"Good morning." Julian greeted her when she passed by him to get to her locker. She acknowledged his greeting with a small nod of her head, but she didn't stop. She felt his eyes follow her movements even if she had her back turned from him. She doesn't need to look for her to know, it is just her inherent ability that tells her if anyone is watching.

"I can't believe her! Every girl is vying for his attention and yet she treats him like he's nothing."

"She's not even beautiful."

"What a bitch."

"Who does she think she is?"

"Maybe she doesn't swing that way? She kept on ignoring Julian every time."

She clenched her jaw to stop herself from lashing out. She tuned out the world around her and turned the combination of her locker to dump some of the things she doesn't need. She has no need of those books, but she has to carry it with her to put up the pretense. She can recite the whole damned thing with her eyes closed.

The bell rang, signaling the start of the first period. She slammed her locker door shut and hitched her backpack higher on her left shoulder. She eyed the group of girls who were bashing her earlier. Her eyes gleamed wickedly, a small smile crept on one corner of her lips. She turned her back on them, but her senses were on alert. When she felt them move to get to class, she flicked her index finger.

She sighed with satisfaction while walking away when she heard a series of sounds of something hitting the floor followed by moans of pain. She wondered if it would make a difference on how painful the fall were had she used her middle finger instead? She snickered, those girls are still wet on the ears.

She didn't flinch when he sat next to her in class. It was like as if he's not there. He tried poking her arm with his pencil, but the most he got was a cold sidelong glance from her. He decided to be her shadow today. He sat next to her at lunch, followed her into gym class, sat next to her on the bus and followed behind her when they got off their stop. She didn't say a word to him, and he to her. It was already starting to get dark.

He was whistling a tune under his breath with his head bowed when she suddenly halted. He just came into his senses when he bumped into her and he felt her grab his arm. His eyes widened upon the contact of her hand on his skin, but he didn't have the luxury of reveling about the feeling because he can see how tensed her delicate shoulders had become. She stood in front of him stiffly, like a canary in posed to flight, lest the cat decided to grab her.

"Why did you stop?" He asked. She turned to him and put her index finger on her lips, telling him to keep quiet. Then she turned to look around them, as if looking for something.

"Duck!" She said in a half whisper, her voice a little grave in his hearing. Julian wasn't prepared, but he felt her push his nape down. He felt rather than saw something swooped down on them the moment his body flattened on the ground. He started coughing when he got a whiff of the thing which attacked them.

Before he could process what was happening, she was already on her feet. Her backpack was dropped on the ground and now she's wielding a wicked looking scythe from God knows where. What is she? His mind screamed for him to get up and start running for his life because there's something not right, but he can't get his self to do what his mind was telling him.

Frozen with fear and eyes blurred with tears from coughing incessantly, he helplessly watched her slash the incorporeal black thing which came to attack them. Her scythe was heavy looking so it was a wonder how she can wield that as if it weighs nothing with that delicate frame of hers. "He's mine!" The "thing" screamed at her when she gave it a series of slashes. It was trying to get past her to get him, but she stood there fighting the frightening black miasma.

"Since when? He's mine, every living soul in this area is mine. The sooner you get that into your head the better for all of us. You really want to do this?" She sneered.

"He's supposed to be dead! He's mine!" The black miasma insisted.

"No. Not if I can help it. His death was my responsibility. I made a deal with the Moirai. You have no business here because this is my turf!"

"No matter! Give him to me!"

"I beg you brother, leave." Her voice became soft, pleading. The miasma looked at her with its red eyes burning with hate.

"The last thing I needed from you is your pity! You're not supposed to exist, you're an anomaly!" It screamed in anger and attacked her again.

"Iudicose!" She called loudly. Julian saw her weapon took into a new form. Her scythe gleamed with silver light before settling down with a solid, chrome look. It looked so sharp, gone was the bulky appearance it had earlier. In one swipe, the black miasma which was descending on her was caught in the motion. It emitted an ear-splitting scream which made Julian's head throb in pain before it vanished like smoke.

She knelt beside him and helped him up. He weighed nothing for her. He's still coughing so she cupped his face in her hands and blew on his face. She felt his breathing started to get even until such time the coughing bout subsided and his head cleared.

"What happened? What are you?" He asked her.

