Soul(s) (2 page)

I remembered how he’d
appeared in a blur between me and those
things
.

“
I don’t think I can move
as fast as you do.”

“
Yeah,” he responded back,
his cheeks tugging into a full smile. I don’t think I can run that
fast again for a while. We’re not that far from that structure we
don’t have to jog we could walk. I just don’t want more of those
beasts to come back.”

“
I got a glimpse of what
their leader on the ridge. They were horrified of us. They’re
afraid of how strong we are,” I explained.

“
I thought you couldn’t
see in the dark?”

“
I can’t, but somehow I
could feel each one of them. It was almost like seeing. I connected
with the leader and understood some of her thoughts. She didn’t
want the beasts to attack us, but they became impulsive and
uncontrollable. They were so hungry.”

We had easily fallen into
a comfortable walking pace. It felt surprisingly relaxed. My own
attitude was weirding me out, shouldn’t I be a nervous or anxious?
We had just been attacked but then we had also defended each other
easily. I was ironically calm and at ease. As mushy as it sounds, I
felt like,
together we were
safe.

“
I feel like we’re safe
together too,” Keegan said looking at me as we moved through the
night.

His words sent a chill down my spine. Was he
in my head like I was with those animals that were hunting us?

Can you hear me
too?
Keegan’s voice hummed in my
mind.

Why are we so
connected?
I thought back.

I don’t
know
, Keegan thought to
me
, but we should keep it to ourselves.
Being able to communicate without people knowing is definitely an
advantage
.

I nodded. He was right.
We’d made an unspoken pact when we’d defended each other from the
beasts. It was always like that. In trauma, bonds are made. Ours
just felt unnaturally strong. There was a part of me that wanted to
resist forming any kind of connection. Lyrics flashed in my mind
from a song:
everyone I know goes away in
the end.
I remembered those haunting
images of the blood shining like rubies and I shivered. I didn’t
want to be alone again. I might not trust anyone else, but I was
willing to risk trusting Keegan.

I blushed. Had he been listening to all of
that? Keegan looked like he’d been having some inner monologues of
his own. I didn’t want him to know that I was thinking about him as
much as I was. I wanted there to be some privacy.

“
We’re you listening to my
thoughts?” I asked nervously.

“
No. I can’t hear your
thoughts if you’re not talking to me—or thinking to me I guess I
should say. I bet you could listen to my thoughts if you wanted
to,” Keegan went on. “You’re probably strong enough to lock me out
of your mind since were able to get inside the head of those
monsters.”

“
It was like a reflex,” I
replied back. “I don’t know if I can do it again at least not yet.
It was intense when I did it. I couldn’t focus on anything else
really because my senses were so overwhelmed with everything
outside of myself.”

“
Why are we like this? I
don’t think I was like this before.” Keegan looked troubled as he
said it.

“
Do you remember before?”
I asked excitedly. I wondered if Keegan was as confused of what he
remembered as I was.

“
No. Not yet, at
least.”

“
I wonder if we will
eventually remember,” I said more to myself than to
Keegan.

“
Do you remember?” He
asked me.

“
Just images, they’re
vivid but too scattered for me to understand what I’m
remembering.”

“
It’s just up this way,”
Keegan said, his attention turning to the building a few yards
ahead of us. He sprinted at a human pace to the entrance
way.

The building was stone and reminded me more
of a classic temple than an official looking business edifice. It
was made from a smooth lime stone. I wasn’t sure how I knew, but I
did.

Keegan had moved to the side of the
building. There was some sort of scanner. It had a sunken imprint
of a hand. He placed his hand on it the doorway opened. He walked
in but before I could follow the doors shut swiftly behind him.

There was just a wall between us, but I
couldn’t stop my heart from fluttering at the idea of us being
separated.

Keegan?

I’m here. Open it the same way I did. If
that doesn’t work, we’ll figure something out.

I walked over to the door but I was hesitant
to touch it.

What if it doesn’t open? Will they come back
when they sense we’re not together?

It won’t come to that, Sariah.

I inhaled deeply, deciding I’d wait to panic
until after the door didn’t open.

I lined my fingers up to the imprint and
moved them into the ridges. My hand tingled and the door opened
smoothly.

I ran inside to Keegan.

My first instinct was to hug him—relieved
that the door had just simply opened—but I checked myself before
our bodies touched again. Keegan smiled at me but didn’t say
anything.

We were in one large open room. Around the
walls, were various shelves built in around the walls. Keegan and I
both walked to opposite sides. Everything was uniform with a clean
design meant for functionality over beauty; except for the circular
area in the middle that was raised up like a podium.

“
Clothes!” I heard Keegan
say from behind me.

I had been drawn to a blue round stone that
was plum sized. Keegan had gotten my attention before I’d touched
it.

“
Clothes?” I repeated
turning around.

“
We’re naked,” Keegan
said. “We should have some sort of protection in case we have to
fight again. I think these body suits are more like armor than
clothing.”

I looked at him in the
light. I started from his crown and worked down. He was tall, about
six feet, more stocky than lean. His body wasn’t fat but he wasn’t
frail either. He looked
strong
. His shoulders were broad and
the muscle on his back rippled lightly as he bent down to dress
himself. My breath stuttered a little. Everything else about him
was just as streamlined. For the first time I became self-conscious
of my own physical reaction to him.

Keegan he caught my gaze with his own and
winked before tossing me a suit.

I like your body
too.
Keegan thought to me.

Embarrassed, I dressed quickly.

