Grim ➳ L. MARTIN [DISCONTINUED]

one

[UNEDITED]

It wasn't supposed to be like this. I wasn't supposed to be 17 years old and an orphan. I wasn't supposed to be forced to go live with my grandmother in a shitty town in California. None of this was supposed to happen. But it did.
My name is Grace Mortem, I'm 17 years old, and I watched my parents die. Actually, I watched a lot of people die. No, I'm not a serial killer. I don't know what I am. One second, I'm with my friends, and the next, I'm standing next to a dead body, watching their soul leave their body. Yeah. Weird. I know.
-/-/-/\-\-\-
Grace stood in front of her grandmother's house, the one that would be her home for the next year or so. If she made it that long.

"Remember, Gracie. Mum and I love you lots..."

Grace shook her head as the voice of her father filled her thoughts. She had been hearing him and her mother for the past year, ever since they died. She had been getting treatment for PTSD, since seeing your parents take their last breaths was pretty traumatic, apparently.

After finishing her 'treatment', the government sent her off to live with her grandmother, her last living relative. Grace hadn't talked to grandmother for a few years, seeing as her parents had had a disagreement with her grandmother which had never been solved. Her grandmother must've regretted that now.

Grace picked up the last box of her stuff, walking into the small house and headed towards where her grandmother had indicated was her room. She placed the box of clothing at the entrance of her closet then fell down onto her bed.

She observed the bedroom, obviously one that was not frequently used. There was dust on the shelves, the door squeaked every time it moved, and every once in a while, you could hear mice. But it had a nice home-y feeling to it, and was painted the same colour as her old room.

"Grace... Don't f-forget.. You're special, a-and t-that's o-okay..."

Grace felt her eyes water as she remembered her parents last words. She sat up on her bed, staring at the wall blankly, a single tear falling down her cheek before she wiped it off and composed herself. 'Just breath Gracie, you'll be okay.' She told herself.

"Knock knock."

Grace turned around and saw her grandmother standing at her door, a small smile on her face. "Almost done unpacking?" She asked, sitting down next to her granddaughter. Grace nodded her head, even though she was clearly not even close to being done. She looked at the nearest box, which had 'FRAGILE' written on the side.

"What's wrong with me?" She whispered to her grandmother, who looked at her with a bit of shock, seeing as that was the first thing Grace had said to her since she had arrived. Her grandmother sighed and stood up slowly, looking down at her granddaughter.

"There's nothing wrong with you, love... You're special.."

"That's what everyone is telling me, but how the hell am I special if I just show up at a place where the dead bodies are? What am I?" Grace said, looking at her grandmother, tears threatening to fall.

Her grandmother looked at her before nodding slowly. "Alright... I'll tell you..." She said before sitting at Grace's desk. "Have you ever heard of the Grim Reaper?"

Grace nodded her head.

Her grandmother continued. "Well long ago, there was a time where the Grim Reaper was just a mere man. He was born with the powers of the Devil, and was thrown away from his own family. He was found by a woman who could not bear children, and she decided to raise him as her own. As he grew older, his powers involving death grew stronger, yet that woman still kept him as her child. She tried to help control his powers, and for a while it worked. Until one night, they started fighting. He had discovered that she wasn't his birth mother, and was mad that she never told him. During the fight, he lost control and killed her."

"Once he realized what he had done, he attempted to take his own life, which almost worked. He did not die, yet he stopped living. He lost his heart along with woman who had never turned away from him, who had treated him like her child and had always loved him as one as well. During the fight, he found out that the woman had not been able to have children, and decided to bestow that honor upon another woman who also couldn't have children. He offered her the chance for a child, but said that it could only be so if every female descendant of hers would carry the powers like his, and the woman, desperate for children, accepted."

"The woman's last name was Mortem. And for centuries, the only female Mortem's were married into the family, which didn't allow the curse to come into effect. Until you were born, Grace. You are the first female born into the Mortem family in centuries.. And that's why you have these powers.."

Grace's grandmother finished her story and looked at Grace, who had opened her eyes wide and stood up.

"So I'm the Grim Reaper's great-great-great-great-great-great granddaughter?" She asked, her voice slightly high. When her grandmother's head nodded yes, she whispered "Oh my God." Before she promptly fainted.