Chapter Seventeen: Happy Birthday Mom

GRIFFIN'S POV

I woke up full of dread. I knew this day was coming for a while, but I didn't want to acknowledge it. Now that it had arrived, there was no ignoring it now. As much as I didn't want to, I knew I was going to miss school. I didn't have the right mentality to go through an entire day. Dealing with high schoolers and their petty drama took a lot of energy, which was exactly what I didn't have. Mackenzie had Indie and Kira to protect her for the day.

I spent half an hour staring at my ceiling, my mind racing with thoughts. My mind went back to the day, remembering every single detail. The day the door opened and our lives were changed forever. I knew no matter how bad I was, Dad was much worse.

Today was my mom's "birthday".

She died when I was eleven. A man dressed in black showed up at the door. Dad told me to go to my room, but curiosity got the best of me and I hid behind the couch to hear what he had to say. His voice was monotone and plain. There wasn't a drop of emotion in it which made his words sound insincere.

"I regret to inform you that unfortunately, your wife, Grace Ryder, did not survive the surgery. She died-"

That's the last thing I remembered hearing before I ran up to the man, full of anger. I thought he was lying and trying to split our family apart. Reapers don't die because we were never born in the first place. Birth gives you an expiration date and that defeated our purpose. So, for a random man to tell me that my mom had died seemed impossible to me.

"Liar!" I screamed at him.

He frowned at me, "This must be your son. Perhaps you should-"

Anger filled my small figure. He wasn't listening to me. I turned around to my dad. His face was blank. I called his name, but he didn't move. I decided to turn back to the man, still not believing a word he said.

I was a fool.

Though, some part of me knew he wasn't lying. That my mom had died. I just didn't want to believe him. She was too young and full of life. She was a Reaper and shouldn't have died. Above all else, she was my mom. My eleven-year-old mind couldn't imagine a world without her.

"You're lying! My mom isn't dead!" I roared.

The man sighed and kneeled down to my level, "I understand this isn't easy to-"

I was tired of hearing his monotone voice, "Go away!" When he didn't move, I shoved him. He still didn't budge, so I did it again.

After the fifth time, I felt my dad's hands on my shoulders, pulling me back. I looked up at him, expecting him to confirm what I thought knew: mom was coming home soon. I just knew he'd kneel down and tell me everything was going to be okay like he always did. Instead, I was met with a tear streaked face and silence. His face was still blank, but tears were staining his cheeks. The man must've taken the hint because he left. The door shut behind him and I threw myself into my dad's arms, finally facing the truth.

My mom was never coming back.

While I wailed, he was silent, but his shoulders shook. He held onto me tightly like I'd disappear if he let go. We stayed like that for what felt like years. From that day on, it was just dad and me. For a year after that, I spoke to no one but my father. No one else mattered to me but him. And even he didn't speak much. Of course, we both opened up to the world again. He's a member of the council, he had to. Even so, on her birthday, the house always grew quiet.

I finally rolled out of bed, reluctantly starting my day. I caught a glimpse of my reflection and sighed. I looked horrible. It probably had to do with the fact that I hardly slept last night. I couldn't bring myself to relax enough to sleep. Not only because it was my mother's birthday, but because of Mackenzie. She still had marks on her wrists from the day she was attacked.

My job as a Reaper is to protect her from harm and that was the exact opposite of what I did. The guilt was eating me alive. No matter how many times she told me it wasn't my fault, that I was the hero, I couldn't bring myself to believe her. She flinched when her best friend touched her and looked terrified. I could've prevented that. I wouldn't have had to save her if I had gotten there sooner. But I didn't.

I made her cry.

I had embarrassed her in front of her class. I should've paid more attention to the signs she showed. She wasn't being arrogant, she was trying to avoid embarrassment, which I had caused anyway. If I hadn't done that, she wouldn't have ended up in that situation with Micah. Because of that, I knew I wasn't innocent.

I got dressed in a gray short-sleeved button-up and black jeans. We always visited her grave on her birthday. Usually at different times in the day. Dad preferred going at night while I preferred the morning. I slipped into my boots and pulled on a black coat and headed to her grave.

