Chapter 1

"BABY, you love mommy, right?" A lady in her mid-twenties asked her daughter as she holds her hand.

The little girl looked up with a smile on her face and nooded. Despite having dirt on her face, we can't deny the child's beauty.

"Mama, where are we going?" She asked.

Her mom smiled as her face starts to get tainted by bitter tears.

"We're going to fly, baby," The lady replied. "Do you want to come with mommy?"

The little girl nodded in excitement. "Of course, mama. I'll come with you wherever you go!"

The vast sky started pouring heavy droplets of rain and the wind blows as if it's whispering something must not last yet.

The lady and her child stood at the edge of the rooftop. She tightened her grip on her daughter's hand as she cries with the sky.

She feels so selfish. How could she include her daughter in this plan?

She closed her eyes and let her body fall from the 45th floor of the building...

...with her daughter in her arms of course.

The little girl's scream echoed in the air short before they hit the ground and the darkness consumed them.

The little girl woke up.

Her vision is a bit blurry but she feels so alive as if the fall did not happen.

'Was it just a dream? Where's my mama?' She asked at the back of her mind.

She looked around. The place is not familiar at all.

The ceiling is high and there's a huge chandelier hanging. The white wall is not even tainted with any dirt.

Her gaze landed on the intimidating man. His arms are crossed under his chest and behind him is a gigantic window.

"Come forward," He commanded.

The little girl walked toward him in a slow pace as she clasps her hands behind her.

Where is she?

The man stared at her dead eyes. "What's your name?" He asked.

"Aiofe," She replied.

"Do you want to live, Aiofe? Or do you want to fall?" He asked and then pointed on the floor. The room suddenly shakes as the floor opened. "In hell?"

Aiofe was desperately climbling up as she bears with the heat underneath her.

She body shivered when the people swimming on the lava started reaching for her and asking for help.

"Choose, little girl. Now!" The man said in an intimidating manner.

"I want to," Aiofe lifted her head and smiled. "I want to live, Sir."

In an instant, the floor closed and the man was holding her hand.

"Very well," The man said.

Aiofe's dirty clothes turned into a black dress.

"Starting now, you will live as grim reaper as a compensation for dying when it is not your time yet," He said and started pouring glowing dusts on Aiofe's head. "This is the birth of another grim reaper. You shall forget your name and everything from your past. From now on, you are going to be calle Mara. I, Azrael, bless the new grim reaper."

Her head started aching to the point that she started thinking she may lose her conciousness or she might just dies and lose her another chance to live.

When she opened her eyes, she looked at Azrael as if she knows everything she has to know.

"What's your name?" The man asked.

"Mara," She said.

"Very well. Your first order..."

Mara lead the souls of the people who are meant to cross to afterlife without any hesitation. She's doing great and she doesn't feel lonely at all.

Does grim reapers feel anything, though?

ON THE other hand, someone on the land of the living struggles about something Mara may not understand.

"Shane, are you going home?" The professor asked. "I need to talk to you about your performance."

Shane followed her to her office. The professor sat on her swivel chair and motioned Shane to sit down.

"I heard your grades are going downhill, Mr. Hoseinzade," She said and slid a piece of paper towards him. "If this continues before the end of the semester, you might just lose your scholarship."

"I'm so sorry, Ma'am. I'll do better. I just have personal problems that's just getting out of the hand, Ma'am."

"I see," She nodded. "Though, this is not the only issue I have to discuss with you, Mr. Hoseinzade," She showed him a photo. "Last night, some students captured you working as a janitor in a hospital. You know it's against the school rules."

"Ma'am, please don't expel me. I can't risk another year. I have to graduate this year," He pleas. "That's the only way I see to pay my tuition fees and exam fees, Ma'am. My mother can't work anymore."

He felt pathetic. He can't stop himself from blaming it all to his father who left them with nothing.

Shane doesn't want to live a pathetic life anymore.

"I've talked this out with the Headmaster and agreed that you just have to face a week of suspension instead of expulsion, Mr. Hoseinzade. But, you have to resign to all your part time jobs."

He walked home. He spaced on his way.

He kept on thinking, how is he going to pay the exam fee in a month? How is he going to pay the hospital bills for his dying mom? How is he going to buy something to eat?

Sometimes, he thinks of dying. Sometimes he just want to jump off the cliff to escape. He just want to end it all so that he won't feel the burden his family has put him through.

He threw his bag on the floor of his apartment and chose to fall asleep with his stomach grumbling out of hunger.

IT'S ALREADY 8 PM and the hospital is still busy. Ambulances kept on going and leaving to prolong a patient's life.

"Why must they fear death when it lead to freedom?" Mara asked herself as she walks into a room where someone's about to leave the land of the living.

A doctor is checking on her.

The moment the clock strikes at 8:07, Mara slit the woman's throat.

"Your time is up, Ma'am," She said and lead her where she's supposed to go.

The doctor and nurses kept on trying to revive the old woman. They can't though. Rachel Hoseinzade's book is already close.

SHANE'S PHONE kept on ringing. The moment he woke up his whole world crumbled.

He kept on reading the text from the hospital where his mom was confined. It says that his mom passed away at 8:07 PM.