The suit felt soft pliable polyester against
my skin but on the outside it was prickly like stucco paint. It was
easy to move in. It contoured to my entire shape, even my toes. It
felt natural almost like not wearing anything at all.

I turned back to the shelf and picked up the
blue paperweight like stone.

“
I wonder what this is,” I
said turning to Keegan.

He was holding what I could best describe as
an elongated jellybean with an indent in it.

“
I don’t know,” Keegan
said, “but what I’ve got looks like it could hold some supplies.
There’s a ridge in it too, I bet some type of weapon would fit in
there.”

He picked up another object from the shelf.
He held a rod, that was about a foot long.

“
How do you know it’s a
weapon?”

Keegan smirked and took a small step to the
left. His shelf had a label: WEAPONS.

I laughed.

Smartass.

He tossed one at me and I caught it easily
with my free hand.

Not sure how these are
weapons. I think of swords or guns when I think of weapons.
Keegan thought.

As he was thinking, the weapon morphed into
a smooth even edged sword with a handle and a jagged hand
guard.

“
Everything is so
different here!” I exclaimed. Even though I wasn’t sure how this
place was different from wherever else we were from, I still knew
that this technology was advanced. It wasn’t what everyone else
had.

“
We still haven’t figured
out what this is,” I said.

I held out the stone
towards Keegan and started moving towards the middle of the room.
The different tiled section of the floor was directly in front of
me and I was just going to walk over. My hand was over that area of
the floor first before the rest of me and I felt a pull as the
stone began to glow. I dropped it, but it didn’t fall. It floated
up to a ridge we hadn’t noticed before and snapped into place. A
map displayed on the floor. It there was water on three sides and a
blinking dot in the central area—o
ur
location.

The sound of a recorded female voice filled
the room.

04: KEEGAN

“Welcome to Second-Plane. You have awakened
here after your soul ascended from First-Plane or Earth as you
might remember it. There are two soul-types that inhabit this
peninsula. If you are here that means you are an Aura—a peace
keeping soul-type. The other is the Banguri the war making
soul-type. This orb is a communication device and your location has
been beaconed to us. Stay where you are. We will arrive within four
hours.”

I don’t want to talk out
loud anymore, not while we’re in here. We can only trust each
other. We should take a weapon and leave. We can survive
together,
I thought to Sariah.

The recording said to
stay.
Sariah thought back.

My weapon returned back to its rod shape and
I placed it in the ridge on the backpack. I lifted all of
it—jellybean and weapon pack together—above my head and it snapped
magnetically to my back. I was thrilled that my gut instinct had
been correct. I tested just removing the weapon and the pack
remained glued to me. I practiced a few times removing the weapon
and quickly commanding it into a sword.

Alright.
Sariah agreed. She came to my side and copied my
motions with the weapon. She didn’t look scared which surprised me.
She looked very in control of her emotions. I didn’t know what I
looked like outward, but inward I was on edge. I didn’t know why,
but I wanted to leave. I wanted to take our chances together and
not just wait to fall into some pre-made society.

Sariah moved closer to me. I began to wrap
my arm around her reassuringly as we left the building, stepping
back into the night—I wanted to keep her close—but I remembered the
way she flinched when I’d tried to touch her and kept my arms at my
side. She wasn’t ready for closeness. Honestly, I’d just met her. I
wasn’t sure why I felt like I belonged with her. Or even why that
felt so natural and I wasn’t opposed to it. I couldn’t remember
images like she could from before but I remembered feelings. I
remember being a lone and liking it that way, but I didn’t want
that anymore. Not with her.

“
We probably should have
stayed,” Sariah said.

“
I promise I won’t let
anything happen to you.”

“
I’m not defenseless,” she
said back to me. There was edginess to her tone.

Still walking, I looked over at her. Her
eyes were all fired up. They were beautiful in the dark. I could
see them so clearly. With my vision they lit up. There were these
little fleck of gold mixed in the hazel color.

“
I know, but I want to
keep you safe and we can only trust each other. I know that’s an
intimate thing to say, since we just met, but it feels
right
.” I told her. “The
recording made it sound like we were reborn here. Those images you
remember are probably from earth.”

“
Do you think we knew each
other on earth?” Sariah asked me. The defensiveness of her tone had
been replaced with curiosity.

“
I wish
,” I said. I couldn’t keep back a little smile at the thought
of having known Sariah in another life.

“
Why is that?” She
said.

“
I know you’re my
type.”

“
How?”

“
I saw you naked.” As soon
as I said it, I felt like I shouldn’t have. But she just laughed
and kept walking. I sighed, feeling relieved.
That sentence was completely asinine, but honest.
I wondered why she wouldn’t take offense to me
objectifying her body but she is offended by me wanting to protect
her.

I saw her abruptly look back over at me, and
I knew she’d been listening.

I thought you wanted
privacy?
I thought jokingly to
her.

No response. I decided to back off for now.
I had plenty of time to figure her out.

I focused on the landscape around us. It was
changing, becoming filled with more foliage. There was less bare
dirt and rocks and more trees and grass. I wasn’t sure how long
we’d walked but I was finally feeling tired. I felt drained but not
hungry for food. I was a little thirsty though.

Let’s stop for the night.
We’ve put some distance between us and that
building
.

Sariah nodded. I could tell she was tired
too.

“
I didn’t mean to listen
in on your thoughts earlier. I can’t control it yet, but once I can
I promise I won’t invade your mind”, Sariah said.