Into the Stars: Pneuma

Where I came from

We biked all the way from school to this familiar road. Wait, I think we’re going to the forest. This is the same road going to my house.

“Hey whatever you're planning you won’t succeed” I stopped and shouted at him, crossing my arms in front of myself. Even if I don’t own this body I still have the responsibility to keep Natalia's body safe.

He stopped too and turned around to see me.

“I told you we’re going to my research lab or you can call it my house too, we’re almost there.” he said and continued moving forward. 

I followed him again despite what I said. I’m a pneuma. I don’t have time to be embarrassed. 

We entered a forest full of trees and grass. I think my house is just a street from here. We stopped in front of 3 tall trees in the middle of this forest and I’m still waiting where we are going next because there’s no sign of a house here.

“Wait here” he said. So I waited patiently as he moved around and looked to see if there were other people around. 

“Hey Noah, what are you doing?” I asked because he looked like a culprit who doesn’t want to be caught. 

He signaled me to keep quiet by putting his one finger in front of his lips. “Shhh be quiet.”

After biking from school to this place for 10 minutes and 5 minutes of checking the surroundings he finally stopped and felt at peace.

“Hey are you kidding me?” I said. I’m getting irritated, I think he’s just messing with me.

“No no I’m just making sure no one is after us” he said and looked around again.

He looks so serious but I didn’t mind him. I need to know what he knows about my kind and also to get my book. I can’t let him read it.

I didn’t mind being alone with him, he looks good but he’s too clumsy and sometimes weird. I might even win if we go to a fight haha. 

“Okay let’s go to my lab,” he said 

I looked around and tried to find the door to his lab. 

“Noah do you really…” I haven't finished what I’m going to say. 

While I’m talking he removed a bunch of vines at the side of the trees. I saw a carved ladder at the side of the first tree at the right. It is carved and in just the right size for your feet to step on.

“Are you saying this is your lab?” I’m amazed, I didn’t know he was able to think this good. Like who would think that a secret lab is inside of a giant tree. 

“Yup, let’s go. This is kind of a house to me” he said as he reached for my hand. I let him because I’m still amazed by what I am seeing. I’m excited to see the inside of his lab.

Before I got up to the ladder he stopped “what’s your name again?” He asked 

“What, you didn’t even remember my name but you still brought me here??”

“What’s your name?” he repeated. 

“Natalia,” I answered. 

“Okay Natalia I don’t know why I’m going to show this place to you even though we only just met an hour ago. I think I can trust you so don’t break my trust okay” he explained. He’s right we just met a while ago and now he’s bringing me to his secret lab. What if I’m a spy or I’m someone like those people who’s going after him. He’s lucky I’m not any of those people I just need his information about pneuma. 

“Okay okay Noah” 

We continued climbing until we reached the top. I think it was 8 steps before we reached the lab. 

“Natalia, I want to introduce to you my lab s***h house. You’re my first guest here by the way.” he said proudly. 

For your visualization: (author’s)

This is a treehouse but an innovative one. He found 3 giant trees standing near each other. Like it is planted just for the purpose of the house above. The first tree to the right is the smallest then the next two have the same height. You will need the ladder at the side to enter. As you enter you will see a wood cozy floor, looks like it is designed by a professional. It doesn't feel cold inside because the house is covered by the leaves and branches of the tree. Because it is a three big tree and he’s the only one living there he got all the spaces he needed. There are also installed roofs made of light materials that can protect his house from the rain but of course the leaves of the tree helps him a lot also. He’s too tall to walk inside so he needs to bend forward so he can walk but Natalia's height is just fit to stand straight on the tree house. The left side tree is where he puts his blanket where he sleeps comfortably. The middle is where he put his research papers and his books. He also got a small study table with a solar lamp.He does not eat inside of this house so you won;t find any cooking tools here. This house also has walls made from light wood materials again to prevent the branches from falling due to the heavy weight. His walls are filled with papers of his research, newspapers, articles and his notes. There’s no window on the walls. He got all his light source at the three squared transparent part at the roof. The vines at the lower part of the tree hides the house so no one would think there’s a house above.  I tried describing the whole tree house. I hope you can see it in your mind.

Back to natalia and noah…

“Here, sit here” he offered me a cushion seat near the table

I’m still amazed by every part of his house. I sat on the cushion that he offered. 

“Natalia, First of all, this is a secret place that only you and I know, oh also the person that helped me build this.” He said. 

“Do you really live here by yourself? Don’t you have a house? Don’t you have a Family?” I asked too much because he’s a student and he’s living in a giant tree?? I’ve never encountered a pure human with this kind of life.

“Yup I don’t have all of that. It’s just me and my home.” he said then he opened his bag. 