"Let's go find somewhere to sit." She helped him up and they started walking. They ended at the children's park. She found a bench and sat down with Julian beside her.

"Start talking." Julian demanded as soon as he was settled. She noticed he's still a little shaken but he put up a brave front.

"I'm not human. I am a reaper." She said, looking at him in the eyes trying to gauge his reaction. The only reaction he allowed her to see was the slight widening of his eyes and his lips forming a thin line. "I was sent here two years ago when you were fifteen. I first saw you here sitting on that slide over there. You had a nasty fall and hit your head. You were hospitalized and was in a coma for more than three months."

"I remember that."

"I am a reaper and you know what that means right?" She asked.

"I think your job is to send souls to the other side?"

"Yes. The thing was, I failed. I've broken protocols."

"What protocols? I heard earlier you told that thing my death was your responsibility?"

"I was sent here to fetch you Julian, two years ago you were supposed to die. You shouldn't have recovered from your coma had I not disrupt the balance." She confessed, her eyes never leaving his.

"What?"

"I made a deal with the Moirai or the Fates as commonly known, I broke the age-old protocols of reapers by saving you. We were not supposed to meddle because we stand on the middle ground. What I did was a big no. Throw in the fact that I am an anomaly among my kind."

"Anomaly?"

"All reapers were created, not born. I'm the first reaper created as a woman."

"Is that a bad thing?" He asked.

"It's not because I'm a woman, but because I'm the only reaper who came into being with human emotions. Having emotions could affect everything I do, imagine the impact in my dealings with being a reaper."

"That means you can feel what normal humans do right?" She nodded her head in answer. "And here I thought you're made of stone." A small smile played on his lips.

"Why aren't you afraid of me? I can kill you in a heartbeat."

"Then why am I still alive? Why did you save me? What bargain have you made with the Moirai to keep me breathing?" He got closer to where she's sitting.

"You're too close!" She pushed him away but he caught her hand in his and held tight.

"Answer me. Why? Why took great lengths to keep me safe?"

"I don't know!"

"Could it be that you have fallen in love with me the very first time you saw me? I kept having dreams about this certain woman since that accident, each night without fail. And guess what? Though I can't see her face, her voice sounds like yours. That's why I kept following you around, trying to have you talk to me."

"Don't you think you're getting ahead of yourself?" She countered. He shook his head and pinched her cheek before letting go of her hands.

"What was the deal with the Moirai, Arisa?" For the first time since they've met, he called her by her name. She didn't answer, the deal was something she prefer to keep to herself.

"Arisa?"

"You don't need to know."

"I have the right to know! It was my life you bargained for!"

"Me."

"What? What do you mean?"

"A soul for a soul. I am a pure soul, I have no physical being so when I cease to exist I'd just disappear. Unlike humans, when your physical body dies you still have souls. You get to live again another lifetime. My time is up Julian, the coming of that black miasma is the indication that my powers are rapidly declining. Having me weak makes all the souls in this area vulnerable to attacks by vagabond reapers. A new reaper should take over." She confessed, her thumbs twirling around each other on her lap.

"No! I can't let you go! I've loved you for too long." He grabbed her in a hug.

"The balance should be corrected Julian." She felt a big lump on her throat.

"I can't Arisa." His voice grew hoarse. Then she felt his warm tears on her shoulder. She disentangled herself from his embraced and took his face on her hands. She kissed him fully on the lips, tasting the salt in his tears. Julian kissed her back, taking her again in his arms.

"I love you. Live for the both of us." Arisa whispered as her form gradually disintegrated in the air until such time all Julian felt was the wind and the void that settled in his chest.

It has been months after Arisa left, he's still trying to get his life back in order. He missed her terribly yet he can't do something about it. He's been sitting in the same bench where they last held each other for the past hour or so after he got off from his part time job at the convenience store, watching an old married couple spend the last remaining light of the day together.

The wind blew, sending chills which made him draw his jacket closer to his body. It reminds him of Arisa. Their time was so fleeting it was so unfair. But no matter how many times he cursed the heavens, there's no changing the fact that she's gone.

He was getting ready to leave when a voice from behind him stopped him. "Good evening."

Julian froze. Could it be? He whipped around to make sure. Tears welled in his eyes when he saw who have spoken, it was as if he's looking at a mirage.

"We meet again." Arisa's smile rivaled that of an angel, too beautiful for words.