BLINK 2: Circle of Ten

Chapter 5

SAMANTHA GRIMES, Yorkshire, November 2015

The chair squeaked as Samantha settled back into it clutching a cup of coffee. Wonderful. This was her favourite table in the café, with a good view of the street but private enough to have serious conversations without people overhearing. She'd sat here with her ex many times, but when she'd discovered him in bed with one of the hospital nurses, she'd given him the boot. If she was honest with herself, she was glad they'd gotten divorced. She'd always wanted John Finnie anyway. John's sudden disinterest in her years ago had hurt, and her dreams of their wedding day had shattered.

Well, that was why she was here. He had called her up and asked her for a coffee date, reviving those dreams. If only a bit. According to his Facebook status he was single. She tried to hide her eager smile. Being too excited wouldn't work. John wouldn't go for that. The steam coming off the coffee wafted past her nose, and she sighed. Nothing like a good cup to start the morning.

The doors to the café shifted open--automatic doors--and two men entered. One was an older, scruffier looking version of the John she remembered from school, still handsome and now much firmer. She appraised his muscles, and butterflies danced in her stomach when he turned those ocean blue eyes on her. She had missed him.

'John?'

John smiled and came forward to shake her hand. 'Samantha, good to see you. This is my friend, Anubis.'

She turned her gaze on the unexpected third party. He was young, with sandy blonde hair and ashen eyes. She reached out and shook his hand, wishing John hadn't brought him. Suddenly her ideas of what this coffee date could be about were altogether unsure. Maybe he wanted to introduce her to his single friend? Maybe they had a business proposition? Maybe they wanted a threesome? She snorted at the last thought. Normal people didn't do things like that, especially guys as stand-up as John.

The man shook her hand back, a tentative smile on his face. He had honey coloured skin and a warm grip, though his eyes were ashen and haunting. He smelled like flowers too, which Samantha found odd and a bit disturbing. Her gran had smelled like flowers in the year she died.

'Nice to see you, Samantha Grimes, b-' The man cut off and looked nervous, pulling his hands behind his back and briefly meeting John's eyes.

John smiled and sat himself down, and the stranger--Anubis--followed suit. She noted with a tremble he hadn't said nice to meet you, but nice to see you. As if he knew her.

'John?' She turned to him, trying to appear calm even though her nerves had just kicked it up a notch. 'What's this about?'

His smile disarmed her, he'd always been able to do that.

'Don't worry Sam, I'll explain everything.' He patted her hand. The warmth of his skin against hers felt good and too abrupt, like kissing a stranger at a bar. She had the distinct sensation she knew exactly how that felt even though she had never been inside a bar. She tasted the ash and whiskey mingling in her mouth, warm with saliva and a stranger's lips. Her breath hitched.

'Sam? It's nothing big, okay?'

She nodded.

The two men shared pointed looks, Anubis leaning back in his chair, his arms folded across his chest.

'Well, actually' --John tilted his head and raised an eyebrow at Anubis then met her eyes-- 'It's actually kind of a big thing. Kind of a huge thing.'

Her heart raced, her eyes widened.

'But don't stress Sam, you'll see soon that it's...meant...'

Meant? She gasped past her racing heart and tried to nod again.

'Alright, so I guess there's no use stalling.' John leaned forward in his chair and gestured to Anubis to start.

JOHN

Death cleared his throat and pulled his collar away from his neck. John's eyebrows raised as he looked at his friend. Was he nervous?

'As I said Samantha, it is good to see you,' Death said. 'I am Death, I am the first and I will be the last. I remember your grandmother, Gracie James who died on November 25th 2003.'

Sam's eyes widened as she looked towards John, and John closed his eyes and shook his head. 'For fuck's sakes Anubis, you're about as subtle as a plane crash.' John tugged the album from his jacket pocket, put his hand on Death's shoulder, and Blinked out.

Anubis looked around, confused. 'Did you just Blink me away?' They stood just outside the café where Samantha was, around five minutes in the past.

John nodded. 'Yeah, sorry about that, but you shot yourself in the foot there buddy. We'll warn ourselves and get it right the second time.'

John and Death waited outside the café entrance until the other John and Death appeared. Both Johns stopped and looked at each other. 'I take it he fucked it up then,' said the John who was about to enter the café.

'Yeah, he did. Again!' said a third John from behind them. Both Johns turned to see the third John and a rather embarrassed Anubis behind him. 'Can't I just show her?' said all the Anubis' together.

The Johns looked at each other.

'That's a bit freaky mate, why do you talk at the same time?' one John said.

'I am all times, all places. I am one,' they said in unison. 'If I show her I don't have to talk, you are the only human I have ever really talked openly to, and I find conversing with another daunting.'

The three Johns shrugged. 'Fair enough, can't go any worse than before.'

Anubis nodded, and the other Johns faded to nothing.

John turned to Death. 'Man, I still find that freaky, it's like watching yourself die.' Anubis shook his head. 'No John it isn't, in fact you couldn't be further from the truth.' He pushed past John and walked into the café. Without a faltering step, he walked over to Samantha who sat at a table. She looked up as Death placed a hand on the side of her face.

'This is who I am,' said Death, and showed her his life.

John seated himself and ordered a milkshake. He watched Samantha and Anubis attentively as, for around five minutes, they stared into each other's eyes, Death's hand on her cheek and her face running through multiple expressions--fear, terror, joy, sadness, shock. At last their gaze broke, and Sam gasped.

She shot out of her chair and stepped away from Death, but then she stepped closer again, uncertain.

Anubis stood there, and John felt his hope palpable in the air. Was she going to accept all of this? Was she really the one they had been looking for?

Her breathing calmed. 'So you're Death?'

Anubis nodded.

'As in, Death. Grim Reaper. All of that.' She was no longer asking. She was coming to terms with this. He must have shown her everything.

'And me, I'm...you want me to...' She frowned. 'And you!' She pointed at John, and his heart leapt in his chest.

'Me?'

'You, you...fought that thing.' Her expression turned sour. 'Disgusting...and you can-' She waved her arms, and John guessed she was referring to the Blink and the time travel and all that, so he just nodded.

'You showed her everything?' he asked Death, and Anubis nodded.

John sat forward and sucked at the milkshake straw, making a slurping noise. 'So Sam,' John said, 'what do you say? Will you be Death's apprentice?'

P.S. Eeeeep! Fun chapter to write. What do you guys think?