Killing Me Softly (On Hiatus)

Why Isn't He Dead?

No one noticed Matt as he stretched his hand out and grabbed the call button. His fingers shook as he frantically pressed the button.  He could hear some hurried footsteps headed toward his room and he felt relief begin to seep into his body. Once the nurses arrived, they would call security and the three strangers in his room would be thrown out or arrested. He preferred the latter.  He didn’t notice Alexa’s sweeping glance or her frown when she found his frantic button pressing. She could hear the flurry of movement outside of the room and she quickly put herself between the Guardian and the Grim Reaper. Roderick glared at her.

“Alexa, what is the meaning of your treachery?” He growled; his anger flared from his form and Alexa felt it in the very core of her being. She shivered slightly before she squared her thin shoulders and narrowed her eyes on her darkened mentor.

“Humans are coming because he’s calling for help” Alexa pointed at Matt as the door to the room suddenly flew open with a loud thud. Before Matt could say anything, the three strange figures in his room simply vanished. The lingering mist they all seemed to leave behind was the only evidence he hadn’t been alone this entire time.

 “Are you alright?” A young nurse asked as the supervising nurse followed closely behind her. Matt didn’t answer as he let out a slow, shuddering breath.

**

Alexa and Roderick appeared in the front foyer of the Grimm Manor. It was a vast estate in the Otherworld where Reapers could stay and it was Roderick's permanent home. Alexa sighed as she looked around. She hadn't been to the Manor in over twenty years. She had found it easier to live in the human realm. She quickly followed her superior to the den as a harried servant disappeared after a quiet order from Roderick.  Alexa had no doubt that the servants feared Roderick. Hell, she was certain a few of them feared her. She quickly shook her head of the thought. Roderick paced the floor in front of the fireplace. His eyebrows were scrunched together in the middle of his flawless countenance as he lost himself in his thoughts. Alexa sat in a nearby plush chair with her legs crossed in front of her. Her eyes followed Roderick and every little move he made.  Though her eyes followed her superior, her thoughts were filled with Mathias Cole. She had been fighting it ever since they left the hospital several hours ago. Much to her chagrin, his face hadn’t left her mind.

“Why would a guardian protect a boy who was meant to die?” Roderick asked as he turned to his companion who looked deep in thought. He frowned. Alexa’s body was rigid and she heard herself as if the two of them were being formal. Roderick had always them to be close; well they were closer than him and some of the other Reapers. At this, he thought back to their very first meeting.

***

December 15, 1803:

 Roderick had been summoned to a trading post about twenty miles outside of a town known as New Orleans.  Alexa hadn’t been more than eleven when Roderick appeared in the shack her family called a home. The hovel had two rooms and both were filled with sick, dying people. All except Alexa. She was immune to the disease that had swept through her small community. She had been diligently caring for her kin and neighbors for days. What had surprised him about her was that when she looked at him the first time, she smiled. It was a bright smile; it was the kind of smile that could warm even the coldest heart.

“You’ve come then?” She asked as Roderick had instinctively nodded, still surprised she could see him to begin with.

“Then please, ease their pain. I can do nothing else for them. They are lost to me,” she remarked as tears pricked the corners of her large green eyes. Roderick could only stare at the young girl in front of him. She was wrapped in a thick blanket of fur, but still she shivered.