The New World

Chapter 34

Two nights had passed since the incident and Jim still felt bad about it. The guilt was overwhelming him, it was rare for him to feel guilt as he never felt remorse for any of his actions until now. He hurt the one he loved, again. For the past two days and nights Jim had been wandering around trying to pass time while fighting with his own thoughts. He did notice that everywhere he went ravens would follow and watch him, which only made him more paranoid. No matter how much he shouted or threw rocks at them, they would not leave, only change positions. It was now the third day on his own again and he was back under the tree in the park where he used to hang out with Turg. He was sitting with one arm around his stomach and the other covering the cut that Dennis had given him, it was no longer bleeding but still hurt, torn a hole in his favourite piece of clothing and stained it with his own blood. He had not eaten anything or slept since the incident, which only made him feel worse. While he was dozing off, Sasha and Kayla came by wearing more casual clothing this time. 
"Oh geez Jim are you okay?" Sasha asked out of genuine concern as she and Kayla both knelt down to be on his level. Kayla then added "You look like you've been through a lot." 
"Uh, yes! Wait no, I am not. No, I- uh, I don't know anymore." Jim quickly responded before then putting his head into his hands. 
"I am going to take that as a 'no'." Sasha said before then asking "Is Turg here? He's normally with you."
"That's the problem, he is not here. He left." Jim responded again as he then only rested his head on his hands and avoiding eye contact. 
"He left? Where did he go?" Sasha asked Jim again and Jim answered with "Back to where we came from I assume."
"And what happened to you? You've got blood all over your arm there." Sasha continued to ask Jim, which he didn't mind. 
"We had an argument that resulted in everyone in that household turning on me. That was two nights ago now, I've been on my own since. That's about as simple as I can explain it." Jim explained to Sasha before then asking them "If you don't mind, do you have any food or water on you?"
Sasha shrugged and replied "Sorry, we don't, if we did we would give you some though. Least we can do after all you've done for us." 
"He hasn't been bothering you two again, right?" Jim asked Sasha again.
"Well, he is starting to again. Some nights he will pull up with his motorcycle and play loud music in some attempt to impress us. All he's doing is disturbing the entire neighbourhood though." Sasha told Jim before then saying "But back to what I was saying before, if you want you can come back to our place."
"Might as well." Jim said as he stood back up and felt sore again, but it was still tolerable. Since they had walked to the park, Jim had to walk with them back to their place, which took a while because Jim was slower than usual and they made sure he didn't fall behind. When they eventually arrived, Jim took over one of their couches where he spent the remainder of the day just recovering physically. 
"So, how are you feeling now?" Sasha asked Jim as she entered the room again to check on him. It was late in the evening now, the sun was still setting but it was dark enough for street lights to come on. Jim answered with "Well, I am no longer angry, guess eating something solved that. I just have a lot on my mind still."
"If you don't want to share it's fine, but whatever it is it seems to really be bothering you." Sasha pointed out before then asking "Also, do you want that sweater washed?"
"No, I can't take it off." Jim replied as he wrapped both of his arms around himself. 
"Why not?" Sasha asked Jim again.
"Hard to explain, but it's the only thing I have left now. Everything else has been lost, destroyed or left to go back to the place that only brought us misery." Jim quickly explained as he felt like crying again. He missed Turg and just wanted to see him again. Sasha sighed and said "I miss him too already." 
Jim began thinking about something he originally thought he never would do before then saying "I want to go back and find him."
"You're leaving too?" Sasha asked Jim who replied with "Maybe, I don't know how I will but it's what Turg wanted." 
"Well, you're not taking our car, we still need that and there is no way we are going there." Sasha told Jim as he sat up a bit. He figured he could steal one from the Racket family, he did want to make one last visit there before leaving anyways. Before Jim could mention that, someone outside began playing loud music and was shouting something. Sasha then facepalmed and said "We really need to get a restraining order on that man." 
Sasha then asked "You want to deal with him again?"
Jim stood up and answered "Gladly."