Though Reapers don't die, the Reaper world still had a cemetery. Every Reaper that moved on had a headstone. My mother was the only Reaper known to man who was actually buried. Her funeral was large. She had a lasting impact on everyone and Reapers from everywhere came to pay their respects. My grandparents had already made the choice to move on, so the only family there was dad and me.

I took a seat next to the headstone, staring at the piece of rock. I remembered so many things about her, yet they all seemed like one distant memory. I hated the aftershock of her death. Once word had gotten around, my classmates had all came rushing to me. They either try to sympathize with me or pity me. What bothered me most was that no one could truly sympathize with me. Not a single person went through what I did.

They all talked about their family members moving on, but that wasn't the case. My mother didn't get to live a long and fulfilling life then move on when she wanted. Her life was cut short. They all got to grow up with their mothers. I, on the other hand, only grew up with my father. Because of this, I grew up to be the perfect prodigy. I spent all of my time focusing on pursuing and perfecting multiple hobbies.

Since my father is in the council, I was raised knowing everything about being the perfect Reaper. In school, I heard all of my professors talk about how I'd get a spot on the council without a doubt. When I got my first case, I thought I'd have everything under control. After all, I was told for the past fours years I was excelling at everything. Then, I got assigned to an eighty-nine-year-old woman. Her name was Justine Peru. I'll never forget that woman.

I explained who I was and my job. She understood and everything began falling apart for me. I only knew my end goal. I didn't know what to do in the meantime. Since I stopped talking to people, my social skills were lacking. It was the first time I wasn't good at something and I was beyond disappointed in myself.

However, Justine didn't give up on me. She helped me understand the world and how to carry on a real conversation. She taught me that it was okay not to be good at everything, though I still felt the need to be. And for the first time ever, I found someone able to sympathize with me. She had lost both of her parents and husband. I didn't feel like the sore thumb anymore. I felt normal again.

She helped me to finally mourn my mother and move forward. She left the world in peace, wishing me luck on my way. Justine was a sweet woman and her family loved her very much. I attended the funeral and noticed how different it was from my mother's. People cried and her son spoke. My mother's funeral was full of people who were more curious about the situation than sad. That day, I realized how different our worlds were.

"Happy birthday, Mom," I finally spoke. "I hope you're celebrating and happy. I miss you. I know I tell you that every year, but it's not any less true. I love you, mom."

I glanced down at the watch she gave me. It was hers when she was a child and she gave it to me to help me learn to tell time. There was nothing I cherished more than the watch. I hated the thought of losing it because it would be like I lost my mom. I may have lost her physically, but the watch was the last memory I had to myself.

She placed the watch on my wrist and adjusted it to fit my tiny wrist. I was amazed by it. It was so shiny. She just smiled at me and pointed to the small lines on it. One of them was gliding across the numbers while another one ticked every once and a while. The last one didn't move. I also noticed the difference in size. The one that moved was much smaller than the others. The one that moved every once and a while was bigger than the other two.

"You see that little arm?" She pointed to it and I nodded. "That tells the hours. It's pointing to the three so that means it's...?"

"3?" I looked up curiously at her.

She smiled proudly, "That's right! See that tall arm? It tells the minutes. When it comes to that arm, it counts by fives-"

"So, it's smarter than the other ones?" I questioned.

She chuckled, "You could say that."

"Like you and Dad!"

She shushed me, "That's just between you and me, our little secret."

I nodded and smiled, my missing tooth showing, "I promise not to tell!"

"Good," She smiled at me. "Because you know what happens to little boys that tell secrets, right?"

I shook my head, suddenly becoming afraid, "What happens?"

"Well," She leaned in closer. "They get attacked!"

I gasped, "By who?"

She leaned in even closer, "By the... tickle monster!" She shouted before tackling me and tickling my sides.

I smiled as I recalled the memory, "That'll always be our little secret. I won't ever tell him, mom."

-*-

Once I got home, I spent the rest of the morning reading. After grabbing lunch, I decided to continue my sketch in Mackenzie's notebook. I could tell by the look on her face that she loved it. I knew I couldn't leave it unfinished for that reason. Besides, I hated abandoning projects.

I worked more on her nose, remembering how it curved up a bit at the end. As I was about to move on, I felt something was off. It was Mackenzie. I dropped the notebook without a second of hesitation. In seconds, I appeared in front of her. We were standing at the park near her house.

