My Soul to Reap (Archived)

Prey

I woke up breathing heavily as the nightmare slipped away. I opened my eyes quickly, the light stinging. But I forced myself to stay perfectly awake, until the light of the room washed away the dark images from last night. There was movement beside me and I froze, before remembering that Brie had stayed with me. I relaxed at that, happy she'd actually stayed. I felt safer with her here, even with all the things I'd seen her do. Which was odd, because watching someone decapitate a girl should not make you like them.

"How'd you sleep?" She asked quietly, and I sighed.

"How did you know I was awake?" I asked, pointedly avoiding the question. Brie yawned loudly.

"Reaper thing." She said, swinging her legs over the side of the bed.

"Can I ask you something? Well, two somethings." I said, a little timidly. The outburst yesterday had been a part of the things bothering me, and I figured since it didn't look like I was getting off this ride any time soon I'd have to get used to things quickly.

"I'm going to skip over the stupid joke about the fact you already did. Shoot," she nodded, sliding out of the bed.

"Do you really own my soul?" She whipped around, and I had to smile a little at the fact reaper bedhead was apparently a thing. And the she cracked a smile that was honestly terrifying. Messy hair, red eyes, slightly smudged makeup. Yep, definitely terrifying.

"Of course I do," she said, sitting back down. "I didn't just lie."

"Yeah, but..." I said slowly. "I don't know. I just figured after yesterday that would've changed." I looked away, because that was awkward to admit. If I was being honest, after yesterday I'd figured that we could be classified as friends, and that that would be enough to warrant the return of my soul. When I looked up, I saw all the mocking pity I hadn't the day before.

"Cammie, dear, we had an agreement." Whatever fondness I had from last night was slipping away. Replaced with oh, right, this girl is a psychopath who owns my soul. Forgot about that. She saw my expression change and sighed.

"Oh my god don't give me that," she groaned, standing up again. "We have been over this. You're going to help me prove why reapers shouldn't be attacked on buses and then you get your pretty little soul back." It felt like she was being purposefully mean. I wondered for a second if it was because the reaper trap or whatever still hadn't worn off, but that seemed wrong. She was acting a lot more like her old self now.

"And getting yourself kidnapped and then putting me through that is going to accomplish that?" I asked, which was definitely the wrong thing to say. My eyes widened in shock and my hands flew to my mouth. I suddenly wanted very badly to take that back, because she'd gone very still. And then she sighed, her shoulders sinking. Brie flopped very ungracefully back into the bed, making it bounce.

"I'm not going to convince you to be scared of me again, am I?" she asked, and my confusion grew.

"I'm pretty damn terrified right now," I said, and she shook her head. She was looking at me upside down, twin points of red studying me.

"Not what I mean. I own your soul, you've seen me kill and I've just been an outright bitch to you and you're taking it all in stride." I was about to protest, but she had a point. I'd been wary, sure, and scared before, but it had subsided. This girl didn't scare me. So I shook my head.

"No, I don't think you are." I admitted, and she nodded in satisfaction.

"Okay then, next question." She said, rolling onto her stomach. I hesitated, because this one was going to be even harder. I ended up deciding against it.