Jim then went outside to see that it was Zach again with a fancy motorcycle and speaker, which he paused the music on upon seeing Jim step outside. 
"You again? I thought you died of old age!" Zach exclaimed as Jim approached him and replied "Trust me I've tried that."
Before Zach could say anything else, Jim told him "I hope you realize that all you're doing is disturbing everyone with your existence."
Jim meant to say something else during the last part of his sentence, but what he said worked too and conveyed how he really felt about Zach. 
"You're just a jealous old man." Zach responded rather angrily. Jim retaliated with "Oh really? Why would I be jealous of someone like you?"
"I am incredibly good looking unlike you, which is probably why you never found a wife I bet." Zach continued as he smiled at Jim. Jim smiled back and responded "You're right, I never had a wife. I have a husband instead." 
Zach then quickly lost his smile and proceeded to call Jim things that he would never repeat. Jim did not feel the need to continue speaking to Zach, instead, he felt the need to punch him as hard as he could in Zach's face, which is exactly what he did. Zach then fell to the ground and put his hands over his face as Sasha began cheering on Jim from the doorway. Zach continued swearing and stuff to Jim as he then told Zach "Do you kiss your mother with that mouth? Damn dude, even I wouldn't repeat the stuff you're saying. No wonder why you're still single." 
"My mom is dead!" Zach exclaimed back at Jim, who replied with "Sorry to hear that but so is mine." 
Zach quickly got back up and tried to throw a punch at Jim, but Jim was able to dodge it and trip him back to the ground. 
"I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU!" Zach then shouted as he pulled out a small knife from his jacket and jumped back up. He tried to slash Jim with it but Jim grabbed his arm to stop him only for him to put the knife in his other hand and cut Jim just below his neck. Jim then let go and stood back a bit, it was not a deep cut but it still bled. Sasha then ran out with a bigger knife for Jim while saying "Here, since he wants violence."
"You're helping him?" Zach asked Sasha, who did not answer his question, instead she quickly ran back inside to watch the fight. Jim looked around to see that there were a lot of people watching, which made what he wanted to do a bit difficult without witnesses. Zach tried again to hurt Jim, but his knife wasn't sharp enough to cut through his clothing, but Jim's was sharp enough for what he was going to do. Without hesitation, Jim used Sasha's kitchen knife to slit Zach's throat. Some blood splattered onto Jim as he then shoved Zach back down to the ground and told him "If you're going to use a knife in combat with the intention to kill, at least know how to aim or whatever." 
Jim then started looting him only for the keys to the motorcycle, he wanted it for himself and didn't care if it was stolen from a now dead man. When he eventually found them the Reaper showed up, but not just any Reaper, it was his Grim. They didn't seem to be disappointed in Jim, which Jim took as a good sign but he was still mad at them.
"Where have you been for the past nearly two years, Grim?" Jim asked Grim. Grim turned Zach into ashes in an urn before attempting to vanish again, but Jim stopped them to tell them "No, don't leave again. I just found you again after thinking I lost you."
Grim still remained silent, they didn't want to talk to Jim and disappeared again anyways. Jim stared at the ground for a few seconds as he heard people celebrate the fact that Zach was dead, which he would've found weird if Zach wasn't a terrible person. Sasha came up next to him and said "Well, I didn't expect you to kill him but it was out of self defence I assume." 
"Yeah, self defence." Jim responded quietly as he turned around to see that people were still watching, which was beginning to scare him. 
"And the Reaper, do you know them?" Sasha then asked Jim, who only nodded in response before saying "I'm married to that one."
"Wait, if you're married then how come you-" Sasha tried to question Jim, but was cut off by him giving her back the knife and saying "It's complicated, but you have this back and thank you for everything." 
Jim then got on the motorcycle and sped off, still trying to process everything that happened. He thought Grim was gone, but they were just busy doing their old job again. He then began thinking if Grim was the one handling deaths in that area, maybe he could see them again if he killed someone else, and he knew exactly who that might be.