UNEDITED
Chapter Nine
We didn’t stay in the psychiatric hospital with Christina after Zach’s unexpected outburst but instead went back to my house. It was the night after the funeral and the house was dark and quiet. I assumed my parents were asleep as we shifted back to my room, back where we started. I went over to my notice board above my desk which was filled with pictures. There was the picture of me, my parents and Michael on the beach in Spain from 2 years ago. The board was practically overloaded with pictures of me, Charlie and a couple of our other friends from school, with just a few family pictures here and there with Michael in them. We should’ve taken more family pictures I thought, guilt rising in me for not paying enough attention to my family when I started sixth form. I should’ve spent more time with my parents, with Michael and now, if I don’t go back into my body I won’t ever get to talk to them again. Michael may be gone but my parents would still be here and I would be in limbo.
Zach was standing awkwardly beside my bed, still quite after our last conversation. He was looking at the notice board as well, analysing all the pictures.
“You seem to have a lot of friends. I take it that blonde girl in most of the pictures is your best friend?”
“Charlie. Yeah, she’s like my sister”. And the thought of forever losing Charlie together with my family was too much for me to bear. I couldn’t be in the room anymore, not with all the happy smiling faces in those pictures staring back at me, reminding me of another life. I walked past Zach, through the door and past Michael’s room, walking downstairs while Zach followed me calling my name in a worried voice. I went to the kitchen and walked through the back door into the garden, stopping right in the middle of the garden.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath and for the first time since the accident I felt a sense of peace. I could feel Zach standing behind me, waiting for me to explain but I didn’t want to even think about what I could lose anymore. I knew I needed to find a way to put my soul back together again and Zach was the only one that could help me.
Turning around to face him I asked,
“So, how do we get me whole again?”
He sighed, “It’s not going to be easy and you’re going to have to do the majority of the work.”
“I know,” I said simply.
“And we’re going to need to work fast. You have around a week before you begin to become weaker I’m guessing. And once that happens you’ll only have a few days before your essence is lost forever”.
“Okay, I understand, we gotta work fast and effectively. What do we do?”
“Well since your body is in a coma and you, the essence of your soul is here with me; your soul is very fragile. When a soul loses its essence it automatically goes into defence mode, which is when it splits again-”
“You have got to be kidding?! Are you telling me that my soul is in three pieces and not two like I had originally thought?”
The word crap was going round and round in my mind. Okay the word was a bit worse than crap if you get my drift. What the hell was I going to do if my soul was split that much?
Zach thought for a second before he answered,
“Yes it is in three pieces but one piece still remains in your body so you don’t have to worry about that piece”.
“And what about the other piece?” I asked, worried about the location of my soul, thinking it to be similar to some sort of precious stone. Well it was my soul after all.
“That part is safe for the time being. No-one can touch it or harm it in any way because it’s connected to you, the essence and it will only begin to deteriorate and weaken once the essence begins to weaken and that can be prevented if you become a part of that part of your soul again”.
“So let’s do that then! Where is the missing part of my soul then? Let me get joined to that runaway soul,” I replied eagerly, jumping at the chance to get started on the ‘re-joining’ of my soul as I’ve gotten used to calling it.
My spirits dropped however when I saw the look that said ‘nope! You can’t do that ‘cos that would be way too easy!’ on Zach’s face.
“Oh great! Now what?”
“I don’t know where that piece of the soul is, you’re the only one that can find it. This is going to be the hardest part if you want to be re-connected with your body again”.
He waited for me to say something but I stayed silent, listening intently.
“In order to find the part you need to emotionally connect to it,” he continued, “the piece could be literally anywhere in the world you have ever thought of and which has ever meant something to you. It’s got to be somewhere where you have a deep emotional connection to and has great significance to you. And once you realise where that place is you should automatically be connected to that part of your soul again. So now all you have to do is think about the most significant and emotional place in your world”.
“Okay I can do that. I mean that should be pretty easy right?” I said, confident I could find this piece of my soul in about 5 minutes.
Zach looked worried, “I hope so because if you do find this part then you will be stronger and would last longer here. Which means we would have more time to deal with the next part in getting you back into your body again”.
“don’t look so worried. I can do this part and by the time it’s morning I am going to find that missing piece”.
I was wrong. It was easy enough trying to think of a place that meant a lot to me and was important to me but none of these places lead me to where I needed to be. Zach kept saying I needed to have an emotional connection to the place and so I tried thinking of my grandparent’s house where I spent nearly every holiday when I was a child but I got nothing. After hours and hours of trying to think of places with even an ounce emotional significance to me I was exhausted.
I think Zach could see my frustration at not being able to pinpoint a moment in my life where I had a significant event take place as he tried to cheer me up,
“hey, don’t worry we have a few days and I’m sure when the time comes you’ll figure it out”.
“But what if I don’t? what if I end up in limbo?”
“You won’t. I won’t let that happen to you”.
“Fine. Then I’m not going to give up. I’ll try again but can I have a break now? I’m so tired”.
“Of course you can”.
Relieved by what I suppose was my attitude he smiled and sat down on the grass and I followed suit. Surprise hit me as soon as I sat on the cool, slightly dewy grass. I could feel the wetness of the dew on the grass and the cold temperature of the ground beneath it. I wasn’t hovering like I had in my room and the hospital when I sat on my bed or the chairs. I looked at Zach questioningly only to find him with a grin on his face.
“Souls, or even part of the soul such as you are able to have physical and emotional connections with the natural world surrounding them. You hover when you sit on chairs and go through doors and walls because they’re man-made but you can feel the grass and sit on the ground because it’s natural and a part of the world, just like humans and their souls,” he explained.
Happiness poured through me as I lay down on my back on the grass. I was still a part of the world; there was still hope for me yet. I looked at the sky and realised that it was just before dawn and was able to see the first rays of the sun come up from behind the trees at the end of my garden. Zach joined me, lying down next to me and although I still had butterflies in my stomach I could handle it. I was comfortable with him as we watched the sun rise together in complete silence.
YOU ARE READING
In Essence
Teen Fiction“People talk about out of body experiences. Some say they saw themselves being resuscitated and others say they saw a light which suddenly faded away as they came back alive. That didn’t happen to me. There was no bright light at the end of the tunn...
