THE JOURNEY OF SHEIRA HART

32 | Riding Shadows is Cool. Until They Decided To Do a Backflip.

I looked at Mikhael who was looking down below. Wide-eyed. Who wouldn’t be surprised at that? I mean, we’ve seen a fair share of crazy souls but then this one is unexpected. I don’t even know why I was surprised. Maybe because I wasn’t expecting it either.

I looked down below to see her with her arms wide open. Darkness gathered around her but I was more concerned about the dark black hole just under her feet. She was standing over it and it was like she was summoning darkness towards her. 

“What the hell is she doing?” I asked. 

“How on earth should I know?” 

I hit his arm causing him to look at me with such disdain. “You were dead longer than I was. You’re supposed to know things better!” 

He placed a dramatic hand over his chest as if offended by what I just said. “Excuse me?” He scoffed.

I waved a dismissive hand. “We don’t have time to argue about this now. We have to get out of here!” 

“I wish we could,” he said and tried flying away but it seems like there’s some kind of a force dragging us back down. And we both know why. Sara seems to be dragging us back down. 

“Seems like Mr. Grim’s friend wants us down there.” We both looked down below and it is not my thing to get scared over ghosts (I didn’t believe in them before) because I am already a ghost myself but there is something about Sara who was looking at us that just makes the hair in my body rise up. She’s creepy. Creepier than Monica. Creepier than any tainted souls we’ve met so far. 

“Hell no,” I mumbled as I tried flying too but as Mikhael said, it was futile. Some force was dragging us down and if it was Sara, then she’s a lot scarier than I thought. 

We tried flying and using both our strengths but then it was as if Sara got tired of watching us using all our efforts when she decided to use up a lot of her strength too. We weren’t prepared for it and the next thing I knew, both me and Mikhael are already falling to the ground. 

I winced as I felt the pain on my back and Mikhael was groaning too. The ground wasn’t black anymore. Or so I thought. Because when I got to glimpse Sara, she was farther than us and the black hole underneath her feet was still there. I grabbed Mikhael’s shirt and helped him up and I heard him mutter a curse the moment he saw Sara just a few meters away. She was looking at us and somehow, I could clearly see the black streaks on her face down to her neck. And I could see the streaks lining her arms. I couldn’t help but cover my mouth. 

She’s a tainted soul indeed. But what happened? What did she do? Why did she come here? Why did she run away?

“Are you seeing what I’m seeing?” Mikhael asked and all I could do was nod. 

“But why?” I looked at Mikhael and just like me, he has the same question. 

“Thorien can’t have her back in the Silver City. Thanis will be the one who’ll get her,” he said. 

“So what should we do?” I asked because, in all honesty, I don’t know. I don’t know how to tell Thorien that someone dear to him became a tainted soul. I don’t know if I should let Thanis do his job and take her. But what about Thorien? 

Did he perhaps know that Sara is now a tainted soul? Does he have a way to know? But he wouldn’t send us out here and take Sara if he knew, right? Because he would be sending us to our second deaths which is something I least prefer at the moment. Come on! I just died! 

Mikhael was silent as he was also looking at the woman in front of us. Her smile was wide. Wider than normal. Which makes it a lot creepier. Her white dress was dirty as if she had rolled in the ground full of grease. Her hair was unbelievably still despite the wind gushing in the surroundings. And I don’t know if it’s a thing between ghosts but I could feel an immense amount of power coming from her. It wasn’t the same as Monica’s. Sara’s was a lot stronger. 

“All we can do at the moment is to try and not to die while waiting for Thanis to appear,” Mikhael said finally. 

“That’s reassuring,” I said sarcastically and looked at Sara who took a step forward. “But what about Thorien’s favor? He said we have to find her!” 

Mikhael looked at me. “And we found her. Thorien didn’t say to take her to him. We found her and she’s already a tainted soul. Thanis is assigned to take her to the Underworld,” he said and all I could do was look back at Sara. 

“But what about Thorien? He needs to know at least about Sara’s condition!” 

“Then let’s pray Thorien gets here before Thanis.” 

“What if Thanis gets here first?” 

“Then are you seriously thinking of going against Thanis?” Mikhael looked at me before he stood up. He then offered his hand to which I took and used to stand up. I looked at Sara. Darkness swirled around her. I don’t know when she became like that and I certainly don’t know when she ran away but one thing is for sure: we have to survive and not die should she decide to attack. I mean, with what happened to Monica, it’s hard not to expect any attacks from tainted souls.

It was then that Sara started walking towards us and I seriously got goosebumps and seeing her just makes me want to run in another direction. 

“Are you two done with your chit-chat?” Sara asked. And her voice—holy mother of Thorien. Her voice was nothing like I expected. It was sharp, harsh, and violent. 

“You heard us?” Mikhael said. I looked at him and was surprised at how calm he is as he met Sara’s eyes. “Then you probably know by now that someone’s going to take you and you can’t do anything about it,” he said and I know what he’s talking about. Assuming Thanis didn’t drink or haven’t been lenient with his job, he might arrive before Sara could try and s*******r us. 

