Chapter 35 - Far From Home

Morrigan pulled into what looked like an abandoned factory where she decided to sleep for the night. She peeked out the window of the truck and searched for any signs of supernatural lingerers hanging around. She didn’t see anything but still had trouble sleeping. It was a little creepy being out there, and it dawned on her that if she came across a hollow, she wouldn’t know how to deal with it.

Well, she supposed it was just a matter of swinging her scythe through it—Death had made it look easy enough. Then again, he made every reaping look easy.

Could she even go back at this point? She had no idea how the rules worked. Maybe she was some kind of rogue-reaper-fugitive now. At the very least, she did steal Death’s truck which she imagined he wouldn’t be too happy about.

***

The next day, she found a town and grabbed a fast-food breakfast. After eating it and discarding the wrapper in front of the passenger seat, she started counting the remains of the cash her mom had given her.

“Eighty-three dollars…” she said under her breath.

Checking the GPS on her phone, she verified that she was now 623 miles from her hometown in Oregon. She did some quick mental math. 623 miles, divided by about 25 miles to the gallon, multiplied by about $3 per gallon…

She would have less than ten dollars left over just from gas alone if she decided to go back.

“Shit…” she said under her breath.

Sitting in the truck, Morrigan weighed her options. She could still go back to Death’s cabin. If she kept driving, putting even more miles between herself and Oregon and burning more gas, that would be a much more difficult option. Looking forward was a dead end as well. She could stay here in this small town, but if she didn’t want to let her body deteriorate, she’d have to keep eating. Simply existing wasn’t free; she couldn’t curl up and disappear.

She’d have to find a job, or maybe freelance as a traveling ghost hunter. Oh, how fun that would be. This wasn’t a book or a television show, though. “Morrigan Livingston: Traveling Ghost Hunter” was a title more fitting for a B-movie than her actual life. The thought almost made her chuckle, but the reality of her situation quickly sobered her.

She realized that she was stuck between two worlds—not fully belonging to either. The life of a normal teenager was now out of reach, yet she couldn’t embrace her existence as a reaper.

She reached into her bag for the diary but then saw the cell phone Death had bought for her. She paused, thought for a moment, and then dug deeper, searching for something else. She eventually found the receipt with Emma’s phone number written on it.

In the entire world there was only one person who she might call a friend, and even that friend she had spent the entirety of their relationship lying to. Morrigan thought about all the lies about family vacations, childhood stories, bragging about her parents, many made-up accomplishments, and everything else. Even the old Morrigan, when she was still alive, was really nothing more than a ghost living in the shadow of another made-up Morrigan.

The lies were even worse now, because she couldn’t tell Emma that she was, well… technically dead, and had spent the entirety of her first week of summer break harvesting souls.

“What the hell…” Morrigan muttered under her breath. The pieces of her life arranged themselves in her mind and formed a picture that was so complex and fragmented, she couldn’t even understand it herself. She stared at the receipt with Emma’s number.

She remembered their last conversation, the way Emma had looked at her with concern and unspoken questions in her eyes. Could she really reach out now? What would she even say? “Hey, Emma, just wanted to let you know I lied about losing a family member, crappy thing to do, I know. Actually, I’m the one who died and I’m reaping souls now. Oh, to top it all off I’m a car thief and, get this—I stole the Grim Reaper’s truck! Crazy right? Anyway, enough about me. How’s your summer going?”

The absurdity of it all almost made her laugh, but the laughter died in her throat. She needed someone to talk to, someone who knew the old Morrigan, or at least the old Morrigan’s fake Morrigan. Maybe Emma wouldn’t understand everything, but she might offer a sense of normalcy, a connection to the life she’d left behind.

With trembling fingers, Morrigan dialed Emma’s number. The phone rang, each tone echoing in the silence of the truck like a heartbeat. Anxiety started to build as the hang-up button tempted her. Finally, the call connected.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“Hello?” Emma’s voice, came through. Morrigan froze, not sure what to say. “Hello?” Emma said again.

“Emma, it’s me. Morrigan,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Morrigan? Hey, glad you called!” Her voice was soft and compassionate. “How are you doing?”

Morrigan swallowed. “I don’t know… I guess… not great.”

