Chapter Nine ~ Rest
The first thing I saw when I woke up was my mom sitting beside me, pajamas on, watching me with a calm look on her face.
"In the mood for breakfast?" Mom asked with a smile. As soon as she mentioned breakfast my stomach rumbled. I nodded a little too quickly; my head started spinning and I became nauseous. My mom noticed and reached for my forehead. Here palm was burning hot.
"Mom, can I please have breakfast and go-" I protested.
"Cara, you're not going out today. You're going to get some rest and take a bath. Understood?" I was about to argue when I realized how tired and worried my mom looked. There were bags underneath her eyes and her hair was up in a messy bun. Not wanting to stress her out, I nodded and forced a smile (a pathetic one, but still a smile) onto my face.
"Now, you lay back and rest. I'll go make you breakfast. If you need anything, don't hesitate to call for me." My mom rose and left my room, shutting my bedroom door slowly behind her. As soon as I heard her go down the stairs, I lifted the bed covers, slowly slid out, and headed for the bathroom.
After using the bathroom, I began to fill the bath tub up with warm water. Boy, do I stink. I really need to wash up. I was scared of my own reflection. Seriously, my hair was a frizzy mess. I was pale as a ghost and my eyes were all red and glassy. I do not look like me at all.
As soon as the skin on the tips of my fingers began to wrinkle I got out of the bath. After wrapping myself in a robe, I wrapped a towel around my hair and slipped on a pair of slippers before heading back into my bedroom.
"Hola," A redhead woman I hadn't seen for a while (best while ever) said. Shocked, I took a step back. Karma took a few steps towards me and offered me her hand. Remembering the first time I'd touched her hand, how I'd ended up with bruises all over mine, I backed another step back. "You okay?"
Just as I was about to speak I felt a cold hand touch my shoulder and trail done my arm. It was so weird, like I wasn't even covered. Turning around, I came face-to-face with Death. He was smiling at me, but then it quickly vanished and he became emotionless. His face whitened and his eyes darkened to black.
"You're still not well?" He asked softly. Suddenly, he touched my cheek and made me look up at him.
"I feel better."
"Not completely," Karma appeared next to us and grabbed Death's hand away from my face. Death immediately became defensive, pulling his hand out of Karma's and taking a step closer to her. Karma frowned and shook her head, sighing. "Oh, brother, stop acting like a child."
"Don't you have somewhere else to be?" Death asked smoothly, pulling his hand out of Karma's.
"Don't you have people to kill?" She asked, slowly circling me and placing her left arm across my shoulders. My body tensed up and my back and shoulder began to hurt like hell. It left like I'd been whacked across the back with a shovel. At least I can imagine how that feels. Wincing in agonizing pain, I pushed Karma away from me and rushed behind Death.
"Leave, Karma." Death ordered. She stared at him with wide eyes, surprised. I just stood there, watching the two exchange looks, messages with their eyes. Karma looked frustrated. Death I couldn’t read.
"Fine, I'll go," Karma walked toward the middle of the room before turning back around and looking at us. "I'll see you later, brother. Bye for now, Cara." She vanished from head-to-toe into thin air. It wasn't as cool as Death turning to ashes.
"You should get dressed." He pointed out, tugging on my robe sleeve. I blushed and nodded, quickly getting a shirt and a pair of jeans from the drawer, sneaking a pair of underwear in between them. Rushing back to the bathroom, I passed Death and noticed a blank look on his face. It's like his face is frozen.
After quickly getting dressed, I reentered my bedroom to find Death sitting on my bed. As soon as he saw me he nodded for me to go to him. I slowly walked over.
"Can I heal you?" He asked, his face tanning and eyes lightened to a soft shade of blue. Um, sure, I mentally answered too embarrassed to say the words aloud. He hugged me by the waist, pulling me close to him.
Now this is really awkward.
He hugged me for what felt like forever, but in reality lasted a minute, before he looked up at me and smiled. He unwrapped his arms from around me and stood up.
"You look a lot better now," He stated, smiling lightly. "So you ready to go?"
"Go? Go where?" I asked, really confused.
"To the third death," He reached for my shoulder but I backed away. The first two deaths were enough for now. Besides, I never found out how the second guy, Michael, really died. "He had a heart attack while driving."
"A heart attack? That's terrible." Sadly, I touched my cheek and sighed.
Death nodded and walked over to me.
"It was from a fatty diet. His heart couldn't take it. He just so happened to have the heart attack while driving."
"Oh... How'd his family take it?" I asked slowly. Death turned pale and looked at the floor.
"I don't know... Come on, let's go-"
"I can't," Frustrated, I crossed my arms and stared at him. "One, my mom's home. I can't just leave. Two, I don't know where the list is."
"Don't worry about your mother. She won't even realize you're gone. I have the list," He explained quickly. I was about to speak when he picked me up bridal-style. "Now let’s go."
