The Reaper

CHAPTER 1

The First Encounter

“Who are you?”

“I am the reaper.”

“The reaper? As in the one who took souls?”

The man in all black clothes, black shoes, and black fedora is looking straight into my eyes. He may be in his 20s? 30s? I don’t know. Everyone…everything stops like someone clicked ‘pause’ from the remote control. I am the only one moving. I mean…we.

“Then, why are you here?” my heart is going to explode. Why is he here? Is he coming to get me?

He looked at me like I am an insane person. “You can see me?” he asked.

Excuse me, but I’m losing my sanity here. Why is everyone not moving? Is this the mannequin challenge? “Is this some kind of joke? Are you crazy?” I asked him again.

“I’m not,” he said simply. He looked at me again and turned his gaze to the small box that he took from his suitcase. There is a white piece of paper glued in the middle of it and there is a written word using some weird alphabet. “Anastasia Italia?” he mentioned my mother’s name.

My mind is really in a blank haze. Did he just say my mother’s name?

“Creep. How on Earth did you know my mother’s name? Are you one of the loan sharks that my father used to know?” I asked him. I don’t know why I managed to say something like that to a grim reaper (if it’s true) like him. We are so in a deep grave of debt. My mother had sold all of our properties because of the debts left by my father.

Mom is currently at the hospital. She’s ill again. I no longer know where to get the money. It’s a good thing we’re only in a public hospital so it’s not that heavy to pay for my mother’s medical needs.

I only spent a year in college because my father suddenly disappeared like a bubble and Mom and Oyo--my youngest brother who is 7 years old, we’re the ones who suffered in paying off the debts he left behind.

Fortunately, the staff at the hospital were kind. One of them is my friend Paul and Paula who are nurses there. They agreed for me to leave Oyo in the hospital whenever I went to work every day.

Cashier at a coffee shop in the morning, service crew in the afternoon until 8 pm. I was no longer able to send Oyo to school because I work every single day so that we could pay the bills and we had something to eat.

He frowned. His eyebrows almost met as he stared at my face. His mouth opened again to speak. But his words hang in the air, so he just closed his mouth shut.

“Why do you see me? Why did I come out in front of you? Why did I appear in front of you?” he kept asking me questions.

“How should I know? You’re the one who just appeared in front of me.”

With a flick of his fingers, everyone continues to move. And with just that, he vanished into the thin air. Leaving me so confused and dizzy, I just heard someone shouted and I felt the strong push on my back sending me with a loud thud to the ground.

I blacked out.

I woke up to the sound of crying.

Someone was crying loudly, it was as if she’s wailing. “Help!” someone shouted.

I tried to open my eyes and squinted. The sun was shining brightly on my face. I can see blurry figures standing beside me. They’re all looking down at me with wide eyes and gasping. Some are clutching their chests and shaking their heads in disbelief.

When my eyes started to see clearly, I realized that they’re not exactly looking at me.

They’re looking at someone besides me.

I sat myself up. I can feel that the ground was wet and kind of warm.

Did it rain?

“Help! Please call for help.” A vehicle was approaching us and from there, a man and a woman with a layer of gloves on their hands and masks on their faces emerge from the ambulance.

I decided to look around. That’s when I saw an elf truck at the side of the road. It must have rummaged through the vendors’ stalls on the sidewalk and white smoke was coming out of the truck’s engine.

I looked at the medics and saw a girl lying on the ground with a puddle of blood.

Oh my God.

Was she the one who pushed me? I owe her my life.

“When something happens to my daughter, I will never forgive you,” the furious woman said to me. She looked devastated.

“I-…S-Sorry,” I trembled.

She looked at me with fury and run towards her child being carried on a stretcher.

Tears run down my face. A mixture of shock and sadness envelops me now.

If I had been in the place of the lady before, I might have reacted the same way. But on the other hand, I’m thankful because someone saved me. Not that I’m happy about what happened, but what if I was the one injured? What will happen to my mom? What will happen to Oyo? How am I going to pay our bills? Who will share my responsibilities?

Depressed, I walked over to the coffee shop I was attending. So many things had happened this morning. The encounter with the grim reaper is the one I’m most bothered by.

I felt like I’m under the influence of a certain drug. Am I hallucinating?

My shift ended at the coffee shop. I collected my things and went to my next duty--the fast-food restaurant.

“Thank you for coming!” I said to the last customer that I served throughout my night shift here.

I cleaned the tables and went to wiping the mirrored windows clean.

The shift ended and I went to grab some food to eat for Oyo and my mom. I settled on a piece of ham and cheese sandwich while walking on my way to the hospital.

Just a little more walk and I’m getting close to the hospital.

I smiled at the guard outside saying good evening and he said the same to me while I walk past him.

The hospital’s lobby was peacefully quiet. I reached my mother’s room. There are four beds and so far only two are occupied, the other one was the bed of my mom.

“Ma,” I woke up my mom and showed her the plastic bag that contains her food and of course, my brother Oyo’s food.

I noticed that Oyo had already eaten the ration of food on the overbed table next to my mom. I squeezed his cute chubby cheeks and he woke up while caressing his cheek that was red from my pinching.

“Thank you, my lovely butterfly,” Mom said as she started to eat. “Have you eaten?” she asked.

“Yes, ma, ” I said as I handed Oyo the burger and juice drink that I bought. I messed up his hair. “Oyo, you’re too fat.” Oyo glared at me and pouts. I like fooling around with Oyo. He’s so cute. “I’m kidding,” I said as I kissed his cheek.

I wanted to tell my mom what happened earlier but I can’t. I don’t want to give her even more bad thoughts. She will probably get nervous again and instead of leaving the hospital, we will stay here for a while.

Suddenly, the child lying on the bed by the door cried. Oyo was surprised by the strength of his cries. The child stopped crying immediately, but suddenly his whole body trembled. He’s seizing. He must be at the age of ten.

The woman beside him hurried out and called the nurses.

As the door closed, suddenly a strong wind blew.

Gradually, the movement of people in the room where we were slowed down.

The door opened and a man dressed in black entered the room. This can’t be him, right?

He locked his gazes with me.

His eyes widened and he covers his mouth. He stopped walking and pointed at me. “I-It’s you again?” he says, disbelieving the strange events that happened.

I frowned at what he said. Didn’t he walk inside the room? Am I the one who walked into this room and stopped the people from moving? Instead of me being shocked, he was the first one to get shocked between the two of us.

He looked at the little box he was carrying this morning. “Markus Santos?” he looked in disbelief.

“Are you for real?” Instead of being scared, I’m about to run out of patience. “Do I look like a male?”

He cleared his throat and looked at the child on the other bed. “Markus Santos,” he repeated the child’s name. He opened his closed eyes and looked at the man in front of him.

The boy gets up from lying on the bed. His body was left lying there. His soul got up from his body? So it’s true? That people have souls?

I, on the other hand, was shocked right now. I only watched such incidents on TV shows and movies back then.

“Where are we going? What happened? Won’t we take mom with us?” the boy asked this man.

The man’s deadpanned face did not change. His expression is still blank. “Just follow me.” There was a strange force surrounding him as if the child had voluntarily walked after him. He stopped again and turned to me. “Something strange is happening. You are the only one who sees me in this persona. If only I could erase your memory of what happened, I would.” He snapped his fingers again and the movement of the people returned to normal.

The boy’s mother cried after the doctor said that her boy was now lifeless. “Time of death: 11:45 pm.”