Ch. 3

So just some things to consider. The italics is the past, the bold italics is when the characters are talking in their minds, and Ayden’s name is the same in his past life and his present. Feedback is welcomed and enjoy!

AYDEN

“Man overboard!” he heard the men shout from up above as he thrashed about the waves. He tried to keep his head above water, but the seas were too strong and he could feel his body growing tired.

“Hold on boy!” He could one of the crew call out.

“Grab the rope!” Another yelled.

There was so much rain, it was hard to see and the waves were so rough, his body struggled to push through the water.

He wanted to shout but he knew he needed to conserve his strength.

“Come on boy!” He could see the boat, the crew gesturing wildly.

Focus. Focus on the large, white sails. Keep your eye on the prize. Don’t give up!

He took in a big breath and paddled forward, inching closer to the ship. He was almost there when a wave crashed against the vessel, causing it to nearly capsize. As the wave descended, he fell below the surface, drowning.

This was the end. He was never going to see his family again. He was going to feel the warm rays of the sun upon his skin, never breathe the fresh air again, never be alive again.

Resigned to his fate, he let go.

Suddenly he felt arms envelop him, and he was no longer floating in the sea but he could feel the air surrounding him. Then a pair of lips gently pressed against his and he heard someone say to him,

Breathe

He coughed up water from his lungs, gasping for easy.

Easy, you’re okay.

There was that voice again. It certainly wasn’t his. It was soothing and feminine.

When he opened his eyes, he was met with a beautiful blue and a gleaming gray pair of eyes on the face of a woman with copper colored skin and long flowing raven hair cascading down her shoulders. She smiled at him and he couldn’t help but smile back.

Just as quickly as she smiled, panic streaked her features, turning this way and that before pulling him close to her bosom.

Heat rose in his cheeks but it didn’t last long as he felt the flutter of her chest.

Oh no

What is it?

Wait, he could speak using his mind. Was that her doing?

Yes she replied. Then pulling back to face him, she stared directly at him, as if peering into his soul.

I need—

But she never got to finish as the whatever was surrounding came crashing down and they were swept by the see.

Ayden!

I threw myself upright, breath shallow as I tried to make sense of it all. Who was that girl? And was that me . . . when was that . . . What happened?

“Uh my head.” I pressed my palms against my temples, massaging gently.

I reached over on my bedside table for my glass of water and saw that it was tipped over and empty. Then I saw the water all over the floor. The entire room was flooded; shoes floating around my bed, the walls bleeding upwards with mold, my wooden furniture already warping at the bottom.

When had this happened? Did I leave the window open last night and it rained? Was there a leak in the roof?

I looked up yet saw no sign of any water damage. In fact, the whole ceiling and the wooden border around it were dry as a bone. So were the walls and everything above the water line. Then I turned back to the empty glass of water.

Did it flood the room? Surely one small glass couldn’t cause this much water to fill the room?

Below, I could hear muffled voices downstairs and flung myself out of bed. I scanned the contents of my room for anything that could be large enough to scoop out the water before my parents came upstairs. I landed on a giant suitcase. It would have to do.

Sloshing through the flood, I grabbed the suitcase and began lapping up the water and dumping it out the window. Hopefully Dad wasn’t outside getting the paper or Syd sneaking back in. I’d surely be caught and no amount of explaining would save my ass.

“Damit!” I cursed under my breath. Why is there so much water?

Just as I was making progress, I heard a knock on the door. Shit. Busted now.

I didn’t get grounded too badly, but I had no way of explaining the water in my room without sounding crazy. Syd told me to chalk it up to schrooms or something, but I could never convince our parents that I was a drug user. Apparently, that was more ludicrous than flooding my room.

Sydney shunned me for most of my grounding. And I couldn’t blame her. Mom and Dad were always more lenient on me than her. She hardly drank or smoke and yet one tiny slip up, and they rained down the hammer. A month of no phone or social visits. But I could come home late and all I got was a curt ‘goodnight.’ I felt bad for her, but right now, I enjoyed the perk of being the golden child.

