Grim Reaper • Chapter 4 : I Think We’ll Be Friends

by Megan W., 11

A June 2024 Monthly Story Challenge Winner

(Continued from Grim Reaper Chapter 3!)

Chapter 4 : I Think We’ll Be Friends

Oliver used to be one of my best pals in elementary school. He and Misty used to be part of our group. Misty’s mom is the deity of malnutrition. For some reason, I was the only one who could tell that Oliver probably had a crush on Misty, until she transferred to a private middle school. I don’t think that Oliver still had a crush on her, but I wasn’t FULLY sure. One thing that I DID fully know is that Mia would kill me if Mrs. Brown got her hands on the note. 

“Hand it over! Right NOW!”

I had an idea. I had a small note from a few days ago between me and Whitney about band performance times. It went a little something like this:

Me (glossy blue gel pen): ”Hey!! When is Ur clarenet (LOL my spelling is so bad) performance?!” 

Whitney(glittery pink marker): “OMG I’ve been waiting 4 u to come 4 so long! Its at 3:30 on the second Thursday of March!!!”

Me: “What songs are u guys playing”

Whitney: “Hot air ballon, Asphodel and some others” 

Me: “K thanks”

…and so on. I quickly swapped the notes. They were relatively the same size, and both on Brussel sprout colored parchment. I reluctantly handed the note to Mrs. Brown. She snatched it, and I hoped that she wouldn’t find that I swapped them. Mrs. Brown opened the folded note and scoffed.

    “Such bad handwriting and spelling. I’m disappointed,” she declared. Mrs. Brown dramatically read the whole note in her theatrical voice. I pretended to be embarrassed, but after class, I was very relieved.

    After school, I had to attend a quote-unquote “SMALL” meeting with a bunch of officials and dad. Apparently, there was an overpopulation issue, and we were discussing the expansion of the Spirit City. I slowly reached into my backpack and grabbed a math worksheet and a sparkly green DIY glitter pencil I made, and started filling it out. The rest of the meeting went by a lot faster than I anticipated. But I still completed all of my math homework and science homework and about eighty percent of my history homework. Worth it!

“Mission 🥂, Ohio, Alzheimer disease, Elderly Man, disease deity” 

“Mission🐨, Ankara Turkey, Earthquake, Woman with a Shoulder Length Bob, Earthquake deity.”

I scrolled through the texts. Ahah! 

“Mission🥟, Santa Clara, Heart Attack, Teen with auburn hair, Heart Problem Deity!!!”

I quickly texted “Claim mission🥟” and swirled my sparkling scythe.

After lots of falling through the portal, I finally developed something better than crawling through the lavender mist. I slowly stuck my head through and then took one step. Then another. AND I DIDN’T fall! 

Anyway, I arrived at the Santa Clara Valley Health and Hospital. I saw a green-eyed woman crying in a chair, while a nurse with a blonde high ponytail comforted her.

Then I saw the spirit I was collecting.

She looked around fifteen, maybe slightly younger than me. She had big, green, frantic eyes. She looked panicked, as most souls do. Her hip-length auburn hair swayed, as she turned her head back and forth. But when her eyes set on me, she stopped panicking. 

“Hi. You’re younger than I thought.” I would usually grumble at this comment, but when this girl said it, it rolled off me like rain.

“Well, the figure you’re thinking about is probably my dad.”

 “I’m Lindsey. And you?”

“Nicola, but call me Nico.” I couldn’t believe my ears, eyes, and all my body parts. This soul was treating like a normal person! “Alright, so after we go through this portal we go through a field of peach trees and then you get on a boat and get ferried to the City of Souls.”

“Kay.” She looked a bit sad. If any other soul looked sad, I would automatically assume it was because they just DIED, but Lindsey was different.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah… It's just that my dad wasn’t at my deathbed when I died. He’s a general, fighting a war in Afghanistan, so…” I could definitely relate with her. My dad was not really ever there, either. At this point, we were walking through the peach forest.

“Well, try being the daughter of the Grim Reaper.” The next thing I knew, I found myself telling Lindsey everything about how I got my job position. Soon we were at the dock. Lindsey smiled, like I had just made her death day a really good day.

“Well, I guess this is where we say goodbye.”

“Say hi to your dad for me,” I said. 

“How?”

“Everyone dies eventually.” 

Her smile became larger. I, too, smiled. I’ve never met a soul like Lindsey before. 

“Here’s my number.” I grabbed my blue gel pen and a piece of scrap paper in my pocket and wrote it down. I handed it to her, and she waved to me as she ran to the cruise ship. I think we’ll be friends.

Quinn, the boat captain marched over to me.

“What do you think about the plan?” Quinn asked.

“What plan?” I replied.

“You weren’t paying attention during the meeting, were you?”

“Um, frankly, I wasn’t. I was doing my homework.”

“Well, they are gonna expand the Spirit City, and that will greatly affect the afterlives of all the ghosts. Almost all of the souls won’t see their other deceased family.” Quinn turned and headed for the ship, as I stood there open-mouthed. That was not worth the homework.

Read the chapters in this series:

• Chapter 1: My Life As A Teenage Grim Reaper
• Chapter 2:
• Chapter 3: A Little Thing Called School
  
• Chapter 4: I Think We’ll Be Friends