Ling, Xue, Rae Part 2

I watched as the human with my Note slowly wrote the unfamilar letters.  Jeremiah Hall, suicide, hung, 1 week.  I was a reaper but I had no power to stop the death of this innocent human.  All I could do was watch his eyes and let the numbers of his lifespan tick down.  1 week 40 seconds, 39 seconds, 38 seconds.  I jerk my head away as the sound of the bell, sharp and demanding, breaks over me.  I watch Ling get up and walk over to Nice, I mean Rachel.

"Hey Rachel!"

"Hey Ling!"

"Umm I kinda need someone to sit by at lunch. Do you think I could sit by you?"

"Sure of course!"

Ling looks down, as if ashamed but I know her well enough by now to know she's faking it. 

"Thanks."

They walk side-by-side out of the too small classroom and into the overly crowed hall.  I hate having people walk through me but she makes me follow her despite my protests.  Or perhaps because of them.  It's hard to tell if Ling or Xue is in control at times. Oh right Xue is Ling's alternate personality.  It's actually quite a common condition.  But Xue is bloodthirsty to an extreme. So Ling has to hurt herself and/or others to satisfy Xue and keep her under control.  Though I have noticed lately a change in Ling.  She has become more and more willing to sacrifice others to satisfy Xue.  Before I gave her my Note she was much more likely to hurt herself.  But now.

"Oh my god Ling! What are those?"

"Scars." So Rachel has noticed them then.  Ling's scars from when she used to cut herself. It seems a useless idea to me as it only causes temporary pain.   But what do I know?

"Did you cut?" Rachel's voice is low almost a whisper. "Or I guess the question is do you?"

"I don't anymore.  These are from before I moved to America.  I'm much happier now." Ling offers what would be a reassuring smile, if you couldn't see the pain in her eyes.

"Oh okay.  I'm glad you're better."

Rachel looks shaken to me though.  Poor girl I think she just lost a couple months off her life. As we approach the cafeteria Rachel's head begins swiveling.  Back and forth and back and forth. She's making me dizzy.  Then suddenly she freezes.

"There they are!" Rachel smiles at Ling and begins to lead her over to a group of girls seated around one round table as well as one boy, standing with his back toward us.  As we approach the boy turns beaming.

"Well if it isn't little miss Rachel.  All better from your time in the hospital sweet cheeks?" Though his words are kind I can see Rachel tense.

"Yes I'm fine now.  No thanks to you. Now if you can go run along and torment some other ex.  You do have quite a few of those."

"Hmm. No I don't think so.  Oh who's the new girl." so he's noticed Ling, finally.

"My name is Ling. And I am totally not interested."

"That's fine. I'm sure you will be. Someday."

"Leave idiot.  She said she's not interested."

The boy sniffs, shrugs, and walks off toward another group of girls.  Rachel and Ling sit down and one of the girls across the table leans over to talk to Ling.

"That was Kody. He's dated almost every girl in school and broken all their hearts."

The malice is clear in Rachel's voice when she whispers "And sometimes he breaks more than hearts."

"Did he put you in the hospital then?" Ling is playing the ignorant foreigner to get information again.

"Yes.  He tried to kill me when I broke up with him"

Ling sits back with a look of true awe on her face.  Rachel nods and after a moment of silence the chatter starts up again. Somewhere in the mix I learn the names of the other three girls.  Mckenna is the one who told Ling about Kody.  Emily is the short girl with black hair, she doesn’t talk as much, she mostly just texts people on her phone. And Katie is the main force behind the chatter, she can just talk and talk and talk.  I notice that all of the girls are Caucasian though Emily obviously has some mixed ancestry to get that dark hair.  So once again Ling will be the outsider, the freak.

"You're one to talk Rae.  You are an outsider yourself for giving up your Note so willingly."

"I understand that Ling.  But I am interested to see it's effect on your world."

"Really? I thought you were just in it for the Ramen."

"There is that too."

"Ha! Are all reapers this ridiculous?"

"I believe so. I happen to know a reaper who was quite addicted to apples."

"Apples? The story gets funnier and funnier."

"Well you've seen what happens when we get addicted to human food."
"Yeah you have to have it or you get all twisty and weird."

"Correct."

"So are you really going to record this all on your dumb voice diary or what ever?"

"Of course. I need to record the evidence for my analysis later."

"Okay that's kinda creepy Rae."

"Sorry Ling. But I have to have some purpose or I'll go mad down here in the human world."

"Fair enough.  I suppose you can continue then."

"Thank you." 

So as I was saying after lunch we went through a number of boring classes that I had no interest in recording.  Then Ling walked the short 10 blocks back to our apartment.  It's a second floor room with a miniature bathroom attached as well as a small kitchenette.  The walls are a dull gray-green color and the furniture is all a bland brown.  The landlord refuses to let Ling paint or hang things on the walls so we don’t get much color around here.  But it's serviceable and that's the most important part.  Or so says Ling.