Pure Souls (book 1) : Light Withering Away

Z

Lizzie's P.O.V

'Lizzie, a horrible thing is going to happen.'

'Who is this?!'

'I'm you. Part of your soul.'

'Are you evil? Like Shelby's?'

'No.' 

I put my book down and sat up slightly in my bed. 'Well... why are you talking to me?'

'Shelby's gonna kill you like her soul did to me all those years ago.'

'What do you mean?'

'Here's the story...

Shelby and I were besties, hundreds years ago, probably all the way back in the 21st century. From Preschool till High School, we did everything together. One day, probably in the first week of High School, a girl came up to me. "Hey, you're Lizzie right?" she asked.

"Yep!" I replied.

"And you're friends with Shelby? The nerd?"

I was the outgoing one, the one with a likeable personality. Shelby was extremely shy, very nerdy, y'know, the perfect target for bullies. "Yes, and I"m not ashamed of it," I said.

"Hm. Well, I wanna make a deal with ya," the girl said.

"What?"

"If you become my friend, I promise to leave Shelby alone."

"But... Shelby has to come too."

"It's leave her or make her suffer."

"She kinda suffers either way."

"Oh my God. It's leave her or she kills herself out of the bullying."

"You are aware of what happens when bullying goes too far! So why do it?"

"Because it's fun! Now tick, tock, what's your choice?"

"I... okay... w-well... I... you have to leave Shelby alone. I'll be your friend."

"Great!"

And so we became best friends. In about term 3, Shelby took me to the forest. She had a knife, and her eyes were solid black. And she killed me. She killed me for moving on.'

'O-oh... is that why her soul hates me?'

'Yes. But it's for the better that she does. She's toxic.'

'But the Shelby I know isn't!'

'I would never ask of you to kill her. Although Shelby's soul has done bad things... she's also done plenty of good things, despite the paun and heartache. I'm just letting you know that you need to be ready to run if she tries to harm you.'

'Can we help make them good again?'

'Unless we can figure out how to get rid of dark magic, then no.'

'Well, let's go find out.'

I was searching book after book after book, and I was beginning to get frustrated. 'Don't get too upset. This fact is unknown to many. I'm unaware of anyone who's even got the slightest idea.'

"Hey Lizzie, you alright?" Joel walked into the library.

"Yeah, just tryna find out how dark magic works," I replied.

Joel sat down next to me, looking at the massive stack of books on the table. "Why?" he asked.

"Wouldn't it be a convenient thing to know? Especially considering Shelby's situation?"

"Valid point." Joel stood again. He wandered up and down the aisles of books, coming back to the table with a stack of his own. 'This is the boy who kissed you?'

'Yep!'

'Dude he's fricking amazing.'

'I know.'

Soon enough, Joel and I were looking through books together. It was a lot more fun with him around. But we still didn't find anything. We decided to go watch the sun set on the roof of base.

You could see the horizon perfectly. Joel wrapped an arm around me. I hugged him closer, trying to keep warm in the chilly air. I rested my head on his shoulder. We were silent as the sun slowly dipped under the horizon. "And now it's day time somewhere else," I said.

Joel mumbled something under his breath. I was gonna ask about it, but I could see his cheeks flush red, so I assumed it was about me. "You wanna go get something to eat?" I asked.

"Yeah. I do," he replied.