“You still look hot in four years,” I told her.
She bit into the donut and made a sound of appreciation. “So good,” she said around another mouthful.
“Just remember the future isn’t concrete. It can change so you might want to rethink that box of donuts.”
“I’m not going to eat themall,” she said, snagging another with icing and sprinkles. “You’re going to help me.”
I started to shake my head, but she pinned me with a stare. “You could’ve died! And never ate another donut again!”
“Oh the horror!” I gasped, but I did pick up a cinnamon twist. She had a point. What was the point of living if I didn’t enjoy it?
“So when’s the funeral?” Frankie asked as she polished off her second pastry.
“I don’t know. He didn’t have any ID on him and the hospital wouldn’t tell me anything when I called.”
“Maybe you should just let it go,” she suggested.
I jerked like she slapped me.
Frankie sat her coffee down and pushed her blond curls from her face. “I don’t mean to be insensitive. But there’s nothing more you can do,” she said gently.
Maybe not, but I could remember. It seemed not forgetting what this stranger did for me was the very least I could do.
Chapter Five
“Deal - An agreement, especially one that is mutually beneficial. A business transaction.”
Dex
A Death Escort. An image of a stiff black polo with a little embroidered logo on the chest that stated exactly that popped in my mind. It was ridiculous. Death escorted people. People didn’t escort Death. Still, I wanted to know. “How exactly does someone escort death?”
“By killing.”
He made it sound so simple. I guess in a way it was. It hadn’t been that hard to stab and kill my mother’s boyfriend.
“So let me get this straight.” I held up a finger to count off my reasoning, but the movement only loosened my shape and I was left with no fingers at all. “You want to give me back my life so I can kill people for you?”
“Not just anyone. You will be assigned a target. Once that target is Escorted to their death, then you will receive another. You will only have one target at a time. There will be times when you have no target at all… You will be free to enjoy your money and life.”
So basically I’d be an assassin with paid vacations. I guess it was a good offer for a guy like me. Still, I hesitated.
Mr. Burns sat down in his massive desk chair and opened the desk drawer to his right. Silently he pulled out a shiny red credit card and laid it on the desk. Next he pulled out a stack of crisp one hundred dollar bills and finally a set of keys, which I assumed were for a car.
“This first job will be your test—your initiation. If you complete it successfully, you will then be an official Death Escort. The more jobs you complete, the more power and money you will receive.”
“And if I turn down your offer?”
His hand disappeared beneath the surface of the desk and then returned. To my right, a swirling black hole opened up. Angry red flames came licking out of it, reaching for me. From inside the hole I could hear hollow wailing. I felt a slight tugging feeling and realized the hole was trying to suck me in and the mist that made up my body began drifting toward it.
“If you turn down my offer, you can begin eternity right now. You won’t mind if I keep your body, will you?” He steepled his hands beneath his chin again and watched with open amusement as I thought about my choices.
I always knew hell would be where I ended up, and I accepted that, but why not have a little fun before? Eternity could wait. I glanced back at the shiny credit card and stack of bills. “I accept.”
The black hole snapped shut and Mr. Burns clapped his hands in glee. “Wonderful! Let’s get you a body.”
The closet doors were still open, still displaying his collection, but instead of going directly to my body, he went to the other end and began going through the others.
“Mine’s over there.” I pointed to it, ignoring the fact my finger spread out like a puff of smoke.