"Put me down!" I tried to slip out of his arms, but that only made him hold me tighter. Without warning, he jumped and as soon as his feet felt the floor we were not in my room anymore. Not even home.
We were in the middle of… An empty bar.
There was a man standing behind the bar counter cleaning beer mugs with a washcloth while a young woman cleaned tables against the wall. The smell of liquor and beer was thick in the air. One whiff was all it took to make my stomach churn.
"I'm gonna be sick." I covered my mouth and forced myself to close my eyes. I do not like the smell of alcohol at all. Never have and never will.
"Relax. We won't stay long. All we have to do is find the body and I’ll retrieve the soul. Then we'll leave."
"Who's soul?"
"Mitchell Stanford's," Death said, placing me down. He helped me stand up and continued, "He's already dead. His soul is waiting for us."
"How'd he die?"
"Got punched in the head a couple of times during a fist fight. He dropped dead."
"And no one noticed?"
"I don't know," Death started to walk around the room. He was looking around, peering into each booth and under every table. "Where could he be?" Suddenly, I was overcome by nausea and desperately searched for the bathroom.
Seeing a restroom sign, I ran towards the woman's bathroom. I ran into the bathroom, the door violently crashing against the wall adjacent, and headed to the closest stall. Bending over, I coughed up nastiness.
I wiped my mouth with toilet paper. I avoided looking at the toilet, knowing if I did I'd need to puke again. Slowly, I managed to stand up and walk out of the bathroom. I slumped against the hallway wall and stared up at the peeling ceiling. Death appeared in front of me.
"We're close." Seeing that I wasn't myself he picked me up and headed towards the men's bathroom. Oh shit.
The next thing I know we're looking down at a man, blood dripping from his open mouth. I could clearly tell that he was dead. His eyes were closed and his skin was pale. In his right hand held a beer bottle that had tipped over and spilled beer he hadn't drank onto the cracked white tile floor. The smell of beer was nauseating, but not as much as before. His head rested in a pool of blood which had come from him. The blood had mixed with some of the beer. Around his neck was a tiny silver cross dangling from a silver chain.
"That's him." Death let me stand up on my own and I leaned back against a bathroom stall door. I watched as he bent down, pulled out the mini scythe and stab into the corpse's chest. Death gently pulled the scythe out and placed his left hand on his forehead. A bright white orb appeared and floated in Death's palm. After a few seconds, he lifted his hand and raised it all the way up towards the ceiling.
He softly said a few sentences, whispering the words in some foreign language. When he was done he pushed the orb up. Slowly, it floated from his hands and up through the ceiling. When it was gone, Death faced me. A tiny smile formed at his lips.
"Where'd it go?" I asked.
"Up," He answered. He offered me his arm which I wrapped my right around. As we walked out he continued, "Someplace only souls can go."
"Heaven?"
"Not exactly," He chuckled softly. We walked to the center of the bar. The woman and man were nowhere in sight. Maybe they left. "It all depends in what you believe."
"Oh... What's gonna happen to his corpse?"
"I don't know. Someone will probably find it and call the cops. The rest is uncertain," He said. The way he spoke so casually about the situation seemed so... Disrespectful. This man isn't an it, it's a person. Death suddenly placed his hand on my cheek. "He's not alive. Without a soul a human isn't human. It's a carcass, a skeleton, an empty box. That's what's left behind."
I clenched my jaw and glared at him. Beyond frustrated, I lifted his hand off my face and took a step back. He continued to look at me for a couple of seconds more before glancing at the ground and sighing loudly.
"We should get going." He concluded, offering me his right hand to grab. Without hesitating, I grabbed it a little too tightly, making him frown. I shut my eyes, not wanting to look at him as he picked me up and jumped. When I opened my eyes I found myself lying in bed.
Death was gone.
Mom, as if on cue, entered my room holding a tray with a covered plate. Smiling happily, she walked over and placed the tray over me.
"Breakfast is served," She pulled the cover off to expose a plate with two breakfast sausage links, scrambled eggs, half an orange and a glass of what looked like chamomile tea (there was also a fork and spoon to the side). She kissed my forehead and backed away. "When you're finished eating, just place the tray near the top step. I'll be heading to a job interview at noon so I trust you to stay home and rest up. Okay?"
I nodded and watched her walk out of my room. When I was by myself, I shoved a morsel of scrambled eggs into my mouth and slowly chewed. After a minute or so, I stared down at my plate and cringed. Not that I wasn't hungry, but because the eggs and sausage links had once been alive. They had once been pigs and the eggs could have grown into roosters and hens.
I immediately picked up the orange half and skinned back the soft flesh. Feeling guilty, I bit into the juicy pulp, savoring the sweet taste.
I'll just stick with an orange and tea for breakfast.