THE EMPATH

HELPER IN THE SHADOWS (the tales of a lost soul)

"You don't know how good I feel now that I am free from that meat suit...I was so lonely in there...I tried to talk to you but you couldn't hear me then I figured you only speak to souls that are already outside their bodies and so I fought to get out. I know that body is as good as dead but yet again if it dies I have to move on and I don't want to do that. I want to stick around and help you. I mean I want to be your very own shadow helper... a literal shadow for that matter...," she said as she floated to her hospital room.

"Anne, I know I have a lot to explain to you and I don't even know where to start or even whether you will believe me but...," I wanted to explain myself to her but she interrupted me again. "I know Vicky, you are in pain and it is sending you off the edge. Maybe we should just go home and you can come back later," She said holding my hand. "uuuh you two are love birds already? she is charming...have you guys kissed yet?" Alice was talking and talking and she was distracting me. "No...we haven't and we are not lovebirds. Now, will you shut up and let me explain?" I said a little bit agitated. "What? I didn't say we were love birds...what do you need to explain? what is wrong with you?" Anne was seriously concerned. "It's a long story Anne and I think you need to seat down," she sat down ready to listen and I started my narration. By the time I was halfway through, she was already angry and she got up and picked up her school bag. "You know what Vicky, I thought you were a good person...I thought you were different from everyone else but guess what, you are not. If you don't want me around you just say it. You don't have to male up stories. You know what, I am leaving and you should do too. Talk to me when you are ready, to tell the truth about what is actually going on with you," just like that, she left and made sure to bang the door behind her just to emphasize how serious and angry she was.

"Girls hah! I tried to tell you it was not a good idea but did you listen? No, no you thought she was like me and Tom, that she could understand. Anyway, I have other important stuff to tell you," Alice said. At that point, I was torn between following Anne and seating down to listen to what Alice had to say, my choice was not obvious but it was understandable. "Okey okay, what do you have to say, your highness?" I sat down and stared at her as she told me everything that had happened in the hospital since she first got there. She knew exactly how many people had died and how many were close to dying. "Well, I also have stuff to tell you but it is getting late. I will have to come back tomorrow afternoon," I said ready to go but she said something that pulled me back to the seat. "The kids from Thursday's fire," she said and flew off the room for a second before coming back in. "What about them?" I asked. "They are dying," her words echoed through my ears and I sank back to my seat with a thud. For a moment I sat there going through the words in my head before getting up and following Alice through the hall. "Ready start...," the doctor said. They were doing all they could to save one of the kids but the line was still flat and the machine was going crazy.

"There is no going back from that," Alice said and held her arms around her shoulders in disappointment. I watched as the kid's soul floated out of his body and sat down midair. "You know, the police are still trying to solve the case...maybe that soul could help us," I said. "You got it. Go back to my room I will be back in a moment," she said and went right through the closed door. I rushed back to her room and waited there. A minute later, the two came in hand in hand, Alice was all smiles while the little boy was confused as hell she kind of reminded me of a scene from the supernatural show and I could feel a chill move up my spine. "I want to go back and try again...please...I am way too young. I can't die now," he kept ob saying. "Maybe you should let him try one more time Alice," I said even though I knew that eleven minutes had already passed since the doctors started the attempt to resuscitate and there was no hope. "No! he can help you, Vicky. He has to help you," suddenly the room went cold and the lights started blinking. Right in front of me, were two frustrated souls having an angry standoff and the results were proving to be catastrophic. "I want to try and you have no right to stop me," the little boy said. "I have seen so many try and they only end up losing themselves and missing their chance to move on. Some of the haunts this hospital as they go around looking for anyone who could hear or see them," Alice answered and folded her fists in anger, the boy responded the same way and for a moment I thought the two were about to get to each other's fleshless throats. "You know I can back her up on the haunt...," I started but I had to stop abruptly when I saw Alice's wheelchair flying towards me. I jumped and the damn thing hit the floor with a thud. I knew someone might have heard it so I pretended that I was the one who had fallen.

"What is going on in here?" it was my father. He had come to the room to tell me that he was done with his shift so it was time to go home. "Nothing Dad, I just fell while trying to fix that blinking light," I answered and tried to get Alice to calm down so that the boy would too. Apparently, the boy was too mad to stop and he made the unconscious Alice levitate from the bed in an attempt to drop her to the floor. I would have jumped and held her back but my father had already seen that and was taking steps back towards the door. At this point, I couldn't help but do something. "Hey, you need to stop this madness. The police want or rather needs to know what happened the day your house burnt down and Alice just wanted to give you a chance to help with the investigation but you know what, you don't have to help. You can just go back and try to get into your body but you won't succeed anyway. It has been sixteen minutes already and no one ever came back from that long at least not in real life anyway," I was also getting furious plus all my human strength was not enough to hold Alice's body for long. "If you want to go, just go but leave her alone."

