafeteria to check and see if it's already running," Violet said.

"Sounds reasonable to me," I shrugged.

I cautiously scoped the food court as I followed alongside Violet. We made our way to the center of the food pavilion. All chaos from before had disappeared. Overturned tables and chairs were righted and in their proper places.

I couldn't see the harpoon-hunting warrior anywhere - thank goodness! He still stalked my subconsciousness as I stood in line and waited for the L&D cafeteria buffet to move forward.

"They must really like lines here," I said sarcastically.

"Yeah, but we're dead. So what do we care? Or, that's the theory at least." Violet shrugged.

"I don't mean to be nosy, but since we're partners... what were you before all of this?" I asked.

Violet's expression hardened as she picked up a green tray the color of lima beans and held it out in front of her.

"I was a sister, a daughter, a friend, and a high school student." She said quietly. "You?"

I sucked in an awkward breath as I contemplated leaving out my work history. "I lived with my grandmother. She liked oranges, so I started working at Good Life Grocery because they had excellent discounts on produce. I got shot walking home from work. Some thug stole my oranges. Now I'm here."

"How did that happen?" Violet asked.

"Well, I didn't exactly go skipping through the good side of town to get to grandma's," I said bluntly.

"So, were you robbed and shot over oranges?" Violet asked in disbelief.

"No. I got caught in a gang crossfire." I said. "A girl came over to help, and then her friend took my oranges."

"Nice friend," Violet said.

"Yeah, so if you don't mind me asking," I paused, grabbing a tray, "how did you die?"