Here Comes The Reaper

By Paige Harris

Jana has just moved in with her grandmother in a retirement community in order to help her out. She begins to notice that there is a ghoulish old man who comes to the community in a black hearse. Jana begins to realize that the man is the Grim Reaper come to life and she tries desperately to fight him off when he comes for her grandmother.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trellis Publishing
• Release date: Jul 4, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201641238

Book preview

HERE COMES THE REAPER

PAIGE HARRIS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

HERE COMES THE REAPER

CATCH THE WITCH

BLOODSHOT

THE DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND

THE SANDMAN

SCENE OF THE CRIME

HERE COMES THE REAPER

––––––––

PAIGE HARRIS

Jana kicked the empty cardboard box harder than she needed to send it flying into the corner. Flopping down on the narrow bed in her new room, she lay still and watched the ceiling fan spin. It's slightly lopsided circle blurred out as tears finally filled her eyes. It wasn’t that she minded so much that her dad had just moved across town to live with his new girlfriend - anything was better than her parents’ constant fighting over the past two years. It wasn’t so bad that her mom was spending the summer in New York to stay with an old college friend who was going through cancer treatments - maybe she’d finally snap out the depressive spiral she’d been in since the divorce. Moving in with her grandmother at Maple Pointe Active Seniors Retirement Community wasn’t the worst thing that had happened. But the combination of all three left her feeling more than a little dazed. Closing her eyes, she felt the cool liquid slip down her cheeks...

J honey, did you want to come down to the dining hall with me or eat something later? I’d understand if you wanted to stay in on your first night. Meeting everybody at once might be a little overwhelming, but they’re so excited that you’re here!

Rubbing her eyes and glancing blearily at the clock as Grammy continued to ramble from the other room, Jana realized that she had been asleep for two hours. Dinner time already? It was only 5 o’clock... but then, this was an old folk’s home. They always ate early. With a sigh, Jana rolled out of bed and assessed herself in the mirror. Mascara tracks betrayed the few tears and smudged eyeliner circled her gray eyes. A quick swipe with makeup remover and a brush through her dirty blond hair satisfied her reflection. There wasn’t even a question that she was going to be the only person under the age of 60 at this dinner, and every other one for the next two months. Perfect makeup probably wasn’t a requirement.

Dinner wasn’t a party but it wasn’t miserable. Jana actually enjoyed chatting with Robert, the older man who sat at Grammy’s table and looked at her with something akin to adoration. He told her stories of the two slobbery English bulldogs and prissy Siamese cat that he kept as a boy, and of his campaign to allow pets at Maple Pointe. Then, of course, came the questions about herself.

So how’d we get lucky enough to have a pretty young thing come stay the summer?

Jana honestly didn’t mind answering the question for what was at least the seventh time that day.

Well, I live with my mom and she’s in New York helping a friend who’s sick. She hurried on, hoping to forestall any questions about her dad. And since Grammy’s still getting over her knee surgery, it only makes sense that I come help her out for a couple months. She doesn’t need a home-care nurse anymore, just somebody to help with the housework and getting around.

That’s sweet, Miss Jana. I’ll have to tell Loretta not to mend up too quickly; don’t wanna lose you before you have to get back to school.

Robert patted her shoulder. With his big farmer’s hands and stooped shoulders, he reminded her of the great-grandfather that she’d met only a handful of times before he passed when she was 7. The resemblance made it easy to connect and Jana began to feel that Maple Pointe might be more than a place to endure.

After dinner, Jana and her grandmother spent an hour chatting in the common room with several of the other residents. They introduced her to the community birds and the generously stocked library before settling in to play euchre – the favorite evening activity. Jana had never played the game before, and two of the older ladies gleefully began the process of teaching her the rules. After fumbling her way through a couple of rounds, the exhaustion of the day began to set in and Jana decided to head back to the apartment.

On the walk home, with Grammy leaning heavily on her arm, she took the time to admire the landscaping around each strip of single story apartment homes. Something unusual nosing out from behind the building next to her grandmother’s caught her attention. It was the rear end of a black vehicle, and the shape was unmistakable.

Grammy did... did somebody die? I thought this was a community for ‘active seniors’. Jana made air quotes, glancing uneasily at the shadow cast by the hearse. Was it her imagination or did the flowers against that side of the building look pale and wilted?

No dear, we’re all still alive and kicking as far as I know. Why do you ask?

Jana looked back over her shoulder, ready to point and explain but the car was gone, leaving behind crushed grass and a feeling of foreboding.

Never mind, I guess I’m seeing things. Still, she shuddered.

***

The next two weeks went by more quickly that she had expected. Compared to the house her parents were selling, the apartment was less than impressive. Just inside the front door, a small kitchen was off to the left and the living room, just big enough for a couch and a TV, sat to the right. A short hallway led back to Grammy’s bedroom on one side and the bathroom and Jana’s bedroom – really a converted office – made up the rest of the living space. Jana didn’t mind the fact that she was sleeping on a roll-away cot and that her walls were covered in chalky cream paint rather than posters and schoolmate snapshots. Grammy’s affection flowed genuinely, silently making up for the pain of the past little while.

