My Demonic Ghost #3: Hunters and Creators (22 page)

Chapter Thirty-Nine:

With my arms crossed and my mind racing all I could do was pace, so I walked back and forth from wall to wall. Evan followed me with his eyes, the familiar caress of cold green sticking to my skin. Eventually I slowed and Evan sighed.

“Rachael… let’s talk.” 

“I’m having a bit of difficulty understanding all of this. I feel like I’m going crazy. There are two realties and I don’t know which one is real.”

He sighed gently again, “George was my host before you. Banished need hosts, it was never my intention to harm him. I needed a soul to survive…”

“So you took his?” I pressed my back against the wall and slid down. “Why him?”

Evan walked over and squatted so he faced me eye-to-eye, “I didn’t pick. It was just unfortunate timing for him. A minute or two later and we may have never crossed paths. Back then Banished cannot survive on their own and I was desperate. I didn’t know any better.”

I inhaled a harsh breath. “You make it hard to love you. Every time I feel myself growing closer you just go ahead and sabotage it.” Evan fiddled with the hem of his shirt, letting my words sink in. He was painfully silent for few moments, like he was trying to build up the courage to raise his head.

Then he nodded and said quietly, “You’re right. I’ve done terrible things that I’m not proud of. Most people would hate me for the rest of their lives, but you didn’t. Back then, no matter what I did, you never looked at me with hatred. You always saw the good in me, even when I couldn’t.”

I bit my lip, looking away, “How can I forgive this? What did you do to make me love you even when you tormented my father? Is this why you wiped my memory? Were you trying to hide this part of you from me?”

“No,” Evan shook his head vigorously, “I didn’t mean for you to forget...”

“Then why am I remembering now?”

Evan looked around for the answer. A thought dawned on him which caused his eyes to widen in realization. “It must be because of Chō. Your memories are blocked by the Blue Spirit’s magic; something of equal power must be taking the magic away. Chō is the only thing more powerful than the Blue Spirit. That also explains why it’s not only changing you but also your mum and dad.”

              “What are you talking…?” I started, but he turned away, consumed with his thoughts.

“The whole reason why Chō is with you… is because of my wish. He must’ve been attracted to you because of the Blue Spirit’s presence blocking your memory. Every time Chō channels strength through you it counteracts with the Blue Spirit’s magic, making it chip away and undo her spell.”

I sat down, cupping my forehead, “What are you on about? What wish?”

Evan sat down next to me and took a deep breath, “Five years ago, I wished for you to have your old life back… before I came into the picture. But to make that wish possible, you had to forget everything about us. That’s why your memory was hidden.”

“You wanted me to forget you?” I weakly asked.

“No, no of course not. I didn’t want you to live in fear or sadness anymore; if that meant losing you for a while then it was worth it. I always knew that you’d come back to me. To remove the Blue Spirit’s power doesn’t just return the memories, it removes my wish completely.”

I turned my face away, letting my thoughts scatter. My time with Evan, whatever it was that happened five years ago was linked to the blank slate in my family’s memories. Something horrible had happened, bad enough that he wanted to repent and undo whatever it was that he had done to me and to my dad.

“What about my father?”

Evan nodded softly. “With his memories returning his health will fade. Everything will be back to what it was beforehand…”

“If I had to choose between remembering the old you and saving my father…” I said as Evan nodded in agreement.

“Your choice is obvious. But unless we get Chō off, you won’t even get a choice.”

“But how are we going to do that?” 

Evan grit his teeth, glancing back over to the cameras. “I can’t break his hold and neither can any of the Hunters or Reapers. Maybe if we tell the scientists everything, their advanced technology can help. Once Chō is off, then I’ll leave you and your family alone, I promise.”

***

Every night I had impossible dreams. Some were terrifying; others were disjointed conversations that I could only vaguely remember. The dreams I had of Evan were… I don’t know even if I could admit it to myself let alone say it out loud. They were fragmented and out of order, but somehow also made perfect sense. I couldn’t remember much about my father, but I could remember Whitehaven; living there by myself and how the crooked walls scared me. I remember a grotesque creature with seven arms and weeping liquefied black hair. We called her Mother, and she had attacked me one night, leaving a scar along my ankle. I remember walking along the park near my house with Evan.

