Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ A Touch of Death ❯ Chapter 5

WARNINGS AND DISCLAIMERS: These are all fictional characters and any similarities to anyone living or dead is completely incidental. And anyway, I'm not making any money off of this.

 

This is my NanoWriMo piece, which I managed to turn out in half the time allotted. If you don't know what Nano is, check out www.nanowrimo.org for information and a chance at a really good time.

 

Kathryn stared up at the clock. She should be tired by now, shouldn't she?

“Ghosts don't sleep,” Erec said as he walked behind her. “They don't need to.”

She scowled back at him, but he was reading a thick book and barely glanced at her as he headed back to his office.

“Great,” she said. “So what exactly am I supposed to do with myself while I'm awake for twenty four hours?”

“That's what the job is for,” Erec murmured.

“And how's the search going?”

“I've got someone coming in,” Erec said distantly.

“Who?” Kathryn asked.

She did not like the serpent like smile she got in answer.

 

***

 

Ms. Anderson kicked her out. Kathryn sighed as she kicked absently at the street, her shoe dully stabbing into the concrete and making no sound as she pulled it back again. She couldn't even feel it at all. The people around her were hiking coats up against a wind that didn't touch Kathryn at all and leaning forward into a bracing cold.

Kathryn sighed distantly and walked forward. It was just how it had been the night before with Slate at her side; no one looked at her for even an instant. She pushed some hair back behind her ears and kept moving.

The rules of death were still confusing her. Gremlins and spirits and things that she never could have imagined were real. She grimaced painfully. And just what was coming next?

A car rushed by, the sound of it washing up into her ears and then fading away like a roaring after thought. And it was too loud for Kathryn. She froze and her head slowly twisted to let her eyes roll over the road. Another car shot past, and she could hear the sound of the engine speeding up and then the insistent slam of metal against flesh. It deafened her and left her staggering back into the alleys.

“I can't get used to this,” she muttered.

It seemed to hit her whenever it felt like it. If there was some kind of rhyme or reason behind it, she might be able to handle it, but it seemed like anything could set it off at any moment.

“It's just a car,” she said, her breath whistling in her ears. “It doesn't matter to me. I'm dead now anyway. I could step in front of it if I wanted to.”

Her legs shivered and she clutched at the corner of a nearby building to keep on her feet. She most definitely did not want to.

A car squealed nearby and Kathryn shuddered down against the brick under her fingers. She forced her eyes to open and with a will power that threatened to snap apart with every tire that passed her, she managed to start moving again.

 

***

 

What would you do if you were dead?

It was a question that had run through her head when she had been…alive. Just a way to pass the time while she boredly or irritably went through the motions of living. A little wondering about just what she'd do when her number was up. Check in on old friends, haunt that ass that had stood her up, investigate every closed door in the city, do whatever she wanted. It seemed stupidly morbid now to admit that she had ever tried to plan out being dead.

She shook her head angrily.

Who could ever manage to plan around all this?

Kathryn sighed and hesitated outside of her apartment, the door suddenly far more solid than she had ever thought before. She ran her tongue over her lips and then slowly wrapped one hand around the knob. Her fingers glided right through it. Kathryn's hand fell away and she slumped down into herself. Sadness flickered over her consciousness and she stepped back from the door.

Maybe this wasn't the best plan. Maybe she should have just stayed in the office, regardless of Ms. Anderson's irritation. Somehow, she was starting to get the feeling that she was going to regret this.

More than stepping out into traffic?

Her spine stiffened and she shook her head at the thought. With a final hesitating step, she walked through the thick oak of her door. And there was nothing.

The air was perfectly still and silent, everything just how she had left it. The mail she'd never gotten around to opening was waiting next to the door and the dishes she'd never bothered to wash were still soaking in the sink. Kathryn walked through the apartment but paused instantly when the third board from the door didn't creak under her weight.

“Because I'm dead,” she murmured quietly.

The air thickened around her. It was weird just what was reminding her of being dead and she didn't like it. Kathryn wandered through her apartment, glancing at books she'd started but now would never finish and watching her fingers ghost through anything she tried to touch. She poked her head into the fridge, but without the door open, the light didn't come on and she couldn't see what was inside. For some reason, that was both disappointing and yet a complete relief.

