Reaper Revelations

Death Drinks Coffee

I sigh and take my usual seat on the bus, my friend, Cal, scoots in next to me. The day was strange and felt weird, wrong almost. Cal must've felt it too.

"You feeling ok?" he looks at me like I'm what's wrong with this day.

"I don't know," I say "I feel kind of... I don't know, odd I guess"

None of us say anything for the rest of the ride. I stare out the window thinking about the strangeness of today. It was like that feeling you get when you know you should do something important, but you can't really remember what it is. However, I felt like something shouldn't be here.

When the bus reaches my house, Cal and I take long strides towards the exit. Cal skips the steps entirely and jumps out. Once off the bus, he prepares to catch me. I jump past the steps and he catches me. The bus driver rolls his eyes and shuts the door.

We've done this since he since we became next door neighbors. I've always been clumsy, so it wasn't a surprise that I tripped and fell out the bus that day. What was unusual was Cal who turned around and caught me, laughing. Once I caught my breath, I laughed too. We stood there, in the middle of the street, laughing our asses off until a car rode down the road and honked at us.

He rolls his eyes at the car and makes his way off the street, with me still in his arms. "I have work in an hour. Wanna come study real quick?" He puts me down when we reach the sidewalk.

"Can't," I say tilting my head a little to the side, sticking my bottom lip out. "It's Tuesday. I have work in 20 minutes."

"Shit, completely forgot it was Tuesday." He never forgets, not something as simple as days of the week. Kissing my forehead, he says "see you after my shift" and walks away.

I unlock my front door, still unable to shake the strange feeling, and walk to my room. I get my uniform out of the dryer and search for my black shoes. I find them next to my bed, strangely, as I normally leave them in my bathroom. I brush it off and try not to think about it. I dig my keys out my pocket and walk slowly to my car. Before I start my car, I check my phone. I see six texts from my friends and answer none of them.

The Café du Chat is a small locally owned coffee shop about five minutes from my house and the only place the would hire a 15-year-old. Two years later, I'm still here. I enjoy working here. I like seeing my usual costumers: an old couple who've been together for what seems like forever, a boy around 13 who I'm pretty sure has a thing for me, and people from around my neighborhood. Today, however, an unusual customer, a boy who looks like he'd be a year or two older than me, stares at me from across the room.

    He stares angrily and just knits his eyebrows together when he notices me staring back. I guess confusion is in the air today. I turn back and smile at the next person in line.

   

    At the end of my shift, I pay for a coffee, even though I know taking it would be fine, and sit next to a window. I stare down at my cup for a while. I thought about my sister: did she make it home? I thought of my mom: is she sober enough to notice she isn't. I laugh a little to myself: Yeah right.

    My thoughts are interrupted by a hand slamming on my table. I jump a little and look up at the guy from earlier gazing down at me with a look more of annoyance now. He's about a head taller than me. His dark eyes demand I look at him and are extraordinarily sad for someone his age.

    "Yes?" I ask as he leans over his arm a little more.

    "How the fuck are you still alive?" He barks irritatingly.