A Reaper's Writing

“Excuse me, sir?” a woman shyly calls out the retail worker, “Can you point me over to the shoe aisle?”

“It’s over that way on the left” the worker states as he points off to the shoes in the distance. The woman meekly mutters a gentle “thanks” and hurries off into the direction of the aisle. The worker sighs to himself, watching the woman look for the pair of shoes she wants. His gaze wonders around the store, then to the clock. He once again sighs. He is suddenly interrupted by another woman walking up to register. She places a bag on the register and stares at him angrily, waiting for him to speak.

“Hello, ma’am” he says calmly, “ How can I help you?” The woman looks him up and down. She slides the bag forward and says, “This doesn’t fit and I need to return it” She then looks up at him, waiting for something.

“Do you have your receipt with you?” he asks, “You cannot return your item without it” She hands him the receipt and helps her exchange the piece of clothing for a size that will fit her. He gives her her item and says the standard “thanks” and “goodbye”. She then starts to walk away. Suddenly, she turns back around and looks him up and down once again.

“You should really get a better job, Ayer” She says, turning around, then walking off. Ayer sighs and looks at the clock, closing time is in five minutes. He makes an announcement to the store and finishes checking out all the frantic people. He then does his cleaning routine, clocks out, and waves to the manager that is locking up. On his drive home, he thinks about that woman. The way she looked him up and down, the angry stare, and the way she said his name. His name, Ayer, is of English origin, it’s meaning to him is unknown. He doesn’t share the best relationship with his parents. He doesn’t know how his name comes into play. Ayer the inheritor, the name given to him by not his parents, but his uncle that he has rarely seen.

He arrives at his apartment complex and parks his car. He gets his mail, unlocks the door and walks in, locking it behind him. He sets the mail down on the coffee table and heads into the kitchen. He cooks up some instant noodles and heads over to the couch. He opens his laptop and watched a favorite show, while eating the instant noodles. When he’s finished eating, he gets up to throw away the noodle cup, then suits back down and closes his laptop. He glances at the pile of mail groans.

He opens his mail and finds the usual bills, bank statements, and junk mail, yet he goes through each one nevertheless. He gets to a strange envelope with a beautiful wax seal on it. He admires the color choices that the sender used; a powerful red color for the envelope with a lovey gold for the wax. He shakes his head realizing head has become lost in thought. He checks the mysterious envelope, confused, he places it down. It was addressed to him, but it must be a mistake. He doesn’t know anyone that uses a wax seal, let alone a family crest. The envelope is addressed to Ayer Hall, that’s him, but it’s from an unfamiliar name, Mitchell Hall. He opens the envelope gently to find a folded letter inside. He unfolds the letter to see that it was written in cursive with ink. He peruse the letter, then places it down on the table. He pinches the bridge of his nose and gets up, he then starts to pace around the room, lost in thought. He glances at the letter on the table in disbelief.

“There is no way this is real” he yells to himself, "I can't deal with this" He picks up the letter and reads it once more. He picks up his phone and calls the phone number written on the letter.

A sweet voice comes from the phone, “Hello” it says. For a moment Ayer is silent.

“Excuse me” he says, "My name Ayer Hall and I received a letter with this number on it"

The lady responds, "Yes, you were sent by Mitchell, yes?"

"Yes, he sent the letter." He said, he said, “He was my uncle"

"Thank you, now let me make your arrangements," the lady said.

"My arrangements?" He questioned, confused.

"I was instructed to give you your uncle's estate and inheritance." She stated. She went on to explain what would happen in the future. A few weeks went by and Ayer arrived at his new estate. He steps out of his car and looks around in wonder. It’s a beautiful estate, with old windows and engraved brick walls. The lady told he could explore freely because he has a master key.

“I even had twenty thousand dollars wired into my account; this is unbelievable.” he shouted excitedly. While exploring he found his way to the garden. Ayer loved plants as a kid. He was extremely disappointed by how damaged the garden was. His uncle wasn’t the flower type. As he was in thought about fixing and redecorating the garden, he didn’t notice the man approaching him from the home. He stood there watching Ayer and then cleared his throat. Ayer spun around, a look of fear on his face.

“Who are you?” Ayer shouted. The man looked at him with a stern face. He sighed.

“You may call me, Grimm” Grimm stated, “Why are you in my late master’s estate?”

"My uncle was the late master of this estate,” Ayer said.

“So you must be Ayer then, I cannot wait to be of service, Mr. Hall” Grimm smiled pleasantly, “please follow me and I will explain your duties.” Grimm pulled out a little black notebook from his suit pocket and scribbled something in it. Ayer followed Grimm into the estate and had tea while he explained his job. He was to meet with clients and document their final wishes.

A month later, all seemed to be well, Ayer thought his work was easy, but something didn’t sit right with him. Every time Ayer would meet with a client, Grimm would pull out a black notebook. He would scribble something down and cross another thing out, but Ayer never knew what it was. Ayer sat in his office racking his brain over what it meant. Grimm walked in; Ayer decided he would ask about the notebook and Grimm would tell the truth. He wouldn’t be fooled.

“Grimm” Ayer stated sternly, “What is the black notebook you carry for?”

“It is your schedule and lists of duties for the day,” Grimm stated.

“Grimm” Ayer’s voice lowered, “I want the truth” Grimm sighed and walked towards Ayer. He pulled a chair over towards the desk and sat down.

“Promise me you will not do anything rash” Grimm pleaded. Ayer had never seen him act like this before; it surprised him, but he promised to Grimm that he wouldn't. Grimm explained that Ayer was part of something bigger than he could ever imagine.

He confessed that he wasn’t human and their real job was to collect souls for Death. He was a reaper and Ayer was his human representative. Ayer didn’t take this very well, he believed that he was to blame for all those people’s deaths. He spent many days in his room alone with his thoughts. Slowly and steadily, Grimm helped him realize he was not to blame and that Death Is the one that takes them. He just organizes their wishes. Grimm explained that he was very new to being a reaper and was just like Ayer before he died. Ayer felt relieved knowing Grimm could help him as not just a butler, but a new friend. They worked together for years and grew closer to one another. They had complications every once and a while, but always moved passed them and worked hard to do their job.