Embrace the Grim Reaper Read Online Free PDF

Eric held back to let her climb the stairs ahead of him. “I’d know what you mean, but without practice I’m afraid I could hurt you.”
    She waited for him at the top of the stairs. “Oh, I’m not afraid of you hurting me. You ready?”
    He hesitated, then stepped forward. “I guess. Although you’ve got me a little scared now.”
    “No worries. Let’s show this blowhard a thing or two.”
    Eric shook his head. “All right. Hey, Jack. Aaron. Come on up and do this scene with us. Jack, you be Toby. I’ll read Sir Andrew—”
    Aaron, the older of the two kids, jumped onto the stage. “But that’s my part.”
    “Just for now, you play Fabian. Please?”
    Aaron shrugged, and grinned. “Fine with me.”
    “All right. Casey and Aaron, enter from over there. Jack and I will do our lines from here.”
    Casey followed Aaron to the wings on stage left. Her blood tingled in her veins, and she opened and closed her hands, bouncing on her feet as she listened. Jack began his lines in Sir Toby’s drunken fashion. “Why, man, he’s a very devil; I have not seen such a firago.”
    Casey closed her eyes and breathed in as he finished his line, as Eric joined in with his rich voice. She let her chest expand and contract, and relaxed completely as she waited for the entrance line. When it came close, she opened her eyes to find Aaron waiting for her to cue their movement.
    “This shall end without the perdition of souls,” Jack/Toby stated .
    Casey and Aaron stepped onto the stage. Casey watched and waited as the others read through the lines leading up to hers. She, as Viola, took in the scene and her opponent, Sir Andrew.
    Toby gestured to her. “There’s no remedy, sir; he will fight you for ‘s oath’s sake…”
    Casey waited for the end of the line and began hers. “Pray God defend me! A little thing would make me tell them how much I lack of a man.”
    The scene continued to its ending, with Casey’s lines assuring the others that the fight was against her will. Eric pounced, taking two quick left jabs at her face. She ducked, then blocked his roundhouse, aimed at her head.
    Getting her balance, she swung at his stomach, making light contact as he let out a whoosh of air fit for an NBA flopper. She finished him off with an uppercut, her hit upstage of Eric’s face, while he jerked his head with perfect timing, using the hit to slowly send him backward, where he landed hard on his butt.
    Casey stepped over him, raising her foot as if to finish him off, when Jack jumped in with the next line, using a different voice for the character of Antonio. “Put up your sword!” He giggled, completely not in character, and Aaron joined right in.
    Casey, breathing hard, relaxed her stance and stepped back, holding out a hand to Eric. After a brief study of her face, probably to make sure she wasn’t bluffing and was really about to take him down again, he allowed her to help him up. Together they turned toward the house, which sat in complete silence.
    Casey paused, blinking at the lights, and closed her eyes as a rush of memories swept through her. The lights. The musty smell. The audience.
    Omar’s face.
    Reuben’s…
    She swayed, and felt Eric’s hand wrap around her arm.
    “You all right?” His voice was anxious.
    She swallowed and opened her eyes. “I’m fine.” She pulled her arm away. “Thanks.”
    He gestured at the stage behind them. “That was…amazing. I mean… Who are you?”
    Applause came suddenly from the two actors on stage with her. After glancing at them, Casey put a hand over her eyes and squinted into the house. The woman, Becca, still stood in the aisle, her eyes wide, hands clutching her bag. The director, his face a blank mask, sat silently in the fourth row, his hand under his chin as he stared at Casey.
    The young men hollered again. “Bravo! Encore!”
    Casey shook herself, and handed Eric the script. “Think I got out?”
    Eric’s forehead creased. “What?”
    “Of the paper