THE JOURNEY OF SHEIRA HART

33 | It was Sarah with an H

The moment we landed, my throat was already sore with all the screaming I did. I mean, rising a shadow was one thing but spinning mid-air whilst riding on it is another. I feel like my insides were getting pulled out. I covered my mouth and held Mikhael’s shoulder as I tried to contain my nausea. Mikhael just grimaced at my direction and I was too weak to even glare at him.

When the nausea somehow subsided, I took the chance to look around and all I could see were grasses and a lot of leaves. And just a few meters from us is a forest. I haven’t been keeping track of the seasons but judging from the trees up ahead barren of leaves, I could tell that winter is coming. I took the liberty to scan the surroundings. I don’t know this place at all. I couldn’t see any buildings or houses. There were just mountains and trees and the gloomy weather. It was a bad combination.

I saw Sara ahead just watching us but I could clearly see the dark swirls on her hands. And the moment I saw it, I knew it was different. I get the same feeling I had when we faced Monica. Sara is dangerous and I should have asked Thorien on how to make contact with him in case emergencies like this happen but I forgot to even ask. I looked at Mikhael. “Do you know how to call Thorien?” I asked and glared at him.

“Don’t look at me like that. If I have known, I should have done that earlier before we spiraled into the air.” He sighed and I was tempted to the same. I looked at the distance and saw Sara playing with the dark swirls on her arms.

“Er…Sara—“

“What’s happening to me?” she asked and faced us. Me and Mikhael both froze when we realized she was crying. She was looking at the streaks on her arms and then she ran to the puddle and kneeled before it as she was looking at her face.

I looked at Mikhael and he just shrugged because like me, he doesn’t have any idea what’s going on.

Then we heard her sobbing as she touched her face and then back to her arms. I decided to walk closer, slowly.

“Sheira—“

“It’s okay,” I said but didn’t take my eyes off of Sara. “It’s okay. She’s okay, I think.”

“It’s dangerous. Come back here. It could be a trap,” he continued but I didn’t pay him attention. I continued walking slowly, careful enough not to scare her. And when I was near enough, Sara noticed my presence and looked at me. Her eyes were full of tears. She blinked and stared at me and then covered her arms to hide it from me. I don’t know what is happening but as I looked at her, she looked like she just woke up in an unknown place, looking disconcerted. I know that look because that’s what I experienced juts recently.

“Hey,” I started. “It’s okay.” I crouched down beside her and she tried to scuttle far away from me.

“Who are you?” she asked. I looked at Mikhael who was already walking towards our direction. I looked at Sara again. She looked scared.

“Do you know who you are?” I asked and it took her a moment before she nodded. And then she took a stick and wrote her name on the ground.

S-A-R-A-H

“Sarah?” I asked and she nodded. So it has an H.

“Who are you?” she asked again.

“I’m Sheira and he,” I pointed towards Mikhael who’s now standing beside me, “is Mikhael.”

Sara just managed a little nod before she roamed her eyes around the area. “Where are we? Why are we here? Did you take me here?” she asked and I could sense genuine fear in her voice. She doesn’t remember anything. And she probably doesn’t have any idea what is happening to her.

I heard Mikhael chuckle. “I was meaning to ask you the same thing,” he said and I just gave him a glare to which answered with a shrug. Sara was just looking at us with a puzzled look in her face.

“Why are you two glowing?” she asked and that’s when I realized the problem is bigger than we thought. And I realized she managed to hold the stick to spell her name earlier.

I swallowed hard. “Sara, what do you remember?”

She looked on the ground as if that would help her recall her memories. She then closed her eyes firmly. “I…I was in my room. I—“ she looked at me “—I remember I was doing some homework and was getting ready for bed. I don’t know why I got here.”

Mikhael looked at me and I know we were thinking the same thing.

She still hasn’t realized she’s dead. Like Raph said before to me, she’s in denial. She still doesn’t know she’s dead. And it’s a totally bad thing.

I knew me and Mikhael were thinking about the same thing: how are we going to tell her we’re ghosts? And that we’re ghosts too?

How is she going to take it? Will she be hysterical? And it seems like being a tainted soul for her isn’t in full effect yet as she could still switch back.

“You don’t remember anything else?” I asked and she just shook her head.

“I don’t know. Everything is fuzzy after that.” She then looked at me. “What happened to me? Why do I have these black streaks?” She laid her arms down and showed us her streaks.

I was about to come up with an excuse when Mikhael decided to open his mouth.

“We are ghosts,” he said and gestured his hand toward me. “And so are you.” He pointed to Sara as he said it. And I wanted to smack him right there right then.

But it was too late as Sara was already looking at both of us with a sinister look on her face. I groaned and looked at Mikhael.

“Look at what you’ve done, i***t!” I hissed at him and the asshole got the nerve to shrug.

“The truth is always better than a lie!”

“Since when did you believe that kind of crap when you conned me the moment I arrived in the Afterlife? Truth, my ass.” I rolled my eyes at him and looked at Sara but then she was already several meters away from us and she was looking on the ground.

“It might not be a good idea, after all.” He said as the darkness started to swirl around Sara’s arms.

“You should have thought of that before you opened your mouth,” I said and he didn’t get to respond when a blast of invisible wind slammed into us causing us to fly a few meters back.