She crossed her arms, "Either you have access to the invisibility cloak or you didn't show up today. So which is it? Are you a wizard or a jerk?"

"Neither actually. I stayed home," I answered vaguely, not wanting Mackenzie to do the same thing everyone else does when they hear about my mom.

"Care to elaborate?" She rolled her eyes.

"I couldn't deal with school today," I continued to be vague with my answers.

"I get it," She huffed. "You're cheating on me with another dead girl!"

"Mackenzie, that's not what happened and you know it," I rolled my eyes.

"Then what happened?!" She exploded. "Why all the vague answers and broodiness?!"

I sighed, knowing she wasn't going to let it go, "It's my mother's birthday-"

"You missed school for that?" She seemed unimpressed. "For your mom's birthday? You couldn't have waited until after school?!"

I felt offended, but shook it off since she was ignorant of the situation, "You don't understand, Mackenzie-"

She shook her head, "It's fine. Do what you want. It's not like I matter to you anyway."

Instead of feeling offended, anger started to form. I didn't understand why she was so upset over me missing a day of school. It was just one day. Besides that, it's not like I missed out on anything. That work was child's play to me and she knew this.

"I don't understand why you're mad at me-"

"Because you can't just go missing for an entire day without warning me! Do you know how worried I was?! Wait, you don't! You know, you're pretty oblivious considering you're such a genius-"

"Mackenzie," I kept my voice even. "You don't understand. I-"

"No! You don't understand! You never understand-"

"My mom's dead!" I shouted over her.

Her eyes widened and she dropped her arms. I immediately regretted saying anything. I kept a straight face, refusing to show any reaction or emotion. It wasn't my job to make her feel sorry for me. It was my job making sure she has an enjoyable last year. Her face fell, a frown taking over.

I broke our gaze and stared at the street lamp, "I should get going. I have some work to finish up at home."

Truthfully, I didn't have anything to do. I just wanted to get away from the conversation and forget it ever happened. Before I could go back home, she shook her head and sighed. I still avoided eye contact but decided to stay. I braced myself for the apology I was going to receive. It happened every time and I hated it more every time.

"She must've been an incredible woman, huh?" I gave her a puzzled look. "You were expecting me to apologize, weren't you? I hate it when people apologize for my grandma's death because they usually don't mean it. It's just something to say. Besides, they didn't kill her, so why apologize?"

I nodded in agreement, choosing to stay silent. She sat down on the bench next to us and gestured for me to take the seat next to her. I followed instruction and sat down. Mackenzie picked up legs up and crossed her legs. She looked out at the park.

"If you don't mind me asking, what happened?"

"She died during surgery. She actually made history that day," I laughed without humor. "No other Reaper had died before. So when a man in all black showed up at our door and said she had died, I didn't believe him. I was only a kid, so I didn't understand the situation. That day, my dad cried harder than he had ever before. I never saw him cry before and it scared me. It's a terrifying thought. I was waiting for him to tell me everything was going to be okay. But it didn't happen. He never said it. And he was right, it wasn't okay. Nothing was okay-"

I was interrupted by Mackenzie wrapping her arms around me. I didn't realize I was crying until she brushed her thumb across my cheek. This acted as gasoline fueling the fire that was me. I broke down, crying for the first time since I was a kid. I stopped crying because I was tired of pity. The minute people saw my tears, they'd all get the same look of their face. The look of pity. It was tiresome. I told myself I wouldn't shed any more tears, yet here I was. Crying in Mackenzie's arms.

And for the first time, I heard the words I had been dying to hear since that cursed day.

"It's okay."

//

I am immensely proud of this chapter. So proud that I actually used the word immensely (also I spent a while writing and it's almost 3 AM...). Seriously, I'm really happy with the way this chapter turned out and I REALLY hope you enjoyed it. So, here's a look at Griffin's world and his past. The best part about it is this is only a small part of his past. I don't know about you, but I'm pretty excited. Anywho, thank you so much for reading!

Tatty bye <3

PS: I'll come back to this and make a cover. I'm not home (I went to Illinois for a funeral) and I won't have time when I get home. I just didn't want to publish this chapter late because like I said, I'm VERY proud of this chapter. That's it so... enjoy!