“But where do you eat? So you sleep here every day?” I asked again 

“I always eat outside at the convenience store or any restaurants outside and yes I sleep here” then he pointed to his blanket that served as his bed at the other side. 

I lost all my words while analyzing his situation. I thought all pure humans are lucky, but they’re not. Just by thinking about his situation, he got his own body but he doesn’t have a life or a family. His situation can be compared to us pneuma the only difference is he got his own body.

“Noah, why did you show me all of this? Are you not worried? Your secret might not be safe with me. What if I tell everybody about this?” I asked him. 

“Hmmm My guts tells me you’re trustworthy, maybe because you believe in pneumas too, it’s the first time I encountered a person who believes me ever since Vince disappeared” 

“Just because of that you already trust me with all of this? Are you serious? What if I’m a spy or a bad person? What would you do? What if your guts were wrong?” I said it like I was rapping because he’s triggering me with his innocence. 

“Nahh My guts would never fail me, I can feel it, you're not like that. But of course you need to promise me one thing to make me feel more at ease.” he said then after that he pulled out my book from his bag. 

“Promise? What promise?” He offered his pinky finger to me.

“Promise me that you’ll keep all of this by yourself.” he extends his hands to me. 

I kept looking at my book then back to his hands. His right hand extends to me and his left hand is holding something important to me. How can I possibly get that without him noticing? I don’t know really, I’ll just go with the flow. I extended my hand to him too, sealing the promise that he offered. 

“Okay” I said. Alright, all I need to do is to prevent him from reading the book. I can’t let him read it. That book serves as my soul, everything about me is writing on its pages. 

“Well then we’re good now. Let’s start with your questions” Noah said then he put my book at his side. 

“Questions? Me?” I asked. 

“Yes you. You’ve got a lot of questions running around your head. I can see it in your eyes” he said. Hmm maybe it’s an ability of a pure human, to observe people’s emotions correctly through their eyes. 

“I do have a lot of questions but first tell me all you know about them” I said. 

“Wait, May I ask why you believe in pneuma. Do you know a Pneuma person too?” He’s excited to ask me the last question and his eyes are hoping for a yes answer. What should I say? Hi I am a pneuma nice to meet you? No, I don’t want to disclose my identity to anybody, Even with Noah. Who knows i might disappear too if i tell him what i am like what happened to vince.

“No I have never encountered a pneumas, I just saw a newspaper before about them” I lied but it’s true that there’s a newspaper before about the pneumas but no one believes it. The whole article just serves as a fiction story paper for the pure humans. The writer of the article finished his life because of the hate people gave to his works. I heard that man has a pneuma wife but she disappeared too. That's why he’s spreading news about pneuma, hoping that someone might help him find her. Instead of forgetting his wife after so many years the idea lingers around him that maybe his wife is just somewhere around him until he becomes old and loses hope. Noah nodded to my answer, he easily believes everything I say. Maybe I don’t have anything to worry about here. He won’t get suspicious about me.

“So here I’ll tell you all I know about pneuma” he breathed deeply before starting his sentence. 

Maybe he saw my eagerness to listen so he just continued looking at his research papers and started to talk again. 

“You already know that they are lost souls wandering around us?” He asked and I just nodded. 

“They are pneuma, lost souls that enter the human body. They are like a puzzle piece that wants to complete a puzzle.” He looks like he really knows what he’s saying. Well what he said was true though. 

“Because of Vince, I learned that every person around me can possibly be a pneuma but I still didn’t figure out how to distinguish them from humans. Some people are also called empty shells or a body without a soul. They continue to live in our world but they don't have a soul” He continued to discuss more about pneuma but all of the information that he knows is not new to me. He’s just repeating all the information that I know.

I started to lose interest with what he was saying. I stared at his wall full of articles, pages about pneuma and started reading some of it from afar. Natalia got sharp eyes so I could read it from my seat effortlessly then I saw a rare beautiful photo of a rock at the lowest part of the wall. 

“Noah” I raised my hand so I could get his attention. “What’s that rock for?” I asked. 

“Oh I’m going to discuss that in the last part but because you asked it first I’ll tell you now.” He got the rock image on the wall. 

“First of all this is not a rock, it’s a star, a million miles away from our world” he said. 

“Wait but what is the relationship between that star and the pneuma???” I asked

“Relationship? This star is where pneuma came from.” He said it straight like he’s the pneuma himself. And what did he say? we’re from that star? How come I didn't remember myself going there? This can’t be true. I thought we’re just made and arrived at this world and that’s it. 

“HOW CAN YOU BE SO SURE THAT WE’RE FROM THAT STAR???” Oh my I said my thoughts out loud. 

He looks confused about what I said. “You?” He asked. 

“I mean the pneuma, how can you be so sure that they are from that star??” I corrected my sentence and asked again. 