“That doesn't make any sense,” she muttered as she pulled out of the softly humming appliance.

Maybe she was going crazy. It wasn't the first time she'd wondered it, but in the last day or so there seemed to be a lot of evidence piling up to support the possibility. Of course, she still had enough presence of mind to question her sanity. How did that old saying go; only a mad man knew he was sane?

She paused at a few pictures snapped so many years ago that the people in them didn't really line up with her memories. Her eyes drifted over the knick knacks she'd collected over the years and suddenly it was all so pointless and frustrating that she wanted to smash it all apart. Her emotions seemed to be on a pendulum now, first one extreme and then the other and everything in between was just a slow build up to it. Suddenly she wanted the numbness to flood deeper inside and she shook her head angrily.

“Dammit,” Kathryn whispered. “Dammit, dammit, dammit.”

None of it had mattered. She still had forty-six years left to try and prove that she was good enough. Her hands locked into fists. That was longer to spend dead than she'd spent alive. It wasn't…

`Fair' almost slipped through on the end of the thought and she shook her head angrily. Who cared about fair? It wasn't fucking right. This was wrong. This was completely wrong.

“Dammit,” she hissed again and if she'd had a mirror in front of her, she might have known she was crying.

 

***

 

“You went home.”

Kathryn looked up, again seated in one of the uncomfortable chairs in Elixir Design's waiting room, her eyes locking on Erec on what could only be termed absolute dislike.

“You should have known better,” he said and shook his head.

“Sorry,” Kathryn snapped. “I've never had to adjust to being dead before.”

Erec shrugged dismissively.

“Eventually everyone has to,” he said. “See anyone you knew?”

“No,” Kathryn answered dismally.

“Then count yourself lucky,” Erec said and glanced around the waiting room at the people now openly staring at him.

He gestured up at his ear.

“Wireless phone,” he said.

“When are you going to start seeing your appointments?” Ms. Anderson snapped.

“Later,” Erec said as he strolled back towards his office. “You should probably just hang around for the rest of the day, Kathryn. There's no telling when your new position will open up.”

He paused to grin back at her.

“It's going to be great.”

His office door shut behind him and Kathryn found her fingers digging down into the armrests of her chair. She swallowed nervously and listened to Ms. Anderson sigh noisily.

“Great,” she said. “Another pet project to keep him distracted. That's just what I need.”

Kathryn glanced over at her and the secretary stared at her through stressed eyes. Kathryn stared back and a sudden petulance made her jerk her chin up with annoyance.

“It's not my fault,” she said stubbornly.

Ms. Anderson frowned and shook her head.

“Who's the one who died?”

Kathryn's eye twitched and her face darkened to a dangerous scowl.

“Who is she talking to?” the woman next to Kathryn whispered.

Ms. Anderson colored slightly and spun back to her computer. Kathryn chuckled and rested both feet on the slim coffee table.

“I may be dead, but they think you're insane,” Kathryn said sweetly.

“Wireless phone,” Ms. Anderson snapped.

The smug smile she got from Kathryn and disbelieving looks from the rest of the waiting room made her face darken further. She grumbled under her breath and Kathryn shrugged.

“Now what to do while I pass the time?” she said happily.

 

***

 

Kathryn was pretending that she didn't care about waiting when Ms. Anderson's phone rang. The secretary answered smoothly and then scowled with irritation.

“Then stick your head out the door and ask her to come in,” Ms. Anderson hissed into the phone.

Kathryn looked up and the other woman's eyes flexed with something that she couldn't identify.

“Alright, fine,” Ms. Anderson said. “But you had better get some work done now. Your appointments are--”

An angry puff of air escaped her and she roughly dropped the phone back into its cradle. That concentrated look passed over her face and her eyes suddenly seized on Kathryn.

“He'll see you now,” she said, her voice low enough that the other people waiting wouldn't over hear. “He apparently couldn't open the door himself because he didn't want to ruin the surprise.”

