Who Killed Sarah Foster?

15. I am Human Again?

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Sarah levitated into the air, her eyes not leaving the living breathing human in front of her.

Paul raised a brow when he saw that Leah was simply standing there, not giving any kind of reaction.

"Um... Is there something I don't know about?" He asked, scratching his head.

Leah shrugged. "I learned that sometimes I shouldn't give away my secrets."

Sarah narrowed her eyes. "Can all humans see ghosts?" She had missed the initial exchange between the ghost and his best friend when she had walked in because she was too caught up in the greed of having a human body to possess.

"Nope." Paul popped the 'P'. "And yeah, I would stop right there because you don't go around trying to possess a vessel."

Sarah gave him a confused look but the whole aura around her was changing. She wasn't going to take his advice; she was going to possess the girl she didn't remember the name of.

She zoomed forward, ready to fly into her but Leah forwarded her hand, the mole on her hand shining bright blue, turning into the shape of a four-pointed star.

The ghost was blinded by the light and terrified of the equally strong rays that illuminating from behind the brown contact lens.

Sarah fell to the ground, feeling human, her body hurting like any other human.

"I am human again?" She asked in wonder, looking at her hands in wonder.

"Lol no, you just got demoted to human like ghost with no levitation, going through walls, possession and all the other powers."

"But how?" She looked up at the human.

"Meet my best friend Leah Wayne, seventeenth generation vessel and twelfth generation exorcist." Paul introduced her and Leah smiled cheekily. The exorcist part was not something she had to use constantly because the few ghosts she came across weren't malignant. The newly deceased she had me before Sarah was her own brother and he was the least dangerous. Because he knew who he was as soon as the funeral took place.

She remembered the day very clearly and how her grandmother Janet Wayne had taken her away from there during the funeral rites, knowing very well what it meant for a vessel to be near the body of a newly deceased during the last of the rites performed by the living – burial or cremation. As the body degraded, the soul craved a body of its own the most and then they are so powerful that they could possess a vessel without permission and stay there till the death of their body, and unlike other normal humans, vessels did not gradually die having two souls inside their bodies, but they acted like they were bipolar. Because two different souls for control over the body. The vessels possessed ended up in prisons or mental asylums.

Vessels had two weaknesses. One was being possessed at a funeral and two, all senses but their paranormal vision shutting down. And Janet was worried that her granddaughter was progressing in the direction of that complete shutdown.

She was already asocial, almost emotionally detached, next she will be mentally disturbed with an apathy towards everything but the deceased souls. Her husband had died at that stage. But he was quite old when he started showing the signs of what Janet had come to call 'paranormal take-over'.

Her granddaughter was showing signs of it at just sixteen. And after apathy, she was going to go through physical problems like lack of sleep, hunger, thirst and gradually die off.

Janet Wayne prayed to the almighty every single moment to do something that would keep her grandchild safe. Her husband, Samuel Wayne, was so sure about their granddaughter being able to pull it off for life, but was her life going to be cut off due to it? Janet didn't think she had the strength to deal with something like that.

Her heart still ached for her dead grandson. She was happy that he was still at home but it was bittersweet. The kid had gone through so much before he finally gave up and took his own life and she did not want him to suffer any longer in the realm of ghosts. She hoped Leah and he figured out what had to be done, what was that he so desperately wanted, so that he could move on to his next life.

"An exorcist?" Sarah looked terrified.

"Not the ones you see in the movies. Priests with holy water and the Bible can't really do s**t. She is the real deal. And she doesn't have to struggle much with the exorcism part, I guess. She can rip out ghosts from possessed bodies as if they were duct tape on the skin."

Sarah turned to the human amazed. "So you are really cool?"

Leah chuckled. How the tables have turned!

"I am Leah Wayne. I am not cool. I am cold. I am a vessel and an exorcist. My emotional range is way smaller than a teaspoon." She said, proud of her Harry Potter reference. She didn't know she could do it anymore. She thought she had left behind that beautiful fantasy far behind.

There was suddenly the sound of some stumbling on the steel stairs that led up to the roof.

Leah turned on her heels but Paul was faster as he swooped by, watching the high school sit up on the base of the stairs.

"Ohh Lee, we have a guest!" Paul chuckled as Leah joined him, walking through him and staring down at Calum Foster who looked up at her like she was crazy.

"I guess you heard my little monologue?" She asked as she slowly took the steps down.

"Either whatever you said there was true or you are absolutely crazy." He said as she reached beside him, crouching down in front of him before sitting on a step above him.

"And which one do you think I am?" She asked, removing her hair band and letting all of her brunette waves out.

Calum's eyes darted between the shining four-pointed star on her palm and the bright blue light that swam around her brown orbs. And the confidence she radiated as she sat in front of him, quite different from the awkward freak show she put on.

Calum did not want to believe in all this bullshit but he was smart enough to realise that all that happened with him and Leah made sense if he just accepted the fact that she was indeed an exorcist and whatever a vessel was. He was starting to believe that as an exorcist, she could see ghosts and his little was in the school, somewhere he can't see no more.

"I believe you." He sighed, sounding crazy to his own ears. "Though I still think you are crazy too."

Leah smiled. "Understandable." She looked down and pulled her contacts out and looking back up at him, her icy blue eyes with those bright lights swirling around a magnificent yet terrifying sight. He stumbled back, scared out of his wits.

She smiled again, putting it back again and putting the hood over her head, hiding enough of her face with it and her hair so that no one could see the light in her eyes which would only disappear when she gave back Sarah her powers, but she was going to wait a day or two before she did that.

She pulled her sleeves down to hide her palm and got up, still staring at the boy who looked up at him like she was the devil. "Let it sink in." She said, and she turned to look up at the rooftop door where Paul and Sarah stood, Paul looking proud while Sarah confused why she couldn't possess. "And you, try living without your powers for a day or two. I will tell you afterwards how you can get it back."

Leah turned around and forwarded her right hand towards Calum who looked at it for a long minute taking it, getting back on his feet and a foot taller than her.

"I will get back to you later." He said breathlessly, nodding.

Leah nodded, smiling, knowing very well what the boy must be going through. "And don't tell anyone else."

"Who's going to believe me?"

"I don't know and I don't care. Just know that I can pit every single ghost I know against you and trust me, it's not the best thing that could happen to you."

"LOL... You know you can't do any such thing, right?" Paul guffawed in the background while a confused Sarah looked between her fellow ghost acquaintance and power-snatcher.

Leah pretended like she didn't any of what Paul said as she kept eye-contact as the seventeen-year-old nodded, imagining all sort of ghastly scenarios in his head.

"Off you go." She flicked her hand as she crossed him, walking back to get her stuff from the washroom she had used to awaken her paranormal vision before walking back to her English class.

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