The Ones She Left Behind

Chapter Twelve

Darcy sat beside the window, watching as her mother stared blankly at the wall. She'd been released from the hospital a few hours ago, but now she had nurses in and out of her room, not leaving her alone for more than a few minutes. She hadn't said a word to any of them, though.

Once the next nurse entered the room, Darcy closed her eyes, visualizing Maggie’s face. The wind picked up, and when she opened her eyes again, she was staring at Lani's kitchen table. Music blasted from the stereo in the kitchen. Darcy recognized it as one of Maggie's punk rock albums.

Wide-eyed, Darcy watched as Maggie collapsed in a chair, raking her fingers through her hair. It looked like she had pulled some out already.

Darcy looked all around, but there was no sign of Lani. Empty bottles laid around the floor, and one lay against the far wall, smashed into pieces.

The music was interrupted as a gut-wrenching scream emitted from Maggie’s lips as she shoved her chair out and stormed over to the counters.

Opening a drawer, Maggie grabbed a knife. She ran it down from the crease of her arm to the palm of her hand. Her eyes were bloodshot, and Darcy wondered if she had a clue what she was doing. Blood oozed from the cut as Maggie gasped through her tears.

Darcy closed her eyes before disappearing into the stereo. The music stopped, but Maggie didn’t seem to notice. Instead of reappearing, Darcy focused on the knife in Maggie’s hand before transferring her energy into it. The knife slipped out of Maggie’s grasp and flew into the wall behind her. Maggie fell off the chair, shaking.

“What was that?”

Rage filled Darcy as she materialized in her previous position at the kitchen entryway. She moved closer to Maggie.

“You are such an i***t,” Darcy spat as she glared at her older sister. “Why is it that you get to live and I don’t? You’re practically throwing your life away!” Darcy pointed to the cut on Maggie’s arm. Blood seeped out of the cut. Darcy touched it, and the skin started healing.

Maggie’s breath hitched. “Who’s there? Topher, is it you?”

Darcy smirked. “Topher can’t come back. You sent him away, remember? The only friend either of us ever had left all because of you. Now I have no one, and it’s all your fault. I did nothing wrong, yet I’m always suffering for your mistakes! How much more are you going to put me through? Make me watch my own sister self-destruct?”

Maggie scooted backward across the floor. She may not have been able to hear Darcy, but she had to be smart enough to know she wasn’t alone.

“Sorry, but no matter how many stars you wish on, Topher isn’t coming back.” Darcy’s smirk fell into a hard line. “He can’t come back to us even if he wanted to.”

Tears filled Maggie’s eyes as if somehow she did know what Darcy said.

Darcy’s eyes softened. “But, that doesn’t mean you can’t find him.”

She closed her eyes as a breeze went through the house, knocking a few things to the ground. Then, the wind picked up, and soon picture frames crashed to the floor, glass shattering. Maggie screamed as a chair came hurtling toward her, crashing against the wall behind her.

"Wh-what do you want from me?" Maggie cried.

Darcy opened her eyes as the radio smashed against Maggie’s head.

As Maggie fully collapsed, Darcy smirked. “That’ll teach you not to play music your little sister doesn’t like.”

Maggie’s eyes were closed and she wasn’t moving, but she was breathing. Darcy touched her newly-healed arm. “You want Topher? Go find him."

 _______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Topher stepped inside the mouth of a cave. He had only ever been here once shortly after his death. He had been summoned by a guardian, the same guardian who was summoning him now.

From his past experience, he knew that it generally was never good to be summoned by the guardians. They oversaw the paranormal activity on Earth to ensure that none of the spirits that remained got out of line. As a new spirit, Topher had been using his powers too much and had caused a serious mess with fatal consequences. When the guardians’ radar alerted them about what Topher had done, he was reprimanded and was threatened with serious repercussions, but Topher had asked for the chance to use his powers for protection, and they had agreed to give him another chance as long as he didn’t bring physical harm to someone else. Fortunately for Topher, he had found many ways over the years to protect Maggie without directly harming her father.

As Topher stepped further into the cave, he wondered why they wanted him now. If it was over the incident that occurred during Maggie’s date, he would have thought they would have summoned him before now.

“Ulysses,” Topher called out, figuring he should get this over with. “I’m here.”