Kathryn felt a stone drop in her stomach.

 

***

 

“Oh,” Kathryn murmured.

It was much worse than she had feared. The office was now filled with a beaming Erec and a girl that looked like something out of a paper doll book. Kathryn's eyes widened as she stared at the blonde, her gaze not able to take in every detail as Erec hummed a little. Kathryn's lips pursed then; she definitely wouldn't have missed this girl walking past.

“Kathryn,” Erec said. “This is Amber. Amber, Kathryn.”

Amber was a loligoth fantasy come to life. Every inch was covered in black lace and thick red velvet, layers upon layers of fabric swaddling over her frame and blooming out her long skirt. Knee socks gave way to an extra three inches of platform Mary Jane's and her long blonde hair had been carefully pulled into two pert pigtails. Her eyes were outlined in thick black and her lips had been painted a red shade that morbidly reminded Kathryn of dried red roses just before they turned to dust. Every time Kathryn looked at the girl she saw something new and couldn't help but look a little harder, as if she could somehow manage to take in the last of the details and wouldn't be shocked any more.

“You'll be working with Amber,” Erec said brightly.

“Like, under duress,” Amber said, her arms crossing in a surprisingly adorable huff.

“Noted,” Erec said and one hand extended towards Kathryn's forehead.

“Wait,” Kathryn as she stepped out of reach. “Before you do anything, I want to know what the job is. What exactly does she do?”

“Can't you tell?” Erec asked.

Amber snorted softly and Kathryn frowned.

“Is she…some kind of…incubus?”

Erec clapped a hand over his mouth to keep from laughing and embarrassment darted over Amber's face before she rolled her eyes.

“No,” Erec choked out finally. “She's not.”

His arm hooked around the girl's neck and pulled her close, his grin wide and eye quickly winking at Kathryn.

“Our dear Amber is a tooth fairy.”

 

***

 

Kathryn rubbed at her forehead as they walked, a light tingling still running through her temples. She winced a little and shook her head.

“What exactly does it mean when he does that?” she asked.

Amber looked up from the make up mirror currently reflecting the girl's face and shrugged a little.

“It's like a brand,” she said. “But like, on the inside instead.”

Kathryn frowned and couldn't help rubbing at the little spot again. Amber's shoes made a soft clicking sound as they walked and Kathryn glanced over curiously.

“So,” she said. “Are you still alive?”

Amber rolled her eyes as she shook her head.

“Of course not,” she said. “You can't tell?”

“I guess I haven't figured that out yet,” Kathryn said.

“It's probably the glove that's confusing you,” Amber said. “It like, messes with a lot of things.”

“Glove?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

Amber pulled a mini-backpack from her back, the thing just as decorated in ruffles and lace as she was, and fished around inside until she pulled out a fingerless black glove.

“See?”

“Uh…yeah.”

Kathryn glanced around the street, the sun setting now in a fiery explosion of pink and orange. One whole day that she'd been dead. She closed her eyes for a moment and tried to think of some way of putting all this in perspective. Oddly enough, it didn't want to fit and her brain didn't want to try and force it to.

Headlights fanned over them and Amber made a little squawk as her tall shoes clattered noisily and faster in a surprisingly quick run.

“We're going to miss the bus,” she said as she delicately hiked her puffy skirt up some and jogged towards the bus stop. “Like, get the lead out.”

 

***

 

Kathryn had always assumed when the bus stopped at places where no one was waiting, it was just because the driver was in the habit of stopping there. Or that there was some kind of rule about physically stopping at each of the points on the route. It had never occurred to her that maybe the bus stopped because someone really was waiting to get on board. Someone like a Barbie doll corpse.

Amber flounced down into her seat and twirled the end of one pigtail between her fingers. Kathryn glanced at the skirt currently spilling out onto both of the seats at Amber's sides and then carefully sat down across from her. The girl gave her a friendly smile and then pulled her bag back around again.

“Gum?”

“No,” Kathryn said. “Thanks.”

Amber shrugged and popped a piece in her mouth, chewing it just how Kathryn had expected her to; noisily and with a lot of half blown bubbles.

