Detached

The Encounter

"Who are you? And why do you look like that?" I said to the shimmering woman.

"My name is Edith Caralson. And I woudn't be talking considering you look the same way." She said with her hands on her hips. I slowly turned and looked in my mother's mirror. She was right. I did look like her. If I'd had any pigment in my skin I probably would have turned pale. "What's your name girl?" She asked me.

"Willow." I whispered. "Willow Morrison."

"Ah, Willow. now tell me, what in heavens name were you about to do?" She said looking at me like I was out of my mind.

"I was gonna wake my parents up to see if they could see me.." I said stupidly.

"How  you suppose to do that if you 'aint got a body?" She replied.

"What do you mean?" I had asked.

"We souls can't do nothin without our bodies." She said matter-of-factly

"Then..How did I pick up a pen earlier?" I asked.

"It happens," She shrugged. "Was it the last thing you touched when you was attached?"

"Attached?" I said confused.

"You know, when your soul was attached to the body given to you."

"Oh. Well yeah. Where's your body?" I said. "Why are you in my house and not in it?"

" My body died many years ago in this very house. It happens to many elderly. They die without their souls. Can't seem to remember who they are let alone how to get back to their bodies." She chuckled. I didn't see the humor.

"That's terrible." I said. "So they're...trapped?"

"Forever," She sighed. "Like me."

"What happened to you?" I said curious.

"It was nineteen-thirty. I was dying from cancer, though they had no idea what it was back then. I was fifty-one and married. Had us three kids we did." She smiled and looked down at her shaking hands. "Anyway. It was in my last days that I began to wander. At first it was just an escape. A way to get away from all the suffering, my own and my family's. I always came back though. I promised myself I would talk to my husband every night so that he'd know how much I loved him. But then one night I couldn't get back fast enough. My body and stopped moving all together. Jerry, my husband was thrashing and screaming, "You promised! You promised to say goodbye!"."  She paused a moment to swallow her tears. "I watched my own funeral. I watched my family grieve. I watched my husband become a drunk before my very eyes. But I also waited. Waited for the day when he, too, would wander. It didn't happen though. He died that spring with his soul still attached. For a long time I was alone. I figured it was only me that wandered. But then I met Oliver. He lives next door. He knows many, many other wanderers. This life, Willow, isn't bad, but never would I wish it upon someone." She concluded. "You can't stay here. You need to return to your body." She told me. Thoughts of all kinds raced through my brain.

"I-I have so many questions! I can't leave now."

"In time, child, in time." She said. "You will wander again. Let's just hope not forever." We walked back to my room where, once again, I was absorbed into my body.

The first thing I did the next morning was check my left arm. Sure enough there was a mark all the way down. I shivered at the sight. My shower was a half hour longer that morning than it normally was. I pondered everything that was encountered the night before. First, it was most definitely real. Second, there were others. Third, the last thing I touched I was able to pick up. Fourth, Oliver had the answers to the questions I had yet to ask.

I didn't know when I'd wander again but I knew I had to be prepared. No one could know that it was happening again. Not ever.