Snippet #1890377

“Doctor, I said that I’m fine, and the test results prove it. I’ve already made arrangements to get home.” However, no matter how many times Feine insisted, this doctor seemed set on keeping him in the hospital even if that meant wasting staff on guarding his room all day. Apparently it was impossible for someone to fall from as high up as Feine did and escape without a single injury…

Of course it was impossible.

This doctor just didn’t understand. Feine couldn’t help but be frustrated with the whole situation – he didn’t expect anyone else to understand when even he himself didn’t know just what had happened those few hours back. The only thing he was sure of was the pain. His memory was a little hazy, but he clearly remembered the pain. It was as if every single bone in his body had splintered, the fragments piercing through his flesh. He had felt his neck twist into an impossible angle… and he had to go through all that because of some idiot he’d considered his friend.

Apparently something in his expression seemed strained, because the doctor hastily issued some prescription for an obscure painkiller before resuming his poking and prodding of the poor boy. This stupid doctor – Feine couldn’t help but compare this man to his sister. Despite the difference in age, it was obvious his sister as far more competent, although he would never admit that to her… His sister couldn’t find out about all this. That was just a disaster in the making, knowing her personality. In fact, he wasn’t sure if he could face anyone he knew anymore, especially now that he was… was…

Was that even possible? He had never even believed in the existence of an afterlife, let alone the messenger of souls themselves! How was he supposed to believe that he was now apprenticed to one? How was he supposed to believe that he was dead… yet still alive?

… It all made his head hurt...

“Doctor, if I need anything, it’s rest. I’m not going to run away or anything, so just leave me alone.” Maybe it was his tone or just the distantly bitter expression, but something compelled the doctor to listen to him this time. Finally – took the man long enough to get a clue. Ever since he woke up on that concrete sidewalk, all Feine wanted was a quiet chance to think for himself. Instead, he got sirens, screaming, yelling, shattered glass, more sirens, a long trip in an ambulance, x-rays, CAT-scans and some nurse trying to jab needles in his arm. These service people always seemed to know exactly what he needed most.

“Why me?” he mumbled, gently massaging his wrist. The silver chain shackled to it was cold in his hands, so very real to him, yet it didn’t exist. How the heck was that even possible? The answer? It shouldn’t be. It wasn’t… or so he’d like to think, but nothing made sense anymore. “So I’m… a reaper’s apprentice.” The reality of the fact suddenly hit him when he first stated it aloud. He wasn’t human anymore. He’d planned to return to his life from before by taking this second chance, but… obviously that wasn’t possible. How had he overlooked that when he was given the choice?

“Pet, it’s time to go.”

Startled by the sudden unwelcome voice, Feine bolted to his feet, twisting around to face the intruder. Instead, he saw a younger girl… a rather familiar girl that he didn’t want to see. “It’s night time in the Reaper World, and time for your first test.” Yes, because he was just so excited to embark on this spirit-hunting quest, and it was so obvious that she was as well. And then she went on to spout nonsense about finding replacements, survival, infuriating things… were all reapers so… cold? So aggravating?

“You’re just my pet. And pets are replaceable.”

This girl was shorter than him stature-wise and even seemed younger than him by at least a few years. It only made those belittling words of hers all the more irritating. “Reaper or not, I’d watch your mouth, little brat,” he muttered under his breath. This time, to be heard, he stated, “I’m no pet either. Besides, if I disappear now into that… spirit… world now, at least eight of the doctors here are going to throw a fit.”

In truth, he was curious about that strange other world and his new job, but he was reluctant too. It meant finalizing this decision that he could not undo… and really, having to listen to this girl for the rest of his life just aggravated him to defiance.