She opened her eyes again, slowly. To her surprise, there was no accident. Stunned, she saw the cars driving from one side to another, passing through the old woman. It looked like a good quality hologram. The most disconcerting thing was that the drivers didn't seem to see her, there, standing in the middle of the street.
The old woman turned in the middle of the lane as another car passed through and said. "You better take the crosswalk. We don't want you to die before your time, right? Ha ha ha!"
Emily kept thinking. "Who am I talking to, if no one else sees her? People must think I'm crazy. Am I really talking to the Grim Reaper? The old woman in the park who talked to me when I was little, was the Grim Reaper?"
The old woman added without looking back. "They can't see me, child. Only those who are going to die can. Are you coming or not?"
Emily understood. "Yes. It's obvious she reads my thoughts! Is that why she knows so much about me or is it that she's been following me all my life?" She felt ridiculous at the last idea. "I'm not important enough to be followed by the Grim Reaper." Emily headed for the crosswalk like an automaton, lost in those thoughts and many more. Dazed by that headache that was beginning to subside. Then, she looked at both sides of the street and when she could, she crossed with some difficulty.
The old woman didn't open the door of the building. She just walked through it. At that moment, Emily wasn't even surprised. She simply approached the door and tried to see inside through the tiny crack through which she could now see a lot of light. Resigned, she decided to push the door. She didn't have to use as much force as she had hoped, nor was it as quiet as she would like.
The door creaked loudly enough that everyone inside knew she was entering without asking permission first. Without crossing the threshold, she looked in, but no one was there. Just old furniture in a huge and very old lobby. Just in case there was someone besides than that gloomy old woman in the adjoining rooms, she asked. "Hello?" Then, she whispered almost inaudibly. "Better late than never, Mom would say calling me rude."
The old woman's voice answered within a few seconds. "Who do you think is going to answer you? Satan?"
Emily's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as she stepped back. "Is here?
The old woman answered quickly and annoyed. "Come in, idiot!" Emily took so long to get in through that huge door, that the old woman came out from wherever she was to check if she had left. Angry, she reminded her. "I won’t tell you again that I'm a busy person.” She ended up almost shouting. “Very busy" The old woman started walking toward a huge hallway on the opposite side of the front door. A tremendously large and dark hallway. With a finger pointing behind Emily’s back, she indicated. "If you want to live follow me. Otherwise, get the hell out of here."
Spurred on by her last words, Emily followed her, without asking whether or not she should close the door. Just as she had left it behind, and was about to ask, the door slammed shut with a loud bang. After that, darkness followed. Emily, with her eyes closed, screamed in panic for at least three interminable seconds.
By the time she realized it, she could hear the laughter of the other students in her class. Mostly from the obnoxious Beth and her group of jackals. When she opened her eyes, saw that she was surrounded by some students from her class, and some from other classes as well. She disliked most of them. Emily lowered her head with a completely flushed face, courtesy of her inseparable friend, Shame.
The old woman still standing next to her, whispered."I warned you not to scream, didn't I?"
Emily was terribly uncomfortable, though she breathed with some relief at not seeing the floor covered with naked pictures of herself. "What are they all doing here?" Then, trying to put things together, she understood. "Are we all going to die on the bus? Wait a minute! I don't see our usual driver!".
Beth whispered loud enough for everyone to hear. "She's pathetic! Did you see how she was screaming?!"
The old woman looked at Beth with narrowed eyes and asked. "Beth, my dear! Would you like to illustrate to all of us how you almost shit stained your panties when the door slammed shut and everything went dark?"
There was a faint chuckle that lingered for a few seconds. But it disappeared as soon as Beth found its source. Her hateful face was such, that it seemed like she could kill anyone she looked at. Even the old woman.
With a quick glance, Emily tried to see all the present and the room itself. It seemed that the place had no walls. Only the floor was visible. An immense floor without limits and a darkness that covered everything the farther away. She understood that everyone arrived as she had done. Spontaneously. "It's amazing how everyone got here, most of them live miles away from this street."