So far it seemed like an isolated incident. I didn’t see that girl anymore, nor did I have another headache. That was until yesterday. I was at the supermarket, waiting for Mom in the car and that girl with the same raven hair and those mix matched eyes passed behind in the rearview mirror. I whipped around to try and see if it was her and before I knew it, everything faded to black.

He was in the woods, surrounded by snow. He could hear shouting and what sounded like explosions imploding all around him.

“Get up boy! Grab that gun and come on!” An older man with a rugged face spat at him, running further into the darkness.

He scrambled onto his feet, following pursuit. He couldn’t make out what they were chasing but it was fast and big. Almost as if it were . . .

“Shoot boy! Shoot! There the savage is!” Another man, only slightly older than him commanded. “What are you waiting for?!”

He held the rifle to his face and stared off into the dark and then he saw her. The girl from before.

“Shoot!” More of them screamed. He took aim, fired, and missed.

I was back in the car again, as if I had never left and my head was throbbing. I opened the glove compartment in search of some Advil or Tylenol, but to no avail. I’d just have to suffer through these memories and these headaches.

Another week passed and more memories flooded in, some with the girl and some without, along with the persistent headaches. Although, they seemed to be worse at night, especially under a full moon. So I came up with the brilliant idea to stay up all night and take small naps during the day. Big fat chance. The insomnia just made me delirious and envision her everywhere I looked. I finally just had to resign myself to sleep and have headaches.

            There was a bright light outside his window, a beam reaching down from the sky. It filled the entire courtyard, the trees beyond it, the shores off in the distance, the small corners of his room; everything illuminated white. Then it dwindled to nothing, returning the night as it once was before.

Standing alone in the center of camp was the girl from before. No one else seemed to notice she was there. It was as if she were invisible to everyone else but him.

He kind of liked that she was his eyes only. He knew the others wouldn’t understand what she’d done for him, what she was. Hell, he still didn’t understand and parts of him didn’t need to. She was like his guardian angel and the sooner he labeled her, this thing between them, it would ruin . . . the spell.

He slowly rose from his bed, so as not to wake his sleeping roommate. It wasn’t ideal, having a loud, grouchy old man as a roommate, but his grandfather was the only one who understood his musings of the strange things in this world. For the old man had seen death once before and said it looked so beautiful, nothing scary about it at all. Ayden wondered if his grandfather saw her when he looked at death.

Honestly, he should just go back to sleep and pretend he saw nothing, but his hands slipped on his boots and his feet shuffled to the door. Next thing he knew, he was unlocking the latch and slipping into the quiet of the night.

She was waiting for him once he got outside. She looked the same as before; long, flowing hair, captivating blue and silver eyes, smooth, rust colored skin, perfect smile. She was wearing a long, white dress with no sleeves and what appeared to be silver shackle-like jewelry around her wrists and neck, as well as silver embroidery throughout the dress.

She just stared out and he stared back, unsure of how to move.

Are you afraid?

She spoke in his mind, like before. As fascinating as that was, it was still hard to get used to. She seemed to know his every thought before he thought it. So, he asked,

Can you read my mind?

No. That’s not what I’m doing. I feel your spirit and know your heart. Thus, I have a grasp of what you’re thinking.

Why are you here? Was the only thing he could think to respond.

He saw her flinch a little and he added,

I mean, why have you come back? Is it to see me? Did you . .  .

He stopped short. He didn’t want to ask her that. He’d sound desperate. But he did wonder if she felt the same way about him as he did about her.

He had to admit to himself, he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her. The feel of her hand on his cheek, the softness of her lips when she kissed him, the sweetness of her voice, the kindness is her eyes. He felt warm and happy and safe with her. He had never felt so—whole in his life.

I did . . . miss you she stepped closer, enclosing their gap. I have thought about you every moment since you fell into the ocean. I was curious to see what would happen if I saved you, if you would feel gratitude towards me. No, I wasn’t trying to make you worship me, I just . . . never fell for a human before. I thought  . . . I wanted. . . .

She stumbled in her steps but he rushed toward her, grabbing her hand in his before she could turn away.

