My Demonic Ghost: Banished Spirits (7 page)

“It’ll only take a second. Please honey, I’m going out of town for a bi-”

“Oh wait, you’re not going to be at home?” My voice accidently came off as too enthusiastic to cover myself.

“Just for a little while.” I noticed she hadn’t questioned me about what I’ve been doing, all my sneaking around and conspiracy. Either she didn’t notice or she didn’t care.

I took the envelopes with a half-smile. We didn’t have a car so we had to walk everywhere. I stood outside the front door, waving subtly to my departing mother, but still alert to the sleeping corpse upstairs. As Mum disappeared, I was back upstairs before the door even had a chance to close behind me.  I didn’t bother changing my clothes, not seeing the point in walking back out into the mud when my jeans were already dirtied, though the damp material was very uncomfortable. I glanced inside my bed room only once, checking on the still sleeping Lock, before lightly closing the door and letting myself out.   

Chapter Eight:

The sky was bleak and ghostly grey as the cool breeze blew past me; fallen leaves crunched underfoot, my boots still deeply coated with drying mud. I entered the roads again, heading down to the market at the end of the road, the concrete dipping and bending with the steep curve of the hill. The noise grew in volume as I neared the final bend.

The streets were busy; it being a Sunday and all, as the townspeople patted each other on the back with their hellos and followed each other from store to store, tittering away like flightless birds. Being so small in numbers, it was easy for people to live in each other’s pockets; a burden I had begun to identify with by Lock’s constant presence lingering around me. But he wasn’t here now. Suddenly I felt lonely and took back those thoughts;
it wasn’t THAT bad of a burden
. By this point, I had received a few glances by the locals; the men tipping the bills of their hats as I smiled at them, and the women dropping their gazes back onto their grocery bags to avoid eye contact. In such a secluded area, it was easy to presume they all knew whose daughter I was and that George wasn’t the most favourable neighbour to have. I was already an outcast before even really getting the chance to fit in.

The marketplace was made up of fish sales, vegetable stores, homemade cutlery, and quilt stores; all lined up alongside each other in tiny huts with swinging signs outside their doors. Everything was upside down, even the chatter among the people were different. City people talked into their phones, not to each other. Absentminded as I was, I accidently stepped on an uneven brick and tripped myself, the envelopes taking flight as I spread my hands open to catch the ground. The bundle bounced off, landing next to the curb. I could feel my cheeks glow. That was not a graceful fall.

Another pair of hands had bent down just as I extended mine, and together we bumped knuckles while reaching for the envelopes. I glanced up to notice soft, walnut brown eyes heightened only by a roaring mane of hair, drenched in too much hair gel; a fiery red that darkened to black as it reached the roots.

His skin was tanned a soft syrupy orange; his tight jaw, thin lips, and small button nose making him look almost unreal, doll-like even. I had had to catch myself from reaching out and stroking his cheek, wondering what he felt like. He gave me a crooked smile as I stood up.

He had a soft and gentle visage; an oval face sat high on his long neck, giving a streamlined look to his lean body; his wide eyes the perfect counterbalance.  In a moment I completely forgot about Lock, asleep in my bed back at home. I could feel deep sparks of electricity fly off our faces, making it almost impossible not to give in and capture him quickly, before he disappears.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” he chuckled.

“That’s okay. Thanks.” His eyes, intense, full and intrigued, stayed locked on mine. I gawked at him as if he was a talking bear.

“You’re not from around here, are you?” The voice flowed through me like a musical wave, causing the soles of my feet to become weights, holding me fast in place. I nodded my head shyly and reached to take the parcel, noticing how he immediately dropped his hand so our fingers wouldn’t touch.
What’s wrong with me?
He wouldn’t let my eyes go; staring so boldly at me that, even if it wasn’t on purpose, at some point in time he would’ve felt the uncomfortable tension and been forced to glance away.

“I’m actually from the city. This place is… strange to me.”

“Strange?” His smile dipped but only for a second, “I find it peaceful. You must not be used to it yet, don’t worry it’ll grow on you. I can show you where the Post Office is if you’d like? Most city folk seem to look for a red tin box instead of an actual store.”

“Thanks, that’ll help a lot,” I said.