One thing about being a ghost is that even if you slam yourself into a hard ass wall, you won’t feel pain. Unless a force meant to hurt ghosts is slammed upon you, then surely, ghosts would feel that. That’s what happened when Sara pushed us with her invisible wall of wind. I heard Mikhael groan.

“Are you okay?” he asked and I nodded, wincing as I felt the pain in my face and in my arm as I tried to shield it earlier.

“She probably just became a tainted one recently. She doesn’t remember her death, until you told her. And she still hasn’t completely gave in to her tainted side.” I looked at Mikhael, panting. “What would happen to her now?”

But we both know what would happen. The two girls on the train doesn’t even have the black streaks on their arms or their faces but Thanis was quick to take them. And I couldn’t help but wonder why is it that he is so quick to take those who are still harmless and takes a long time to take those who could actually kill ghosts and send them to nowhere. And I can’t help but wonder why does it always have to be us that encounters tainted souls? I mean, I don’t remember being so attractive to trouble. Why is it following us everywhere?

“How dare you?” Sara’s voice wasn’t hers. It was different. Like several kinds of voices speaking one sentence in unison. It sounded so cold and vicious I could literally feel the hair on my nape rise. And considering I am already a ghost, that’s saying something.

“Err…she probably didn’t like it when we told her about her death?” Mikhael winced as she looked at Sara who was cracking her joints. Remember those scary movies you watch? A young woman dressed in dirty white dress, suddenly cracking her bones while looking at the TV screen, that’s exactly what we’re seeing at the moment. Sara isn’t f*****g around. And I wanted to scream and wanted to curse Thorien for putting us here. How could he not know about Sara’s condition?

“Oh god, oh god,” I muttered and I didn’t realize I was already holding the hem of Mikhael’s shirt.

“Why are you here, anyway? Who sent you to come after me? Leave me alone,” Sara said and she was spreading her arms as dark swirls of smoke ran through it. By far, she’s the scariest tainted soul I have ever encountered.

“Sara, we didn’t mean to disturb you,” Mikhael started but Sara’s eyes has turned black. As in all black. But it didn’t seem to faze Mikhael. Or he was trying not to be fazed by it.

“I know it is hard, I know it seems so unreal but it is the truth. And you need to accept it,” he continued but Sara’s dark smokes just became more intense as it was almost covering her. But that didn’t stop Mikhael as he said, “I know it is something unacceptable. You must have a lot of things you wanted to do, places you want to go. There must have been a lot of people whom you left who misses you so much.” Mikhael took a step forward but stopped immediately as Sara hissed at him. He spread his arms a little bit.

“You don’t know that,” Sara bellowed and I forced myself not to wince.

“I know. I know because I’ve been there. I understand how you feel. I…” Mikhael heaved a deep breath. “I’ve been through the same thing. I didn’t believe I was dead. I just couldn’t. I loved my life. I, too, have a lot of things I wished to do when I was alive. I, too, wanted to go to places I’ve never been before. I, too, have left several people who probably grieved and mourned my death.” He looked at Sara’s black orbs. “And most importantly, I remember I left someone so valuable and so precious but I don’t know who. I don’t have my memories and I know you don’t have yours too. So, I know it is quite baffling and quite confusing but it is what it is.”

At this moment, I wasn’t looking at Sara. I was already looking at Mikhael who was talking.

No.

He wasn’t just talking.

He was talking about how he felt. Something I never imagined he would do. Something I never thought he is capable of.

“So please, stop this, before it’s too late. Someone…someone who cares for you is waiting for you to come back. He’s waiting for you, Sara. Thorien has been looking for you.”

And then at that moment, Sara’s face became a mixture of wickedness, confusion, amazement, and everything else. I don’t exactly know what was happening but then she suddenly held her head with both her hands and screamed. I covered my ears with the intensity of it and crouched down.

“Come back to us, Sara,” Mikhael said and it was then that Sara stopped screaming and I couldn’t believe what I saw.

Sara was crying. She still has the black streaks in her arms and her face and her eyes were still black but I clearly saw tears flowing down her cheeks. And I instantly knew she already remembered everything that happened. 

“I couldn’t accept it. I couldn’t…” she sniffed. “Someone molested and murdered me and I tried finding who did it. And when I found him, I was so mad. I was so angry. How could he take away other people’s life so easily? How could he?” She started sobbing and covered her face with her hands. It was then that she fell to the ground and sobbed.

“I killed him. I killed the one who killed me. And I didn’t even feel any regret. I didn’t even feel remorseful about it. He deserved it,” she said.

Mikhael stepped closer but maintained a safe distance. “So you now know what made you look like that?” he asked as he stuffed his hands inside his pockets.

Sara just nodded and then let out a weak chuckle. “But strange enough, I still don’t feel satisfied.” She sniffed. “Maybe because I still couldn’t accept the fact that I’m gone. And now I did something so grave I might not be able to go back to the Silver City to see him.” She continued sobbing.

It was then that another black smoke appeared next to her. We took a step back and looked at Sara but she looked just as confused as we are.

And then I instantly realized what it was.

“Well, well. You certainly thought about this,” Thanis said and looked at Sara who was sitting on the ground.

“Coming here because you knew I despise this place?” Thanis crouched down and with his monstrous hands, he lifted Sara’s chin. “Do you think I wouldn’t come here? After what you’ve done to me?” Thanis’ voice was laced with dark humor.

“I told you I wouldn’t hesitate to go to the deepest pits of hell to get you, thief.”  

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