"This can't be true," He whispered as he looks up to the wall clock. It's already 11 in the evening.

He should have been there!

He took his bag and rushed to the hospital.

That message was a lie. My mom is still alive. He thought.

Tears was gushing down his face and can't seem to stop. It's as if his eyes were a pair of broken faucets.

When he saw his mom in the morgue, lifeless and at peace, he fell into his knees.

His heart skipped a beat. Not a single word came out of his lips. Just loud, unstoppable sobs and screams.

"Mom! Wake up! Please, wake up!" He said. He embraced the corpse of his mom as tight as he can. "Mom, you can't leave me alone! You're the only one I have! Mom!"

He can't let go of his mom's body. He doesn't want to let go. What if her body just turn into ash and vanish from his sight?

No, this is probably just a dream.

"I was sleeping, right?" He asked himself. He started slapping his face. "Wake up, Shane! Your mom's waiting for you at the hospital!" He pinched himself. "Come on, wake up!"

He buried his face on his arms. Just when he already earned the money for his mom's operation, she died.

He sat on the bench outside the hospital when the staff told him he has to leave already.

Tears are still pooling on his eyes.

"Why now, mom?" He asked when the wind caressed his face.

He glanced at the ambulance which just arrived. His eyes lingered on someone wearing a cloak and holding a gigantic scythe who just jumped off the medical vehicle.

Their eyes met.

The mismatched pair of eyes stared back at his as if she was talking to his soul. Then suddenly, she vanished from his sight when she jumped at a branch of a tree.

"I'm seeing things," He mumbled. "I really feel lonely without you, mom. Why did you have to leave me this early?"

MARA IS standing at the tip of the cross at the church, watching the activities of the people tonight.

She just finished her job for this day. It is almost twelve and she hasn't come to report to Azrael.

Just when she was about to leave, the pair of melancholic grey eyes flashed through her mind.

Was he able to see her?

She sighed. Whatever, it's not like he knows her.

She suddenly vanished from where she was standing. And in an instant, she was teleported somewhere up above the clouds.

I removed her hood and started walking on the hallway. The senior grim reapers she was walking with didn't even smiled when they looked her way. Though, Mara didn't even bother look their way.

She entered Azrael's office. She reported everything that has happened, including the incident when she met someone's gaze.

She was bothered so she asked. "I know some people has the ability to see ghosts but I wasn't informed some also has the ability to see us, the superior beings. How come him and I met eye to eye?" She's so curious.

"People who are nearing their end sometimes see us, Mara," He facef Mara and handed her a piece of paper. "Here's your only order, Mara."

She politely took the paper and excused herself. While she's reading the list, she halted when she came across a familiar surname.

"Hoseinzade?" She asked herself. Didn't she just sent someone who's surname's Hoseinzade? "Shane?" Could be the woman's daughter? Was what she thought.

It was almost three in the morning when she arrived at Shane Hoseinzade's place. Since she wanted to try something, she toom it as a chance.

Could it be possible for grim reapers to knock? She did heard that her kind can touch something when the clock strikes at three in the morning because that is where they get their bodies... or soul, be active.

A small smile crept on her lips for the first time after two decades.

To her surprise, Shane opened the door.

"I see, it's you," She said. "Your time is up, Shane Hoseinzade. You lived wonderfully," She slashed her scythe on his neck but to her surprise, the scythe went through Shane and wasn't able to harm him.

"How can I help you at this hour, Miss?" He asked.

Her lips parted as she stares at his grey eyes.

Mara tried to reap his soul out of his body and she failed for the second time.

Her hood was suddenly blown by the wind.

HE WAS mesmerized by her beauty. Not even a second he thought she's after his soul.

Her eyes have different shades. The other is blue and the other is rusty. Who is she? Why is she here at this hour?

Shane gently grabbed Mara's hand. "Come in, it's cold out here. I'll prepare some milk for you," He said in a hoarse voice.

Tons of questions flooded Mara's mind. How? She doesn't know what to do. She is astounded and a little confuse.

If Shane Hoseinzade can see her, then he can probably see the gigantic scythe beside her. He probably saw how she tried to slit his throat using that weapon. And lastly, he probably know how Mara's scythe passed through him as if it doesn't even exist.

But the guy was able to pull me in. Holy mother! Was it a mistake to try knocking on someone's door at three in the morning? Especially when the person inside is dying?

The next thing Mara knew was, she's sitting on a sofa with her scythe lying on the floor. There's also a tea served in front of her. And Shane Hoseinzade is sitting across Mara, watching her.

"You know what I am," Mara stated.

Shane slowly nodded and then he averted his gaze. "And I know I am about to die," He replied. "Why didn't you take me earlier? And how was I able to touch you? All the grim reapers I have seen passed through me. How come I managed to touch you?" Shane asked.

Mara's lips parted in shock as her feet starts to freeze.

He can see them? He can see the grim reapers?

"I can't answer your questions. I, myself, doesn't even know how you were able to touch me," She crossed her legs and leaned on her knees. "You know from the very start that I am after your life, why did you invite me in?"

The young man smiled. "Maybe because I have been waiting for you."