First Soul
a short story in the Reaper Girl Universeby Erin Zarro I gazed down at the sleeping child in front of me. She lay in a bed surrounded by colorful pillows and covered by an equally colorful comforter that looked heavy and comfortable. She, however, looked anything but comfortable. She had one of those oxygen things poked up into her nostrils, an IV in one arm, and what looked like a catheter from the bag that hung down from the bedside. This child was sick. Her pale face and dull blond hair told me that she’d been in the hospital for a while. “She looks so peaceful, Ariana,” my mother, the infamous Grim Reaper and private investigator, Leliel Ashton, said softly. “But she’s dying,” I protested. “How can she be peaceful?” “There’s a kind of peace that comes with death. And with the reaping of the soul,” Mom said, glancing at me and holding my gaze. “This soul will need you when it’s time. You must be ready.” I frowned. “I don’t think I’ll ever be ready, Mom.” She’d hammered this death stuff on me for fifteen years. It felt like the world’s biggest burden and not my life’s work. I loved to paint. Maybe giving life to new creation offset the fact that I was basically a death angel. The beauty in creating something from nothing felt more like my life’s work than anything. Mom’s jaw dropped. “You…