Topher froze as he moved through the cave against his will. He remembered this part as well, and knew this must’ve been an emergency. His spirit jerked as he turned to the right and followed a new path until he reached the end and came to an abrupt stop. He met the steady gaze of what appeared to be a middle-aged man, but Topher knew he was actually thousands of years old.

“Christopher, we have a problem.”

Topher tensed. “What’s going on?”

Ulysses pointed to a map of Earth behind him. It was no ordinary map, however. White lights moved all around it, which Topher knew was an indicator of where there was mild paranormal energy. In the United States, however, there was a glowing red light, indicating high levels of activity. Ulysses touched the light, and it suddenly zoomed in on the area. Flashes quickly passed as it showed the state, the city, the street, and then finally, an image of the exact location that looked all too familiar to Topher.

“Maggie.” His eyes widened. “Please, tell me it’s not her.”

“I wish I could,” Ulysses said. “She was attacked by a free spirit I know you also have connections to.”

“Darcy.” Topher’s hands clenched into fists. He knew he should’ve never left the two sisters alone. Even if Maggie never wanted to see him again, he should’ve stayed to keep Darcy from causing harm.

Ulysses nodded. “I warned you before about her, Christopher, but you said to let you handle her. I trusted you to keep her under the radar, but now that you’ve left Earth, she’s had more freedom and is now causing potentially fatal damage.”

“What did she do?”

“She possessed Maggie’s body.”

Topher’s eyes widened. He had seen Darcy possess objects on numerous occasions, but never did he think she would possess a human, much less her own sister’s body.

“What’s going to happen to Maggie?”

As Topher said these words, a white light appeared on the ground just a few feet in front of him. He stared in shock as the white light faded and Maggie’s features began to materialize.

“She must’ve been thinking about you in her final moments,” Ulysses said.

“Please tell me she can go back to her own body,” Topher said once he recovered from his shock.

“She can go back, but she only has a matter of a few days before she permanently loses her connection to her body.” Ulysses stared down at her, and Topher followed his gaze. “Do you see that pink line going from her left palm? You can’t see the whole thing, but I know that line should be going from her palm, up her arm, and over to her chest. You will see the same line on her physical body, but it’s only visible to us. Once those lines disappear, Maggie will no longer be able to return to her body and will remain a spirit.”

Topher shook his head. “I can’t let that happen. Please let me help her reclaim her body. Let me deal with Darcy, too. I know I can get her to give Maggie her body back.”

Ulysses nodded. “I’m trusting this problem to you because you’re so close to this situation. Do be careful, though, Christopher. You don’t have a lot of time.”

Topher nodded as he stared down at Maggie. “I promise I won’t fail this time.”

Leaning forward, Topher picked up Maggie’s limp form. Because they were both spirits, she couldn’t pass through him now. “Why is she unconscious?”

“It’s because of her bond to her body,” Ulysses answered. “As a spirit, she won’t need to sleep, but when something traumatic happens to her body, it will also impact her spirit unless the bond is broken.”

“So, when she wakes up, that means that Darcy will have also regained consciousness,” Topher said. “Good to know.”

Standing up, Topher held Maggie bridal-style as he closed his eyes and pulled her as tight against his chest as he could. He had never tried to travel while holding someone else before, and he just hoped her spirit would go with him.

When Topher opened his eyes, he saw a meadow. Looking down, he was relieved to see that Maggie was still with him. He laid her down on the grass and dropped to his knees beside her. He had the urge to touch her cheek, just as he used to when she was in her body, but he stopped himself now. For the duration that he had held her, he felt her guilt and despair. He had tried to block her emotions from getting in, but they seemed to run too deep. Topher wondered if she had felt anything else since he had left. He recalled the few seconds she had reached him, apparently through a dream. He had tried to make himself believe that he imagined the encounter and that Maggie never wanted to see him again, but now he knew it was real and she really did want to see him. Otherwise, her soul wouldn’t have found him now.

He stared at her face intently. She seemed calm, but he wondered how she had looked during her final moments. He didn’t know the details surrounding her body separation, but he figured that, whatever had happened, it must’ve been bad for her to be unconscious now.

“I should’ve stayed.” Topher stared at the ground between them. “If you didn’t want me there, I should’ve stayed for your sister. I should’ve known she would have done something like this if I left, but I thought it was for the best if I wasn’t around to cause you more problems. Now I’ve failed both of you and I’m sorry.”