Scattered Souls

Chapter 24 - Rocket Science

After Xypher left for the second time that day, after our intense make out session of course - let's just say we kept it PG, I was still a bit iffy about the whole him being in Jordan's body ordeal, I was sitting on my bed with the diary and the key, contemplating what my next move should be.

Surprisingly, I found myself in a little dilemma of my own at the moment, should I unlock the diary and take everything I discover as it comes or should I leave it be and try to find another way of solving the riddle.

I know to any sane person it would be as simple as: take key, unlock diary, discover contents. Certainly no rocket science involved.  However, things felt a little more complicated for me at the moment. Given the fact that I had a strange feeling at the pit of my stomach every time I looked at the diary, I was certain I wouldn't like what I'd find.

Did unlocking the diary mean saying goodbye to Xypher? He was only in the teapot because his soul was trapped in it. Does he still want freedom now that his soul is out of the teapot? Surely he does, the freedom he truly desires has to involve complete freedom. I suppose since he's a soul, he'd still need to be released into the afterlife. If that even exists. That's when he'd truly be at peace. And as appealing as it may be to have and experience him in human form, it wasn't something permanent. That would be taking over someone's life.  Jordan's life. His entire existence would be wiped out, without him having an opportunity to properly experience life. That's not fair on him, and in all honesty Xypher had his chance to live many moons ago, before his soul was trapped. I'm assuming this diary would also contain information on why he was trapped in the first place. Was it something he'd done? Was it bad? Perhaps the diary would contain a way to work around our current situation as well. After a few more minutes of contemplation, I picked up the key and unlocked the diary.

Jody Kingston. My dear grandma. Her name was written prettily on the first page. I started to read the words scribbled on the pages that followed. Much to my dismay, there wasn't much about anything related to the teapot, neither was there any mention of Xypher or his appearances, like I expected. There was just the usual girly teenage occurrences. The boy grandma fancied when she was younger. Her high school dance. Days spent riding her horse, Delilah. Absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. Although the diary wasn't giving me much answers to the situation at hand, it did give me some insight into my late grandmother's life and for the first time since she'd been gone, I felt like she was more than just a distant memory.  It somehow helped me feel closer to her once again. Coping with her loss meant pushing all memories of her to the back of my mind and moving forward as quickly as I could. If there was anything her death taught me- it was the reality that the world doesn't wait for someone that's grieving. While I was browsing through the pages of this diary of hers, it somehow brought back all the memories I'd suppressed, in a fond way; unlike the pain these memories had initially caused.

I found myself smiling as I read some parts. I was seeing a lot of resemblance between my grandma and I. During her teenage years especially, it made me feel like I could relate in more ways than one. As I continued reading, there was a part that caught my attention, Gran was expressing excitement about her eighteenth birthday approaching and all the plans and wishes she had for that day and for her future. This meant that everything I'd read thus far was before her eighteenth birthday... before she would inherit the teapot. That's also when I realized that there was only a few more pages left until I reached the end of the diary.  I quickly scanned through the remaining pages. I was looking for more clues, however, it was all pretty much the same: excitement for Gran's upcoming eighteenth birthday and her plans and adventures out in the field before then.

There had to be another diary after this or perhaps even a few more of them. I don't remember seeing any other books that were similar to this diary in the attic, however, I'd have to double check to be completely sure. 

Letting out a yawn, I looked at the time, it was already 2am in the morning, I'd been so engrossed in the diary that I'd completely lost track of time. It was far too late to go searching for the next diary in the attic, unless I wanted my parents to think I was going through some sort of phase, so I'd have to wait until later on in the day.

As I was turned onto my side, staring at the teapot on my dresser, I realized I was beyond grateful that my parents weren't preventing me from solving the riddle in the first place. However, I suspected that had more to do with them not knowing everything that was going on.  If they did, they would put an immediate stop to my little investigation.

My eyes closed on their own accord and I drifted off to sleep. Something that was much needed. My dreams that night revolved around me being trapped in the darkness and desperately trying to find a way to escape and also the sheer delight I felt after having Xypher's captivating lips pressed against my own.