Becoming Grim

By Ashley Tomlinson

Piper is running away from a cheating boyfriend and New York City when something terrible happens, her plane crashes. Instead of going to Heaven or even to Hell she goes to a whole other plane of existence. Now not only is she dead but she is a reaper learning the ropes to collecting souls from the handsome, Zeke. 

Everything is going great until Piper sees something that she's not supposed to see. Now she is torn between keeping it to herself or putting her and everyone she's come to care for in danger. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ashley Tomlinson
• Release date: Aug 4, 2019
• ISBN: 9781948661300

Book preview

This book is for Clark, Michelle, and Kelley. Thank you for always believing in me and picking me up when I really needed you.

Death is a Dialogue between, The Spirit and the Dust.

-Emily Dickinson

We don't beat the reaper by living longer, we beat the reaper by living well and living fully.

-Randy Pausch

You can be a king or a street sweeper, but everyone dances with the Grim Reaper.

-Robert Alton Harris

Chapter 1

So, here I am, about to board a plane to my parents' house. About to board a plane, to hear I told you so and I told you not to move in with him a million and one times. I try not to groan out loud again because people have already started looking at me like a set of arms grows from my head.

I told myself so many times that if something happened between Toby and me, I would move somewhere else in New York. I could find plenty of places, and plenty of people were looking for roommates. Hell, I could have kicked his sorry, cheating ass out to move in with the whore next door. Instead, here I am with all my belongings at my side, running away. Running to my parents, who have never been supportive of my decisions, ever. How messed up is that?

The flight attendant started boarding first class ten minutes ago, and they are still boarding now. I roll my eyes, waiting as patiently as I can with everyone else too broke to buy a first-class ticket. My jacket slips from my hands as I wait; when I bend to pick it up, the woman beside me jerks to the side like I have a contagious disease. Sorry, I mutter to her, not caring if she hears me.

I check my phone for the hundredth time since the passengers started boarding, seeing that only two minutes have passed since the last time I checked. Also, a text from my little sister Darby blinks at me. Why are you coming back here? I thought once you got away from this hellhole you were never coming back. What happened? Way too much to tell her over a text message is what happened.

I can still leave. I can pick up all of my things and walk out. Get back to my apartment and kick Toby out on his ass. In fact, I would very much love to see him squirm to find his footing again. No, you are not your mother, I think.

My phone rings loudly as the nice lady at the desk calls for business class to begin boarding. Before I can stop it, a loud string of curse words pours out of my mouth when I see Toby’s name on my caller ID. Sorry, I say, looking around at all the angry looks and parents covering children’s ears. Oh, like they’ve never heard it before, I snap at one woman.

Hello, I say, stepping away from everyone, hearing a few grunts from some parents as I pass by.

Piper, don’t leave. We can talk about this, his whiny voice rings through my phone, making me grit my teeth so hard I worry I may break my jaw or at least a few teeth.

Are you freaking kidding me? Toby, I just saw you with your dick in our neighbor. There’s nothing more to talk about, I snap as quietly as I can. I just spent the last four hours trying to get that image out of my head, and now it’s back in full force. I had seen a whole lot more of my former neighbor, Jade, than I ever cared to see.

It’s not like that, Piper.

It’s not like that? Really? Then what is it like?

It was just one time. It’ll never happen again. I swear. There was a girlish giggle in the background.

I turn to see that I need to start boarding the plane, so I need to speed this up. You can do whatever you want because we’re done. Especially since I know she’s still there. I can hear her laughing, you stupid asshat.

She’s leaving, Piper. Please come back. I can’t live without you. We’ve been together since high school. His voice holds a pleading note, but I push away any thoughts of pity I feel for him.

Yeah, well, you should have thought of that before you fucked Jade.

Piper, please—

I turn off the phone and run toward the gate. I can’t believe the lines he just gave me. Did he pick up a book on the worst lines ever before calling me? No, that would require him to know how to read. I hope he catches some disease that makes his dick fall off. It would serve him right. There are still a few people ahead of me as I take out my boarding pass and prepare to return to Hell.

THE ONLY AVAILABLE seat when I bought my ticket was a middle seat, in the middle of the plane, but I didn’t hesitate. I wish I had hesitated a little because I’m sitting in between a mom with a toddler who started screaming at the top of its lungs the moment they boarded the plane and a very large man with a nasty cough.

I put in my earbuds and crank up the volume on my iPod until my ears physically hurt. The mom beside me gives me a dirty look at the music blaring through my ears, but I can’t take that screaming child another minute.

The flight attendant tells everyone that takeoff would take a little longer because there was a problem with something, but we shouldn’t worry—they would get it fixed. I hear the mom beside me mutter how they should have done that before they boarded, and I agree but not enough to say so. Every song that plays through my iPod reminds me of either Toby or the relationship we had. Tears fill my eyes as I think about him, and I shake my head to try to rid myself of all thoughts of Toby.

I feel a little jerk as the plane finally starts moving backward. My eyes move through the cabin at everyone else in their seats. Some are already sleeping; how they sleep through this banshee beside me I’ll never know. A couple of people read to themselves. Others are on their tablets or phones, waiting for the signal to turn them off.

A burst of something cold and wet hits me on my chest, shocking me back to where I was. I squeal as the little brat stops screaming and starts laughing at what he just did. Water covers me from my chest to my lap, some dripping down to my socks. I am so sorry, the mom says, trying to dig through her things for a blanket to help me dry off.

People from all over shoot looks at the commotion. The man with the nasty cough tries to get up so I can rise to get my jacket and maybe reach the bathroom really quick. I’m sorry, sir, but please stay seated, says a woman’s voice from across the cabin. Perfect, I mutter as I use napkins to dab at some of the spots on my skin. Well, at least it’s just water.