“So,” Kathryn said as the snapping continued. “What exactly is my job? Do I carry all your quarters or something?”

Amber laughed like a machine gun and twirled her hair tighter.

“No, no, nothing like that. There's no real heavy lifting involved,” she said and then cocked her head to one side. “At least, not like, usually.”

For some reason, Kathryn was getting a bad feeling, and it went beyond the Goth styled valley girl who was leading this little expedition.

 

***

 

As a ghost, it was relatively easy to navigate someone's house. Simply pick a point across the room and walk to it. It didn't matter what was in the way or even if a wall was blocking things off, it was just a matter of moving forward. Kathryn sighed as she fanned her fingers straight through a picture of a young red headed boy swinging from a jungle gym. She didn't care what anyone said; she was never going to get used to this.

“Okay,” Amber said. “So, in a house like this, the kid is usually upstairs. It's like no problem to be noisy at this point, because, you know…”

She waved her hands through the air and flipped back her pigtails.

“Ghosts and all.”

Kathryn gave her a weak smile.

“Let's go,” Amber said brightly.

Kathryn couldn't help but watch with a little amusement as Amber climbed the stairs. She had no idea how the `tooth fairy' managed to walk in the monstrosities on her feet. If Kathryn had tried wearing anything like that, she probably would have twisted both ankles and been left to drag herself along.

A sudden shudder ran down Kathryn's spine.

What if that was mandatory dress for all tooth fairies?

She swallowed down a lump in her throat and followed Amber through the dim hallway. The blonde paused and leaned forward to push her head directly through one closed door. It still made Kathryn twitch with surprise to see it, but she forced herself to stay still. Amber's head pulled back and she nodded to Kathryn.

“Okay,” she whispered. “Here we are. Now, at this point, you like, need to be quiet.”

“Why?” Kathryn asked. “We're still ghosts and all.”

She waved her hand through the air and Amber rolled her eyes.

“Yes, we are, but when people are asleep, especially when kids are asleep, they're like, way more likely to hear us or notice something. So from this point on, you need to stay sooooooo quiet.”

Kathryn's lips pursed and she nodded a little.

“Okay,” Amber said and stepped through the door.

Kathryn followed and watched as Amber tugged her bag around again and pulled out the glove she'd shown Kathryn earlier. The blonde girl tugged it on, her eyes flicking back to Kathryn and then one finger rising to press against her lips.

“Shhhhh,” she breathed.

Kathryn nodded and tried to keep from rolling her eyes with annoyance.

Amber crept across the room now and paused over the bed. The little red haired kid in the picture downstairs had gone through a growth spurt. He had taken on that weird awkward gangliness that kids get just before their bodies decide to start the quick sprint into adulthood. It wouldn't be too much longer before those puffy cheeks sunk into place and his jaw stretched out.

Amber gently reached out and ran her fingers through his hair, her gloved hand now making contact as she lightly caressed. Kathryn stared at her and Amber nodded a little.

“It's the glove,” she stage whispered needlessly.

“I figured,” Kathryn answered.

“Shhh,” Amber hissed.

Kathryn clamped her lips back together.

Now Amber's hand slid down the kid's face, pausing against his cheek before she carefully cradled his jaw. She tugged a little, and he sighed heavily in his sleep, but rolled over onto his back. Amber smiled faintly and pulled her hand back.

“Now this is the tricky part,” Amber whispered. “So like, pay attention. You have to do this just right.”

Her bare fingers practically glowed against the glove as she curled them into a tight fist and before Kathryn knew what was going on, slammed it forward into the kid's jaw.

His head rocked back into the pillow, a loud grunt escaping him as the punch struck with the heavy sound of a fist on skin.

“Oh my god!” Kathryn yelled.

Amber's head jerked up as the kid's eyes flew open. He sat up, his eyes darting around the room as Amber quickly scampered back and yanked the glove off.

“I told you to be quiet,” she hissed.

“You just punched that kid in the face!” Kathryn yelled.

“Of course I did!” Amber snapped. “Like, what did you think a tooth fairy did?”