The boy floated out through the door and I followed, I was curious to see how he planned to go about getting back into his body. In the room, the doctors had finished with him and called the time of death already. They were by then focused on his sister whose pulse was there but was too weak. I had to watch through the windows as the doors were closed and I couldn't just storm in there. My father was standing right next to me even though he was not seeing anything. He was shaking from the near-freezing temperatures in Alice's room where he had been standing frozen with his mouth open for a while. I watched as the boy tried to dive head first into his body then he tried to slowly match his body and drop in it. All that didn't work and he started to freak out. "Oh-oh!" Alice said and disappeared. I went close to my dad and held his hand without any clue that I would temporarily give him the ability to see what I was seeing.

Alice reappeared in the room and tried to reason with the boy but all she seemed to do was get him even more pissed off. The doctor suddenly felt a chill and the lightbulb over the little boy's head popped the sheets started flying into the air all by themselves. Soon the whole room was occupied by some sort of a mini-tornado. "The doctors, they will get hurt," I said and stormed into the room without stopping to think for a bit. The moment I opened the door, the wind storm found its way out and as it whirled out, it grew stronger and the place became much colder. "That is one angry and lost soul, I can't imagine what he would have become if he ever grew up to become an adult...a serial killer, a violent husband...you name it," Alice said and went back to try and calm him down but it was no use.

Dad had finally recovered from his shock and was on his way to help the three doctors who had been banged all around the room and were lying on the floor unconscious together with the little girl who I could feel was a goner. "Vicky, get me a clean pair of gloves and wear some yourself, these people need immediate help," my dad yelled. The room was way too messed up for me to see a thing but someone threw a packet of gloves at me. I had to turn back to see who it was and I was not surprised to see the other twin standing there looking at me. "They need help, they tried all they could to help me and my i***t brother but like everything else in his stupid life, he had to ruin it for me and them," she said turning towards her brother. "This is so not good," Alice said and floated away from the two. "I think you two should leave the room," she added. I stood up and made a few steps back while my dad sat on the floor coiled up. A group of people had gathered outside and it was hard for me to talk to either of the three souls. "David, you need to stop this madness, can't you see? you have already ruined everything you ever had. You burnt the house down all because mum wouldn't let you stay home another day. You killed her and got us soo badly burnt that we never had a chance to survive. Our sister is now all alone in the world all thanks to you. And now, you have left three doctors with broken bones. You were never good for this world and I have a feeling you won't be good in the next or the one after that. A lost soul is what you are. You are evil and everything you touch dies. Fighting isn't going to bring mum back and you being alive won't change that you are poison to the world you are honestly better dead," she said without a hint of anger or remorse on her face. I felt tears form in the back of my eyes but I did my best to push them back. I watched as Alice moved forward and held the girl by her shoulder and she smiled. "Don't worry, I am not upset and I don't feel bad, I would rather be dead than live in that burnt body anyway, I am just glad the pain is over and Finally I don't have to put up with him. I am ready to move on. I have a feeling that my mom is waiting for me," she said and turned away. Like every other soul I had seen move on before, she faded away. Her brother was left there floating midair thinking about what his sister had just said and from the look on his face, I could tell he had just realized that he was the bad guy in the story. "Okey, I will help you solve the fire case," he said with a low tone and a voice full of regrets. Alice smiled.

Some doctor arrived just as I was helping my father out and as I helped him walk out of the room, I saw Anne amongst the people crowded at the door. I took dad back to Alice's room and locked it behind us. Alice came in with David following her closely. After making sure my dad wasn't hurt, I sat down ready to listen and my father held my hand. "I started the fire because I didn't want to go to school. In my mind, I was thinking that if I burnt my school uniform, I would have to stay home for a few more days as my mum was working to get me some new ones. My sister suggested that that wouldn't work as my mum always put some money aside for emergencies, she was just trying to make me see that my idea was stupid but I took it she was trying to belittle my idea so I started teasing that if our room burnt down, we would surely have to stay at home. She tried to stop me but I overpowered her and soon the house was burning we tried to get out but the was too much smoke. Mum came in to help but one side of the wall fell on her and she was stuck my sister and I tried to lift it but it was too hot and heavy and so all we could do was coil into a corner and cry for help. The last thing I remember was the pain I felt as my skin burnt then I went unconscious," the boy narrated.

"Shouldn't he be crying himself crazy right about now?" my father asked. "Wait you can see him?" I asked back. "Well, you gave him temporary power to see what you are seeing earlier when you held his hand with all the supernatural crap that was going on. Also, he can't cry because souls have no tear ducts," Alice said. We sat there looking at each other and then at the boy as we realized his sister was right, David was better dead than alive. "I am so going to hell and now I know I deserve it," he concluded and turned away. I wanted to comfort him but words failed me my father just opened his mouth and then shut it as he realized he had nothing positive to say. We just watched as David's soul faded away. "David...how ironic," Alice said at last, and at that point, my father came to his senses and noted her for the first time. He was both shocked and happy and the mixed feelings sent him to the ground unconscious.