A new day dawned and standing in front of the mirror she
wished that she could hide the signs of last night under a mask. Her eyes were
hollow and her skin still pale, she had showered away the muscle tiredness only
to have it return when she got dressed. There was not enough coffee in the
world for her to drink to make her feel better in time for the start of the
work day. Her morality wouldn’t let her call in sick. She wasn’t dying, so she
needed to be at work. Dragging her feet into the office she ignored those
around her as they stole glances at her. Continuing without stopping she sat
down at her desk. Eve was aware that those around her were looking in her
direction, but she didn’t care. Not today at least.
“You look like death Eve. Are you okay?” Jen’s voice echoed
around the office, but also broke the trance everyone seemed to be in. She
looked up at Jen as everyone went back to work. The absurdity of what Jen was
saying made her smile even just for the briefest of moments.
“Trust me when I say that I look nothing like death. That man
is way too good looking for his own good.” She hadn’t meant to say anything,
but the words rolled off of her tongue before she could stop them.
Jen’s eyes opened wide as what she had said sunk in. “You met
death?” Her voice was hushed and shaky. Jen didn’t know exactly what she was,
but there was a connection between them both that had been there since they
met. They knew enough about each other to know that they both knew things that
most didn’t.
“Yes. Now can you just keep that to yourself? I need to get
through the day, so then I can go home and sleep. As you can imagine, I didn’t
get much sleep last night.”
Jen nodded her head, not able to form words and went back to
her own desk, leaving Eve to focus on her own thoughts and work.
When lunch rolled around she snuck out of the office alone to
get something to eat. Everyone had given her a wide berth in the morning and
while she was normally quite a social person, she was glad to have her space.
Walking down the street Eve was preoccupied and didn’t notice the people or
more specifically the person walking towards her until she ran into him. The
strong firm body against her was an abrupt stop for her, but comforting too,
until she looked up into the face of the stranger before her. This was no
stranger. Recalling back from him she looked around. No one had a clue who he
was. Death was standing before her once more. In broad daylight without a care,
he looked more dangerous than he had the night before. She tried to think, but
her brain struggled to form a coherent thought to begin with.
“I told you last night, and I will tell you again. It is not
my time, not now, not ever. Leave me alone.” The small dose of wrath in her
voice surprised even her. Her words however were true. He raised his arms up
slightly in a symbol of peace.
“I am not here to harm you. You fascinate me too much for
that.”
“Why are you here then?”
“Can we talk?”
“Isn’t that what we are doing now?” She couldn’t help but
snipe at him as her patience wore thin.
“In private, away from all these people?”
“No.” One word was all that it took. He had caused her enough
pain. She was not going to open herself up to him again. She moved to step
around him, but stopped when he grabbed her arm softly. For the first time,
there was no pain to accompany his touch.
“Please,” only one word, but it spoke volumes.
“I will think about it.” Nothing more, nothing less. Well it
would be less for him. There was no way that he was ever going to get that
close to her again. Hell would have to freeze over before that happened.
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