Shadow Lines

Ch. 1 Upon Chance

Ch. 1 Upon Chance

It was around noon in Paris that I happened to chance upon meeting Evelyn Arousela.

The sun was shining, the clouds were few.

                Absolon Reamar had just died.

                I stood in the shadows, as always, and glided forward when the sun was covered by a cloud. I scooped his soul into my arms, and began to carry him away and down the stairs of his house to the outside.

                It had been ten years since I had had my encounter with Eveyln. I had forgotten about the girl that had seen me, but from time to time her name came to mind.

                I waited in the doorframe, hearing the screams of agony as his elderly wife discovered her husband’s dead body. I did not move. I did not say anything, even though I wanted to go back upstairs to the woman, kneel down beside her, and say, “I’m sorry.”

                But I knew that she would not hear me.

                So I stood there, waiting for the sun to move and the shadows to scurry along after it.

                When they finally did, I stepped out, the soul still in my arms.

One Message:

It was pure chance that I happened to meet Eveyln Arousela at the same exact, time, and place.

Or was it?

                I began to let my body slip away to Judgment, when suddenly I heard a voice. Footsteps. Racing towards me.

                “You!” a pretty young woman shouted, with long brown hair and matching brown eyes. I cast a bored glance at her, when suddenly I realized she was looking at me. And pointing. And shouting. And running.

                Oh, how I sometimes despise humans for making such big dramatical scenes about things.

                “You can still see me.” I said as she came to a halt in front of me. Her hair was a mess. So were her clothes. Her breath stank.

                Wonderful. I had a homeless human who could see me.

                “I’ve been searching...my…whole entire life…for you.” She managed to say in between breaths. “And now that I’ve found you, I want answers.”

                “You can still see me.” I repeated. The soul shifted in my arms. Just like before. I had to leave.

                “Please stay.” Eveyln begged. “Please tell me who you are. Why nobody believed me when I told my parents that you carried off my brother. Please.”

                “I must go. Do not look for me. My world is not for human eyes.” I simply answered, and began to drift away. Up, up, up for me.

                I felt a slight pressure on my leg, but paid no heed to it as I transported away to Judgment.

                My soul and I popped into the world between heaven and hell. Clouds surrounded us. So did people. I stood in the midst of a sea of Shadows with their own souls as they found St. Peter standing at the Gates of Heaven.

                Suddenly I heard a woman scream from below me. I glanced down, and I saw Eveyln Arousela clutching to my leg. Her eyes were wide. Her hair was still a mess. She was looking around, taking it all in.

                “What—what’s going on? Where are we?” she fretted.

                “What are you doing here?” I asked as I pulled her to her feet. “No human is allowed here. You must leave. If you stay here too long, then your soul will be disconnected with your body and you will die.”

                I felt surprise shoot through me as I watched Evelyn’s eyes dart all around me. A few Shadows turned to give us glances, but otherwise paid no attention to us. After all, it was our duty not to question anything. It was stsrange, however, that I was feeling emotions that I only seemed to feel around Eveyln.

                Evelyn blinked once. Twice. She staggered backward, as if she had been hit.

                “This can’t be real.” She blinked, her eyes changing colors like a rainbow. Her soul was seperating from her body.

                I sighed and carefully, oh so carefully, laid the withered old soul of Absolon Reamar on the soft, wispy ground. He immediately dissolved into a shower of sparks. After all, he had been a devoted Christian all his life, believing till the very end in Jesus Christ. He did not need to pass through St. Peter. The man was going to heaven.

                “What’s going on?” Eveyln Arousela repeated. “Where…where are we?”

                I picked up the woman in my arms and let my body slip down back to earth. We were back in Paris. I gently propped the woman up against a wall and crouched down.   

                “Are you okay?” I asked.

                She looked up at me, and her eyes no longer changed colors. They were a solid, warm brown. “No…I…feel weird. Where were we…? What did you do with that man…?”

                I pursed my lips and gently placed my hand over her eyes. “Sleep.” I said, ever so softly. “And when you awake I will tell you answers.”

                Eveyln Arousela’s eyes fluttered closed. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to now but wait. The human had seen too much. She had seen me. I didn’t know whether it was in my power or job to tell the human answers. But I chose to anyway. Something strange was stirring within me. Maybe it was humanity.