Spirit

No Rest for the Mental Patient

The next day was the weirdest day ever, because Maddie and I would just keep staring and smiling at each other. I didn't know if we should've made it formal or whatever, but before any of us could say anything, Jack's eyes widened and he screamed "You two had sex!"

Suddenly, everything became quiet.

"No we did not!" Leena defensevly responded, blushing. Rob hid his face from the entire group.

"Oh God..." I whispered, face-palming myself.

She took a silent moment to understand that Jack was talking about Maddie and me. Then her eyes widened. "You had sex?!"

"Can you please stop all this bullshit?" Maddie started, her gaze fixated on the sofa she was pretending to fix. "Look, I still hate him. Look."

She created an energy ball and turned her gaze towards me. I looked at her, amused. So far, getting hit by energy balls wasn't the worst thing in the world.

"Okay sorry I can't."

"I knew it!" Jack grinned.

"Calm your tits Detective Conan, we didn't have sex, we just kissed." I lied. For some reason, it was embarrassing and we both knew it. Yet Jack kept yapping about it, so it took two energy balls and a 10 feet tall hyena to shut him up.

But the final interruptus came from Oliver, who came in from outside holding up a paper.

"A note." He simply said. "It was attached to a tree nearby."

"What does it say?" Rob asked immediatly. For the two months I've been in this warehouse, I always felt like Rob was the boss or something, even though we all made important decisions.

"Okay let me read it. Hmm. Okay, it says nothing."

"What?"

"It's just a piece of paper. But it's attached to a dagger, so it's probably something we should worry about."

"If it's written in lemon ink, I will die." Roy rolled his eyes.

Oliver got the paper close to a flame from the oven, but nothing appeared.

"So?"

"Just leave it here. I'm sure that wasn't out there for nothing."

I eyed the paper carefully. Something had to trigger it, get it to show what it's supposed to show. I knew we were all thinking that .

But Maddie took me out of my analysis and told me that we had to continue our training.

As we were walking to our usual place, Maddie cleared her throat.

"So, umm, we just kissed?" She teased.

"Well if you wanted to get Jack right here celebrating our 'love making', I can go back and tell him we had sex."

She giggled, and laced her fingers around mine. "Kissing is fine."

When we arrived to our training place, we had company.

But I couldn't believe it. Maddie almost looked as shocked as me, because even she had seen that person's death.

I took a step closer, my whole body trembling. "Mom?" I called.

"Hello, Luke." My mom replied. She smiled, and everything seemed to go into place.

"Mom, how... what..." There was a million question on my mind, but I was just happy to get one answer: my mom was here.

"Luke?" Maddie called. Her voice seemed so far away, but it woke me up.

"Mom, I saw that man kill your spirit. How are you still alive when you had your steed killed?"

"It's okay Luke, the important thing is that I'm here now."

"Maddie you can kill whoever this is." I said.

"Whoa whoa, okay fine you got me!" The woman impersonating my mom yelled. "How, may I ask?"

"My mother's spirit is a deer, not a steed. Maddie kill her now, I can't stand the thought of someone trying to be my mom." I yelled.

"Oh, she meant that much to you? Sorry." She still had my mother's shape. Her smile was warm yet sarcastic, and I felt offended and disrespected.

"Show yourself woman." Maddie threatened, and got her hyena out.

"Okay, fine." She said, rolling her eyes. Her whole body glowed a faint blue, and her true form showed itself. Normal teenage girl, probably my age. Red haired, freckles sprayed her face. The only unusual thing about her was her eyes. One was blue, the other was green.

"They told me that your mother's spirit was a deer." She said absently. "Fuck! How did I forget? Not that it matter now. I'm here to-"

"Go away bitch." Maddie sternly said.

"Oh I love your temper." Red-hair said as she got her own spirit out. A giant chameleon flickered his tongue next to her. "Anyways I'm here to help. The name is Emily."

"Okay, bye. We're doing fine without you."

She snorted. "Yeah right. Show me you're spirit, will you?" She turned to me.

"We're getting personal right away? At least let us have a first kiss." I sarcastically replied. Maddie loudly cleared her throat behind me.

"Careful, you're hooker is getting jealous. Anyways, did that help?"

"Wha- No! It didn't help! How the fuck is that supposed to help?"

"Hey! Don't ask-" Maddie started.

"I thought if you get emotional you will show some improvement."

"HEY!" Maddie shouted. Her hyena was growling like crazy, smoking out energy. "We are using my method! Tell your psycopath friends at 'Hakem' that I can eat your head-"

"Do it smart girl. I have nothing to lose. Litteraly. Now back to-"

Emily barely was able to finish because an energy ball hit her. Her chameleon did a sound too scary for me to describe.

"Leave! Now! We have to go to." Maddie spat.

"Umm, Maddie, we didn't train at all." I whispered.

"Dude, look at me. Do I seem like a person who is ready to argue?"

She didn't. She looked like a person who just escaped a mental hospital. The irony.

"Well if that is what you wish for." Emily simply said. I honestly expected a girl fight, but I got excited for nothing. She turned back into my mother. "Just remember Luke, I love you."

"YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW HIM!"

If Maddie hadn't said that, I would have started tearing up. All I did was simply stare at the smiling face of a woman I knew was gone, but was standing in front of me.

"'Hakem' is pressing us too much!" Maddie said once we got home. "What the hell is wrong?"

"I wish I had a clue." Jack said.

The gang kept arguing about the possibilities of what could be happening while I was swarmed in my own thoughts. I'd just seen my mom, but it wasn't her. I heard her words, but she didn't mean them.

Different images started showing up in my head: my mom, the deer, the drugs, my dad, my fox wounded, then standing strong in front of me.

I took a shaky breath as I headed towards the exit, trying to get some fresh air, because I felt like I could throw a hundred energy ball right now. I could feel my hands burning, something in my heart eager to get out and destroy everything in sight, and the wind outside got heavier.

So I decided to take it out on that piece of paper that was in front of the warehouse this morning. I took it in my hands, ready to shred it, but something else happened.

"You guys?" I called, freaked.

They all gathered around me to witness letters being written in blue by themselves. It said: "Your Move."