I get it. It’s hard to explain this feeling. I’ve never felt it before. Here, humans call this love. Is that what you call it?

She giggled sweetly. It was cute.

We know of love in the celestial heavens. My father loved my mother once and now, I think he feels anger, resentment, yet mostly, loss.

You have parents? his mind blurted before he could stop it. Had they been talking, he might not have asked.

There was that giggle again.

Yes, I have parents. It’s not as though I was molded out of clay.

She did this little shake with her shoulders. Was that sarcasm I detected? He could spend all night with her. But something told him that wasn’t so.

And right on beat, she looked to him and said,

I’m sorry. I must return before Amek, my father, realizes I’m gone.

She touched her hand to his cheek. He savored the feeling.

Can I see you again?

Always she smiled and in a flash of light, she was gone.

I opened my eyes and smiled. That would become one of my favorite memories.

The memories came more frequently but the headaches lessened with each one. Particularly the happy ones. And there were a lot of happy ones. Clearly this girl, my girl, and I truly cared for one another and the love we shared has transcended time.

THE ASSEMBLY

Today was my first day back on campus. I had been going to Perkland Accelerate Academy or PAA since I was 12. It was a boarding school that centered on a student focus curriculum that guaranteed student success. In laymen’s terms, it was just an over glorified private school for the rich and entitled to have a place for their kids to feel special. It was the stupidest thing I’d ever heard.

The classes weren’t half bad. The instructors were actually qualified and heavily credentialed. My History teacher was an archeologist, my English teacher worked for The New Yorker, my Math teacher had a PhD, and my Science teacher worked for a lab.

It was the electives I wasn’t looking forward to. What the hell was a Freedom of Expression class anyway? What did one do to express themselves? Then there was Interpretive Gym, where we would vote on an exercising yet non-violent activity to do each class session.

I folded up my class schedule and placed it in my back pocket. It was already in the system now and I wouldn’t be able to change it until after the school year started.

This year was my junior year, and I was in the Early College Acceptance program. I had such high marks on my test scores last year, that my parents decided to enroll me in this program. There would be a lot of work and the expectations of me were higher than before, but I was assured it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle. Which compared to the dreams I’d been having lately, this would be a cake walk.

I made my way from the registrar’s office back to my dorm when I saw a girl with copper colored skin and long, dark hair. Pamuya. It couldn’t be. If my dreams had told me anything, she was long gone and I’d never see her again.

There was a tall man of the same skin tone and dark locks standing next to her. Must have been her dad. What was his name again? Amek. Although, he probably didn’t go by that now.

I hurried along to catch up with them. They were heading in the opposite direction, towards the café. They had probably just finished the tour and would be eating before the parents were released to go home. She must be new here because only new enrollees take the tour and eat in the café during orientation week. Everyone else just gets settled in.

By the time I caught up with them, I realized it wasn’t her. Her skin was bronzed with some sort of tanning lotion, and badly I might add. She almost looked orange. And her dad looked just the same. It was just my mind playing tricks on me.

I had been doing that a lot more lately. It seemed every girl I saw looked like Pamuya. It was as if I was trying to will her into existence. But if she were really here, I’d have seen her by now.

Defeated, I slumped back to room and collapsed on the bed. It was times like this, I was glad to have a room all to myself.

She lay before him unable to move. The blood from her wound was soaking into her clothes and the ground. Her faced was stained with tears from all the agony she cried out. The color already draining from her skin, her body seeming smaller than he’d ever seen it.

He couldn’t believe this had happened. One minute they were so happy together and the next they were fighting one another. Only it wasn’t him. It was his body moving against her, it was his hands that attacked her, his sword that stabbed her, but his eyes watched in horror, his heart cried out in pain. How could he kill the love of his life?

He sat sobbing over her corpse, rocking her back and forth in his arms, willing her to come back to him.

Please wake up. Pamuya, I’m so sorry. Forgive me. Just wake up.

She can’t hear you a voice spoke from within but wasn’t his own.

