Death and the Girl Next Door

by Darynda Jones

“What are you talking about, Lor?” Glitch asked, huffing from exertion beside me.

  “Would you have killed him?” I asked again, my voice a mere whisper, afraid of what he might say.

  Keeping his face averted, he said, “I didn’t kill anyone.”

  But wasn’t that what he did? Wasn’t that his job? Maybe death came so naturally to him, he didn’t think twice about it. Maybe, when his temper flared, he couldn’t stop himself.

  I shook so hard, my teeth rattled. Tears blurred my vision and I swiped at them angrily. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew I’d slipped into a state of shock. I’d just seen the deaths of three innocent men. Everything slowed, every sound echoed in my head, and a desperate sorrow swallowed me whole. I knew things I no longer wanted to know, saw things I no longer wanted to see.

  When did it all become so serious? So real? Jared wasn’t human. He didn’t belong on this plane, just like Cameron said. He was trapped here because of me. And clearly, he could kill in a heartbeat if he wanted to. I hadn’t taken that knowledge seriously before. Now I had no choice.

  I heard voices but couldn’t make sense of what anyone said. Then I felt Cameron pick me up and carry me down the rest of the mountain. Faintly, as if from a dream, I heard Jared call to me. But Cameron yelled over his shoulder.

  “Go back to where you came from, Reaper,” he said, his voice angry.

  Then we were driving. The inside of the car felt like a funeral parlor. The inside of my heart felt even more dead, a hollow void where life had once thrived. I’d started crying and I wasn’t entirely certain why. Glitch held me in the backseat and Brooklyn sat beside us, petting my hair, whispering promises that everything was going to be fine.

  But she didn’t see what I saw. I brought a supreme being onto this plane. A force so powerful, even other supernatural entities were afraid of him. A force that didn’t play by our rules. Didn’t believe in our set of moral standards. And I’d set him loose upon the human race.

  Nothing would ever be fine again.

  A DIFFERENT ANIMAL

  A week later, the investigation into the injuries of three Tourist Channel employees outside a Riley’s Switch residence raged on. Injuries. As in, no deaths. Everything the crew had recorded since their arrival had been erased, along with any evidence as to what they’d been doing outside a vandalized residence. None of the men could remember what happened. They could barely remember their own names. Cops questioned just about everyone in town and scoured the area for clues. The trail ran cold at every turn.

  I knew it might look suspicious if I didn’t go to school, but I just couldn’t manage it. I felt like the world had dropped out from under me. Everything I had learned. Everything I had seen. And to top it off, Jared was gone. I had turned on him the minute he showed me his true self, practically ordered him away. He left because of me. He said he didn’t kill anyone, and obviously he hadn’t. But I wouldn’t listen to him.

  Still, that man’s neck was broken. I heard it. I saw the unnatural angle of his head on his shoulders as he crumpled to the ground. And yet, according to police reports, there were no deaths. All three men were present and accounted for. I had accused Jared of the worst crime imaginable and sentenced him before he even had a chance to explain. I was no better than those people who had burned my ancestor, the prophet Arabeth, on the streets of her village. No trial. No chance to defend herself. Just a village teeming with fear and superstition. How was I any better?

  With all the questions and doubt about what happened rolling around in my head, I missed a week of school. An entire week. I hadn’t done that since I had pneumonia in the fifth grade. The homework Brooklyn brought me every day sat on my desk untouched. Just like the lunch Grandma and Grandpa had brought up earlier. They came in every so often to check on me. I knew they wanted answers, but I couldn’t talk about it, not just yet. And even when I could, I’d have to come up with a whopper. The whole I just don’t feel good would only last so long. I had no idea what I was going to tell them.

  And to top it all off, I’d lost my necklace. Again. I had to have lost it either in the Southerns’ house or in the forest outside it. Either way, I worried that, if found, it could trigger questions possibly leading to us.

  “There she is,” Glitch said as he and Brooklyn walked into my room carrying pizza and orange soda.

  “Phew,” Brooklyn said, “we were worried you might have gone out partying, it being Friday night and all.”

