My smile faltered when I saw it wasn’t Dex. It wasn’t the nurse or the doctor, either.
It was a man, a man dressed in black slacks and a steel-grey button-up shirt. He wasn’t a big man and although there wasn’t a wrinkle on his face (he was kind of bony-looking though), I knew he was old.
At first, I thought he was just here to visit someone else and he came into the wrong room. But that theory was shot down when he said my name.
“Ahh, so wonderful to see you out of that hospital bed, Piper. What a time you have had.”
“Do I know you?” I said, glancing at the door, which already closed behind him.
“I’m here as your Escort.”
Escort.Isn’t that what Dex said he was? A Death Escort.
I took a step backward and reached behind me for the call button to signal the nurse. This wasn’t some harmless old man.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” he said, watching me move. “We wouldn’t want anyone else to get hurt.”
“What do you want with me?” I asked, even though I already knew. Dex was supposed to kill me. He didn’t. This guy still wanted me dead.
I watched as he came forward, smiling. If I didn’t suspect what he was here for, I wouldn’t even be alarmed. He reached into his pocket and pulled something out and held it in his palm.
“It’s nothing personal, really. It’s just death.” He spoke like he was talking about visiting a friend for dinner, or going out to watch a movie. Did he think death was so trivial?
I watched as he reached out and laid something on the bed. A light-colored stone. A chill ran up my spine. This guy was creeping me out.
“Come along, then,” he said, crooking a finger at me like I’d just follow after him.
“I’m not coming anywhere with you.”
He sighed, rather dramatically, and spoke like he was speaking only to himself. “This is why I always just touch them. No drama in that.” Then he speared me with eyes that seemed to grow very cold. “Death has come for you. I, the Grim Reaper, have laid claim to your life. There is no getting out of it. If you run, I will follow. If you hide, I will hunt you down. Usually, I just touch the people I want to claim, but you, you are lucky.”
I was lucky? Really, I didn’t feel like I’d won the lotto.
“You can come with me now to where Dex is waiting, and I will give you the chance to say good-bye or I can touch you.” He extended his fingers toward me and wiggled them. “Here. Now. And you will die. Instantly.”
Those were my choices? Die now or die later? That was hardly fathomable. Yet, when I looked at this man with his bony features and almost jolly presence, how could I not believe it? Only something this bizarre could be true. And besides, hadn’t Dex tried to explain something like this to me earlier?
“How do I know Dex is where you say he is?” I asked.
“I am a lot of things, young lady… Grim Reaper, Death dealer, fate sealer… but I am no liar.”
“So if I come with you, you’ll let me say good-bye to him?”
“Oh yes. It will be quite the show.” He actually clapped his hands together.
“Okay, I’ll come with you. But don’t touch me.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it. Not yet anyway.”
The door to the hospital room opened, but instead of seeing out into the hallway like I should have, all I saw was white. The man who called himself the Grim Reaper motioned for me to go ahead and so I did, very slowly. When I walked past him, I made an effort to stay as far away from his hands as possible. My muscles tensed when I stepped into the white of the doorway, but I felt no pain. I felt nothing really, and then I was stepping completely through and into a whole other place.
* * *
It was an office—a rather large one with the usual furnishings and an entire row of closets. I didn’t really take the time to notice my complete surroundings because the man sitting in the room was the same man that tried to kill me the night before.
I gasped, stepping back slightly, the bruises on my neck throbbing.
“Watch it there. You don’t want to accidently bump into me and die,” The Grim Reaper said jovially. If I hadn’t known he was serious, I would’ve thought he was joking.
