WATTYS 2023 SHORTLIST
Cara, a troubled college dropout, finds herself slowly falling for a handsome stranger - who turns out to be Death incarnate. But the arrival of a mysterious being puts Death's home for lost souls and his very existence at risk...
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The Auditor returns the next morning, as if on a rigid schedule, but I'm flying too high after my night with Death to really notice or care. She regards me by the front door, cold as ever, and I simply grin back at her. In my mind, I'm singing, I know something you don't. Then I hope that the Auditor isn't a mind-reader.
I spend most of the morning sitting in the kitchen, waiting for Death to walk in and notice me, but he never does. After Lisa and Louis wander in for breakfast and continue on their way, I start to feel a deep sense of loneliness. Not only because Paul and Sarah are gone, making the house feel more empty than ever, but because I start to worry that last night didn't mean as much to Death as it did to me.
Of course it did, I argue. He's just under scrutiny again from the Auditor.
The annoyance I feel at the strange woman's lurking presence now merges with sympathy. How must Death feel, having his every move observed in case he slips up? And it's all because of me. But what more can I do than spruce up the mansion and continue to help Death's residents? The work I'm doing here is helping the "great balance of the universe" or whatever, not harming it. Stubbornly, I continue the renovations, reupholstering the furniture in the common room with specialty fabrics that Mem had helped me pick out a few days ago. And still, during the hours that it takes to finish the task, I never once see Death.
It drives me mad, the constant wondering about what he's doing, or what the Auditor might be whispering in his ear. In a fit of well-earned rage, I storm out of the house and take the short scooter journey from Never Lane to the Neverton Nest. When I burst through the door a little bell jingles like crazy in my wake. Mem pauses, her hands burdened by coffee-laden trays, and regards me like a patient who recently broke loose from a psychiatric hospital.
"Cara, good morning!" She says, quickly schooling her features into supportive friend mode. She follows me over to the bar, where I take my usual seat and plop my head into my hands. "Or maybe not-so-good morning?"
"Everything is a mess, Mem. I've fucked everything up."
"Oh no," she says, and I can tell by her exaggerated outrage that she'd been expecting this conversation. "Who do I need to kill?"
"Am I an option?" I shake my head and let out a great sigh. "Last night, after the festival, Death and I..." I give her a knowing look, and Mem's eyes widen like a cartoon character's.
"You mean, you guys..?" She makes a vulgar gesture with her hands and I nod, slapping my hands over my reddening face. She screams so loudly that a few customers jump and knock over their cups, then takes my arm in a vice grip and drags me into the storage room. The moment that the door swings shut, she says, "Tell me every single detail. I'm freaking out."
I try not to smile as I recall the previous night, but my lips betray me. "It was...magical. It was the first time I've ever felt alive. Like, really alive. I'm falling in love with him, Mem. I've never been more sure of anything in my life."