  I smiled and sat up. My bed was a rumpled mess, as were my pajamas and quite possibly my hair, but at least I’d managed a shower. “How was the game?”

  Glitch shrugged and pulled a small table over to the bed. “We won. How was your day?”

  The depression that had taken hold lurched inside me. I couldn’t look at anything or do anything or say anything that didn’t cause a deep sadness. Jared’s absence had left a hole in my heart. My behavior toward him was reprehensible. After everything he’d done for me, I threw him to the wolves the first chance I got.

  I took a deep breath and swallowed hard. “Should we invite him in?” I asked Brooklyn.

  “I don’t know. What do you think?”

  “Well, you did bring Dr Pepper.” I looked at the six-pack in her hands.

  A sad smile spread across her face. She was sad for me and I felt so guilty because of it.

  She walked to the window, opened it, and leaned out. “Hey, blondie. We got pizza. Can you leave your post for a little while?”

  After a minute, Cameron crawled in from the fire escape. Brooklyn handed him a slice of pizza and a soda. He closed the window and sat on the seat there as Glitch sat at my desk and Brooklyn settled in at the foot of my bed.

  Having them all with me, I suddenly felt famished. I inhaled two slices of pizza before slowing to a nibble on a third.

  “I really didn’t expect you to eat anything,” Glitch said, disappointed. I attempted a small laugh. “Now I’m going to have to make popcorn to fill the void.”

  “Oh yeah,” Brooklyn said, “we brought a movie.” She reached over and took a DVD out of her purse. “It’s your favorite.”

  I looked at it. “Rocky Horror Picture Show is not my favorite. It’s your favorite.”

  “I know,” she said. “But I figured you wouldn’t enjoy whatever we got anyway, so at least I should have some fun.”

  What would I do without my very best friends? Wait a minute. What would I do? What if they suddenly died or moved or got deported? Can they deport Americans to foreign countries? What would I do?

  Tears began to sting my eyes and I turned to grab my inhaler off my nightstand. After a quick spray, I sat breathing deep with my face averted until I could get my emotions under control.

  “You don’t have to hide from us,” Cameron said.

  I didn’t turn back. “I know. This is just getting really embarrassing.”

  “Lor,” Brooklyn said, “look at me.”

  I turned to her, my wet cheeks a dead giveaway.

  She leaned in and covered my hands with hers. “I don’t know what to do for you. How to help.”

  “You are helping,” Cameron said, always the pragmatist.

  A fresh supply of tears welled up behind my eyes, just waiting for someone to say the right thing, or the wrong thing, or pretty much anything.

  I looked at Glitch. “Is this what it was like for you?”

  He was caught off guard, and his lips pressed together. We had made a deal a long time ago not to talk about that spring break our second-grade year, but desperate times called for desperate measures. He glanced down at his pizza. “No. I was just … in shock or something. I don’t know what happened. I barely remember it.”

  “Maybe Cameron can shed some light?” I looked over at him, my brows raised in question.

  “I’ve never talked about it,” Glitch said in surprise. “What makes you think Cameron had anything to do with it?”

  “Just a guess. Am I wrong?” When neither of them answered,
I knew I was right. “Glitch, what happened? Was it anything like what’s been happening here?”

  “No, hon.” He shook his head. “Not even close.”

  I looked at Cameron. “Did it have anything to do with an angel? With Jared?”

  “No, Lorelei,” he said. “It had to do with two very evil people.”

  “Cameron,” Glitch whispered under his breath. He shifted in his chair, suddenly uncomfortable. I decided to drop it. If there was no connection, there was no reason to push for information. Not now, anyway.

  “What did he look like?” Brooklyn asked out of the blue. I knew whom she meant without asking. I had told them about Jared, about how he had changed in the forest. I think I left them with the impression that he’d become a huge, green, one-eyed monster.

  Even though he hadn’t, I didn’t know how to tell them what he did look like. “You’ll never believe me,” I said.

