My Grim Reaper

Melanie leaned against the wall for support as she felt a sudden rush of tears hit her. He was hooking up with someone else. Grim was hooking up with her own cousin. She shook her head and through blurred vision, she could have sworn she saw Kaiti crying too. Why was she crying? How could Kaiti feel sad when she was hooking up with Melanie’s boyfriend? Melanie took in a shaky breath only to let out a sob as she made her way to her bedroom. She couldn’t stay here with Grim, not after she just caught him in the act. She heard her name being called, but she wasn’t about to respond to any of their pleas.

“Mel!” Kaiti cried as the broken hearted girlfriend pulled a duffel bag out of the closet. “Melanie, just listen to me.”

Melanie refused to look up when she heard the floor boards creak as footsteps got closer. She grabbed a handful of her clothes, including underwear, and stuffed them into the duffel bag, obviously over packing.

“Would you look at me?!” Kaiti hollered at her, making it sound like she were actually explaining herself before then. She grabbed a hold of trembling shoulders, turning them towards her to face a tear streaked face. “Mel, look—”

“Let me go, Kaiti,” Melanie said with a stern voice.

“But let me—”

“You were going to hook up with my boyfriend, stop!” she pushed away from Kaiti and hurried to the bathroom with her duffel bag.

She quickly retrieved her makeup, her pills and her bodily needs before returning to the bedroom only to leave it again. Kaiti was now hysterical, but a bitter part of her didn’t care for her. She made her way to the living room where Grim was. He sat on the couch, shirtless with his head in his hands; his head shook from side to side slowly as he mumbled something to himself. Looking the other way so he wouldn’t see her face if he be by chance looked up, she spoke with a low voice, fearing that her voice would crack if she talked any louder.

“I’m going to be staying with a friend for a little bit.”

“Melly, I’m so sorry.” with a quick glance over at him, Melanie noticed that he was getting up from the couch and approaching her.

“You’re only sorry that you got caught, Grim.”

“Please don’t go—” Grim went to cup her face, but she pushed his hand away. “I need you, Melly. I’m so sorry.”

“No, stop, please.” she found herself pawing his hands away and turning herself more to get away from him. She didn’t want to see him—she didn’t want him to see her like this.

“Please, I’m so sorry, it will never happen again—”

“Grim just stop!” she looked at him square in the eyes and regretted every moment of it. His eyes were full of hurt and tears were even threatening to roll out of them. There was so much sorrow that was bouncing through the apartment; she couldn’t stand to be in there for another second. “I’m going to be staying with Leah’s for a little while until things calm down.”

“How long are you going to be gone for?” he asked in a voice that was just above a whisper.

“Until I feel like things are resolved, Grim.”

Melanie moved fast out of the apartment since she didn’t want to listen to what they had to say—she might get caught up on their words and reconsider everything. She made her way out of the apartment building with a sad sigh as she felt more tears roll down her cheeks. She just needed to stay the hell away from Grim and Kaiti for a little bit. Everything was whirling around her and soon she found herself pulling up to Leah’s house in her Nissan Versa, feeling like a complete wreck. Melanie wasn’t even sure if she was home, but she hoped for the best. She knocked twice on the door; her knuckles felt like they were going to split open at anymore moment for the weather was getting colder.

She waited, hugging herself to keep warmth. Two minutes passed, but no answer. Her heart sunk even more. No, please answer. She knocked a second time and waited again. There still was no answer, which made Melanie want to crawl into a hole and cry even more. Today wasn’t her day. She felt like this whole day was God’s test on her. He was testing her friendship with Kaiti, and her relationship with Grim. She knew something was up when Kaiti called her in the middle of her study session with Danny, asking if she was home—but she didn’t bother with. She never thought it would be because she wanted to hook up with Melanie’s boyfriend of two years.

Melanie gave up and made her way back to the car. Leah wasn’t home; where was she to go now? Abby was out of town and all of her other friends were staying in dorms at their colleges. There was one, though…

___________________

Danny opened the door to his apartment, smiling when he saw Melanie, but frowned when he saw her tear streaked face. “Melanie, what’s wrong?”

She stared at him with wide, dry eyes. She was standing there in front of him and was debating on actually going forth with everything. Would Grim be mad at her? She wasn’t staying at Leah’s house, and she was staying at a different boy’s house. Something about this seemed so wrong about this, but it felt like it was right. “C-could I stay here for the night?”

“Yeah,” he didn’t think twice before answering her, blinking twice real fast, “sure! Come on in!” Danny opened the door wider for her and let Melanie walk into his home quietly.

She murmured a ‘thanks’ as she passed him; the door clicked behind her. His apartment was definitely smaller then her own, with the living room being probably the largest part of the apartment. She felt her duffel bag fall from her shoulder to her hand and looked around, biting her lip, and was jealous of the smallness. There was a couch in the middle of the living room that was a little too big for the set up he had going on.

Danny cleared his throat and Melanie turned around to look at him. “Uh, I’m sorry that my apartment’s a complete mess.”

She shook her head with a slight smile. “No, it’s alright. I don’t mind.” Their eyes connected, Melanie felt her cheeks fluster more. “I’m sorry for just dropping in like this, Danny.”

He shook his head with a gentle smile. “Mel, I don’t care. I’m always here for you.” They were standing in front of each other now. “What’s wrong? Why were you crying?”

She just looked at him, her bottom lip now trembling. She needed to tell him about the cheating—it just didn’t seem too right for her just to leave him in the dark of why she wanted to stay the night.

“If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine with me,” he said which made a huge weight lift off her shoulders.

