Soul Keeper

Chapter 3

Typical teenage girls would run screaming if they saw a ghost, but Lilly picked up the first thing that she saw. That happened to be a plastic Santa Clause, which of course was the most useless object ever when it came to fighting spirits. The ghost boy stood in front of her with his shoulders slumped and an exhausted look on his face. A small smile formed as he let out a soft chuckle. "What are you going to do with that Santa?" He asked curiously.

Lilly thought for a moment. What could she do with a Santa? Santa Claus was supposed to bring joy to small kids, not used as a weapon for evil spirits. "I'm not sure, but it'll hurt. So, stay away!" Lilly ordered holding the Santa as a shield. The boy only rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, ok. Sure, let's go with that. But you will be happy to know, that I'm not trying to kill you. So, you can just stop embarrassing yourself right now." He explained. Instead of listening, Lilly threw it at him. Although instead of it bouncing off him, it went through him. Lilly stood gaping at the boy who threw his arms out.

"What did you expect to happen? I'm not like you; I don't have a body to stay in right now." He said throwing Lilly entirely off.

"Wait, what?" Lilly asked completely confused. He shot a glare at her and ran his fingers through his hair.

"I'm a soul. So pretty much I'm like a turtle without a shell." He replied. That only confused her more.

"That is a very poor comparison," Lilly responded. The boy let out a loud groan.

"Ok, you know what, shut up." The boy said obviously annoyed.

"Geez, what's wrong with you?" Lilly asked. The boy chuckled and glared at me.

"I have been stuck in that box for two years. Nobody to talk to. Can you imagine?" He answered. Lilly raised her eyebrows.

"No, not really. But I guess that would suck pretty bad." Lilly replied sitting on a dusty crate. The boy didn't answer. Instead, he scanned his surroundings and peeked through the small window.

"So, what's your name?" Lilly asked. The boy snickered.

"You just tried to beat me up with a plastic Santa, and now you want to be friends?" He asked. Lilly shrugged with a sheepish grin appearing on her face. She stood up and dusted herself off. He rolled his eyes and then spoke.

"Caiden Jones." He answered. That name, it sounded very familiar to Lilly. But she couldn't quite remember.

"I'm Lilly Smith." Lilly introduced herself. The boy's frown disappeared. He held out his hand, and she froze. Caiden waited patiently but finally gave up.

"What's wrong?" He asked. Lilly sighed and leaned against a tower of boxes.

"Is that even possible? I mean that Santa went right through you." Lilly answered.

"Yeah, but maybe that's because it didn't have a soul," Caiden explained. Lilly nodded in deep thought.

"Yeah, ok let's try it." Lilly smiled and grabbed his transparent hand. He was right. She felt his hand. It was cold and caused chills to run down her spine. It felt comforting, though. It felt like all her worries were disappearing. She didn't realize she had been staring into his eyes until they darted down to their hands. She glanced down and seen her veins glowing blue. Her eyes widened, and she pulled away quickly. A stinging pain was left as the glowing disappeared. She rubbed her wrist, and she looked up at Caiden who looked just as surprised as her.

"Are you ok?" He asked. Lilly shrugged and examined her wrist.

"Yeah, I mean I guess. I don't know." She answered. "What about you?" She added.

Caiden shrugged. "Uh, yeah." He answered. The two stood quietly for a while. They weren't sure what had happened. Lilly's mind had wandered off to a whole different thought. What was he?

"What are you?" Lilly finally asked. Caidens head had been hung down until her voice broke through the quiet. He stood straighter and pushed his hands into his jean pockets.

"I told you, I'm a soul." He answered. Lilly internally groaned.

"Yeah, I mean we all have souls. But are you, dead?" Lilly asked trying not to offend him in any way possible. His mouth formed into an o and he chuckled.

"No, not that I know of. See, my body is still alive. Before I got stuffed into that box, I saw my body. It wasn't in a casket either. I was in the hospital in a coma. But for some reason, nobody could see me. Then that woman said a few words and BAM! I'm suddenly in a box. You know, the worst thing about it, was hearing my parents talk. I could hear them, but I couldn't answer back. It's torture you know? When every day they worry about whether the blanket is too hot for this season and all of that jazz." He explained. Lilly listened carefully to every word Caiden had said. One thing that caught her attention was the woman.

"Wait, what was this woman like?" Lilly asked. Caiden shrugged then began to pace. She gave him a look that she often gave her older brother Oliver. When Oliver wouldn't pay attention or gave her short answers, she would give him the teacher's face. That's what Oliver called it anyway, Lilly referred it as her focus face.

"Caiden, seriously. What did she look like?" Lilly questioned. Rosewood was a small town, and everybody knew each other. Evidently, she would know the woman.

Caiden snorted. "She wore heels, fancy dress, and looked in her later thirties. Why are you so curious anyway? It's not like you could do anything about it anyway." Caiden answered. Lilly shot him a glare.

"Do you want to be stuck out of your body until the day your body gives out and dies? If I were you, I would happily accept the help I could get." Lilly snapped. She was proud of herself honestly, most of the time she wouldn't say a word to anybody. She kept to herself.

"Ok fine. Because I guess I don't have another choice, do I?" He asked. Lilly smiled and shook her head. Caiden exhaled loudly and searched the room.

"Alright, what's your plan, Lilly?" He asked looking out of the small window at the people unloading their bags from their cars. Lilly smiled. Then she saw her screen light up from the floor indicating she had a text message. Lilly picked it up and seen a text from Jacob. She had forgotten about her job while talking to Caiden.

"Uh, not sure. But listen, I should take these curtains downstairs before Sophia fires me on my very first day. I'll come back again tomorrow and discuss more. Also, I hate to ask you this after you've been stuck in that box for two years, but can you please promise me that you will stay in here? The guests would be scared half to death seeing you after hearing all of the stories." Lilly explained grabbing the box. Caiden smiled and nodded.

"Oh, and Sophia Jones?" He said. "That's my mom." He finished with a sad smile. Lilly almost dropped the curtains.

"Don't give me that look. Just go on and make sure you don't get fired. I can't lose my way back to my body, now can I?" He asked. Lilly smiled and waved almost dropping the curtains once again. Caiden smirked, and Lilly finally made her way down the stairs. Once she was down, she shut the door and locked it.

She felt a small tap on her shoulder and turned to see Jacob. He immediately grabbed the box from her. "What happened to you, Smith? Get caught by the evil spirit and escaped behind its back?" He asked chuckling. Lilly giggled nervously.

He didn't know the half of it.

......
Wasn't planning on leaving authors notes but I wanted to say a quick apology for not updating in a while. Also, this is a super dull chapter. So sorry!

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