Shadows

Part 3: Bane

It was a long fall into the underworld, but Barsha and I fell together all the way. Barsha screamed so loudly it hurt my ears.

"Stop screaming!" Barsha shouted.

The screaming stopped as I yelled, "You stop screaming!"

She stared at me with a confused look on her face.

We both fell into complete silence until Barsha said, "You scream like a little girl."

"Oh, ha ha, very funny," I said, while she made an impression of a little girl screaming. Suddenly she started to look right below her. I looked down to see what she was staring at a saw a faint light.

"What's that?" I asked.

"How am I supposed to know?" she retorted, still staring at the glowing light below us.

The light was now so bright it was blinding me and I had to look away. And suddenly, as we were engulfed in the shining light, I felt lightheaded, NO PUN INTENDED.

I started to laugh and Barsha joined in. It was nice to hear her laugh again. It had been too long since the last time she did. My skin was warming up and my brown hair was brushing my face, which was weird since it had been a long time since it was long enough to touch my face. I felt my now long hair and it was silky, like a kid's. That didn't exactly make any sense because I died at forty-six, with Barsha not too long after.

I then touched my face and it wasn't wrinkled, but smooth and soft to the touch. I felt my clothes get larger or maybe I was getting shorter and smaller. I opened my mouth to shout at Barsha, to ask what's happening but I stopped myself. I did a somersault in the air, silently laughing to myself, cherishing the moment.

Then all of the sudden the light dimmed to to just a shining light and a warm heat.

"What just hap-" I was mid-sentence when I fell head first into mud. I realized I should've opened my eyes after the light dimmed so I could have seen the mud coming beforehand.

I spat out the mud from my mouth and grumbled , "That was gross."

"Really?" snorted a voice next to me. "We fell into mud and you have to tell me it was gross? I think I would know that for myself."

I wiped the mud away from my eyes and looked over at Barsha. My mouth fell open at the sight of her, she was still wearing her blue dress but she was now skinny and shorter and her her skin was as smooth as a kid's.

"Barsha you look so... so young!" I exclaimed in surprise.

She looked over at me, with her waist long black hair plastered to her face. She blinked her almond-shaped eyes at me .

She said, "Hate to break it to you, but you look younger too."

I laughed at thought of me being young, then stopped realizing she wasn't kidding. I looked down at my own hand that was too silky and smooth like hers. I looked at our surroundings and gasped. We were back to the land of the living.

"Now Barsha, we have to blend in," I said as we walked to town, "Just until we find Carissa, okay?"

"I'm not five, you know," she said crossing her arms defiantly.

"Well..." I said letting my voice trail off.

"You know what I mean," she said.

"You say that a lot, and I'm beginning to think I'm not getting what you mean," I protested.