He heard that voice before. It was the voice that always called Pamuya away from him. The last time he heard it, Pamuya had been made mortal, banished forever from the heavens. Ayden wished he could’ve convinced her to turn back. Then maybe she’d be alive right now.

It wouldn’t have mattered. She would have disobeyed me anyway. The voice said.

Can’t you do anything?

No. She gave up her immortality for you.

You mean you took it from her! He seethed, pressing her body closer to his.

Punishment for splitting her spirit and giving it to you is death. I could not bare to kill her, and she escaped imprisonment. This was always going to be her fate. Nothing I did could have prevented this.

So that’s it?

Ayden turned to Amek now, pleading with him to save her.

He said nothing as he knelt down and placed a hand on her shoulder. He sighed but looked determined. Then he stood back and spread his arms wide. A puddle of water flowed from beneath us, glowing different colors of gold, rose, and blue.

“What’s happening?”

I’m sending you to the spirit world.

But I thought—

Only the dead can go into the spirit world. That and of course spirits themselves. Pamuya was born a spirit and some of that still flows through her, even as the life leaves her body. And that same spirit flows through you. This will allow you both to return to the land of the living. The guardians will get rid of the bodies and your souls will be reborn anew.

So she’ll be alive again? I’ll get to see her again?

Amek didn’t smile nor did he reply. He knew something Ayden didn’t and didn’t want to tell him. Of course this was too good to be true.

It was never easy with Pamuya and him. She could only see him at night, when her powers were strongest and when everyone in camp would be asleep. When they fled the camp after she killed the hunters, they lived in hiding of the settlers and the natives. Always cowering for their lives. At times hungry and cold. Others hurried and seldom calm. He loved her but there were times he wished it could have been easier.

Had that been it? Had that been what made him snap and kill her? He would never, could never hurt Pamuya. She was a powerful spirit and he a mere mortal, and yet, here she was, lying dead in his arms.

Tell me, would she live?

Yes.

But I won’t get to see her again.

No answer.

Is it because I killed her?

You didn’t kill her.

“What?! But if not then how?”

You will understand in due time.

Amek knelt down again and kissed his daughter on her forehead. Then they descended into the spirit world, hopefully one day to meet again.

I woke up with tears streaming down my face and my pillow soaked. I wiped them away on the back of my arm and peered over the edge of the bed, checking for flooding. No water. It had been a while since my dreams immersed my room in water.

But this was the first time I dreamed of her death. Sure I knew she had died. We both had lived past lives, so it would stand to reason that she’d have died and reincarnated as I had. Yet my visions showed multiple lives, and there was only one life shared with her. And I was back at square one, believing she hadn’t been reborn as Amek said. Or maybe she had but Amek did something so I’d never see her again. There was a piece of the puzzle missing and I had no way of figuring out what that was.

“Argh! Why Pamuya? Why can’t I find you?” I cried out in frustration, flinging my arm over my face, ugly crying like a schoolgirl. Whomever said boys didn’t care where clearly mistaken.

My cry session was cut short by the sound of the alarm on my phone. It was a reminder that the school assembly would start at 9pm sharp. A time-honored tradition of PAA to assemble the night before classes started. The only thing was that you had to be in uniform, and it was held in the auditorium, with assigned sitting per year, so there was no mingling with people you had met and who weren’t like minded like you. A real snore fest.

I forced myself out of bed and pulled my burgundy blazer and navy slacks out of the closet. Unfortunately, we had to be in proper uniform tonight. Blazer, pressed slacks, white button down and the tie with the emblazoned crest on it.

I stripped off my jeans and blue polo and pulled up the slacks. Then the crisp button down, wrapped the tie around my neck and slip the rabbit through the hole, and slide into the blazer. Next the argyle socks and the black dress shoes. Now I was ready to go be bored to death.

Inside the auditorium, the senior band was playing soft, classical music in the background. This year’s group was better than last year’s but to my ears, it sounded all the same. Classmates were milling about, not quite ready to take their seats and I couldn’t blame them. This was going to be a half hour to forty-five minutes of droning on and on about things we already knew, even the first year high schoolers knew this stuff because they spent the past week learning it all. The middle schoolers already had their assembly and have already gone to bed. Well, they’ve at least been made to stay in their dorms due to curfew. I doubt they’d already gone to sleep.

