Other side

Ch 4// River and... a shadow?

Kerry and her parents went to their apartment. Kerry went to her room. Turning on the music quite loud Kerry fell into bed. As always the mother's voice was already sounding from the kitchen demanding to mute the music. Standing back on her feet, the girl cut off the music more quietly and went straight to the bathroom. There she washed both her hands and her face from the breath of the city. 

Kerry's room had an exit to the loggia. She was lucky because in the evenings when she couldn't sleep the girl often went out on the loggia, sat in a rocking chair and watched the starry sky. Even on rainy days, Kerry stood sweetly on the loggia and listened to the rain, enjoyed the soothing touches of water drops that slid over the girl's face and neck, felt the refreshing air, listened to the cars moving and approaching on the main street, and watched people hurried to their houses to get inside the heat faster.

Kerry entered the kitchen, grabbed an apple from the bowl, washed it and bit it, then went back to her room. The girl jumped back into bed again and thought. Watching the ceiling she remembered the events of the day and still couldn't believe them to the fullest. The guy told her he was the girl's guardian angel. Even if it was true it seemed to Kerry that something wasn't right because after all he didn't have to show up at all. The girl believed that there were higher powers and that someone was protecting us all but they did not appear in people's eyes to avoid adverse attention. Guardian angels should be invisible, protect from the edge, unnoticed by anyone. Kerry was right on the edge of the bed, her head almost hanging over bed. She wondered about what happened in the countryside. Did she really fly? "That's not possible," Kerry thought. The girl had heard of spiritually strong people who with their minds were able to distort things and levitate in the air for a short time, a spiritually strong degree they had reached for many years by meditating in search of inner peace and self-belief. And Kerry was convinced that she was not so strong, at least mentally.

'You think?' Kerry almost fell out of bed from the sudden voice that was definitely speaking clearly in her head. At the last moment, the girl swung out of bed, got up and looked around. 'Think you're not mentally strong? I think you're wrong! '

“Who is this?” the girl spoke a little louder than she had wanted.

'Don't worry! You don't have to shout, I will hear you even if you just talk in your mind.'

"What? Who is this?"

"Kerry? Who are you talking with?” mom asked from the kitchen. 

'Calm down. It's me!'

"That voice..."

"Kerry? What did you say?" the mother asked a little worried.

"Nothing mom! It's all right! I... I'm just talking to myself."

Her mother muttered something about nonsense, but Kerry not hearing it closed the door. She was sure that she had heard that voice before. It seemed so familiar. Suddenly she realized who had that voice. That was his, that boy's, guardian angel's voice. 'Yes, and don't talk. Think! I can hear you.'

"Okay" Kerry thought."You said you will explain everything! Please, tell me!” thought the girl.

'I'll explain everything soon, be a little more patient!' 

"Okay, but I have one question. If you can read my thoughts, does that mean you can read them even when I don't want to? ” 

'Yes. In the meantime I will read until you'll learn to block me with my thoughts. And it's even easier to protect you because you don't resist and I can know exactly what your intentions are.'

"What? In any situation? ” Kerry thought a little worried now. 

'I mean... Just to know if your intentions are dangerous or not! Nothing more!' 

This calmed the girl a little. "Wait. You said until I will learn to block you?”

'Yes. Sometimes you unknowingly succeeded, but for now you don't control it because you don't fully realize that you can do it. In time, you may be able to understand and be aware of it... and more...'

"And more? You mean that...” the girl couldn't finish her thought because she suddenly had a headache like a sting in her brain. She leaned on her knees holding her head in both hands. Kerry was overwhelmed with a headache. Then as if nothing had happened her head stopped hurting. "What was that?"

'Sorry, I forgot to say that you can have a headache because of this type of conversation. You will get used to it over time.'

Kerry suspected that she would soon have to get used to a lot of things. Besides, the guy still hasn't explained anything to her.

'I'll explain everything to you later in the evening.'

"Okay," the girl replied to herself because she had a feeling of lightness which probably meant that the uninvited guest was gone. A moment ago, she had a peculiar feeling of heaviness in her heart, she felt that her heart was beating slower, she felt everything sharper and also heard not the world around her, but herself. The girl felt that she could hear her slow, heavy heartbeats, felt the blood flow internally, felt muscle tension, felt it all more strongly and clearly than usual. Now the girl sat down on the bed, slightly relaxed. 

Few hours later, after dinner, she decided to go outside. Entering her room Kerry made hair in her tail, put on long pants, grey sweaters. She went to the corridor, where she put on sneakers and a woolly hat, in the evenings it stays cool in that area, especially in autumn.

She was about to walk out the door, but in a halfway a voice interrupted her:

"Where are you going?” mom spoke.

"I? Well, I have a little headache, so I decided to take a walk in the fresh air."

"Well, but not too long, okey? Not longer than hour."

"Promise. Bye."

The sky outside was already a little dark. Mixes of blue-purple, pink and yellow could be seen on the horizon. Soon there will be stars in the sky. After crossing the street, Kerry went towards the forest. After a while she came to the dam, she kept walking along it until she got to her special spot, hideout. In childhood she always came here to think about something, to be alone for a while. Rarely anyone walked here, there was always peace and quiet. After running down the hill, the girl went forward. Twenty meters ahead, Kerry came to a huge oak tree with an old wooden bench with a backrest. She really liked this place because there were water nearby. Sitting on a bench, the riverfront is just two meters away. The sky had become dark, so it was very easy to see the reflection of the moon and stars in the river, which was calm tonight. The wind was almost imperceptible. 

Sitting in this place, the girl could always be alone, think about herself, about others, whatever she wanted. This was one of the places where the girl felt safe. When troubles, problems, or something chaotic appeared on a daily basis, Kerry went to her hiding place and found peace. She created it by looking at the water. Looking at it, the girl looked very deep into herself, where there was anxiety. Leaning against the backrest, Kerry slowly inhaled the cool air. 

Looking at the sky, the girl noticed a falling star. Then she started wondering how many stars there are in total? Millions, trillions ... infinitely many. It is simply not a quantity that can be understood by the human mind. Kerry herself doesn't know why, but she has always been fascinated by space. A place of peace.. exit.. way out of everything.

Looking across the river, Kerry noticed a foggy figure on the other bank. It stood and did not move. The girl at first thought it was watching her, but decided it was probably just a small tree. However, she immediately changed her mind as she straining her eyes and realised that it on the surface of the water was slowly approaching the girl. She was not afraid, but got up and walked one step closer to the shore. Kerry couldn't move, her gaze fixed on the dark shadow that was approaching the shore pretty quickly. The girl seemed to become paralyzed. The gaze became cold and without life. Her face turned pale. A feeling of heaviness appeared in the heart. The figure seemed to slow down until it stopped completely in the middle of the river. Suddenly a white light obscured the entire view from behind. Everything became bright and Kerry closed her eyes. A bright sound began to blow in her ears. It only lasted a few seconds. When the girl opened her eyes, the light was still shining on the river, driving away the dark figure with big waves of light. At first, Kerry couldn't believe it, she had never seen anything like it before. The view was surprisingly beautiful, but at the same time scary. The dark figure grew smaller and smaller with each passing moment. The feeling of heaviness in the girl's heart slowly receded.

"I guess, first of all I had to tell you not to be alone anymore," a voice came from behind Kerry's back.