The Day I Died

It was always odd wearing someone else’s clothes. I could tell that Dark had made it her mission to not give me anything that she would miss wearing. Maybe she’d throw this out later but right now it brought comfort to me – a woman who was supposed to have died and only had one thing to cover her body. A hospital gown and a man’s suit jacket. No shoes, there had been no time for any of that. It had seemed so important that I get out of there alive. To Orin.

I was grateful for him but I was also unsure what to think of all of this. This life was defined by a set of rules.

You are born. You live up until the date you were appointed to die then you accept death with grace or defeat. There was no such thing as interferences. This was how things were in this day and age.
I had heard mere stories of those who tried to fight their end date. None of them had made it out alive. A society like this was normal, but if what Dark had told me was true then this is what made me different. I lived I suppose.

As soon as I finished getting dressed we headed back down the stairs to meet the others. In all there were only three other people besides Orin, Emi (Orin’s girlfriend) and Dark. There were two men and one woman. The men were different than Orin in all retrospects. As I was introduced to them I was able to catch on to what made them so different.

Tim whose house this belong to was a short man with elf like ears and a small nose. He wore specs that were too large on his eyes but it seemed he needed them in order to see. He held a tongue of utter disdain but he didn’t seem to mind my presence in all. He seemed to like old vintage tees and entirely too loose jeans. At least he had a mind to wear a belt that held them up. The only thing he said to me was, “Good to meet you after all this time, Tabitha.”

It clued me in to what I was already finding out. That this was more than just a twist in my story. This was supposed to happen but I hadn’t been made aware of it. I guess that’s the fun of it all. I would have liked to know what was happening instead of feeling like I was being crushed. Orin had done that to me and yet no answer has been ushered into my existence.

The other man’s name was Y. That’s it. Just the letter Y. He was a dark skinned man (more brown and than charcoal) with wavy dark hair that fell over his eyes. He wore a button up shirt similar to Orin’s but short sleeves and shorts coated his legs just to his knees. He stood against the wall eyes closed but he merely nodded when Dark passed him with me in tow. I suppose that was all I was going to get from him for now.

The last was a woman who mirrored Dark’s looks except her hair was platinum blonde and cut like mine but a little longer. She wore brighter colors and adorned a shade of lip stain on her plump lips. Her name is Tesla, like the man from the history books. She was easy-going than all the others as she took over the conversation almost immediately after asking me to have a seat.

“You’re cuter than I remember.” She started and I shared glances with Dark who merely chuckled shortly before walking away.

“I’m so confused.” I sighed as I sat across from her on the couch while she took up a rocking chair. That was an odd sight. Well inside a house.

“I know. Orin probably didn’t say anything. He’s a very cautious person and mean at times.” I couldn’t deny that I could see that part in him. Not to me but I was a good at observing others. So far these people seemed decent at best. They were alike and that could be a good thing as long as they worked well together which I assumed they had to be able to be with together in this place. Again, I had no idea if that was true but I was only going on off of so much.

“What’s on your mind, Tabby?” She paused, reached across to pat my hand. “Sorry if you don’t like that name. Us girls like to shorten things to make it easier even when it sounds off. It’s a lot of fun.” I had never been one of those girls but I didn’t mind it as much as it should that people liked to give me a nickname right away. It wasn’t as bad as the ones I got in grade school.

“I don’t mind. Well, I suppose I’m unsure what makes me so special?” Before I could go into detail as to what I meant she seemed to figure out what I meant.

“It’s hard to say but you were destined to meet up with this. You were meant to be saved from death from Orin. He probably has a better idea but he’s closed lipped about a lot of things. We were all saved by someone. It’s what makes us who we are. The Saints.”

“The Saints?”

She nodded, “Yep. That’s what we’re called. There’s more of us but it’s hard to keep track of them. That and some of us disappear for reasons beyond our control.” She sounded very frustrated by that. I was getting the picture and I would probably bet my life on the disappearances were killings in disguise. Granted this wasn’t anything I should know about.

“I’m sorry.” I sighed.

“Think nothing of it for now.”

“I have one more question.” I had several but I figured I should overload when I just got here. I needed to understand the flow of things and I wasn’t going to get it by just asking several questions over and over again.

“Go for it.”

I bit my lip as Orion and Emi came in the room and breezed right through towards another room. It was relatively quiet after that. I turned back to Tesla who had a small smile on her mouth. “Orion disappeared. He made us both disappear. Do you all have gifts like that?”

She immediately started shaking her head. “We’re all good at things but so far none of us have anything like that. He’s special and we don’t know why. I’m a bit jealous of it really. Heavens knows I would love to disappear at will sometimes.”

Someone clearing their throats behind me caught my attention and I turned slightly to see Orion standing alone for a change. His clingy girlfriend was gone at least for the moment. “I need to talk to you for a moment.”

He shifted his face away from me after that as if it made him thoroughly uncomfortable. I shrugged my shoulder as I got to my feet after saying thank you to Tesla for talking with me. I followed Orion outside where he stood leaning against the wooden rails that rain along the majority of the house. I stood a few paces beside him deciding to make it more comfortable for him that I wouldn’t look at him.

“What’s up?” I asked him as I crossed my arms.

“Your parents are dead.” He wasn’t asking me which might confuse a lot of people. How was one to know that someone else’s parents were no longer living? I figured it had something to do with everything so I just replied with a quiet, ‘yes’.

He nodded from what I could see in my peripheral of him. “You’re like me, like us. We are chosen because of this fact. Not only this fact but it starts there. It’s a common denominator that I found a couple years back when I met Tesla.”

I don’t think he knew my entire history so I thought it would be a good idea to clue him in on this small piece of it. It was something that had happened but didn’t carry it on my sleeve. “I’m an orphan. My dad in the car crash that happened on his way to the hospital and mother in childbirth.”
He cleared his throat. “Sorry.”

I waved it off. “I didn’t know them.”

“Perhaps its better that you didn’t. Makes it less damaging.” He told me. I could hear the pain in his throat. I kept my hands to myself but I did turn to look at him fully. This was something that hurt him deeply. I should have kept my mouth shut but what was I supposed to do when I didn’t know much about my situation now.

He seemed to catch my expression and gave me what looked like a smile but I couldn’t be too sure for it was gone within an instance. “I think you’re gifted.”

I blinked at him. “Why?”

“My gift doesn’t work on everyone. I usually can only keep it for a few minutes at best. Somehow even when we were in the car you were still barely there. I had let it go once we got out the exit.”
“How can you know for sure?”

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “We’re going to have to make a trip once it’s safe.” This fact seemed to displease him completely.

As I had done with Tesla I need to ask him one more thing. “How did you save me? Your hand was crushing me.”

“I have a second ability.” He didn’t go into any more details for Emi came running out looking frantic. “He’s coming.” She shouted while doubly glaring at me as if this was somehow my fault.

This was the first time I had a good look at her but I didn’t really care to inspect her as Orion had shoved me towards the door. “Go upstairs. My sister should be joining you shortly. The third door.” He reminded me once he was satisfied that I was going to follow the instruction.

Who was the he who was coming and why was I being shunned back to that room? I just had more questions. I was already growing tired of it. I almost wanted to die again if only to stop the impending headache that had surfaced from all the action that I had played a part in the past hour.
I sighed, sitting on the bed waiting for Dark to join me.

When she did she locked the door and sat next to me.

“Might as well sleep. We’re going to be here all night.” She leaned back and turned away slightly before looking at me. “You look like shit.” She added as if that would cease me into wanting to fall asleep.

It did though, I felt like shit too.