Chapter 10: Chapter. 10: Reaper of Souls

Ash was missing again. I thought about what happened last night. She didn’t seem too well. Though… I paused, recalling the attempt at mugging me. Would everything be okay? I had accidentally used my inherent magic with a stranger, granted it was in the darkness of the night, and he was the only person that had seen it. But still…

It made me uneasy. 

I did kind of want to talk to Ash in the morning about last night, I suppose I just wanted to get to know her better. Though unfortunately she had disappeared. Well she was working⁠— still. I wanted to know more. 

I sighed, and then looked at my phone. 6 more minutes… I had ordered what people called a taxi. After extensive research, I think I knew how to handle myself. First grab the handle and pull the door open⁠— get inside⁠— wait⁠— get out! I nodded to myself. Ah, though I did have to pay. But one step at a time. 

Soon time passed as I stood by the side of the road. The application showed some miniature drawing getting closer on the map-lines to the dot that represented me. Until finally, it arrived, and with it the shrill cries of the metal as the car came to a stop. It was a blaring bright yellow that blinded me with black marks. 

It looked like⁠— Actually I had no Underworld comparison, perhaps the sclera of some demons or beings was close to it. The person behind the glass window gestured at me. I kind of froze for a second before finally regaining my bearings after a quick breath. 

I approached the car and stood to the side on the back doors, I grabbed the black handle and pulled⁠— it clicked open in a weird sound⁠. Oh, it was relatively heavy. I swung it open, ducked⁠— feet in front⁠— ducked. Ducked. And sat into the rather reclined couch in the back, before finally closing the door shut from the weirdly shaped inner handle. 

I stiffly settled onto my seat and set my backpack to the side, I had taken most irrelevant things and left it at home. So I just carried my essentials. 

The coachman ⁠perched his hand next to the window over the seat and glanced over on the other side, directly looking at me. He was a gluttonous man and as hairless as a skeleton, literally speaking, Well he had thin brows, his skin was a deep-brown⁠— I paused. he seemed to be in a great mood. He smiled at me showing his pearly whites. 

“Where do you want to go, Miss?” He cheerfully asked,

Ah. “To a funeral home.” He seemed to freeze by my words. 

“Any in specific?” 

I pondered for a second before finally answering. “Perhaps if it’s close to the center of the city, since I like swinging by the park there.” 

The man nodded. He seemed to be rather serious and his mood became solemn. Finally, the car with a small jolt began moving, and like a carriage, I began to see the outside move. Though… It didn’t rattle. My shoulders relaxed.

A few seconds of the thing moving passed by, and I found myself smiling. It was pleasant. No pebbles on the road, no shaking, no awful screeching of parts rubbing against one-another. 

“Miss, why do you want to go to a funeral home?” He paused before letting out a brief sigh. “Forgive my rudeness, but miss doesn’t seem down at all.” 

“Ah, I am not down. I am just going there out of curiosity, perhaps to try to make people’s day better.” I fidgeted. Now that I thought about it, I probably sounded just as ridiculous as I did as a kid. 

Surprisingly the man gave me a hearty laugh. “You’re very kindhearted! Are you from abroad?” He cheerfully asked without looking away from the road. 

“Abroad?— Ah. Yep, I am not from around here.” I said, not elaborating more. 

I saw him smile from the mirror that was on top of him, his eyes briefly made contact with mine. 

“I see, you must be new here! Welcome to the land of the free! You know, this is the first time in my job that I have to take someone to a funeral home⁠— and a happy person at that.” 

“My roommate hates her job, does…” I had a brief pause. “Sir, like his job?” 

“My name’s Samuel, and yeah, I love it!” he sang. “I get to meet interesting people all the time, I get to see the city and its different parts, what’s not to love?” 

“Kaiti,” I introduced myself. “Exploring the city sounds amazing!” 

“Eh, Katy? Lovely name, one of my daughter’s school friend has the same name. And yeah, it is amazing. But you must be from a different country, no? I am sure there is a lot of things to see there too.” 

“Ah, yeah…” The Underworld didn’t have… well, it was interesting… 

“Bad topic?” He asked with a wry smile. “Sorry, but perhaps if you have the free-time you should just go sight-seeing around here. Lots of places to see. And maybe even travel to other countries too.” 

“Other countries?” I asked, tilting my head. 

“You know, Rome, Greece, etcetera. All of them look great in pictures⁠— now imagine seeing them yourself! I plan to go see them when I retire, perhaps you should too.” 

I pondered for a second before finally nodding. It was a whole world to explore! 

Samuel and I continued chatting about various things in life, he shared to me much more about his daughter and family situation. He said he wasn’t doing too great, but that he managed. It made me feel sad, but it didn’t last long since he cracked a joke about his situation. He also apologized after I mentioned that my name was Kaiti, and not Katy. He was a great person! 