The boy stepped back, allowing space between us and finally dropped his gaze, rolling his golden brown eyes across the ground. A few passing people had actually paused to watch us, peering over their neighbours shoulders. I blushed under their curious gazes, even though I knew I was as interesting as a house plant next to him.

Gracefully, he turned and extended his arm behind my elbow before ushering me forward into the masses. The busy market crowd parted as if some sort of a gravitational push was moving them aside, forming a wide path straight ahead of us.  He questioned me as we walked.

“May I ask you your name?”

“It’s Rachael.”

“Hmm, you’re the first Rachael I’ve ever met.” He glanced off, perhaps sifting through files and pictures in his memory of all the girls he’d met in the past. There must have been plenty for him to recollect.

“Oh, what’s yours?”

“My name is Elyograg.”

“Elyograg? That is a strange name. Well you’re the first Elyograg that I’ve ever met.” He chuckled softly and tilted me a lopsided grin.

“Yes, well my parents like to be unique. Though I got the lucky end of the straw, my younger sister is called Ahsieg.”

“Oh, well Ahsieg isn’t so bad,” I laughed politely. “If I wasn’t born a girl, I was going to get the name Barry.” That was my father’s middle name. I must’ve worn my thoughts across my face because Elyograg turned in front of me suddenly to cut me off.

“Is something wrong?”

“Hmm, uh no, nothing. Sorry, it’s not...”

“You look like you’re about to cry.” My entire body tensed. I felt stupid for letting my emotions paint themselves across my face so childishly.
Elyograg seems nice though, maybe it would be okay to open up to a stranger.

“Actually, my dad passed away recently and some of the problems he had have now become my problems. Sort of.” Elyograg nodded his head slowly. “Can I ask you something?” He turned his eyes and smiled. “What do you think happens when you die?”

There was no pause in his answer, “I believe in a heaven for the people who are good.”

“And for the people that were bad?” His lips twitched, debating which answer to give me.

“I suppose if the good go to heaven, then that means the bad go to hell…”

“So what if I told you there was a Third Realm?” Elyograg raised his brows and widened his smile, dimpling his cheeks. He was very handsome.

“A Third Realm?”

“Yeah, for the people who don’t believe in a God…?” The beat of my heart hammered against me. I was so nervous; I just didn’t want him to think I was some lunatic.

“I dunno, I guess it’s possible. How can a person get judged by a God they don’t believe exists?” My shoulders sighed with a mild shrug of relief. With that logic I allowed myself a small dosage of hope, that there was still a chance that the Staff existed; that all this fighting and dying wasn’t for nothing.

“Yeah, thanks.” We had already reached the post office. I slipped the envelopes into the open slot, my back turned, when Elyograg reached around my shoulders, pulling me into his chest. He held me for only a second but, though it felt like so much longer, his heat covered me like a blanket. The soft tickle of his breath moved across me, giving me shivers; and his smell, it was sweet and light like the essence of honey wafting through a room.

“It was really nice meeting you Rachael, I’ll see you later okay…” he whispered. I closed my eyes, the urge to sink into those arms draining all my other thoughts; all thoughts of standing upright, of being conscious of where I am and who I was, they all morphed into the dream of his embrace. He held me like a lover, gentle and secure. But then he vanished and the harsh reality tapped into my back. He was gone. Even the weather was sadder without him.

As I walked home my mind was consumed with images of Elyograg; that mocking smile, his chocolaty golden eyes, the left over tingle of warmth where he’d captured my arms; so much so that I nearly knocking into the front doorjamb before registering that it was even there.

The front door was left open?

That wasn’t possible. I had slammed and locked the door before I left. A sharp snap shot up from my chest and stopped half way up my throat, just where my voice box was.

Mum wouldn’t be back yet, so the only conclusion must be Lock. In the sun light, Lock was exposed to all the Hunters and Goons. I shuddered, thinking about what it may have looked like, that spilt second of stepping out into the sun, its milky glow spreading over him at the same moment that a demon attacked.

