Reapers Never Smile

  Karen and Milner had been friends since junior high, and had been going out off and on since the end of freshman year. Everybody in school had known that they liked each other; Derek said it was such common knowledge that nobody even brought it up anymore. Then, halfway through junior year, they finally got serious. It seemed Samantha hadn’t really been aware of their relationship up to that point because almost immediately she had started yelling at Karen, demanding she stop dating Milner. She started spreading rumors, the more hurtful the better. When that didn’t work, she escalated more and more. Eventually, she resorted to starting fires.

  The first fire, according to the Chronicle, was set at the local video store where Karen worked. The police had found that someone had set a piece of cardboard on fire and threw it in the dumpster behind the building. Fortunately, it had been just before closing and the store had been almost empty; everyone managed to escape uninjured.

  Two weeks later, a gas leak nearly blew apart the school’s gym fifteen minutes before cheerleading practice was supposed to start. Less than a week later, the video store was attacked again. Only this time, Karen’s manager suffered 2nd degree burns.

  Finally, six weeks to the day since Samantha had found out that Karen and Milner were dating, Karen’s house caught fire. The Chronicle seemed happy to report that Karen had been home at the time with her mother. Her mom had been in the living room and had been able to escape within a few minutes with only minor burns to her hands and forearms.

  Karen, on the other hand, hadn’t been nearly as lucky. She’d been in the back bedroom with the door closed. Firefighters suspected that the fact that her door was closed is what had kept the fire away long enough to save her life. The only problem? Having the door shut had prevented her from hearing what was going on in the rest of the house. She hadn’t heard the crackle of the wood as flames licked down the hall. She never heard the sound of support beams cracking and splitting, falling to the floor and blocking the only exit she had. And she didn’t hear the screams of her mother, the yelling, telling Karen to run as she herself fled through the flames, escaping through the front door.

  Karen had been sitting peacefully in her room, her music on. She didn’t notice anything unusual until thick curls of smoke started forcing their way around the edges of her door and the heat started to become unbearable. By the time Karen even knew something was wrong, it was almost too late. Karen later told reporters that it was the almost surreal sound of her dog howling outside of her window that finally let Karen know that something was not right.

  As the smoke poured into the room, making it almost impossible to see, Karen managed to make her way to the window. She found the edges with her fingers and pulled up on the window pane as hard as she could. It was locked. When everything was over, investigators would find a single nail jammed through the window frame and into the side of the house. And no matter how hard she tried, that single nail prevented her from opening the window and escaping. The firemen found her curled up on a box in her closet, a shirt over her face to shield from the heat and smoke. She was barely breathing and had to spend two weeks in the hospital, but she was alive.

  Police officially declared that there was an arsonist in the area and a full investigation was launched. They combed through the ashes of Karen’s half-standing house but found very little. The only thing they could say for sure was that the fire had started in the middle of the hallway. But what had caused it was still a mystery. All they could say for certain was that whoever had done it had more than likely been in that hallway just a short time before the fire started.

  Chapter 34

  Everyone at school had suspected Samantha was responsible for the fires, but since there hadn’t been any proof, nothing had been done. Even Karen was convinced Samantha was responsible, but had refused to stop being friends with her – mostly out of fear. Derek had even told me about rumors that Karen hadn’t wanted to leave the hospital. It had been the first place she’d felt safe in weeks, and when she was finally discharged, she’d had a panic attack and was readmitted for observation.

  Samantha didn’t seem particularly eager for Karen to leave the hospital, either. With Karen temporarily out of the way, Samantha took her devotion to Milner to the next level. Convinced that the only hurdle to her relationship with Milner was now gone, Samantha began following him relentlessly. Everywhere he went, she’d be there – smiling, gazing up at him, even trying to hold his hand. It was during this time, at the height of her obsession, that Samantha decided it would be a good idea to break into his room.

  The last set of articles I found had to do with Samantha’s final night. Without Karen in her way, Samantha seemed to have been convinced that Milner felt the same way about her that she felt towards him. He wasn’t with Karen, so it must mean that he wanted to be with her. Karen’s being in the hospital didn’t seem to register as being even the least bit important. Since he obviously wanted to be with her as much as she wanted to be with him, she decided to make them both happy and visit him at his home. So, late one night, she climbed over his back fence and into his yard.

  Milner’s room was in the back of the house, on the second floor, left side. It had been suspected that she’d been there numerous times and so knew exactly which room was his, even without seeing him through the window. Based on the time she was last seen, police estimated she got to his house just after dusk. She walked through the manicured grass, around the pool, and over to the large oak tree that stood about five feet from the house.

  The tree was old – maybe even older than the house itself. It was twisted and gnarled and perfect for climbing. Samantha easily shimmied up the thick trunk and perched herself on a sturdy-looking branch that lead right to his window. She crawled along the branch, slowly making her way towards his room. The light was on, and she moved towards it like a moth to a flame.

  Inch by inch, she made her way towards the window. She even managed to touch the window pane; her prints were later found on the glass. But all of her effort had been in vain; the window was tightly locked. All she could do was look through the glass, trying to see what was inside. Smudges on the window seemed to indicate she tried to knock on the glass several times, hoping Milner would come and let her in.

