Grim and Bear It

Rule #48: For your safety, and the safety of all creatures, reapers are required to keep a low profile. At no time should they be in large crowds of humans and/or supernaturals. More exposure creates higher risk. -The Reaper Code of Ethics, official handbook.

Poppy

"Don't look at me like that!" I defended, watching my two ghost friends stare at me with matching expressions of concern. "I didn't mean to kiss him."

"You tripped and your lips collided?" Reggie offered.

I threw my hands in the air. "I've been in love with the man my entire life. My willpower is only so strong."

Sebastian shook his head. "You're not alive."

Reggie uncrossed his arms and sighed. "This only ends in heartbreak." He gripped my shoulders. "Esqueleto, you're just causing yourself more pain."

"Yo sé," I admitted. I knew I was.

We had shifted to Reggie's brother's apartment, below Mina's, which had pictures of a very alive-looking Reggie on the wall.

"I'm concerned that you interacting with Jake will be extremely detrimental to you both," Sebastian admitted. "I hold you in the highest esteem, Poppy, but this entire situation is distressing."

"I don't know what to do about it," I admitted. "He's still not on my manifest, but I just can't walk away."

"This is all giving me a headache," Reggie said, and flopped down onto the couch. Well, more like through the cushion.

I rolled my eyes. "Sos un fantasma, no tenes cabeza. No te puede doler."

"Solo es un decir," he sighed. "And maybe there's a simple explanation."

Sebastian perched on the edge of the couch, spine straight and shoulders back. "Which is?"

"His belief system changed. Like Lola's."

"What do you mean?" I prompted.

Reggie picked up a photo of him and a little girl with the same dark hair and smiling eyes. "Mi sobrina, Lola. She interacted with me for the first time two days ago."

I reached out and gripped his shoulder. "Reggie! Why wasn't that the first thing you told me?"

"We were busy," he defended. "Alan's been telling her stories about me and kept promising she had nothing to be afraid of. She told me once she stopped trying to avoid me, she could see me clearly. Then, when she was working on my kite for Día de Todos los Santos, she looked over at me and asked if I wanted to help. A change in perspective was all it took."

Sebastian smiled. "I'm so pleased for you."

I put my hands to my mouth. "Reggie, that's great! Is that celebration like Día de los Muertos?"

He nodded. "Sí, but in Guatemala, we call it Día de Todos los Santos. On November first, we honor our deceased loved ones by making kites and flying them over their graves while praying. We'd leave flowers at the cemetery, and share a meal called fiambre."

He gestured with his arms as he spoke. "Poppy, you should see the kites there! Some of them are as tall as a house. More beautiful than you can imagine. I wish you could see the tejido-the weaving."

He sighed. "Applechester doesn't celebrate, but since my family moved here, we still fly kites down at the park every November first."

"That sounds amazing." I wondered if I had any family to miss me on Earth, would they have had any traditions to keep my memory alive? I guessed the good thing about being stuck with one's family in death is I didn't have to miss them. "If you're around this year, come fly a kite with me," Reggie said.

My smile faltered. Would I still be here in three weeks? Would Jake still be alive?

"Ah," Sebastian surmised. "While Jake is not present on your manifest, it appears you still have concerns."

I rubbed my face with my hands. "The fear of losing Jake...it's like dying all over again. How does it still hurt so much? Like, I'm a legit bag of bones." I asked, my voice cracking with emotion. I dropped my human glamour for a moment, allowing them to see my true form.

My family didn't understand why I had so many emotions, and despite Sylvia trying the hardest to get me, it just wasn't in her nature. It's probably why Reggie and Sebastian were such good friends. They were undead, like me, and still full of feelings, at least when watching their favorite movies. Death wasn't simple, no matter how the humans spun it.

Reggie gripped my skeleton hand, and I pulled my glamour back on. "I died last August, but I think I feel things more deeply now. I didn't have a reaper waiting for me, which turned out to be a good thing."

"Staffing issues," I reasoned. "Hence the reaper at sixteen part."

"Makes sense." He shrugged. "My heart may not still beat, but it can break all the same. Ignore Sebastian though. He's been emotionally unavailable for centuries."

"A century and a half, if you please. I'm not so old," Sebastian grumbled.

Reggie rolled his eyes. "I'm not afraid to have feelings anymore. This is like a second chance for me." He stuck his hands in his pockets. "Even though last year was really hard."

I nodded, remembering the stories. "I still can't believe Alan's ex-wife." She'd made him get a physical and mental evaluation before letting Lola stay over because his ex didn't believe in ghosts. I tried to convince Reggie to go haunt the ex, but he didn't want to cause Lola more anxiety.

"Death complicates everything," he continued, "but it doesn't stop us from being who we are. It may actually make us more ourselves."

"Basically, what you're really saying is that we still don't know why Jake can see me and I'm just going to be an unstable pile of emotions forever?"

"Me rindo," Reggie said. "I tried."

"I do observe your point, Reggie," Sebastian began, "but Jake hasn't been able to see Poppy in twelve years, no matter how desperate he became. I think it would be safe to assume whatever change happened is because of something that changed in you, Poppy."

I pressed two fingers against my forehead and sighed. "I think I may be getting a metaphorical headache now." I reached into my cloak and pulled out my violin. "Care if I play? It helps me think."

"Are you taking requests?" Sebastian asked.

"I'm only playing it once," I warned them. They'd have me play "My Heart Will Go On" on repeat if they could. Reggie sat next to Sebastian, lacing their arms together, as I began. The song was effortless, having played it so much in my youth. I moved with the music and smiled. I didn't often play for a captive audience, and there was something about these ghosts who brought back the joy I used to get performing.

I had forgotten what friends were like in reality until I'd met them. Sure, I had memories of Eliza and Jake, and Sylvia was definitely the person I was closest to, but there was something about these ghosts. They were dead like me, they worked in the afterlife like me, but they'd cultivated new lives for themselves out of the wreckage of their human bodies. Maybe I could build a different life for myself.

I didn't know how yet. Reapers followed different rules than ghosts, and the whole being related to every grim reaper was problematic on the dating front, but still. They had found ways to be happy. I finished the last note of the song, letting it echo through the quiet, then lowered my violin. I looked up and found the couch empty.

I turned to my right and found the front door open. Jake, his parents, Mina, and her dad peered into the apartment.