Rage by Jackie Morse Kessler Read Free Book Online

he offered; next, her fingers dragging over the white box, leaving trails of red in their wake; last, Missy grabbing the package and slamming the door in Death's face.
    In retrospect, she probably should have been a little more polite.
    So afraid.
Death's voice again, but she couldn't tell if it was her memory or if Death was with her now. Because he was, wasn't he? She was dying, so he would be there for her, lead her to wherever she was supposed to go...
    Take the box, Melissa Miller.
    The box. Where was the box?
    On her closet door, Marilyn Monroe sighed in ecstasy, and James Dean searched for something just out of reach.
    The closet. It was in her closet.
    She tried to get up and failed; she tried to crawl and instead crashed prone on the floor.
    You taking a nap?
That was Bella's voice, teasing her on the safety of the soccer field.
You've got to use your body better.
    Listening to Bella, Missy dragged herself across her bedroom floor. Behind her, bloody streaks marred the beige carpet like a serial killer's bread crumbs. Missy made it to her closet door and nudged it open with her wet fingers. She lifted her head up to stare at the top shelf, impossibly high. The long white box that Death had given her was up there, waiting for her to take it and claim what lay inside.
    "You should hurry," a cold voice said.
    She turned her head—God, when did her head become so heavy? It was too big for her neck—and saw Death seated on her bed, grinning lazily, his eyes sparkling beneath his long messy bangs.
    "I'm trying," she whispered.
    "You're dying," he corrected. "Try harder."
    Missy gritted her teeth and imagined Bella counting her down—
Six seconds, go!
—and propped herself onto her elbows. The world spun. Dizzy, she grabbed on to the door frame and pulled herself up, slowing bringing herself to her knees. She planted one stockinged foot, and using the door frame for balance, she was able to stand. She couldn't feel her feet.
    The box was right there, on the edge of the high shelf. She reached up for it and couldn't quite touch it. She thought very, very dark thoughts.
    On her bed, Death chuckled. "You're cute when you're going into irreversible shock."
    Panting, Missy grabbed a bare hanger. Her fingers were slick with blood, and the hanger nearly slipped free.
    Don't drop the ball,
she heard Bella scold.
    Her arm tingling, her fingers numb, Missy reached up. The hanger brushed against the box, but that wasn't enough to jostle the package loose.
    Come on,
she thought,
come on!
Maneuvering the hanger, she hooked it under the white box. And then she slowly pulled.
    The box slid forward.
    Come on!
she thought again, her heartbeat pounding in her ears, behind her eyes. She kept pulling the hanger out, excruciatingly slow. The white box crept forward, and now a third of it peeked over the shelf's edge.
    Her vision started to dim. Her arm, already heavy, suddenly weighed a thousand pounds and the bones in her legs turned to gelatin. Using the last of her strength, she yanked the hanger out. The momentum pulled the box out farther, and it balanced there on the edge of the shelf for a long moment—tantalizing, untouchable.
    And then it crashed to the ground.
    Missy didn't feel her legs give out. One moment she was leaning against the door frame, and the next she was sprawled on the floor, the box next to her bloody hand. Her head no longer felt heavy; it was blissfully light, lighter than air, as if it could just float away. The pain from her cuts had vanished, like magic, and so had the feeling in her limbs. Sweat dotted her brow, gleaming among the spatter of blood by her eyes.
    She was so very cold. So very tired.
    "Either take the box, Melissa Miller, or take thy rest." Death's words echoed in her bones, frosted her soul. His voice soft, he commanded: "Choose now."
    Choose.
    Missy rolled her head to stare at the package on the floor next to her. The box was longer than she had remembered, and she briefly wondered how it had