I’m sorry. I can’t believe he did that. He’s usually so well-behaved.

It’s okay, accidents happen, I say as nicely as I can in this situation. I glare at the kid when the mom looks away because I’m not sure it was an accident. He puts his fist in his mouth, drooling all over it while watching me with his giant blue eyes.

When the plane starts to take off, the mom puts a sippy cup in his mouth to try to stop the screaming that’s going to come anyway. The takeoff is really rough, and once in the air, the plane rocks from side to side and bounces. It isn’t particularly windy today, so the turbulence confuses me. I lean over as much as I can toward the mom at the window. The ground is so far down now that I can scarcely make out some of the buildings.

The plane doesn’t get any smoother the higher we get, making a few people shriek and some children start to cry. I yank my headphones out to hear if the captain says anything, but all I hear is screaming and crying. The woman beside me has eyes as big as her screaming child’s, and tears fill hers as well.

Some people talk about accidents happening so fast that they don’t remember it. Well, they’re crazy because once it’s clear that we are about to crash, everything seems to slow down. At least to me it does. My life doesn’t flash before my eyes, and I don’t see some bright white light. I see everything that happens around me. I see the mom beside me clutching her little boy as tightly as she can. The man on the other side of me screams at the top of his lungs, watching as the plane goes down.

Some people did not buckle their seat belts, so they flop all around the cabin, trying to grab on to anything they can to stabilize themselves. Bags, phones, tablets, pillows, blankets, and anything else people didn’t secure fly around the plane. Another thing that happens is the silence. It is as if I went deaf. I see everyone screaming, but I don’t hear it. It is silent.

In all this craziness, I see something that I will never be able to explain to anyone. I look at the area ahead of me, which now faces toward the earth that it hurtles to. A guy stands in the middle of the aisle, staring at me. How he isn’t falling I’ll never know, but he just stands there, glued to his spot in front of me. He has on a gray beanie with his brown hair curled over the side of it, and his face is still as he watches me. His green eyes look like they are glowing. Our eyes are locked as the earth comes up to meet us.

When the plane hits, I close my eyes, not wanting to see my own death coming. I hear no other sound. Everything is just still and dark. For a brief moment, I feel pain before that too goes away. Then there is just nothing. 

Chapter 2

Iopen my eyes slowly . Everything is a bright white. In fact, that is the only color I can see. Am I dead? I try to move but can't. My body physically can't move. Panic swells in my chest as I try to feel any part of my body but can't. Am I paralyzed? Then voices reach me, but I recognize none of them. I blink a few times and start to see people ahead of me.

I finally find the strength and ability to move my neck enough to look in their direction. Five people are standing with their backs to me. They seem really tall at first, but it's only because I realize I'm on the floor. Wait, why the hell am I on the floor? One of the people starts to move, but the others stop him or her.

Two of the people are in all white, and two are in all black. Well, three are in black because one is in a full-body cloak, like one people put on for Halloween. Some of their words finally start to make it to me. She belongs with us. She hasn't done anything worth going to Hell for.

Hell? Oh shit, I am dead.

She hasn't done anything good enough for Heaven either. We should flip a coin like we always do in cases like this or just send her to Purgatory. That's always fun.

I have to get out of here. Where am I supposed to go if I'm dead? Why am I so calm if I just found out I'm dead? Oh right, because I'm freaking dead. Why would I panic now? Kind of too late for that. I wish I could see my mom right now so I can tell her to eat a cheeseburger because all the salads in the world wouldn't stop her from ending up in this position.

She is coming with me, the cloaked figure says in a voice so deep I wonder if he is the devil himself. The others start to protest, but the figure lifts his arm, dismissing them before they have a chance to open their mouths. I have my reasons. Reasons that I do not care to speak to any of you about. If your bosses have a problem with this, then they can find me themselves, he says, waving his hand in front of them. Then they are gone. I mean, they were just there one second and gone the next.

Maybe I'm dreaming.

Any thought I might be dreaming leaves when the cloaked figure stands above me, reaching toward me with a hand that I cannot see. I want to scream, but the only thing I do is close my eyes and give into the darkness that calls to me, claiming me.

WAKING UP IN AN UNFAMILIAR room is probably one of the worst feelings in the world. Especially when it feels like you have a hangover from Hell. Speaking of Hell, is that where I am? No, it’s much too pleasant in this room to be Hell, right? Moving my head from side to side hurts something fierce, but I push myself up anyway. I’m on a bed, a very comfortable bed that feels like I’m lying on a cloud. The sheets are a dark gray, along with the walls and curtains. There aren’t any decorations on any of the walls or furniture. It looks like a nice guest room. The guest rooms in my parents' house are filled with ugly floral print and potpourri that no one finds appealing except my mom and her snooty friends.

The first thing I notice is that I’m wearing the same clothes that I wore on the airplane, a black tank top with a glittery white skull and gray skinny jeans. Wait, the airplane. Was that a dream? Where the hell am I? As I’m about to spring out of bed, the door bursts open, and in walks a freak in a black cloak.

Oh God, all those times my mom warned me about stranger danger and sex slavery, and I just laughed at her. I push myself farther back until my back collides with the wall behind me. I’m not sure if that’s any safer, but I feel better.

Relax, the cloaked freak says in the deepest voice I have ever heard. Seriously, the most demonic thing I have ever heard.

Relax? Seriously, who the fuc—

Don’t use that language in this house, he snaps, shutting me up quickly. I fight to stop a whimper, but it escapes my mouth. I know you are frightened, but I do not tolerate foul language. Understand?

Y-yes, I