The Untold Story of a Grim Reaper: Chapter 21.2: Jessup

He took my forearm and guided me towards where the light was its most dull. Reentering the whispering sand I shifted through and, like water, my body collected back into its original form. 

We were back in the woods. I was at a loss of words and a loss of actions. Just this itching irritation towards Senoi, the clouds in my mind made me blame Senoi and no heartfelt apology could tame this avalanche. I left with more questions than answers and I was frustrated that Senoi did nearly nothing to help Aaron, that he so easily submitted to Ardith.

He whispered, “I’m sorry more couldn’t be done but-”

I retorted, “You barely tried. You don’t care about Aaron.” 

Senoi sat on a stump, pulling out a parchment from his pocket. 

“What is that?” I asked.

He turned the page over, responding without looking at me, “I took something that could help us.”

“You stole that?”

“You want to find Aaron or not?” he handed the parchment to me, “It’s about the case with Carolyna Black.”

“What about it?”

“There is no report. No soul collected from her.”

“Then we need to find her soul, it has to be somewhere!”

“No, Noa, you need to leave this to me and my brothers.”

“No, Senoi, you don’t care like I do! I don’t need your help. I don’t need anyone.”

    Senoi at this point was at his boiling point, he growled, “You are just a suicide reaper! Your only job is to reap the souls of suicide victims! You are going outside your purpose of being here! You are not a guardian!”

    I yelled back without any mercy, “And you will never be a guardian! You aren’t fit to protect anyone! What I do with my time between suicides is my business! And if that means doing your job then so be it! You will never be a guardian! You are a scared, forgotten angel!”

    Everything I knew about Senoi’s stature had transformed itself into the boy I just described. His serious front fell apart at the seam and his eyes reflected the suffering boy that I had scolded. I sounded like Lilli. I sounded like the heartless witch I was fighting against.

    The wind howled and the creatures of the woods conversed over my words. Time had slowed down, Senoi’s response made me want to rip out my own heart, “You will never find peace,” he stood abruptly and hit the side of his fist against the tree, “You think your dreams are the same as mine? You think they’re nobler than mine? This is why daemons don’t interact with each other. It’s because we each have different ideas of where we want to be. You act like you don’t need anyone. So fine! I don’t need you, I’ve gotten by just fine without you making everything difficult.”

Instantly he was gone, swallowed by the shadow beneath him. 

    The reality of his words cut through me, I struck at Senoi’s only hope of peace and expected it to just be overlooked. I had said too much and what I said I didn’t really believe… but it felt powerful to say… to shoot him down shot me with a poison that I liked, I felt like Lilli.

Though he was brought here as a former angel, he was dying. He was drained and boiled in a torment that he hid under his harsh brow. I had this special ability to push people away when all I wanted was for them to take me into their arms and whisper away all the sin. 

    I closed my eyes and tried to find the space in between my thoughts. Where it was silent and still, there I could find my next move. There I could be precise and command the right effort to save Aaron. 

    My raven appeared and landed on the same stump Senoi had been sitting on, I spoke aloud to it, “What should I do?”

    My raven tilted its head in confusion and cawed before leaping onto my shoulder.

“Noa!” Phoebe ran up from the trail.

“How does everyone keep finding me!”

Phoebe was offended, “I’m a Taunt, time and space is kind of our trait. I know where every soul in the mortal world is because it’s my job to know.”

I retracted my question in an apologetic shrug. And this news brought me to a revelation… to how Lilli always knew where I was… she used Salvatore. 

Phoebe grabbed my arm, “I came here because I have news. Something that I think could help us.”

“What?”

“Follow me.”

Phoebe led the way, off the trail into where the brush was thick. The trees here were tall and towering. She stopped and pointed up, “See it?”

Looking up, the suns rays shifted and my eyes focused to a small creature dangling on a rope off of a tree branch.

“What is it?” I asked as I shaded my eyes with my hands.

Phoebe, “It’s a magpie, it’s someones spirit… a Taunts’ spirit.”

“What does it mean?”

“It’s a warning… or a prophecy.”

I looked to my spirit, it hopped and poked at my feet, “Salvatore told me he couldn’t find his spirit.”

Phoebe’s spirit, a magpie, joined my raven at our feet. She picked her spirit up, nervous, “Let’s just hope he’s strong enough without it or that his purgatory is close to being over.” She pointed at the ground, “And one last thing.”

I looked at out feet more closely, I realized, underneath us there was no grass, twigs, anything. The ground was scorched. We stepped back to take in the big picture burned into the ground. It looked like roots, veins, or lightening… twisting outward. 

Phoebe, “I’ve only seen this mark once before. It’s called a Crux… it’s the Mark of a Renegade.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I can’t say I do either… there’s been a lot of talk in the middle world.”

“About me?”

Phoebe kept her eyes to her spirit, avoiding the answer, “The middle world… it’s kind of falling apart.”

We clearly weren’t getting anywhere with this conversation so I needed to get back to the task at hand, “I need you to take me to someone.”

“Anything, I want to help.”

I showed her the parchment that Senoi gave me, “I don’t understand what it says but I think it could help me find the person who killed someone named Carolyna Black.”

She took the parchment, it only seemed to confuse her further the more she studied it. She flipped it over and found her answer, “This is a forged document, it looks like an ancient report of a death that happened millions of years ago… but I can still see the original print… give me a second.”