  “Let me get this straight,” Glitch said. “We’ve just witnessed things most humans are completely oblivious to. The stopping of time, that whole becoming-transparent-so-a-grand-piano-can-pass-through-you thing, the banishing of a pissed-off poltergeist, the mysterious memory swipe of three men in a forest … but no, you’re right. We probably wouldn’t believe you.”

  “Really, Lor,” Brooklyn said. “How much more bizarre can this get?”

  “Was he, like, all grotesque or something?” Glitch asked.

  “No.” I paused and thought back. “He was beautiful.”

  “Beautiful? I thought he was scary,” Brooke said, clearly wondering what the big deal was.

  “I didn’t say he wasn’t scary. I just said he was beautiful.”

  “Chicks actually call guys beautiful?” Cameron seemed appalled.

  Brooklyn smirked.

  “Okay,” I said, “but you have to keep an open mind. That means you too, Glitch.”

  “We’ve been through this, remember? I’m totally open.” He stretched his arms wide to prove it. “I’m an open book, an open door, an open sign that blinks in red and blue neon.”

  “Your fly’s open too,” Cameron said.

  “Man.” He turned and zipped up his pants before looking back. “Okay, I’m ready.”

  “We’re ready,” Brooklyn corrected. “We can take it. We’re here for you. Lay it on us, baby.”

  “Okay, here goes.” I hesitated a moment, praying they wouldn’t have me committed afterwards. “He looked like … well … a grim reaper.”

  The room grew deathly quiet. All three of them sat staring at me. No movement. No expression. Maybe they didn’t hear me.

  Glitch, as usual, snapped out of it first. “Pizza, anyone?” He held the pizza box out.

  “Glitch,” I started, but Brooklyn interrupted me.

  “That was kind of anticlimactic.” She seemed disappointed.

  For some reason, I was rather offended. “Have you ever seen a grim reaper?”

  “I have,” Cameron said, raising a hand. “But there’s actually only the one.”

  I looked at him. “When you called him the reaper, I thought you were, you know, exaggerating. So there really is a grim reaper?”

  With a shrug, he answered, “Not really. I don’t know, kind of. That’s just one of his names. And it’s the one that fits him best, if you ask me.”

  “So,” Brooklyn said, “did he have a scythe? You know, like in the movies?”

  “That’s funny,” Glitch said. “Pizza, anyone?”

  “Glitch,” Brooklyn said, “stop trying to change the subject. But, seriously, did you see one?”

  “He doesn’t actually carry a scythe,” Cameron said. “He kills just fine without one.”

  Something transcendent tightened around my throat when he said that. My second impression of Jared in reaper form was very similar. He didn’t need any help doing his job. My first was just a general sense of holy crap.

  “Though he does have a wicked sword I’d give my right arm for,” Cameron continued.

  “That’s right.” I pulled my knees to my chest. “He had a sword in my vision.”

  “But he was beautiful?” Brooke asked.

  “He was,” I said. “Stunning. Mesmerizing. He was like smoke and yet solid at the same time, and strong, like he could have crushed a truck if he’d wanted to.”

  “He could have,” Cameron said, regarding his pizza absently. “Trust me.” He took another bite.

  Cameron really wasn’t helping.

  I surveyed the room to get a sense of my audience. Brooklyn sat deep in thought. Glitch seemed to be taking it okay. He was holding the pizza box in one hand and munching pizza out of the other, his eyes squinting as though trying to envision what Jared had looked like. Cameron, on the other hand, seemed completely oblivious, like he dealt with this sort of thing every day. I guess he did. I was beginning to understand what he might have been going through his whole life. He’d clearly been desensitized.

  He finished his last bite of pizza and stood to look out the window.

  “Cameron?” I said, wiping my hands on a napkin.

  He glanced over his shoulder then back out the window.

  “How did Jared just put those men to sleep?” I asked. “I mean, he just touched them and they collapsed.”

  A sigh slipped through his lips. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen that.” He reached up and wiped condensation off a pane with the sleeve of his denim jacket. “And the fact that you felt heat emanating off him has me pretty baffled as well.”

  “That’s never happened before?” I asked.

  He shook his head.

  “Least he conveniently erased all the evidence of our breaking and entering gig,” Glitch said.