Melanie gave him a slight smile, a fake one as she hugged her arms tightly to herself. “T-thank you, Danny.”

Danny’s smile grew into a grin and he turned away to walk into the kitchen, offering her food, something to drink. She kindly refused and their night started. She didn’t check her phone for the whole night, afraid that Kaiti or Grim would beg her to come home. How was she ever to forgive them? It was ten at night; Danny and Melanie were watching a movie on HBO. She couldn’t remember what it was called, but it was about Star Wars and a convention, something Danny was completely interested in and she couldn’t help but to feel draw in by it too.

Would Grim like this? The thought of Grim struck her heart; she hadn’t thought about him for most of the night, thanks to Danny and his randomness. Why would Grim cheat on her? Was she not pretty enough? Was she boring in bed? These thoughts haunted Melanie and she could feel her heart sink. The flood was going to bypass the dams she rebuilt in her eyes. She hugged her legs tighter to her chest then rested her forehead on her knees. Why didn’t Grim love her? She wasn’t as pretty as Kaiti. God, Kaiti was beautiful, and the fact that Kaiti won Prom Queen was enough proof to back it up. Of course Grim would want Kaiti; she was so skinny, so perfect. Her jeans hugged every curve of her bottom perfectly. Melanie wasn’t a threat to her.

Melanie was fat; her thighs were too chubby and her stomach wasn’t as flat as Kaiti’s. She wasn’t perfect, she was far from it. Her personality was ugly, she was ugly. Her cheeks were too rounded and her eyes were too big. She was ugly, she wasn’t perfect. That was why Grim always hit her. He was always trying to tell her to be perfect, and she was trying, but she messed up. She couldn’t be the perfect person.

Her sobs must have grown in volume, because she soon felt a pair of strong arms around her. It scared her. It reminded her of Grim. He was going to pull her hair and hit her again for running. This wasn’t happening.

“Please! No!” Melanie shrieked, slapping the person and standing when the arms fell. She looked at the person through water eyes and her heart jumped into her throat. Danny sat there with a confused look on his face as he tried to piece together everything. Why was she crying? What was he doing wrong?

She placed her hand over her mouth, another sob escaped her mouth. “I’m so sorry, Danny.” she slid back onto the couch and hugged him tightly, allowing herself to cry on his shoulder.

He wrapped his arms around her again, but loosened his grip a little. He was afraid of scaring Melanie again. “Shh, it’s alright, Mel.” he cooed, rubbing her back a little.

She didn’t say anything more. What was there to say? She didn’t want to tell him about the cheating, but she didn’t want to leave him in the dark. It’d be better if he just didn’t know so he wouldn’t question anymore. He couldn’t know about her life at home, he couldn’t know about the things that went on late at night when Grim was in a mood. Oddly, though, through her cries and the hurt she felt, Melanie felt completely safe in Danny’s arms. She felt he could fight away the demons of night and protect her from all evil. Everything felt peaceful for once. And Melanie didn’t to change that for the world.

___________________

Melanie checked her phone once more for the time; thirty minutes after noon. She took another sip of the iced mocha she ordered a few moments ago and continued to wait in the nearly motionless café. Her eyes were on the window, watching the gray day as gray people passed by on the sidewalks in a hurry. Everything just looked gray, but it was only like this after she left Danny’s apartment. She woke up in color and was amazed to find that Danny had given him the bed while he slept on the couch. She remembered crying herself to sleep in the serenity of his arms and the warmth in the embrace. The memory made her smile, which disappeared as soon as she heard the bell chime against the glass as someone opened the door. Slowly, she averted her gaze towards the sound to find Kaiti standing in the entrance, huffing as if she were out of breath.

She spotted Melanie and approached her; neither of them were smiling now. She kept her eyes on Kaiti as she sat down in the chair across the table from her. Where to start now? Melanie had texted her to meet her at the café down town, having the entire conversation planned out in her head. Now, she had no idea what to say. It was like everything she had wanted to say left and didn’t plan returning.

“Mel, look,” Kaiti said with a pleading look in her brown eyes, “I’m so sorry about yesterday.”

Melanie let out a single fake laugh. “No, you’re not.” She took a sip of the mocha again, smirking.

“Yes I am, Mel—”

“If you were truly sorry, then you wouldn’t have even thought about it,” she glared at Kaiti. “Now shut up and let me talk because that is why we are here.” Wow, when did Melanie grow a dick? She watched Kaiti bite her lip and nod. “Now, I want to get something clear, Kaiti—” she pointed a finger at her brown haired cousin, who decided to throw her hair up in a perfect messy bun “—I do not want you anywhere near Grim when I’m not around. Okay? That means if I’m not there, you stay the hell away from my boyfriend and my apartment. Grim is my boyfriend. You had your chance all through out high school since you went to the same school as him, but now he’s mine. And he’s been mine for the past two years.”

She stopped talking to really look at Kaiti now. She looked like hell in the perfection of herself. There were bags underneath her eyes and she hadn’t put make up on yet. The shirt she had on was Grim’s, Melanie knew this because it was her favorite shirt to wear around the apartment. Melanie scolded and she must have noticed that she saw the shirt because she zipped her jacket up to hide it.

“Alright, well, I’ve got to go back to college. I’m glad we had this talk, Kaiti,” Melanie said and got up from the table, gritting her teeth together.

“Grim really is sorry, Mel. And he wants you to come home.” Kaiti whispered loud enough for her to hear.

A smirk found her way on to her lips again. “Alright, did he tell you this before or after you fucked him even though you guys were caught by me?” she snatched the iced mocha up off the table. “Bye whore, get your own boyfriend next time.” And wit that, Melanie left the café with tears in her eyes.