AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Two
The Lobby felt weird now Bunny knew Death couldn’t accompany her there, but she couldn’t afford to mess around. The space was filled with a white mist holding tiny luminescent flecks of glitter that danced and swirled. Massive white marble columns stood like trees throughout the space, her shoes making no sound as she hustled across the polished floor amongst them.
Before long, she could make out the sound of Roberta tapping away on the strange but oddly comforting typewriter she usually kept on her desk. Bunny made a beeline toward the sound, and it was only after the mist started to thin a little that she stopped and took pause. The woman at the typewriter was not Roberta.
She had dark hair that was styled into long skinny braids and then artfully arranged on top of her head in a shape that resembled a rose. Her skin was the palest pink Bunny had ever seen on a human that was still living, complimented by a high smudge of slightly darker pink in the apples of her cheeks. A green headscarf was swathed around the lower part of her scalp, matching the color of her eyes perfectly.
She peered at Bunny curiously as she approached, and the woman’s fingers fell silent.
“Why hello there.” Her tone was upbeat and professional, but distinctly void of anything even remotely resembling friendliness. She was weirder than a three-headed snake. “May I help you?”
“I’m looking for Roberta,” Bunny replied hesitantly, peering into the mist that thinly veiled the gate and fence behind the desk, as though hoping Roberta would pop out from hiding at any moment.
“She’s on vacation,” the snakey-lady replied loftily, her smile cold. “I’m temporarily filling her position.”
“Vacation?” Bunny asked, shocked. Hadn’t Death told her that he’d been refused vacation time every single year because there was no one available who could fill his position while he took leave? A rush of irritation flickered within her. If Upper Management could hire out to replace Roberta for some R&R, surely, they could do the same for Death?
“Yes,” the woman replied, as though she thought Bunny was genuinely seeking clarification and not simply voicing incredulity. “May I help you?”
“I’m not sure.” Bunny slipped her hands into the pockets of her blue scrub pants. “Who’s in charge while Roberta’s away?”
The reptilian smile didn’t waver. “I’m afraid I don’t know.”
Bunny refrained from swearing. “Could you please find out?”
“I’m not exactly sure how,” the temp replied with a small, helpless shrug.
“Well do you think you could try?” Bunny snapped, her already strained patience wearing thin. “This is urgent!”
“Urgent or not, I’m afraid I don’t know what to tell you,” the woman said, with a small, breathy sigh that made her sound totally vapid. “I’m just the temp.”
Temp or no, Bunny had never met someone so desperate to appear helpful when they had every intention of deliberately being the opposite.
“I need to speak to someone right now,” Bunny demanded through clenched teeth. Her hands had balled into fists inside her pockets of their own accord, and she could feel the telltale pulsating of the knot in her shoulder that always flared up before the onset of a tension headache.
“I’m sure it’s hardly a matter of life and death!” the temp smiled, a small giggle escaping her at the end of her exclamation.
Bunny’s brows jumped higher. She forced them to lower over her eyes as she glared at the woman, leaning across the desk.
“You’d be wrong,” she said seriously. “When will Roberta be back? Surely you can answer that question?”
“Four days from now.”
Bunny blinked. “Four days?”
What the hell was she supposed to do for the next four days? Was she going to have to just babysit a celestial being and keep him out of trouble, somehow? The thought was enough to make her cringe. Hanging out with Death was one thing but being responsible for him was another.
The woman raised her left brow just a smidge. It was the first and only slight indication she’d given that Bunny had rattled her at all. She smoothed out her expression as neatly as if she’d used a steam wand and readjusted the set of her shoulders.
“Correct.” She met Bunny’s gaze. “May I be of any further assistance?”
“Doubt it,” Bunny grumped, turning on her heel. She strode off through the mist, unable to believe that of all the times she needed Roberta, the woman was nowhere to be found.
“Have a great day!” the temp called after her, a note of triumph in her tone.
Ugh. This was beginning to look like a shitstorm in a teacup.
* * *