  “But are we absolutely positive he did?” Brooklyn asked, propping her elbows on her knees. “Those crime scene investigators were up there a long time. They don’t usually investigate that intensely unless there’s been a murder or a kidnapping or something. Who knows, the sheriff could be watching that recording as we speak.”

  She wasn’t helping either. My insides were a jumble of nerves and thick, gooey sadness.

  After a moment, and a couple of gulps of Dr Pepper, Cameron said all out-of-the-blue like, “Lor, there’s a fact that you’re going to have to come to terms with eventually.”

  I straightened, grabbed my ragged stuffed monkey, and scooted back against my headboard. “Okay.”

  He seemed hesitant, as though unsure of how to put into words what he wanted to say. When he did speak, it was with reverence, each word carefully chosen. “You need to understand that Jared is good, yes, he’s light.” He fixed his attention on me, and I knew I wasn’t going to like the rest of what he had to say. “But he’s also dark, Lor. He was created for a very specific purpose and has more power than his brothers. When a higher being says dark, what they’re talking about is the absolute absence of light. The absence of good. Do you know what that means?” When I shook my head, he continued. “The absence of good is a nice way of saying ‘evil.’ There’s a part of him that’s evil.”

  “But can’t that be said about anyone?” I asked, jumping to Jared’s defense. “Doesn’t every being on earth have the capacity for evil?”

  His brows slid together. “Not like this. Not to this degree. I’m not saying he has the capacity for evil, Lorelei. I’m saying he is evil. It’s just as much a part of him as auburn hair and smoky gray eyes are to you. It’s in him. In his genetic makeup. Inherent and pure.”

  “And so is good,” I argued.

  “True. But just so we’re clear, supernatural beings aren’t afraid of much. You have to be pretty powerful to scare Casper into pissing himself. The everyday poltergeist isn’t afraid of angelic beings, Lor. Yet they’re terrified of Jared.”

  I took a sip of soda, then rubbed my face on my monkey’s tummy. “I think he’s more good than evil,” I said, standing my ground.

  “You could be right.” He leaned against the window frame. “I’m not saying he isn’t.”

&nb
sp; “When I saw him in the forest,” I said, trying to explain, “when he changed, I just … I kind of freaked out. I ran from him. He was so big and so angry and I thought he killed that man, so I ran.”

  “Lor,” Brooklyn said, “that was totally the right thing to do.”

  “But when I thought about it later,” I continued, “I realized he was protecting me.”

  Cameron disagreed. “You can’t know that.”

  “Yes, I can. He pushed me to the ground, then changed and attacked them like he was protecting me. I was just so scared when I saw him. I’m such a girl,” I said, utterly disappointed in myself.

  Brooklyn scooted beside me and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. “I wish I had been there with you. I’m so sorry you went through that alone.”

  I rested my head against hers.

  “You’ve had a traumatic experience,” Glitch said. “It’s gonna take a while to get over it.”

  “I know, but I think it’s more the loss. I just can’t believe he’s gone. I know how that sounds after everything that’s happened. He’s probably the last person I should miss, but—”

  “He’s not gone, shortstop,” Cameron said.

  My head snapped up. I watched him with way more hope than I wanted.

  “He never left,” he said reluctantly. “He’s been here the whole time.”

  “Here? Like, where here?”

  “Why do you think I’ve been staked out on your fire escape? He’s close.”

  Now for the sad part.

  My soul took flight! My heart soared! A euphoric, deliriously giddy sensation washed over me with the knowledge that Jared was still here. He didn’t leave. He didn’t go back to his day job.

  “Do you know where he is?” Brooklyn asked.

  “No, but I can feel him.”

  “What do you feel?” I asked, just wanting that small bit of knowledge to tide me over while I wondered if I would ever see him again.

  He ground his teeth, hesitated, then said softly, “Pain.”

  I jumped up and ran to the window, searching the distance for any sign of him. “Is he hurt? Is he stranded somewhere?”

  “No, not that kind of pain. Pain like yours. Deep. Desperate. It’s disturbing. Between the two of you, I’m on the verge of committing suicide.”