"Hold on, Phillip," I whispered, tears blurring my vision. The rational part of my mind wrestled with my dark thoughts. Did anyone truly deserve to die, no matter how terrible they were?

"Help is coming. Just hold on." But even as I spoke, I could see the change happening. Phillip's green aura, once so vibrant and threatening, began to dim. It pulled away from his body like mist rising from a lake. I watched, transfixed, as the ethereal light coalesced into a shimmering orb above his chest.

Just like the orbs in my haunting dreams.

Phillip's lips moved, but no sound came out. His eyes locked onto mine for a brief moment, filled with a mixture of confusion, fear, and something else – regret, perhaps? Then, with a soft exhalation, the light faded from his eyes.

The green orb pulsed once, twice, and hovered over his body. Mesmerized and without thinking, I reached out, my fingers closing around the glowing sphere. My entire body hummed with... pleasure?

I recoiled, shocked by the sensation. But that feeling lingered, teasing me. My palms itched to hold it again. I reached out, cautiously touching the light. A jolt of energy surged through me, hot and cold at once. Images flashed through my mind – Phillip as a child, laughing with his parents; Phillip meeting me for the first time, hope and possessiveness warring in his heart.

Frustration bubbled up inside me as my fingers passed through the light. Then a memory hit me - the reaper I'd encountered during my car accident. The scythe.

My hand reached out, longing for that equipment almost as much as I longed to hold Phillip's soul. Suddenly, my hand disappeared right in front of my face, my palm touching a cold shaft I knew was the scythe's handle. I yanked my arm back towards me, and the scythe materialized.

I gasped, dropping the scythe on the ground. What was going on? Could I be...? Only one way to find out.

I picked up the scythe and moved it towards the glowing green orb. The light opened like a snake crawling out of a nest, wrapping around the blade.

And then it hit me.

My body warmed and hummed, and I relaxed into the ecstasy. Before I knew it, I was back in my nightmare from earlier today. In the darkness, with the skeleton man, only now he was more fleshed out. More imposing bodyguard than ghostly gatekeeper. He reached out and the soul flowed from my scythe to his fingers, and he sent the soul straight to hell.

How did I know? Not sure. Perhaps it was Phillip's blood-curdling scream.

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"Where am I? What happened?" Questions stammered out of my mouth, but the man didn't say anything.

He pointed to some steps. I followed the path and climbed, and suddenly my eyes burned from light.

A coffee shop?

There were people around. Faceless until I really looked at them. "Where am I?" I asked two women sitting at a small table tucked beneath a hanging plant.

"The meeting place," the older of the two women hummed.

"For what?" I asked, my eyes darting between the two ladies, their features becoming clearer.

"Whatever you want," was her friend's reply.

More questions flowed from my mouth, but I couldn't form the complete thoughts I wanted to express. "Am I dead?"

The younger woman shrugged. "Not sure what you call this."

I moved away from the coffee shop into the surrounding white mist, searching for something, anything. And then, after what felt like fifteen minutes, a sickly sensation filled my body, forcing me to close my eyes. When I opened them, I was back in the hospital with a lingering sense of... completion? As if I had finished a task I didn't know I had.

The sound of running footsteps jolted me back to reality. I was laying on the floor beside Phillip, his blood soaking my clothes. A team of doctors and nurses rounded the corner, alerted by my earlier cries for help. They swarmed around Phillip, their voices a chaotic mixture of medical jargon I couldn't follow.

I was gently but firmly moved aside as they worked to free Phillip from beneath the equipment. But I knew, with a certainty that chilled me to the bone, that it was too late. I had escorted his soul to the afterlife.

"Miss? Miss, are you alright?" A nurse was speaking to me, her hand on my shoulder. I blinked, trying to focus on her words. "Were you injured?"

I shook my head mutely. How could I explain what had just happened? That I had watched my ex-boyfriend die in front of me? That I had somehow reaped his soul?

"Kal!" Kat's voice cut through the chaos. She pushed her way through the crowd, her face pale with shock. "Oh my God, what happened? Are you okay?"

I let her pull me into a tight hug, burying my face in her shoulder. Over the top of her head, I could see the doctors shaking their heads, covering Phillip's body with a sheet. The sight should have devastated me, but all I felt was a strange numbness.

"He's dead," I whispered, my voice muffled against Kat's sweater. "Phillip's dead."

Kat's arms tightened around me. "I'm so sorry, Kallie."

I shook my head. "It's my fault."

"It was an accident," she said firmly. "You're not responsible, Kal. Do you hear me? This isn't your fault."

But as the reality of what had just occurred began to sink in, I wasn't so sure. Yes, Phillip's death had been an accident. But what I had done afterward – that strange, instinctive act of reaching for his departing soul – that felt deliberate. Necessary, even.

As Kat led me away from the scene, promising to handle the police statements and hospital paperwork, I couldn't shake the feeling that my life had just changed irrevocably once again. First the car crash and my miraculous survival, and now this.

What was happening to me? And more importantly, who was I becoming?

The weight of these questions pressed down on me as we left the hospital, the cool night air doing nothing to wake me from this nightmare. As Kat helped me into her car, fussing over my seatbelt like I was a child, I made a decision. I couldn't tell her about this – not yet. Not until I understood it myself.

For now, I would keep this strange new ability a secret. But as we drove away from the hospital, Phillip's last moments replaying in my mind, I knew one thing for certain: The Kal Edwards everyone knew had died today, in more ways than one.