I couldn’t think of it anymore, my mind wouldn’t let me go there. Instead I focused all my brain power into moving my feet, right then left, into the hallway. The lights were still off, making the room dim and gloomy, shading all of the soft browns and gold into a bleak water-washed grey, like holding a dusty glass over the top of a picture. I glanced into the lounge room, peering quickly across the kitchen. I kept moving, only giving myself only seconds to scan. The stairs creaked loudly underneath me, dipping subtly under my weight. My shoes thumped softly as I ran across the floorboards. I darted my head quickly into Mum’s room but it was bare. I couldn’t swallow, couldn’t breathe, and for a moment I couldn’t even lift my heavy foot to take the next step. If he wasn’t in bed I wasn’t sure of what I would do. I needed him to be there, I needed him to be alive. And not just for my own selfish reasons, not because he was my ticket out of this Banished spirit fate; it was something else, a need to protect that I couldn’t understand or resist. Like an itch in your eyes when you try to fight sleep, when in the end your eyes were going to close regardless of your strength.

The door ahead of me had been kicked open. My lower lip trembled as I stood directly in front of my room and glanced in. He was gone.
Gone!
I couldn’t believe it, I was angry and annoyed all at the same time, but most of all I was agonizing about him. I turned and ran, calling in an unfamiliar high pitched voice that was close to shrieking, “Lock?! Where are you?!”

Suddenly, a heavy weight punched into my right shoulder, spinning me around, my loose hair whipping into my face, blinding me against my attacker. Another hit, this time the force and weight staying on me, pinning me to the wall where I rebounded slightly against the sudden push. It was the Hunter, I was sure of it; it had come to collect my soul as well. I squirmed and instinctively shot my hands up to bat the thing away from me. Before I could land the first punch, a snapping growl erupted from the pit of its stomach, deep and disturbed. I heard the hissing of its breath exhaling through clenched teeth.

“You promised…”

That voice! Alarm bells rang, firing off cues inside my head. I instantly matched a face to the voice.
Lock...
I glanced up to see his human face scrunched into a livid scowl and his right arm extended out, his fingers clamped around my shoulder. He rattled me again, and then quickly loosened his grip.

He had changed again. It wasn’t the colour of his skin this time, or the clean face and the brown hair, it was his eyes. They weren’t snake-like anymore, but instead a softer green; lively, fresh, and pure like a blade of grass with a small droplet of morning dew skimming down it. The danger that had been imprinted upon them, flashing like a warning sign in bold writing, was now hidden behind his human youth. Instinctively, I didn’t feel the need to be cautious around him anymore.

I tensed and curled my fingers underneath themselves, turning my spread hands into fists.
“What’s the matter with you?” I snapped. His lips peeled back over his teeth and he leaned back, ready to lunge forward and take a bite.

“You just disappeared!” His voice rang with anger. He twitched his nose and flinched back, nostrils flaring before the green slits of his eyes zoned in on my neck. They rolled along my collarbone, trailing down my arms and chest as if he were tracking a scent. I instantly shot my arms up to cover myself before he could peruse any more.

“What are you-?”

“That smell,” he cut me off with a wheeze, “It stinks. Why do you smell like them?” It only took me a few seconds to catch up to what he was thinking.

“There was a boy I met-” I started when Lock bolted down the hallway and bounded down the stairs, his every footstep pounding along the floor boards. He pushed open the front door and was about to charge out, but I had kept up to speed with his mad dash and looped both my arms around him, hauling him off his feet in the same moment he made a jump for the front garden.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I twisted the young boy around in my arms, turning us both so we faced the stretch of the hallway. The open breeze of the outside was nothing but light touches along our backs. “You can’t go out in the daylight, remember?”

Lock squirmed in my arms and my grip loosened, reluctantly.

“It doesn’t matter…” His voice slipped down, sourly defeated. I closed the front door behind me so he couldn’t escape.

“I don’t understand, Lock,” I honestly admitted, turning my body to face him directly, breathing so heavily that the cloying scent consumed me to the point where I could taste it at the back of my throat. It hurt a little that the odour was so repellent on me, while on Elyograg it had smelled so sweet.

“Where did you go?”

“Just to the market… what is going on with you?”

“I thought you left me,” Lock snapped as his teeth sliced and bit the air before pulling back, “I woke up and you weren’t there. I thought you had run off, I thought you had…”