savior

fifty three

21 HOURS TO GO 

It was three o'clock in the morning and I had nothing to do. Ashton was asleep in his room while I sat at the table, sipping from a glass full of water. I couldn't sleep. I had tried to fall asleep at least three times, and out of those three times, I had only managed to doze off for about an hour and a half until I woke up again. 

I think the main reason I couldn't fit in any time to sleep was because there was a nagging feeling in my head telling me I just shouldn't. Whenever I closed my eyes, I could hear Death's voice in my head telling me how stupid I was. And then he would laugh. So I kept my eyes open. It really just creeped me out. 

Sometimes I wondered why I deserved that. Like, to be told what a fool I was for trying to save Ashton's life. I wished that it could be easier to save him. I wished I knew a lot more about him than I did now. If I did end up saving him, I definitely wouldn't just leave him out of the blue when I knew that he was alright. I wanted to stay with him as much as I could, and if Death couldn't except that, then that was his own problem. 

I sat at the table for a few minutes, trying to distract myself so I didn't close my eyes again. But even though I did manage to keep my eyes open, I still heard his voice, but it was louder than it had been in my head. My head shot up and that's when I noticed that Death was there, in Ashton's apartment. He stood in the kitchen, leaning up against one of the cabinets. 

"Well, hi there, Princess. I didn't expect you to be here," he said, chuckling at me. 

Death's appearance had definitely changed since he offered me the deal. His hair was longer and he was sprouted a small little beard and mustache. I wouldn't have expected him to be able to grow hair like that. I always thought since he was immortal, he could always choose how to look. He didn't normally appear that shaggy. But, hey, maybe he got lazy. 

I rolled my eyes at Death, who only laughed again. He knew that I had no liking towards him. In fact, I despised him with every fiber of my being. He look at me with a smug expression. "Don't get your panties in a wad, okay, Princess? I'm just here to remind you that you've only got, what, like, twenty hours or so left?" he said, looking at the clock. "Twenty-one; close enough." 

"Yes, thank you for letting me know," I said, taking another sip of water. Death's arms went up, and his fingers looked like they were pointing to the cup in my hands. When the cup reached my lips, it raised itself higher than I wanted it to, and my shirt ended up getting soaked. I took a look at Death, who was laughing so extremely hard that his milky white skin was becomming a light pink color. I don't think he could've turn red if he tried. Not when he was that pale. 

"Oops!" Death said. "Anyways, I can't wait to screw up your day. All I need to do is find Anger and we can settle all of this, don't you think?" 

I scowled at him. I didn't want him to ruin the day. If he hadn't been such a jerk, or an obstacle, I could've saved Ashton in a heartbeat; at least, I hoped so. There would definitely be less problems we were involved in. 

Death messed up everything. I wished that I could hang out with Life again. He was the cooler brother, anyways. He wished the best for me with this whole thing, and not once did he hold something over my head. I liked him. If only he had been the one to give me the job. 

And that only made me wonder why Death hadn't been stopped before he ever gave me the job. It wasn't like I didn't want to save Ashton, but Life himself told me that Death couldn't just do that. It was invading other powers or something. He shouldn't have been allowed to do that. There had be something someone could do to make him stop. 

"Death, you can't possibly have anything else in store to ruin this, can you? I'm doing what you asked, and now that I'm winning, you're mad. Can you please just—I don't know—leave us alone?" I asked,  crossing my arms over my chest. The water that had been spilled on me was seeping through my shirt and making me feel a little cold.