Chapter 9: Chapter. 9: Finding a Purpose

This city was… much bigger than expected. In the underworld⁠— actually. I paused. Normally I didn’t walk everywhere, I would just use my scythe and use the technique that my dad had taught me to pass through the rifts. It was simply convenient. But I didn’t really know if to use it in the human world. Well in other worlds as a whole. Wouldn’t that disturb the peace or something? 

The internet looked somewhat daunting, I didn’t expect it to be a literal universal encyclopedia. It had answers for everything! Though not every answer was correct nor satisfactory, the fact that it even came up with anything at all was surprising to me. Given the fact that recording devices existed, it sounded quite risky to use my powers. 

I sighed walking under the dead of night. The bustling city of⁠— where was I? ⁠— the bustling city where I lived had come to a stillness under the bitter cold of the wind, and the whispers of decay. Well, silence of the night. Thankfully my fashionable dress kept my skin mostly safeguarded from the blistering cold. 

It was truly a long walk. Though, the park was somewhere in the center of the city and the apartment was at the outskirts. Needless to say that it was a truly long walk. Perhaps I should’ve taken the train. Part of me felt scared of the hunking mental machinery and its screeching, but I knew it was convenient. At the same time, I hadn’t gotten in a car yet. 

Something about it not having a set path seemed dangerous. Carriage accidents were disastrous, perhaps no actual fatalities, but the things that humans called cars? They were too fast⁠— even if they were made out of metal, no way people would survive an accident. Not without luck anyway. 

I crossed my arms from the cold I was feeling, my nose felt rather itchy and warm. I scoffed. The Underworld wasn’t so damn cold⁠— not that I knew of anyway. It was always almost the same temperature, perhaps it would drop a bit at night when the sky would become a dark hue of red instead of blistering red, but still. The night sky… 

I looked up, blowing onto my hands with a cold breath in an attempt to not freeze. There was a myriad of white luminescent dots hanging overhead seeming so far away⁠— so fleeting. The sky looked like a marbled painting of cold-colors, an artwork for everyone to see. It was… beautiful. 

Had I been missing things like this, this entire time? There were so many places to see and explore. And this was just one world⁠— even the Underworld. Were there other sights like this? I walked forth, continuing on my path while paying attention to the night-sky. It was calming. 

The only thing that illuminated the path for me to see were the sparse streetlights. Active by day, and dead by night… I liked it! Not to say it was completely dead, since I could sense some emotions, but it was quiet enough. The peacefulness that came with the night⁠— it was something that I found myself looking forward to. 

◇ ◇ ◇

I tried blowing hot air into my hands and rubbing them together as I continued walking. I wasn’t too far away from my home now, though the surroundings had grown increasingly quiet after traveling closer to what was the outskirts, or countryside as other people called it. This settled it. I had to overcome my fear of the train and by extension cars. 

Walking from one place to another simply took too long! At the same time I still felt adamant on the whole metal things that went too fast for my liking. Were they even safe? I mulled over it feeling slightly troubled. As I continued, I saw someone⁠⁠— I hadn’t seen someone in like an hour! 

I pulled out my phone to make sure. 12:03 am. Well it wasn’t ‘am’ since it was night-time but I guess it was midnight. Huh, I was running late. I looked at the person that was standing next to the gray building that shone under the moonlight. He wore a sweater and some baggy pants as well as a hat that wrapped around his head like a type of bag. He seemed to mind his own business so I ignored him. I didn’t really feel like talking to someone at this hour. His emotions were fine too. 

I passed by him.

“Ah,” he gasped. “Wait!” 

Hmm? I turned around to face him. “Do you need something?” 

I seemed to surprise him, since he took a step back. His hair seemed greasy under the peculiar hat, at the same time he had a messy unkempt beard. He probably wasn’t doing too well. Though it made sense, no one would be outside at this hour. I waited for him to regain his composure. 

“Ah actually,” he walked forward and stood in front of me, his face looking down on me. “I saw your phone, so give it to me as well as your wallet.” He said, pulling something out of his pocket that glistened under the moonlight⁠— oh a knife. 

“My smartphone?” I asked in confusion. Why would he want that? 

The man sighed and brought the knife to my face. “See this?” He waved it in front of my eyes. “If you don’t want to get hurt then you should comply, less questions.” 

“Oh.” Oh. Huh. It finally clicked. He was trying to rob me. He was trying to mug me. He was trying to steal from me. I had thought it only happened in the Underworld, not… here. But… I looked at him, he tried to put on a cold-front but his brow twitched under my gaze. His emotions weren’t… rage either. 

“You don’t seem like the type of person to mug or hurt someone.” I paused for a second. “Why do it if you don’t even mean it?” 

“Huh? What are you saying?!” He roared in fake bravado. “Money now!” He pressed the knife on my cheek, drawing some blood. 

“You clearly don’t intend to hurt me,” I paused, feeling my warm cheek with my fingers. “So, why? Is someone forcing you to do it?” I frowned recalling some societal-hierarchy in the Underworld. “We can’t have that.” 

“Just give me the money.” He threatened again, gnashing his teeth⁠— though he wasn’t angry at me. His knife shook from his unsteady grip. 

I looked at him, feeling complicated emotions. “You’re clearly not a vile being. Who is forcing you to do this?” It made me sad. Thinking that someone so vile could force this man to do such things. 