Just as I was about to locate my seat, I felt a soft form bump into the back of me.

In no mood to make niceties, I whirled around to give the dunderhead a piece of mind when I came face to face with soft, clay colored skin, long, raven hair and one cerulean eye and the other silver.

“Pamuya,” I whispered breathlessly.

She looked taken aback, as if I had spat in her face or something. Then she shook her head for a moment, and her eyes had turned a dark amber. But I had seen them. They weren’t this color a moment ago. It was her. Finally, I had found her.

Breaking through my elation, she spoke, “Sorry, you have the wrong girl. I don’t know anyone by that name.” And she scuttled off.

What? But I thought . . .

I turned in the direction she had gone and tried to get her attention, but she was steadily looking at the stage, as if nothing were more fascinating.

“Pamu—I mean, hey you?”

Hey you? Seriously, why not cat call while you’re at it.

A few girls glared at me, apparently feeling like I’d already offended them.

I cleared my throat and tried again. “Excuse me miss?”

That sounded pervy. Why couldn’t I talk to her? I had memory upon memory of me doing a fairly good job communicating with her. I had memories of doing some other things fairly well but I needed not go there.

I was going to be bold—or stupid but here goes.

I lifted one leg over the chair in front of me and then the other. I could feel the stares in my back, but I didn’t care. I needed to talk to her. I needed to know.

Then I slid down, so as not to have the seat pop up on me or my foot fall through the hole in the back. Standing firming on the floor, I inched across the next few seats and excused myself over the people whose toes I wasn’t trying to step on. Some of my classmates looked annoyed, while others snickered at my antics. Pamuya looked petrified, like she wanted to sink into the floor. But I didn’t care. I had nothing to lose by trying.

“Mr. Smith, just what do you think you’re doing?” The principal called from the front of the auditorium.

Busted. I was hoping to have spoken with her before the assembly started. But I was sure creating a commotion in a room full of nosy teenagers didn’t help anything. Plus, the principal was standing center stage, in a fully lit room where he had the best vantage point in the room. I might as well return to my seat and accept my punishment once the assembly was over.

Or . . .

“Mr. Smith, I won’t ask you—”

Here goes nothing.

I took in a deep breath and stood as tall and firm as I ever had before, and replied, “Sir, I just need to know this girl’s name.”

I pointed at Pamuya. I was close enough now that I could see her out of my peripheral vision. She sunk down even further into her seat but I was betting it all right now. Either the principal would make her stand up and introduce herself or he’d remove me from assembly to wait in his office. Either way, I had nothing to lose.

Time seemed to stretch on and on as for Principal Riley’s next move and Pamuya’s response. If she gave one. My palms were sweating, my heart was racing, but my soul had come alive. I could feel the blood rushing through my veins, feel the cells divide and accumulate, feel the hairs on my arms and neck and head stand to attention anticipating the next move.

“Well young lady. Here at Perkland, we like to oblige. Stand up please.” Principal Riley gestured for her to stand.

Yes!

She groaned audibly but begrudgingly rose to her feet. She made no eye contact with me but I could tell she wanted to slap me. That’s a feeling my sister has shared with me on many occasions. So I knew it quite well.

“My name is Annalee Greyeyes” She said to the audience, then took her seat. But not before she cut me a scathing stare on the way down.

“Pleasure to meet you Annalee. I’m Ayden Smith.”

She whipped her head around so fast, it looked like she had whiplash. Her eyes were blue and silver again, peering, searching for something. They grew wide ever so slightly before going back to normal, in size and in color.

I couldn’t contain my grin. Oh yeah, it was definitely her and she knew it was me. We had finally found each other.

“Well then, my office Mr. Smith, after the assembly. And do please take your assigned seat.”

Reluctantly I made my way back to my seat but I still had a smile on my face. Annalee. What a pretty name.