You know, it kind of pissed me off that he was standing there trying to take away my claim to the body I wore for twenty years.
It also occurred to me that since my body was completely unlivable, I was now in a very tough position with the Target. Basically, I was going to have to start over.
Score for the Reaper.
“Tell me, do souls need air to breathe?”
“No.”
“Oh well, that’s good, because I forgot to poke holes in the lid of the jar I stuffed your soul in.”
“You did what?”
“I know,” I said. “I was surprised she wasn’t willing to go with me either. I mean you would think any woman would choose me over you. When she refused to come along, I had to take matters into my own hands.”
“Do you think I won’t find her? Find the bodies?”
“That’s another thing… What was my body doing in your secret stash? You haven’t been using it, have you?”
“You don’t have a body. Not anymore.”
“Well, if you want your thirty million dollars, you’re going to have to give me one.”
“I thought we already determined that I never really cared about the money.” There was a gleam in his eye that I wasn’t liking.
“So?”
“So, I think I have better things to do than spend my day arguing with you.”
He raised his hand and pushed me backward toward the opening in the wall. I tried to steer away, to wiggle from the control he seemed to have over my soul.
He laughed—a happy and joyous sound. “Fight all you want, but I am the Grim Reaper. I own your soul. I control it.”
I was pushed through the tiny hallway, past the closet where the bodies once hung, and right into the small secret apartment. He appeared in the doorway, blocking the only exit.
“Let me tell you how this is going to go,” he said smoothly, happily. He actually kind of reminded me of the Grinch after the green guy stole all the gifts from the town and he was so jolly and thrilled.
“On my word, I cannot Recall you until you fail to kill the Target. So you will remain here, in this makeshift prison, without a body, without contact to the outside world. When the six-month time limit I gave you is up, I will let you out. And then I will Recall you.”
“And what about the bodies I took. The soul I stuffed into a jar? Do they mean nothing to you?”
“On the contrary. But while you whittle away your last few months on Earth here, alone, no doubt replaying everything you did that brought you to this unfortunate end over and over again…”
Was it just me or was he a bit dramatic?
“I will be searching. And you should know by now, I always get what I want. So when I at long last open that door to send you off into the void for your final exile, you will not only see me, but the possessions that you dared to steal.”
“I’ll be looking forward to that day.” I quipped.
“You joke. You’re funny.”
The joke was on him if he thought I was just going to sit in here and wait for my punishment.
He began to pull the door closed behind him. I rushed forward, thinking I could at least try to slip by except my soul didn’t move the way I wanted it to. Instead, it moved sideways.
“Oh, and might I suggest while you are in here that you think about your weaknesses. The things you’re leaving behind.”
“You already played that card. You can’t use my sister against me anymore.”
“Actually, I can,” he corrected. “However, I have discovered that your sister is not your only weakness.”
Everything in me stilled.
He smiled.
“I was always partial to blondes, too.”
“Don’t you go near her,” I growled.
“Perhaps it’s time I started adding some of the female variety to my collection,” he said, his voice turning thoughtful and mean.
I tried to rush him again. This time I flew backward, hitting the wall with a poof.
He laughed and shut the door.
I didn’t think it was funny.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
“Doorbell - a bell, chime, or buzzer outside a door that is rung to announce the presence of a visitor or caller.”
Frankie
What does one do when they find a body hanging in their closet? Scream? Run? Try it on?
I didn’t do any of those things. Instead, I walked out of the bedroom and directly into the living room where I grabbed a Cherry Coke, popped the top, and took a huge drink. Piper watched me with an amused expression on her face.
Finally, I pulled the can away from my lips. “There’s a body hanging in my closet.”
Her mouth opened and closed. I walked back into my room and she followed and we both stood there just staring at it. It was on a hanger, like a dress or a nice shirt. It was a guy who had shaggy blond hair that fell well over his forehead. He was dressed in a pair khakis, a white button-down shirt, and an ass-ugly sweater vest. His chin lay against his chest and his eyes were closed. The body itself was flat and lifeless.
It didn’t move.
It didn’t jump out and yell, “Boo!”
It might have been less creepy if it had.
“Where did it come from?” Piper asked.
“Is there a body store in Alaska I didn’t know about?” I quipped.
She took the can out of my hand and gulped a long drink. “It isn’t a coincidence that your boyfriend works for the Grim Reaper and now you have a body in your closet.”
“Charming isn’t my boyfriend,” I argued. Though she was right about one thing. This was not a coincidence. But after what happened, I couldn’t exactly call him up and say, “Did you happen to leave something at my house?” Charming slept with me and then disappeared. He left me. I wasn’t going to call him for help the first minute a body turned up.
“Why is it here?” Piper asked.
I shrugged. Then I leaned forward and poked it. The hanger swung back and forth on the rod. Piper smacked me in the arm. “Don’t poke it!”
I couldn’t stop staring at it. But not because it was morbid. Because there was something familiar about it. I’d never seen this person (or whatever you wanted to call it), but there was still something about it that felt recognizable. “He’s actually not bad looking.”
Piper gasped. “First you poke it and now you’re hitting on it!”
“I am not hitting on it,” I grumbled. “Give me my soda.” I snatched the can back and drained it. “It seems to me that we should be much more traumatized about finding a body in my closet.”