Helping Grammy around the house took up a good deal of her time – after all, that was the whole reason she had come to stay – but she found herself enjoying the quiet days rather than fighting boredom. During the school year, Jana had little time to enjoy her guilty pleasure of fantasy novels; now, she had several hours of free time every afternoon when Grammy either napped or played bridge. In addition to catching up on all her favorite authors, there was ample time for working on her tan and getting to know the neighbors. Robert was definitely her favorite. He was so little and so earnest about everything life, including courting Grammy, who responded with complete indifference. But nothing seemed to deter him, and the tiny table in the breakfast nook usually boasted a bouquet of wildflowers that had been left at the front door.

Another resident who made an impression on Jana was Stacia. Late one afternoon, Jana was curled in a corner of an overstuffed chair in the library when her phone vibrated, startling her from her book. Her father’s name flashed across the screen, and since Jana was alone in the library, she decided to ignore the traditional edit of silence and answer the call.

Jana’s father didn’t call very often, and every time she picked up the phone, she hoped against hope that he was calling to ask how she was, tell her he loved her. But as usual, disappointment waited. The reason for his call was to ask if she could mail him a folder of papers that he needed to finalize the divorce. He hadn’t even remembered that she had moved to Maple Pointe for the summer.

Hanging up the phone, Jana decided to indulge in a private cry; she did her best not to show her pain in front of Grammy – she worried enough as it was. But then footsteps sounded around the corner of the shelf and Jana hastily wiped her eyes and scrabbled in her pocket for a tissue. Only when a tissue presented itself before her downcast eyes did Jana look up.

Need this?

It was Stacia, one of the women who had included her in the euchre game the first night. Her blue eyes twinkled as she smiled gently. Jana waited with resignation for the trite ‘I’m sorry’s and ‘it’ll get easier.’ But they didn’t come.

Jana, it always hurts when people who are supposed to love us best are the worst at loving. It’s ok to hurt.

Despite not knowing what to say, Jana opened her mouth to reply, but Stacia had already turned to leave, placing on the arm of the chair a small tissue pack of the sort that old ladies always carry around in their pocketbooks. Of course, that prompted a second round of tears but Jana left the library feeling more okay about the whole mess than she had in a long time.

***

One beautiful, not-too-hot evening at Maple Pointe, she lay on a towel on the grass, holding her phone over her face. It served a double purpose - blocking the sun while she texted with Grace, the one friend that seemed to care how her summer was going. Suddenly, the glow around the edge of her cell phone cut out, as if somebody had hit a switch on the sun. She let it drop on her chest and craned her neck to look around.

Two people stood on the porch of her grandmother’s building. Robert chatted with somebody she’d never seen before - a hunched old man with a wide mouth and dark, sunken eyes. The shadow that he cast seemed larger than it should be and a strange feeling of weakness came over her. Her phone weighed painfully heavy on her sternum, and her arms didn’t respond when she tried to reach for it. For a brief moment, her mouth gaped, unable to draw breath, but then it passed. The stranger had followed Robert into the apartment, tapping a strangely shaped black and silver cane against the doorframe as he passed. When the door clicked shut, oxygen flooded her lungs, and she wondered if it had been real at all. Why had she been worried? She couldn’t remember... An engine turned over twice, hummed, and faded into the distance as she passed Robert’s door to help Grammy with the laundry.

Robert’s chair sat empty at the next meal. Residents didn’t often miss dinner, and when they did, everybody knew why. Maple Pointe was a small, tight-knit community, and Jana wondered why nobody commented on the absence. That night, she waited till Grammy got up to refill the sweet tea glasses on a commercial break.

I didn’t know Robert was going somewhere, she said, trying to sound casual.

Robert? Grammy looked dazed. I don’t remember... who... She shuffled to the kitchen without finishing the sentence. No flowers showed up on the porch the next morning, and when Jana pounded on the door, only silence answered. Something wasn’t right, and Jana wouldn’t let it go that easy.

***

The hearse showed up again ten days later, this time parked boldly in front of the clubhouse. This time, the little old man leaned against the hood in a dusty black suit, talking with Stacia. In addition to the gentle advice in the library, Stacia had made an impression in other ways as well. She was one of the most pleasant and easily pleased residents at Maple Pointe; a wave in passing never failed to bring a smile to her face and she treated every hug or smile like a precious gift. The sight of the strange man treating Stacia to his strange smile wrinkled Jana’s brow in concern. She knew his attention would lower her guard.

From a distance, Jana studied the man more carefully this time. He wasn’t tall, but every movement spoke of authority. The cane added to the aura of strangeness that surrounded him. When he moved it away from his leg, she was able to make out the shape of the handle. It was a small but wicked looking curve, bringing to mind a claw or something else she couldn’t place. As Jana watched, the elderly woman tipped her head and giggled, her face turned away so Jana couldn’t see. Jana edged closer, trying to catch a whiff of conversation, but all she heard was the man’s throaty chuckle, indefinitely terrifying. It took