  Unfortunately for her, Milner wasn’t at home. He’d gone out to spend the night at a friend’s and had simply left the light on when he left. Getting desperate, she tried again to force the window open so she could wait for him inside. She pushed on the center of the glass with her palms. She tried pulling on the top with her fingertips. But nothing worked; the window refused to budge. The longer she sat there, the angrier and more frustrated she got. Using both hands, she tried to put enough pressure on the window to get it to come loose. But she pressed too hard. Her fingers slipped. She lost her balance and fell fourteen feet to the ground below.

  Hitting the ground so hard had caused her to break her arm and sprain her wrist. She smacked her head on the side of the house on the way down, giving herself a concussion. She stood up, trying to shake it off. She staggered away, maybe deciding to go home, maybe ready to try again. But in her disorientation, she forgot about the pool. Her foot skimmed the side, and she lost her balance. She tried to stop herself from falling and leaned back. All she managed to do was to hit her already bruised head on the edge of the pool as she fell. She sank, unconscious, into the deep end of the pool. She wasn’t found until the next morning, when Milner’s mom took her morning coffee and a book out to the back patio.

  Chapter 35

  I sat there on my stool for several minutes after I’d finished reading the last article. I’d known Samantha had anger problems – I mean, it was obvious – but I never thought she’d be that crazy! I shuddered, knowing that that lunatic had not only been in my room several times, but I’d actually invited her every single time. And just like Karen, she’d tried to set my room on fire. I couldn’t believe I’d actually thought of myself as being friends with this girl!

&nbs
p; Suddenly, I remembered what Samantha had said the last time I saw her, and I froze. I darted my eyes back and forth, then quickly whipped around to check behind me. No one was there. My relief was short-lived, though; as soon as it appeared, it quickly faded into feelings that I was being stupid. Did I really expect to see Samantha hovering over my shoulder? But then again, just because I couldn’t see her didn’t mean she wasn’t there, did it? She even told me that herself! At least I knew she couldn’t hurt me with the lamp not being lit – if she could, I was sure she would have finished me off the last time we met.

  I started feeling incredibly cold and alone and realized it was more than time to go. I grabbed my bag, threw the small stack of papers I’d collected into the re-shelf bin, and headed for the door.

  Even though I was only about twenty minutes away from home, the walk seemed so much longer. Every time a twig snapped or a leaf clattered across the street I jumped. I couldn’t help but think about all the things I’d read. Not only had Samantha tried to kill the person she thought of as preventing her from going out with the guy she wanted, she’d been willing to possibly kill innocent people she’d never met and, worse, her friends. I couldn’t say for sure if I was still someone she counted as a friend, but even if I was, she couldn’t be thinking that highly of me. I had to acknowledge that there was a very real chance that she would kill me if she got the chance. I’d been outside for about six minutes before I decided maybe I’d better jog the rest of the way home. I picked up the pace and didn’t stop until I was at my front door.

  I walked inside and was immediately greeted by the smell of homemade tomato sauce and meatballs cooking. I knew even before I closed the door that mom was making her spaghetti. The smells filling the air and the warmth of the house started working instantly to make me feel at ease. By the time I got to the stairs, I was starting to feel just a little bit stupid about worrying so much. But I still couldn’t shake that tiny bit of fear in the back of my mind, knowing that someone I had considered a friend was completely unhinged. As I stomped up the stairs, I heard my mom call out from the kitchen.

  “James, is that you?”

  “Yeah.” It was good to hear a friendly voice.

  “Dinner’ll be ready in about five minutes. Go wash your hands.”

  “Ok.” I finished climbing the stairs and headed to my room to drop my backpack off. I threw it in the middle of the floor and turned to head back downstairs for dinner. As I left, my eye caught the sight of that lamp. It seemed to glow just a little bit as it caught the moonlight and held it. Suddenly, all the relief I felt from coming home to a nice, brightly lit house disappeared. I hurried back downstairs.

  I don’t think I’d ever enjoyed eating with my parents so much. The food was great, sure. Who doesn’t love homemade spaghetti? But, surprisingly, it was actually the conversation that I enjoyed the most. Walking home in the dark had been incredibly unnerving, and to be honest, I’d been more than a little creeped out. But in the warm kitchen, sitting at the table with my parents, I was able to push all of that out of my mind. All the fear I’d felt seemed to melt away. So what if my best friend had turned out to be a complete psycho? At least I wasn’t the only person to make that mistake, right? And even though she tried, she hadn’t actually killed anybody that I could find out about. What were the odds that I’d be the first, especially now that she was dead? I just wouldn’t light the lamp, and I’d be ok. I’d be safe until I could get Derek and Mindy to help me take care of that problem permanently. But that was for another day. For now, my only concern was whether or not there was any more garlic bread.

  Chapter 36

  “So what does a reaper actually do?” I asked Mindy.

