My Life As Death: Chapter 28

For those who haven’t already read them, you can find links to the previous chapters here:
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9
Chapters 10 and 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27

“Where were you after school?” I yelled, causing Weed to hit his head on the hood of the Weed Wagon.

He was rubbing his head as he came around the mail truck with a less-than-happy look on his face.

“I was smoothing things over with Stephanie and Tiffany, so you’re welcome.”

“I thought Stephanie was fine with my excuse about having to pick up my mom.”

“She was, until she saw Shawna in the car with you this morning.”

“Oh…”

“Yean, so again, you’re welcome.”

“This morning is kind of what I needed to talk to you about,” I said, seizing the opportunity to change the subject.

“If you say you’re going to try things with her again…”

“No, no, it’s nothing like that.”

“Good,” he said, pulling out a cigarette.

I followed his lead and lit one up myself.

“So are we just going to sit here sucking on these things or are you going to tell me what’s so important that you came in here yelling at me for helping you out?”

It took me a second to find the right words.

“Lucifer gave me my last assignment right before Shawna got in the car.”

“That’s great.”

“No, no it’s not.”

“Sure it is,” he replied. “Get this last one overwith and we can get back to life as it should be.

I just continued to stare at him.

“So, are you going to tell me who it is?”

As I opened my mouth, I suddenly didn’t know what to say. I’d never kept anything from Weed. He knew everything I’d done and we were still friends, but Shawna was a friend too, and it almost felt like betraying her to even say her name to him.

“Come on man,” he continued, “you know you’re going to end up telling me eventually; whether it’s before or after you finish your assignment.”

He was right, I did know it, but that didn’t make the words any easier to say. He lit up another cigarette, and so did I. Then I took one long drag before deciding to just tell him the truth.

“I got to school a little early today.”

“I kind of figured that out, seeing how Shawna was already in your car by the time I got there.”

“Are you going to let me tell you about this or not?”

“Sure, sure, go on.”

“So I got there a little early and was jamming out to some old school Metallica when Lucifer decided to interrupt the music.”

“The black album?”

“What? No. I said old school Metallica. I was listening to Kill ‘Em All.”

“A little ironic, but still a good choice. Did you know it was originally supposed to be titled ‘Metal Up Your Ass’.”

“Yeah, though I like the name Kill ‘Em All better. But that really has nothing to do with my story.”

“Sorry.”

“So anyway, Lucifer teased me a little about permanently becoming a reaper, which I declined. 

“A wise choice.”

“Then he says “and here’s your last assignment”, just as Shawna walks up.”

Weed just sat there, with a shocked look on his face, then slowly started to grin.

“You almost had me,” he said.

“What?”

“You almost got me. For a minute there I actually believed you.”

“Did you hear what I said?”

“Yeah, and it almost worked, too. But there is no way Shawna’s murdered, raped or molested anyone.”

“I’m telling you, she’s my next assignment.”

“Sure she is. So what’s she done?”

“I don’t know.”

“So you were alone in a car with her, before and after school, and you didn’t even touch her to find out what she’s done to deserve to be your next assignment?”

“I’m not sure I want to know.”

“Dude, you’re going to have to come up with a better story next time you want to prank me.”

“But…”

“But nothing,” he said, “I’m not falling for it.”

It took me the rest of the night, as we worked on the weed wagon, to convince him that Shawna really was my last assignment.

“So what are you going to do?” He asked, finally accepting that I wasn’t trying to pull one over on him.

We were trying to relax in his room listening to a little Pink Floyd, but my mind refused to become comfortably numb.

“I don’t know,” I replied, taking a hit off his silver bowl. “There’s no way I can kill her, but if I don’t, then my time is up and Lucifer will just send another Reaper.”

“Either way,” Weed said, “I end up at least one friend short.”

I just froze. I’d been so caught up in my own dilemma that I hadn’t thought about it from his perspective. Suddenly I felt awful.

“I’m sorry, man, I really shouldn’t have drug you into any of this.”

“Are you kidding? I’d be pissed if you hadn’t.”

“But this is some heavy shit, and I just don’t know what to do.”

“You’ve got five days, right?”

“Yeah.”

“So we’ve got a little time to think and we’ll come up with something.”

“I’m not so sure.”

“Have I ever given you a reason to doubt me?”

“Do you really want me to answer that?”

“No, probably not. Just take another hit.”

I did. Then he did, both of us smoking a little more than we probably should have, but we slept like babies.

The next day Shawna seemed to be avoiding me, which normally would have bothered me, but right then it was probably the best thing that could have happened. I had no idea what to do, and I really doubt I could have faced her without losing it and telling her everything.

Wednesday and Thursday were pretty much the same. I went to school, but I couldn’t tell you a single thing even one of my teachers had said. Every minute of every day my thoughts were preoccupied with my deal with Lucifer and what I was going to do about Shawna. Weed tried to help take my mind off it by coming up with all sorts of small random projects for me to do around the garage while he worked on the Weed Wagon, but I probably messed things up more than I helped. I decided to change things up on Friday by taking the KZ to school. I figured it might clear my head a little, and the ride to school really did help a bit, but in the end it just invited trouble.

“Are you going to finally give me a ride?” Shawna asked.

I jumped at the sound of her voice behind me. Her last class was at the other end of the school, and I’d rushed out to the parking lot as soon as the final bell rang, so I have no idea how she made it out there so fast.

“I…uh…,” I stammered as I turned around to face her.

“You gave me a hard time last time because I had Weed take me home, but I’m actually dressed for the occasion today.”

She wasn’t wrong. The tight jeans she was wearing looked great, and were better suited for a ride. Those pants and the slightly low cut blouse made it hard to come up with any good excuse to turn her down.

“Uh, sure. Why not?” I replied, while trying to force a smile to match hers.

Her smile widened as I handed her the helmet.

The bike had one long seat with more than enough room for the two of us to fit comfortably even with a little space between us, but she slid right up against me as I started the bike.

“We can take the long way back to my place if you want,” she yelled above the engine.

With her legs straddling mine and her arms wrapped around my chest, I definitely wanted to take the longest way possible so I pulled from the parking lot and headed straight for the city limits. I didn’t have any specific path in mind, as we just kept taking random roads further away from the school, our homes, and anything that reminded me of reality. I was just enjoying the freedom that only the open ride could provide and the chance to share it with Shawna.

I had plenty of gas, so I wasn’t even thinking about turning around until I started to recognize some of the landscape and realized exactly where we were headed. There were several other roads I could have taken but I decided to continue towards the salvage yard anyway. I got a little choked up as we passed the giant tire and gravel drive. In my mind I could see Finkenbine’s enormous silhouette moving through the garage beside the trailer.

I don’t know if Shawna actually sensed something or not, but at that moment she seemed to hold me just a little tighter.

If I could’ve had just one wish, it would have been for that ride to last forever, but I knew that wasn’t possible, and continuing to ride with her holding on to me was only making the reality of my situation even more painful. No matter how much I wanted it, I knew that I couldn’t outrun my responsibility on that bike. The only real option I had was to face it, so once we reached the quarry I turned the bike around and we headed back towards her place.