Page 46 of How to Survive Your Own Death

“Fine,” Geri said, ignoring her hoagie and ignoring Bones’s pleading eyes. “I died.”

“I know,” Molly answered, her mouth full of turkey, bacon and avocado. “It was fucking awful. Don’t do that again.”

“If I tell you everything that’s been going on, you’ll think I’m crazy.” A true statement.

Molly wrinkled her nose. “I don’t like that word. It’s very judgy and not kind.”

Geri desperately craved kindness from the world and whatever the afterlife was doing. She could start by being kind to herself.

“Ok, sure. Not crazy, but I feel wrong. Out of place. The world feels different. I can’t sleep. I can’t concentrate on anything. It’s all wrong. Food doesn’t even taste right.” Geri considered taking a bite of her hoagie but set it aside. She didn’t have much of an appetite.

“You had a major trauma. It’s perfectly reasonable to feel out of sorts.”

“No offense, but you’re a lawyer, not a therapist. This is more than being out of sorts,” Geri muttered. This was being obligated to reap souls and witness the light leave someone’s eyes again and again. It was having a damn dog of omen follow you after you had a fight with its reaper. She didn’t know if Bones sympathized with her or if the dog was a spy. She said, “I don’t know how long I can do this.”

“You’re not going to hurt yourself, are you?” Concern flooded Molly’s voice.

“What? No.”

“Are you still seeing things? The lights?”

Geri’s body tensed. “I haven’t seen any lights for a few days.”

“That’s good, but what you said about a therapist? Do that.”

“Do what?”

“Talk to a therapist or a counselor. Get it all out.”

Geri’s shoulders sagged. Confessing everything to a therapist was worse than lying to her sister. It was dangerous. “Hi. I hit my head and died and now I see the grim reaper and he wants me to take souls. Oh, he has a dog too. You can’t see her right now but she’s begging for treats.”

No. Just no. There’d be a paper trail and a diagnosis. Her life was complicated enough. She didn’t need that following her around.

“Maybe,” she said.

“Think about it,” Molly insisted.

“I’ll think about it.” She would. It wasn’t fair to dump all her emotions on Molly every time she had a bad day. Maybe she could just talk about how she felt out of place since the accident and not mention the business with Bazel.

Molly glanced at her phone and gave Geri a one-armed hug. “Time for me to bail. Love you.”

“Love you, too,” Geri replied.

She gathered up her uneaten hoagie. The thought of eating anything right now made her stomach churn.

Bones whined, tag thumping against the sidewalk. She put a paw on Geri’s foot.

“What? I couldn’t give you my sandwich in front of Molly.” She tossed down half the hoagie, which disappeared immediately into Bones’s gaping maw.

She shouldn’t be feeding the ghost dog. It only encouraged bad behavior. But Bones had a hard-to-resist face and she was a good girl. As far as Geri knew.

“I’ll be so mad if it turns out you’re a spy,” she told the dog.

CHAPTER 14

GERI

Bazel had been gone for two days.