  I’d asked her to sit with me and Derek at lunch, and we were now at the end of one of the long tables towards the back. I figured why not? I already ate lunch with one person most of the school thought of as weird; why not make it two? By this time I’d completely given up on getting in to Karen’s group, so what was the harm in eating lunch with both of my friends?

  “Well, there’s a couple different types.” she told me. “Some ferry souls to wherever it is they go after they die. Some try to catch rogue souls that didn’t go where they were supposed to. I’m in the second group.”

  “So catching spirits like Samantha is your job?” Derek asked, impressed. “Like some sort of detective?”

  “Kind of.” she nodded.

  “Maybe this isn’t such an impossible mission after all.”

  “Usually they’re caught after only a few weeks, a few months at the most. It’s pretty unusual for any to go uncaught for as long as she has.”

  “How did she go unnoticed for so long?”

  “She never appeared to anyone consistently.” Mindy shrugged. “And from what James has said, it looks like she was happy just spying on the people she used to know.”

  “Seems kinda weird.” Derek said.

  “Yeah, well, she’s a weird girl.” I cut in. It was nice to hear about how Samantha had eluded capture and all, but there was something else I wanted to talk about. “You said some reapers take souls to where they’re supposed to go, right?”

  “Yeah, why?” Mindy asked.

  “So where is that?” This was my chance to find out the answer to one of the most important questions in the world. I tried to contain my excitement, but it was hard.

  “Where is what?” she asked. I blinked. Did she not know the importance of this?

  “Where do people go? What’s it like?” I was getting impatient.

  “I don’t know.”

  “You don’t know?” I was beside myself. “How could you not know? You’re a reaper, after all!” I was starting to raise my voice, I knew. But I couldn’t help it. It was a mixture of excitement and exasperation.

  “I told you, there’s two groups. And neither group really shares the details of what they do.” she shrugged. “They’re really secretive – it’s kind of a security thing. Besides, even if I did know, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be allowed to tell you anyway.”

  I’d known it was a long shot, but I still couldn’t help but be disappointed. The answer seemed to be so close, but I guess I knew all along that I wasn’t going to find out.

  Derek seemed to be a little disappointed too, but he got over it a lot quicker than I did. Instead of dwelling on it like I was, he turned back to the conversation he’d already been having.

  “So how do you catch a ghost?” Derek asked.

  “It depends. Most of them just need some sort of guidance. Some of the harder ones need a little more… persuasion.”

  “And Samantha’s in the second group?” Derek asked glumly.

  “Yep.” Mindy nodded.

  “Of course she is – it would be too easy otherwise. So how do we get rid of her?”

  “Hold on a minute.” I cut in before Mindy had a chance to respond. “We probably shouldn’t do this at school, you know?”

  “Good point.” Derek said. Mindy agreed. “Why don’t we meet after school tomorrow?” he asked. “That way we can ask our parents, and you…” he glanced briefly at Mindy “you can just arrange your schedule, I guess. Sound good?”

  “Yeah. I should be able to come tomorrow.” Mindy told us.

  “Same here.” I said distractedly, knowing my parents wouldn’t be home either way.

  I’d tried to make it seem like I hadn’t wanted to talk about Samantha in front of all these students, but they’d only been a secondary concern. If any of them had overheard us, I was pretty sure we’d be able to either tell them it was some game or even deny it completely. None of them would actually take us seriously; why would they? The real reason I didn’t want to talk about it now was because of Samantha herself. If she were spying on us, she would know exactly what our plan was. Somehow, I was going to have to figure out a way for us to make a plan while being absolutely sure she didn’t know what we up to.

  ……

  The next day after school, I headed to
the field behind the gym and waited for Mindy and Derek. Derek showed up only a minute or two after I did, but Mindy took a few minutes longer.

  “Sorry I’m late.” she told us. She had her backpack slung over one shoulder and a large black bag in her hand.

  “What’s in the bag?” I asked.

  “I brought a few things I thought we might need.” She reached into the bag and brought out a bunch of twigs with leaves on them, a green bottle trimmed in gold, a small clear bowl, and a box of matches.

  “What’s all that for?” I asked, suddenly visualizing a séance or something.

  “It’s just in case.” Mindy said in a way that didn’t leave much room for questions. I just shrugged and watched as she lit the branches on fire and blew on them until all they did was smolder. She set them in the bowl, fanning the smoke for a minute with her hand. I looked at Derek, but he looked about as confused as I was.

  “Come here.” Mindy told us. Once we were all within about three feet of the leaves, Mindy took her green bottle and spread a ring of salt in a large circle around us. “There. Now, where were we?”

  “What’s all this for?” Derek asked, coughing slightly.

  “Protection.” she replied.

  I swallowed. I’d really hoped we wouldn’t actually need protection, but who was I kidding? Derek sat down on the grass and Mindy used her backpack as a chair. I sat down next to them, still lost in thought. I tried not to, but my mind kept reviewing everything I knew about Samantha. I’d known she was dangerous to me, but I’d kind of assumed she would be no match for Mindy. But what if I was wrong?

  I closed my eyes for just a second, trying to calm my thoughts. I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew, I was being lightly shaken.