She plucked a feather from her magpie and swiped the it against her leg and lit it like a match. She had me hold the page with my fingers barely pinching the opposite corners. She took the burning feather and had the flame grace the page, she carried the flame back and forth touching all of the parchment. The forgery she spoke of melted away until all that was left was nothing. Phoebe spat on the page and an entirely different set of letters bled onto it.

“Now we’re getting somewhere,” Phoebe said as she took the time to reread, “It’s still really hard to read, I have no idea where Carolyna is from this… but I do know where her killer is.”

“Take me to him.”

Phoebe took my hand and walked me into the shadows with her, “Don’t let go of me,” she said. And in many ways I knew I would never want to lose her, how sweet her soul was for helping me when I was acting nothing but cold to her. I needed her more than she needed me, but she stayed to help me, a rare find in anyone. Lilli helped me and expected repayment… but Phoebe would never expect anything in return.

The shadows she walked me through were dense and humid but finally we arrived out our destination. Resurfacing into the mortal world and now on the grounds of an asylum. 

Cars and patients roamed the lot, Phoebe walked ahead, “He was found innocent by insanity. His name is Cedric Kelsey. Let’s go.”

    Through the front entrance sliding doors, we approaching the desk. I stepped ahead and asked the woman in scrubs, “Is there a… Cedric Kelsey.” 

    The nurse was impatient, “Visiting hours are over, honey.”

    I locked eye contact with her, “A man with red hair was brought here mid-day, last Tuesday for the murder of Carolyna Black. His name is Cedric Kelsey. I want to see him straight away.”

    The nurse laughed in my face, “Oh, honey, you are quite daring. Trying to tell me what to do. The gall. You better get gone out of here.”

Phoebe nugded me, “She’s dead.”

I thought I could use that to help us, “I know what you are.”

Phoebe nudged me even harder though, angry that I would use daemonhood as a device to get my way.

    She frowned, whispering angrily, “Oh, oh, I see. You’re too quick to trust, child. Not everyone who is dead is on the same team. Just because someone’s a daemon does not make them your friend.”

    I stepped back, understanding my mistake. But she comforted with, “Now don’t back down now, child. You dealt the cards and now it’s all on the table. I’m just warning you. There are things out there that would love knowing who you are. Things that can harm you.” She rolled her head in exhaustion, “I didn’t mean to scare you, child. You need to find someone? I’ll do you the favor.”

    “Thank you, I’m looking for-“

    “I heard you the first time, just give me a second, child.”

    She stepped behind the counter, approaching a filing cabinet. A manila folder was pulled from the cabinet and handed to me. She confirmed, “Cedric Kelsey. I’ll take you to him. Be quick though, child.”

    I asked stupidly, “You’re not going to ask me why I have to see him?”

    She squinted her large eyes, nodding, “I know when something’s my business. And I know when to get involved. To me, this isn’t one of those things I want to get involved in. I won’t tell you my name and I sure don’t want to know yours.”

I mumbled to Phoebe but the woman clearly heard, “Wow, that’s a little cold.”

    “We’re all different, got different desires left, child. I never said I was an angel.”

    We sat at a vanilla desk with a thick window that divided the room. After about ten minutes the nurse came back and nodded, “He’s coming out now.”

    There he was, Cedric Kelsey, maximum restraint was wrapped around his hands and feet. His head had clumps of hair missing from his scalp. Kelsey’s skin was marked up with scratches. A nervous nurse directed him in and sat him down. The nurse remained at Kelsey’s side as I questioned if he’d leave or not. I grew impatient and demanded, “You can leave now.”

    Luckily, that nurse was no daemon and left us immediately. Cedric avoided eye contact with me. Mumbling under his lips. Breathing heavy from his nose. 

I broke the silence, “Do you know why you’re here, Cedric?”

    He didn’t answer just kept murmuring. I asked again but a little louder, “Do you know why you are here, Cedric Kelsey?”

    He paused as if he heard my question and was contemplating it. All that came from his tongue though was, “Red eyes. Red eyes. Red eyes. Burned skin. Red eyes.”

    I asked sympathetically, “Whose red eyes? Whose burned skin? You can tell me, Cedric.”

    He spoke louder, “Red eyes. Red hands. Red hands.”

    I demanded coldly, “Whose red eyes and hands? Tell me, please!”

    Cedric slammed his hands on the desk, “I didn’t do it! I didn’t do it! It was the red eyes, the burned skin, the red hands… the grey wings. It was the vulture. They don’t believe me.”

    Lilli. He was talking about Lilli, “I believe you, Cedric. I believe you. Just know that. I will set this right.”

Phoebe whispered, “There’s no helping him, Noa, he’s possessed.”

    Cedric closed his eyes, suddenly sitting up straight. He took in a large breath and held it. I whispered, “Cedric?”

    Clearly and louder than a car backfiring, he screamed, “Bestiam intra vos est!”

    I yelled over him, “Cedric! Calm down!”

    He kept repeating it, louder and louder. It wasn’t human how loud he was getting. It was unholy. 

Phoebe ran for help and I banged on the window, “Cedric! Calm down!”

    He stood up, knocking his chair to the floor. His stare kept rising higher and higher to the ceiling. 

I begged, “Cedric! Please! Stop! Nurse?! Somebody?! Help!”

    The daemon nurse rushed in but was too late. Cedric’s stance was perfectly straight and at the end of his scream was a loud crack. His posture suddenly contorted. 

Blood dripped from his lip and as the life within him slipped away, he ended with, “Hallelujah.”