Back then I was able to hold his hand and nothing terrified me more than having to let him go. He was also younger and smaller than I was; a complete opposite to his now adult physique. Back then I felt waves of sadness pour into me, thinking about our future and how it was impossible for us to be together. I could never be with him and that had felt like poison to my soul. I smiled bashfully remembering how he tried to kiss me in the alleyway, missing his target in his inexperienced eagerness. I also remember how he frustrated me and scared me with his wicked temper and intensity; but more often than not, I remembered being inspired by his courage and strength, and how I felt protected with him, like he was never going to let anything horrible ever happen to me. He was just a boy back then, no older than fourteen. Although I had just turned sixteen, I knew that he was meant for me. That he was my soul mate.

   The longer they kept me here the more I understood they weren’t going to release me. It seemed our only choice was to cooperate with them, so I told them what I knew about Chō. We came to an understanding that I wouldn’t resist if they ensured not to target Evan in anyway in their trials. They ran all sorts of experiments, testing out their different theories, but nothing worked. I was put under hypnosis so they could communicate with Chō one on one, without the aid of extreme emotions triggering his appearance. Chō, from what I was told, didn’t respond to words, but to music. Even so, his visits were extremely short and useless. In their sessions with him, they came to understand Chō and his capabilities. They feared him more than they feared any Banished. They were no longer concerned with Evan - for the time being.

Chapter Forty:

The hours and days spent in there were relentless, but Evan’s company kept me from going insane I had been given some board games and puzzles to help ease the endless boredom, but Evan was my favourite choice. We talked about anything and everything.  I had been here almost four weeks now, making my imprisonment a total of two months. It felt way longer. When I wasn’t busy with my parents or the sessions, I lounged with Evan and pondered life.

“What is it like to die?” I asked him after finishing my dinner.

He had snorted in reply, “You asked me the same question when we first met.”

“And?”

Evan shrugged, “It’s hard to remember now. There are a lot of colours, noises like people are just shouting at you. It’s really jumbled and messed up, but sometimes you feel a connection with a certain important memory. With Banished, it’s almost like an eraser goes through your brain. They take away the good memories, leaving behind the terrible ones. We try to forget as fast as we can. After that you just turn feral, I guess.”

“Do you remember much about your human life?”

“Not on purpose. Just fear sometimes and anger on others. Mostly abandonment, I was so bitter about what they had done to me.”

“They? Do you mean your parents?” I sat up and gently coaxed. “What happened exactly?”

Evan drew in his breath, but shook his head. “The funny thing is I don’t remember details, I just remember the emotions. What about you and James? Do you miss him?” He added with a hint of malice.

I cleared my throat, “Oh, that’s over now. It feels impossible to return to that life. Is there anything that you do miss about being alive?”

“I miss the taste of hamburgers.” Evan joked and I found myself chuckling.

“I wanted to ask you too, there was a wall full of pictures of previous hosts back at the camp… My father’s face was there.”

Evan nodded promptly, “He was my host, remember?”

“Yeah I know, so why wasn’t my face on the wall as well? I was your host too, right?”

Evan sighed heavily, “I couldn’t put your face up there.”

“Why not?”

“I just… couldn’t okay?” He snapped, “I don’t want to talk about it… did you remember any of the people from the wall?”

I twisted around so I was leaning on my stomach, my head cupped in my palms, “Some. There was a boy I recognised. I vaguely remember he had a young Banished girl attached to him. I think it was his sister. ”

Evan snorted again and spoke with a dismissive wave, “That was Dean. You didn’t like him very much, you thought he smelled bad. Plus, he had horrible teeth… and he was short. A real loser.” I cocked my head curiously, that was not exactly how I remembered him, but I didn’t bother to argue. Evan picked himself up so he floated before flipping over so he dangled upside down. He hovered with his legs crossed and his arms over his chest, his wavy hair falling down across his face in gentle wisps.  “What are you going to do once this is all over?”