Sara just lifted her hand and looked at it. As if checking her nails. She then looked at us before she said, “He can try,” she said, her voice so deep and so cold, and then she looked at us, her gaze piercing, her lips curved into a brutal smile, “only if he can.” 

And then everything happened too fast I couldn’t even comprehend it at first but then darkness wrapped around us. I couldn’t see anything but I could hear Sara laughing hysterically. But she sounded like she was inside some sort of a bubble. 

Or I was in a bubble.  A bubble of darkness? 

“Mikhael?” I called and I heard Mikhael beside me but he sounds so far away. “Mikhael? Where are you?” 

It was then I felt his hand on mine but his voice was too far for me to hear. But I looked beside me, squinted my eyes so I could see him, and there he was. We were floating inside a bubble of darkness and I couldn’t see anything. But I could feel Mikhael holding my hand so somehow I didn’t feel scared or anything. But the darkness was suffocating enough that I had to close my eyes and not think about it. 

Mikhael was saying something beside me but his voice was too small I couldn't comprehend what he was saying but I felt his hand tightened around mine and the next thing I knew was his arms wrapped around me. Hugging me. 

“What are you doing?” I asked and I could feel his breath on my neck. 

“We could hear each other more clearly this way,” he said and though his voice was still small, I could definitely hear him. I fought the heat creeping on my cheeks and I wanted to smack myself for feeling that way in the middle of a life crisis. 

“I’m only hugging you so we could plan what to do. Don’t get any ideas,” he said and I scoffed before I wrapped my arms around him tightly too. 

“Don’t get too cocky now, di Angelo. What we should be talking about now is how to get out of this bubble.” 

“Why are you hugging me so tightly, aren’t you showing me too much affection?”

I reminded myself that I could probably use him as bait if worse gets worst later so I didn’t snap his neck right there. And before I could even say something, the bubble cleared. I could see the surroundings as seconds passed by. The bubble of darkness vanished but we were still floating in the air. I looked around and saw Sara just below us, looking up and smiling in our direction. I heard Mikhael mutter a curse and I immediately pulled away from the hug. 

I could hear him clearly. Not like earlier when I could barely comprehend what he was talking about. And when I looked at Mikhael, it was then that I realized what is happening. We weren’t floating on our own. We were riding in some kind of shadow and it wasn’t just some ordinary shadow, it was so black as if it was darkness incarnate. And it wasn’t just a shadow, it was something that moves on its own. And then Mikhael noticed I was on a shadow too. 

“What’s that underneath you?” he asked. 

I swallowed hard. “Same question,” I answered. 

We then both looked at Sara who was still grinning. “We’ll be going on a short trip. Buckle up, dears,” she announced and turned her back on us. The ground that was all black earlier was gone and the ground looked pretty normal now. I didn’t bother asking what happened to it. 

“Wait!” I yelled and Sara turned to look at me. Her face looks innocent but one couldn’t deny the fact that something is really wrong with her if they see the black streaks on her face down to her neck and a little on her arms. She is a tainted soul but I have a feeling that she just became one recently. I wonder what she did. 

Her brow raised as she turned to us completely. I shifted on my position. I was riding a shadow. A live shadow. And I don’t know if I should be considering it cool or weird. I mean, it’s not every day that you get to ride shadows. 

“Where are we going?” I asked but then she just smiled. It was so sinister that it didn’t match her innocent eyes at all. But her smile was gone in an instant and was replaced by a small one. 

“Somewhere they can’t find us,” she said and turned her back against us. I and Mikhael both looked at each other and I know he’s thinking what I am thinking. 

It would probably take a long time before Thanis or Thorien gets to us. 

“What are we going to do there?” I dared ask but Sara didn’t look at me this time.

“We’re going to have so much fun,” she said and then darkness swirled around her as if she was summoning it. And it wrapped around her like how it probably did to us moments ago. 

“I don’t have a good feeling about this,” I heard Mikhael said and then before I knew it, I was screaming at the top of my lungs and I held onto the shadow and I didn’t even have the time to question how on earth was I able to hold onto a f*****g shadow. But then I felt Mikhael’s hand on my arm and I looked at him. His hair swayed by the wind and his eyes were calm. In fact, his whole face was calm. 

And then I realized we were just flying normally except that we’re riding the shadows. I slowly looked around and I could see we’re several feet above the ground and I could see the city down below. I looked at Mikhael and he shrugged. 

And then I figured we were just flying. Nothing to be scared of. So I slowly let go of the shadow and sat comfortably. Just when I decided to be comfortable, the shadows (or Sara) decided to go faster, and I could literally feel the wind on my face and my hair. And as if it wasn’t worse enough, the shadows swirled, bringing us upside down. 

And I knew I was screaming so loudly and I know I won’t fall since I can fly and even if I fall, I couldn’t die but still riding a shadow with a tendency of doing a backflip isn’t something normal and would scare me the s**t out of anyone. 

So I grabbed the shadow and clung to dear life—afterlife and screamed for god knows how long. 

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