She noticed that Richard was looking at her and blushed deeply. "OMG! There he is! Looking at me! I hope he wasn't embarrassed of my scream”. She also saw Ian. That made her feel a little safer. "I don't think this place exists as such. I think I'm dreaming or something like the visions from before. There's no way we're all here if each of us went home on our own way."
Beth looked at her and whispered with Rebecca. Emily got nervous and walked until she was very close to Ian. Seeing her so close to him, Beth shut up so fast it was as if someone had turned her off. But her hatred seemed to grow by every second. Emily loved the "I'm safe from all harm" effect Ian was causing on everyone. But Ian didn't turn or look at her. She really didn't like that, but she knew it was her punishment for simply never talking to him.
For a long time a murmur could be heard among the groups that had formed. The typical high school ones. Beth, tired of putting up with it, began to show off her particular arrogance and addressed the old woman. "What's this deal you're going to offer us, old woman?" The strange woman didn't even give her a glance. That only infuriated Beth more. She looked like she was going to levitate with so much pent up rage.
The old woman addressed everyone. "As you already know, tomorrow you’re going to die." A murmur arose, angering the old woman. "Shut the fuck up! Have I told you something new?" She was curt. So much so, that nothing else was heard. "Many more than those present here are going to die. But, either they weren't worth it, didn't meet my requirements or just didn't care about me. That doesn't matter. What matters is what you are going to do from now on."
The old woman walked confidently, as if she was selling some big product. "You all know fantasy worlds from books, comics, manga, movies or video games, right?".
Someone answered without understanding that it was a rhetorical question and Beth laughed whispering to her friends. “He's as silly as RedCow".
Laughter was heard. Beth seemed to relax teasing others, but she noticed that she wasn't going to get away with it so easily when she heard the old woman clearing her throat. "Beth?"
Beth replied while still laughing. "Yes?"
Old woman's voice gradually changed to one from beyond the grave. “You’re going to find out soon enough, that there's nothing that makes you the special being you think you are. You’re going to find out with much despair and, you are going to cry a lot, my dear." Many were terrified, but Beth paled.
The old woman continued for at least a few seconds in that tone, looking exclusively at Beth and her pack."I thought we’d made clear who you were talking to, but I see some of you just fell out from the cradle at birth and stayed that way, dumb as hell." The old woman made a long pause and continued where she had left off. "As I was saying. You all know about those adventures where you appear in another world. That’s what I offer you. You decided not to die tomorrow in this world to live in another world where you will go very soon.
Nina, one of Beth's friends, displayed her also distinctive arrogance, without worrying that it clearly displeased the old woman. "But if we get out of here and don't go on tomorrow's excursion, we'll live. Checkmate, old woman!".
Nina laughed to herself for a few seconds while the old woman mumbled. "How can she be so stupid without being made fun of by the whole high school?". Finally the old woman smiled. "No, you knucklehead! No one escapes their fate. If you managed to get out from here, which is highly unlikely. You wouldn't remember anything that happened today afternoon since I stood in front of you in the street. As I said, if you manage to get out from here. But…"
She began to slowly transform into a Grim Reaper again, this time without flickering lights. Only some kind of black mist that seemed to be emerging from her. Gradually, she grew quite bigger and her face darkened as the flesh fell off in chunks, as if it was rapidly rotting. Within seconds, was just a fleshless skull. Almost everyone backed away in terror and some even screamed.
She resumed her eerily creepy voice and added. "You took the deal as soon as the front door closed. Remember? I offered you to leave and, the fact is, some of you did." She paused ominously. "None of you, except one, asked me about the fine print of this irrevocable agreement. I was pleasantly surprised that even knowing it, still accepted without hesitation."The old woman finished as she burst out laughing without looking at anyone in particular. Curiously, some of those who weren't completely terrified looked at whoever was next to them to see if anyone would take credit for it. But no one did.
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