“Vince said. He said before he didn’t know it either, but he just woke up one day and all of his lost memories came back to him. That there are a lot of pneuma in that star and there are also people who erase memories of each soul.” He opened his notes again. “Vince said his goal is to find his matched body but before he reaches his goal he just disappeared” 

Vince's disappearance makes me feel nervous again. I didn’t disclose my identity to Noah so I won’t disappear right?

I still can't believe that we are from somewhere. Maybe that star is made by the almighty where they produce more pneuma, it is a star but the purpose is to be a pneuma factory??? I think I need more proof of what he said but where can I ask? I don’t think my pneuma friends would know that either. I need to confirm it first before believing his words.

“After Vince disappeared I stopped my research too because I can’t find more leads about pneuma but…” he stopped in the middle of his sentence. 

“But what?” I asked. 

“But yesterday I found this” he excitedly showed the brown book he kept holding since he started talking, in short, my book. I don’t know how I should react because I badly want to get that from him. Should I just kill him and snatch that book? Ughhhh no, I’m not a killer!! 

“It’s from the library at school. After pulling this yesterday I saw a girl fainted near me so I carried her to the clinic and then while I was inside of the clinic I accidentally dropped it and saw the pages. I didn’t expect to find a book written by a pneuma itself. After that I hurriedly ditch all my classes and go here to finish reading the book.” He explained everything that happened yesterday. 

WHAT? DID I HEARD THAT RIGHT? HE ALREADY FINISHED THE BOOK??? NO WAY!!  

“I thought you only saw it yesterday but you already finished the book?” I asked while panicking. 

“Yes I read it all night and I didn’t even get a chance to sleep.” He’s smiling like crazy 

He’s crazy. Now my life is not a secret anymore. Doesn’t he know the word privacy? 

“You already finished it. Wow ha ha ha that’s great.” I faked my smile because I can’t do this anymore. “Wait, how do you find that book though?” I asked again because no one would have an idea that the boring book in that shelf is about pneuma. What if someone tipped him off.

“I’m just bored that day because the professor cancelled his class and I thought I should get a new book to read. Then I saw this interesting mysterious book without a title on that shelf so I borrowed it.” Interesting? Are you kidding me? That’s the most boring book I’ve ever seen in my life and it looks interesting to this pure human. I really confirmed that this pure human is not normal, maybe he has a disability with distinguishing which thing is boring and which is not. 

“I mean there’s a lot of books in that library” I said. 

“Yes there’s a lot of books but I already read most of them” he read all the books?? Noah what have you done to your life. I gave up sending him questions because I’m starting to believe that he’s not a pure human. 

“So here’s what I found on this book”

He sat near me so he could discuss. 

“This book is owned by a pneuma named E. She already entered 40 plus empty shells.” He even got a bunch of notes gathered from my book. It's even weird to hear a story about myself. 

“She said here pneuma didn’t have their own gender but it’s a contrast of what Vince said.” Wait, Vince knows his gender? But how?

“What do you mean?” I asked. 

“It means if a pneuma is a boy he’ll only get to enter male body and if the pneuma is a girl she’ll get to enter the woman's body only. And in E’s case I concluded that she’s a girl.” 

I’m a girl? I didn’t even noticed that before. I never got to enter male body ever since but I never assume anything about myself. I just focused on my goal to own a body. That is also the reason why E is my name because I don’t know my gender.

“And she’s a teenager” he added

“How do you say so?” Does he also know my age? But how?

“Because she only entered a shell at that age. Maybe that soul recognizes its own age that’s why she only enters that age range. The age range of her empty shells are 17 years old to 22 years old.” He realized all of this by just reading my book when I’m the one who owned the book but didn’t realize it sooner. I’m so stupid.

“By the way can you help me?” -Noah

“Help you with what?”-Natalia

“I need to find the owner of this book” he said

“Okay we’ll find her” i answered

What I did I said. Why would I help him? Ughhh what an impulsive mouth you have Natalia. 

He looked satisfied with my answer and then we got out of the tree house. 

He biked with me until we reached the road and I continued biking up to Natalia's house. I entered the house and went straight to my room. I saw my brother watching cartoons on the tv and I think mom is still at work. 

A lot of things happened today. I’m so exhausted plus I still didn’t get my book and Noah already read it. 

But I also got to know more about myself. That I’m a teenage girl and that I’m from that star. I suddenly got interested in that star even if I don't know if it's true. What does that place look like? Why are they creating a pneuma at that place? I got more questions about our kind after meeting Noah but I don’t think it’s a great idea to talk to him again. I think I should keep away from him starting tomorrow. 

I looked at my ceiling and saw a window where I could see the night sky. There’s a lot of stars today. I just stared at them for a long time. Am I really from out there? Before I shut my eyes a star suddenly shone brightly and twinkled three times. 

I think the star is calling me...