Death hovered over the jerking body of Jane, reaching out a hand pouring with smoke to touch her shoulder. Blood was spurting from her mouth and her eyes were still open, but the life in them was gone. Her time was almost gone, and he watched silently as Ginny rushed from the side over to Jane.
"Jane! Jane!" Ginny screamed as she collapsed beside her friend. She picked her up in her arms and shook her violently. "What happened?! Jane!" Ginny threw her head everywhere, and saw the angry skid marks beside Jane's body, but there was no car nearby.
Jane was still vomiting blood and the red bloomed from different areas of her body through her thin clothes. Her arm was twisted in a painful angle and Ginny brushed Jane's bloody hair from her face.
"Jane, please wake up! No! No!"
Death stared at the two of them. Gently, a light ache crept into his heart. Why was he feeling this way? He had lived for centuries, and he never once felt any semblance of sympathy for a human, especially when it wasn't even that human who was dying.
Five, Four, Three.
Death loomed above Jane, whose glazed eyes caught sight of him. She breathed erratically in fear, trying to kick away from him as Ginny continued to figure out what she should do.
"Jane! JANE!"
With one hand hovered over Jane's body, Death pulled her soul from her body and sent it hurtling towards the afterlife.
❃❃❃
The days sped past and Ginny tossed in her bed lifelessly. Her hand was lying over the edge of her bed and her eyes were closed, her breathing slow. Her mother knocked on her door softly, asking her in a low voice if she would join them for dinner this time.
Ginny did not reply.
She did not bother to attend Jane's funeral. How could someone who was responsible for her death attend her funeral? It would have been an utter travesty. She did not deserve to mourn for her, but when she was alone, the only thing she could do was grieve and grieve.
Just then, her phone lit up with a text. Ginny ignored it, and tried to go back to sleep again but the phone pinged again to remind her of the text she had just received. She dragged herself out of bed, and picked up her phone to read the text.
It was from an unknown number and it read: What if your best friend's death was not accidental?
What did that even mean? Ginny blamed herself for Jane's death, but objectively speaking, Jane died from a hit and run. She was about to put her phone down when another text was sent to her phone.
It read: What if she was murdered, Ginny?
How the hell did this person know her name? How did she get her number? Was it some sort of sick prank from someone at work or school? Ginny hovered her fingers over the keyboard, wanting to type some curses out to the person.
Instead, she threw her phone across the room and forgot all about the texts.
❃❃❃
"Have fun, Ginny," her father said to her with a warm smile as she prepared to head out.
It was three months after Jane's death and Ginny finally mustered up the will to leave the home. "Thanks, dad," she said to him and left. It was a Saturday and there was only one place she wanted to go. When she reached, she saw the person she wanted to see.
Bale.
She neared him silently and watched as he placed leaf after leaf onto the river. It flowed towards the left and she stared hard at the current. The current was flowing right but the leaves were drifting against it. What was happening? At that time, Bale turned around to look at her while the leaves disappeared from view.
"Ginny," Bale said.
"My best friend died recently," Ginny said, her eyes brimming with tears. "I - I - "
"Slowly."
She dabbed the corners of her eyes. "I hate crying in public."
"Then come over to my place."
"You don't mind?" Ginny asked.
"Of course not," Bale said and she followed him back home. As she walked, she felt a haze surround her mind that somewhat resembled a trance. It only went away when she was standing in front of a metal door. Bale pressed some numbers on a keypad and slid the door open.
Ginny walked into his home and took in her surroundings. There were red brick walls everywhere, and it was almost as big as her own home. The size was similar to an upscale cafe and even the decor was placed in such a way that it made her feel like she was at one.
"Here," Bale stopped over a black couch, beckoning her over. She headed to the couch and sat down beside him. "Let's talk about it."
"I feel like I caused Jane's death. I wasn't looking when she crossed the road. If I had seen the car, she wouldn't have died. And I was the one who suggested the part-time degree to her. I put her in that situation."
"It's alright that you feel this way. You love her, after all. But she chose to be with you that day and that driver chose to drive recklessly. You're not God, you couldn't have altered what happened."
"But I feel so guilty."
"Do you believe in Destiny? Fate? The idea that a person's life has been planned out before they were born?"
"I never thought about that."
"It's true. Nothing you do could have prevented her from dying the way she did. Her time was up, and that's it."
"It's not my fault?"
"You're perfect, Ginny. How could anything be your fault?"
Ginny bit back a tear from leaving her eyes. "Thank you, Bale."
He did not say anything in reply, and only gazed into her eyes. She felt his irises searing their way into her corneas and her heart thudded in her chest. Inadvertently, her eyes dropped to his lips and her own parted. Hot air escaped from her mouth to touch him and he reached out the back of his hand to brush it against her cheek.
"I wonder what it feels like to kiss you?" Bale said to her.
"You don't have to wonder."
Bale smiled and closed in to touch his lips to hers. He kissed her lightly before drawing back, only to place another light kiss on her lips again. Cupping one of her cheeks, with his fingers grazing the back of her head, he lifted her mouth up to him. Pushing his tongue into her mouth, he explored her taste and deepened their kiss. They parted momentarily.
"Bale," Ginny said with a fast breath. "What are you?"
"What do you mean?"
"You revived a dead bird in your hands, and just today I saw the leaves you put into the river flow against the current."
"I'm not what you think I am," he said with a huff. Grasping the back of her head, he drew her back into their kiss. Nibbling on her lower lip, a moan ripped from her chest as his other hand grabbed onto her waist to pull her body towards his lower body.
And as they kissed, Ginny thought about what he could mean by what he said by him not being who she thought he was. What did she think he was? But as he kissed her, her mind blanked and as if in direct reply to her words, the lights overhead flickered, dimming and brightening in a steady rhythm.