I shrugged without turning my head, “I dunno. Would there even be a life for to me return to after all this mess?” I glanced up briefly, “What about you?”

Evan shrugged as well, “Dunno. Probably haunt my old high school or something.” 

“You’d be good at it.” I laughed, “I mean, what about before you passed away? What did you see yourself doing?” Evan floated with careless ease, his eyes turned away in thought as he twisted his lips.

“I always wanted to be an architect.” He admitted proudly, “I was always good at drawing. You should have seen my designs; I focused mainly on skyscrapers and commercial offices.”

“Wish I could have seen them.”

“Yeah… my dream was to go to Forrester University, they say they’ve got the best architect course in the whole country, maybe even the world.”

“I heard you needed an above 95% point average.”

“Did I forget to mention how brilliant I am?” He beamed before flipping over and returning gently back to the ground. We stared at each other for a brief moment, the silence strangely calming us.

“I’m remembering bit by bit every night you know. I think my memories are coming back to me in my dreams,” I whispered. He merely nodded, trying to fight back a smirk.

“Yeah, you talk in your sleep.”

I fought not to blush, “I’m still missing a lot of pieces, but I’m starting to remember people’s faces, and certain smells and noises.”

“Do you remember the Sins?” He asked, raising his eyebrows.

“Faintly. Were we really that stupid?” I laughed as Evan’s dimpled smile touched his cheeks.

“Unfortunately, yes. I thought I could take on the demons of temptation…”

“…And I was dumb enough to follow you.” I added playfully.

“Back then we didn’t have a choice. Where I went, you went.”

“Yuck, we were one of those couples!” I joked just as Evan’s face twisted in awkward shyness.

He cleared his throat, “Yeah… well anyway, back then things were much different.”

“Of course, now with the war and everything that’s happening, that world still feels like it should remain a memory.”

“The sooner the war is over the better.” He sighed with exhaustion, “All we want is freedom and Miira is acting like there’s some twisted attempt to take heaven and earth for ourselves. But it’s not like that. You understand that, right? That’s not what we’re fighting for; we just don’t want to be scared anymore.”

I nodded gently, “I understand what it’s like to be scared all the time.” There was a knock on my door and Evan immediately evaporated, allowing me some alone time with my parents. Not to mention every time dad walked into the room he looked like he wanted to fight anyone who gave him a wrong look. Except this time only mum rushed in, her face washed in tears and distress.

“Mum?” I quickly stood up. “What’s wrong?”

Mum shook her head, barely able to hold back her tears, “It’s your father, he’s not doing so well. I don’t know what it is… something is happening to him. Last night he collapsed, we had to rush him off to the emergency room.”

I gulped, knowing it was because of the faded magic. “The doctors don’t know what’s causing it, but it’s like his body has dramatically aged 20 years. They don’t think he’s going to make it.”

I clasped my hand to my chest, “I have to go see him…”

Mum nodded, but then stopped and changed her answer, “I don’t think you can come…”

“What? Why not?” 

Doctor Hearth stepped out from behind her, already wearing a face that said ‘no’. Before I even had the chance to beg he held up his hands.

“It’s just too dangerous for you to be out there. You’re not in control; you can easily snap and hurt people. Especially when going through such an emotionally taxing thing such as this.”

I stepped forward and immediately and could hear the cameras twitch in the corners, just waiting for the moment to drown me in gas. I took another step back and took a deep breath.
Don’t lose control. Don’t lose control.

“I can heal him. Chō has the ability to heal if I wish it.”

“You have no control of that thing in your body.”

“I’ve done it before!” I barked and he flinched, expecting my voice to carry a punch with it.

“This is ridiculous! My daughter is allowed to see her father, it’s her right! I’m getting my lawyer on the phone; you guys are going to be in serious trouble!” Mum lunged at them, pointing her finger at the Doctor’s face as one wields a knife. “Rachael, I’ll be right back.” She left, followed shortly by the Doctor.