Emma’s tone shifted to one of concern. “What’s wrong, Morrigan? Everything okay?”

No, probably not; the afterlife police force, or maybe the equivalent of Reaper Internal Affairs, might currently be after me.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

Lie number one, let’s count the lies!

“Having a hard time with the funeral?”

“Yeah, it was tough.”

Lie number two!

“So who was it anyway?” Emma asked.

Morrigan exhaled, having no idea how to answer that. She felt warm tears silently run down her cheeks. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

A long silence followed, until Emma finally said, “Morrigan, you sound terrible. What’s going on? Do you need anything?”

Morrigan ran her hands through her hair, her voice cracking as she said, “I don’t know.”

“Where are you? I’ll come get you.”

“I have no idea… Wyoming maybe.”

“Wyoming? What the hell are you doing all the way out there?”

Morrigan’s voice finally broke as she sobbed and said, “Running. I’m trying to run…” It was probably the first honest thing she had ever said in her life. She sobbed on the phone, in the back of her mind she felt pathetic and useless, but the forefront of her emotions didn’t care and just let her cry.

“Oh, Morrigan. Hey, it’s alright. Just stay on the phone with me, alright?”

Morrigan tried to pull herself together and at least got herself to stop sobbing but couldn’t form a proper response.

“So… how did you get all the way out there anyway?”

Morrigan sniffed. “I stole a truck.”

There was a long silence. Eventually it was broken by Emma saying. “Wow.” Then she chuckled slightly. “Okay, look I’m here for you and I want to help. But, I have to say, that’s kind of badass Morrigan.”

Morrigan ended up laughing as she wiped her tears on the sleeve of her hoodie. “The person I stole it from won’t call the cops or anything.”

“Ah, see? That’s a plus!” Emma said. “Glass half full, right?”

Morrigan laughed, despite her head pounding from her stuffed sinuses and her eyes feeling puffy, she managed to laugh.

“Hmmm, well anyway, sounds like you’re in a bit of a pickle,” Emma said. “I think you should try to come back though. Okay?”

“Yeah… I was starting to think that too…”

“What about your parents? Do they realize where you are?”

“No… but don’t worry about them. If mom noticed I’m gone, she doesn’t care.”

“I see… I’m not sure what to say to that, but why don’t you come back and stay with me? I’ll come up with something to say to my parents to get the okay for at least a few days.”

Those words put a slight crack in her carefully built walls. There was a sudden relief that made her want to cry. Though, that came with the realization that if she did come to stay with Emma she would have to tell her the truth, and that meant unraveling all of the lies and she was afraid Emma would hate her. Not to mention she wasn’t even human anymore. Without magic hiding her appearance, wouldn’t Emma see her as a monster?

“Morrigan?” Emma asked. “You’re still there, right?”

“Yeah, I’m here.”

“Do you think you can get back to Oregon?”

“Yeah… I have enough money…” she said, her thoughts now shifting to the fact going back might be a huge mistake.

“Okay, I’ll text you my address in case you forgot. Just try to get here… but drive carefully, you know, be safe.”

“Emma… I don’t know. Thanks, but—”

“Morrigan, either you get your ass here, or I call the cops! I don’t want to get you in trouble, but I’m scared for you!”

Morrigan couldn’t help a smirk touching her lips. “Okay but… can we meet somewhere outside your house first? And I won’t get there tonight… probably tomorrow afternoon.”

“Oh, sure… Where do you want to meet?”

Morrigan paused as she thought about it then said, “I’ll decide that when I get into town.”

“Alright, just give me your word you are really coming,” Emma said.

“Yeah, I’m coming.”

“Good… now, is there anything you want to talk about? You don’t have to explain anything you don’t want to, but I’ll listen and try to help.”

“Honestly, not at the moment. There’s a lot I got to sort through, and I wouldn’t know where to begin.” As she said that, her phone beeped. She looked at it to see the battery was almost dead. “Emma, I have to go now… phones dying.”

“Alright, but call me as soon as you can. I’m going to be worried sick about you over here, so don’t make me wait!”

“Okay… thanks Emma. You don’t know how much I appreciate it.”

“Yeah, just be safe. Please.”

“I will. Bye.”

“Bye, Morrigan. See you soon.”

Morrigan hung up the phone and wiped the tears from her face.