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The car stopped with a distant whirring, the windows isolated the noise. I opened the door and unsteadily got out of the car. It had taken about 30 minutes, but much better than the hours of walking. I closed the door and went up to the front door. Samuel smiled. 

“Kaiti, that’ll be twenty-two.” Oh, right, money. 

I shuffled around my backpack and pulled my wallet, I opened it⁠— only bills with the number ‘100’ on them. I pulled one out and handed it to him.

“Seventy-eight for change...” Sammuel reached his hand on the second compartment for holding drinking glasses and paused. “I don’t got enough change.” He gave me back the bill, shaking his head. 

“Eh, you can keep it.” I said with confusion as I grabbed it. 

“No need Kaiti, you’ve made me laugh enough. That’s my payment.” He solemnly put his hand up to stop me.

“I can’t accept this, you need it more than me⁠—

“Then if we meet again, how about you take me to Italy?” He said with a bright smile, interrupting me. I paused for a second. He was joking but⁠…  I couldn’t help but smile back at him. 

“Sure! I’ll take you to all those wondrous places you talked about~” He nodded in satisfaction and after a round of farewells the yellow car left after a new passenger entered. 

I adjusted my backpack and looked around. I was… People busily went around their day, some on their phones and others looked somewhere with a determined gaze. They briskly made their way around, entering the various tall-buildings. I didn’t know where I was. Though, thankfully I could use my phone. 

After a slight panic I began to look around, I stood in front of a somewhat desolate parking lot, a rather square and solemn building was behind me. It looked rather discrete⁠— Angels Mortuary & Funeral Home, I paused, mortuary. If I remembered properly, didn’t both mean the same thing? 

Well… It seemed a lot more⁠— what was I saying. Of course it was going to be serious. Everyone treated it as an eternal end. At least based on my understanding. Still, the place was rather empty, though I supposed that death wasn’t that common. 

After a short sigh that carried my disappointment in myself and in the concepts of death. I began walking to the building with a heavy heart. It felt weird to be the only person to walk in that direction. I even got some glances! 

After a few seconds of uncomfortability I crossed the door, and I was hit with a cool atmosphere, it was peaceful and quiet. I found myself standing atop a marbled white floor, and the walls were black. I was at a reception? Behind the dark-wood desk sat a man, I could barely see his white head peeking, aging visible on his skin. He seemed to be looking down, with small spectacles⁠—glasses.  

I walked up to him and saw he was reading a book. He looked up at me in surprise and did a small gasp. He stood up as straight as he could⁠— he wore a dark blue suit with a black tie. 

“Hello, Miss. How may I help you? Were you scheduled for this hour?” He gently asked, but I felt as if a blood-mare had kicked me. 

“Scheduled?” I hollowly asked, slightly distraught. Scheduled? I had to schedule for this too?! The man panicked, but quickly regained his composure. 

“Sorry, the receptionist isn’t available right now. This isn’t normally my job, so I may be clumsy. Please tell me the reason for your visit. We provide ceremonial services as well as burial or cremation.”

“Ah!” I had made him panic. “Sorry, actually I was just curious.” 

“Curious?” He asked after a brief pause. I simply nodded. 

“I was curious about the experience of a funeral home. Death seems to be inherently grim, but I had heard of funerals; send-away ceremonies for those who have died. A celebration, but it everytime I hear death, it seems in a bad light.” 

The man pondered with a deep frown, he stared at the marbled floor next to me before finally looking at me. 

“I do not get what you’re saying, sorry.” He shook his head. “Perhaps it’s a celebration, but it’s closer to an occasion or an event to commemorate, rather than celebrate. Death after all, is the time when we cease to be.” He closed his eyes, and sat back on his chair. 

“Cease to be?” Eh, that sounded an awful lot like the Underworld. 

He nodded. “Perhaps others believe in the afterlife, I just believe in a proper send-off, in the end.  We don’t really know what happens after.” 

“Well,” I paused before finally deciding to speak. “That’s just not true, of course there is an afterlife. Not in the form one expects, but there is.” 

“So long as you’re remembered, you never really die, eh?” The man asked, leaning in his chair and rubbing his temples. “I am sorry, Miss. If you’ve come for our services I am all ears. But do not try to change my way of viewing things.” 

“Sorry…” I meekly apologized, feeling his annoyance. “Souls get passed on by Grim Reapers, so I don’t see why make it all bleak. That’s just what I was trying to say…” 

“Well, it’s in the name. Grim. They reap the souls of humans, though it’s nothing more than mythology.” He said, going back to his book. “They are inherently Grim, so in that context⁠— I don’t see why not make it bleak.” 

He didn’t even look at me when saying that. Grim Reapers were… inherently grim… 

It hit me like a hammer. Death was inherently bad…