He paused for a second as I looked at him, his mouth quivered and his mind went into disarray. He began to shake more and more. Had I said something wrong? He felt despair, sadness, anger. Who could’ve forced someone to be like that?! I felt angry. 

“D-Don’t look at me with that gaze!” he screamed. “All of you look at me like that!” He swiped at empty air in a panic. 

“W-Wait, who did this to you?!” I stuttered in a panic. I didn’t want to harm this person. “Just tell me!” 

“No, fuck off! Stay away!” He shouted at me, making me pause. I… I had to know. NOW. 

“Who did this to you?!” I hissed in anger. 

I was going to give that scum an unforgettable lesson. I wasn’t a goddamn vigilante, but I certainly hated the vile beings of the Underworld that hid in the shadows and had others do their bidding. Having it happen in front of my very eyes? I couldn’t allow it…The man had paused and was shivering⁠— I had… I looked around me, a faint gray aura was present. Soon it vanished into nothingness. The man stumbled backwards and fell on the dirty-wet ground, fear was evident in his eyes. I had lost it a bit… 

You are reading story Don’t Call Me a Grim Reaper! at novel35.com

I let out my breath as I crouched in front of him. 

“Why are you doing this? It’s not worth it.” I looked at him in pity. “Whoever is controlling you, isn’t worth it.” 

His hurried breath calmed down a bit. “You…” He paused. “What are you?” 

Sigh… “Who did this?” I asked in sadness. I might’ve made a mistake, though… I closed my eyes, unable to feel anyone else in the vicinity, or feelings at least.

The man paused, looking emptily at the ground. “No one did…” He said dispiritedly. “I couldn’t pay rent anymore, and I was kicked out.” He closed his eyes. “Perhaps this is retribution, but I just…” 

He paused looking at me. I just nodded allowing him to continue. 

“I just… feel like it is unfair, like it was unfair… I was fired from my job and couldn’t afford rent anymore. No compassion; just out to the streets. As if I never meant nothing to my landlord, even though I always invited him to my barbecues, I helped him in the ways I could⁠— I helped everyone in the ways I could. I’ve always been kind and yet⁠—” He grit his teeth. “Yet… Everyone turned their backs on me…” 

So… that’s how it was… I sighed. It sounded awful. But I was relieved that there was no-one behind the scenes.  “No one forced you to do this?” 

“Only me…” He shook his head. “Perhaps this is getting to me.” He let out a dry laugh. “Imagining a ghostly girl that comes to claim my head.” 

I stood up. “You’re not vile,” I reached into my pocket and grabbed my wallet. “Just hang in there and I am sure things will be better,” I said, grabbing three bills with the number ‘100’ on them and dropping them to him on the ground. 

I wasn’t rich from my understanding, but I definitely had more money than what I knew what to do with ⁠— everything seemed so unnecessary ⁠— at least to me. Being able to help someone in need was money well-spent for me, while he wouldn’t be able to pay rent with that⁠— at least I believed that he could get himself something to eat, and perhaps use it help himself. The man looked in awe as the money fell on the ground, I simply found myself shaking my head. 

“I have to leave, but know that I believe in you.” I meekly smiled. He was still on the ground stunned as I walked away. 

“Thank you,” he muttered on the ground. “I do not know if this is real, but thank you…” His voice came out weak, but I didn’t look back. 

As I turned the corner there was a feeling of hopefulness, gratitude and… relief. He cried. Perhaps I didn’t do the right thing, perhaps I had gotten a bit too angry… But I had helped someone again… 

Dad… I think I might’ve found what I was supposed to do here… 

◇ ◇ ◇ 

The door opened with a satisfying creak. Just before the hour ended. I sighed expecting to see the apartment completely deserted only to see Ash looking at her laptop though…

“Oh…” She slowly looked at me. “You’re… injured.” 

I touched my cheek. My blood had long hardened, but I guess it wasn’t cured just yet. I sighed. 

“Someone tried to mug me.”. 

Ash returned to her laptop. “Well, you’re all in one piece, so that’s good.” She stopped typing and stretched. Before flinching. “Fuck, that hurts.” 

Hmm? I looked at Ash in surprise. She was annoyed. But why? She was already annoyed when I got here. Though… I was too preoccupied thinking about whether Ash was asleep or not to actually notice. She was quite dead in her emotion department so I never noticed. 

“You seem to be doing worse than me.” I commented, feeling her emotions a bit more closely. 

“You, think?” She scoffed. “Fucking retards were trying to kill me with that task.” 

“That’s⁠—” I stopped myself, and looked at her closely. She looked rather pale. “Just don’t die, or I’ll have to take your soul.” 

“Ha, nice one.” She smiled then stuffed her hand into her pocket and⁠— began eating a cookie? “Go bother someone else, Kat. I could literally die right now from overwork.” 

“Sure.” I rolled my eyes. She wouldn’t be eating that if she was actually dying. 

I went into my room not bothering to talk to her anymore. Though not like she wanted to talk more. And soon ⁠— after disposing of the folder that I carried ⁠— I found myself in bed⁠; tired. 

But… I helped two people today. Perhaps the job hunting didn’t go too well. But I had cheered people up. I think I had finally found what I was supposed to be doing. Even if I wasn’t great at it⁠— I was going to do my best! I smiled and made my plans for the next day. 

Funeral home, then maybe go to the park and try to help people?! I couldn’t wait!