I Don't Wanna Live Forever

Chapter 1

    I grin as I move my hair over my shoulder. “Hey y’all! How’s it going? It’s EasyBriezie. And today, I’m playing a happy-ish game. This game is called Peace Death. I know that Jacksepticeye has played it and I decided to give it a try. I mean...I needed a pick me up after the month I’ve had.” I run a hand down my face, my dark eyes flashing with pain briefly. I make a mental note to edit that part out when I start to piece it all together. I sigh and look at the camera. “I’m gonna boot up the game now.” I mutter and start it up. I hum as I wait for it to load. “That’s the only thing I hate about gaming… is the waiting.” I laugh and force a smile. I just start pray that the viewers wouldn’t notice how off I am. My best friend had just gone missing and all that the police had was a description of the man who took her. They all swear she’s dead, but I don’t buy it. I would know if she was. I jump when the music of the game starts to play in my headphones. “Sorry, y’all…” I smile sheepishly at the camera. “Was thinking…” Another thing to edit out.

    I take a deep breath and start the game. “So, it looks like you’re a reaper...and you need food so you need a job...cause reapers totally eat.” I mumble. I glance away from my screen. “Everything I know comes from the Carver Edlund series, okay?” I smile softly. “And it looks like I have to assign souls to heaven or to hell… Okay… That should be easy.”

    A few hours into my gameplay, I hear a loud crash on the lower level. I jump again and swear as I do. My throwing knives are too far away to be able to reach quickly. Silence screams from the lower level. I shrug it off. It was probably just from the outside. I pause the game and get up to get my knives in case there was someone in the apartment building. I set them down next to me. “Okay. So. Sorry, I heard a noise and I’m hella paranoid, as most of you know. Plus, I really wanted to set the mood.” I giggle as I lift up one of my knives. It’s a hobby of mine, when I’m not making videos.

The loud crash sounds again, this time from halfway up the stairs. I turn off the camera and close out of the game, ripping my headphones away as I grab one of my knives. I twirl it around my finger as I brace myself for the worst. Flight or fight kicks in and my heart hammers in my chest. A man rounds the corner. I raise my knife, prepared to launch it at him. That is of course, until I see his face and I hesitate. This was the man who took my best friend and here I was, frozen, at his mercy.

    He smirks. “You’re not as pretty as the last one, but you’ll do.” he purrs as he saunters towards me. His eyes turn from an icy blue to a pitch black in a matter of seconds.

    I lick my lips and let out a guttural growl I didn’t even know I was capable of making. “Like hell I will.” I snarl, not sure where this confidence was coming from. Not that I minded it; I could take care of myself, but this fierceness was refreshing and new.

    The man chuckles darkly as he starts towards me. “Awe, what a fiery little thing...Whatcha gonna do with that pretty little blade?” he taunts. He reaches to grab me.

    I move at the last second and baseball slide under him. I spring to my feet and launch the knife at his back.

    He howls in pain and arches forward as it lodges in muscle between his shoulderblades, narrowly missing his spine. He heads for my window and dives out it. His feet slam on my fire escape.

    I grab a few more knives and chase after him. My feet slap on the metal harshly and for once I’m thankful I hadn’t kicked off my Converse when I got home from work today. The world is fuzzy as I chase after the figure. I couldn’t get those black eyes out of my mind. I hear a shout from a male voice a few feet back. I glare over my shoulder as I keep running. Two men in suits are pointing in my general direction. They could pass for feds or businessmen and I wasn’t sticking around to find out. They get into a black SUV and start it up.

The figure heads down a path, faster than a human should be able to. My lungs ache and I push myself forward. My breaths come out in strangled gasps. He’s a few feet away from me now and coming towards a dead end. I force myself to keep moving, gaining slightly on the man. I was only chasing him for the knife in his back. That was a gift and the only thing I had left of my friend.

The man reaches the wall and grins as I try to skid to a halt. Instead, I run face first into his boot. Another shout from the business feds. I fold to the ground.

Way to go Brie...way to go. I think to myself before the world goes black.

    When I come back around, I’m in a hospital bed. A man about six feet tall, give or take a few inches, is standing by my bed. He’s got on a white lab coat without any embroidery of his name or anything. His scruff matches his hair, dark. I slowly start to sit up, my head pounding and my vision swimming as it does. A strangled noise leaves my lips.

The doctor turns to look at me, his hazel eyes warm but guarded. “How are you feeling, Miss?” He’s got an accent. British… he looks vaguely familiar.

I clear my throat. “Brie...call me Brie..” I rasp out.

He nods, "How are you feeling Brie?” The doctor moves to the edge of my bed so I can see him clearly now. The night previous all comes rushing back to me.

“Well, you tell me. Considering you distracted me last night.” I huff as I push some hair out of my face.

He grimaces.  “I’m terribly sorry about that, Brie. You were in over your head. And my partner and I were already handling the situation whe-”

A man in a suit with piercing light eyes barges in. “Davies, are you...You’re awake.” he looks me up and down.

I glare at him. “I am.” I note the disappointment in his tone. I turn my attention to the man, Davies. “I was getting my knife back. That’s the man that took my friend.” I snap. “I had it under control. Don’t give me the in over my head speel. I don’t need it. I don’t want it. All I know is that...that man, if it even is one...isn’t…” I stop talking, for fear of being accused of being insane.

“What did you see?” Davies coaxes.

“You’re going to think I’m insane.” I whisper.

“For fucks sake.” The suit snaps. “Davies, stop beating around the bloody bush.”

I flinch at the harshness in the man’s tone but it’s just enough to force the information out of me. “Black eyes. Jet black. As if the pupils had been enlarged many times.” I softly say.

Davies nods and looks over at the man in the suit. “She’s got fire, Ketch. And that knife was pretty damn deep…” he talks in a hushed tone, but I can still hear him.

“She’s an American. No experience. That very well could’ve been a fluke.” Ketch counters.

“Still...she knows about them now...and odds are she’s going to go looking for more…”

Ketch sighs and runs a hand down his face. “She has a month. And if anything at all goes wrong…” he trails off. His tone suggests that he knows that I wouldn’t make it that far.