Young Writers Society

Chapter 7
Delem

He is a spirit, and cannot be trusted. Yet, he seems different. For a start, I can see him pretty clearly, as far as the mist allows me. I can’t see the others. I thought he said he woke from a coma? Then why isn’t he human? Still, he didn’t seem like one of the spirits who were meant to make me meet my destiny when I was tied up a couple of hours ago. I need to find out who this is. He was sitting further away from me, obviously not to start draining my emotions. I asked, quietly:
‘What’s your name?’
He turned his head, and answered:
‘I am Felix.’
His whole body was white, so it was hard to imagine him in colour, in real life, but he was certainly worn out and tired. Perfectly explainable, if his story about the coma is true.
‘Why can I see you, and the others are just like mist?’
‘I would love to answer all your questions, Delem, but I can’t.’
A sudden thought popped into my head: what if this Felix guy is someone from the army? But since when were they using spirits to be in the army? As far as I knew, the whole point of our army was defeating ones like them. I was beginning to get confused. I didn’t know what to think of this strange... being, whether I could trust him or not. I mean, at every point in given time he could take all my feelings away, leaving me in a grey outer shell. I even heard stories of people going insane after meeting ones like Felix. But what if...
‘I have no intention of doing you any harm. And I am not sent by the ones who intend to.’
Felix spoke, overriding my own thoughts. I replied, staring in amazement:
‘You can read minds?!’
‘No. But I can sense what you’re feeling, and I figured out the rest.’
‘Oh. Well, I’m not worried.’
‘You’re not. You’re terrified.’
I turned away. Felix was right. But this meant that I couldn’t even feel free in showing my emotions. But, I knew that beforehand. I knew spirits could feel fear, but I didn’t know they felt... everything. Still, I knew I could find out a lot from this spirit. He might even help me fight the others, but I can’t be sure of that. I concluded that Felix still remained a potential threat, but I needed to keep my thoughts neutral, and my emotions, too.

Felix stood up, and looked around, as if trying to see something through the deep mist. Then, he spoke, still not turning to me:
‘I think we should get going.’
‘Why? And, where?’
‘I have a very bad feeling. I feel a presence other than yours around me. And, I’m cold.’
I stared at him in awe. This guy was so strange, yet there was something about him which made me believe him.
‘How can you be cold?’
‘I think I have the same senses as you do. But I haven’t encountered many yet.’
I had no choice other than to follow him, still keeping my distance. I wouldn’t want to beg him to kill me once again - who knows, he might seize the opportunity next time. Once again, I felt angry at not knowing enough about spirits to know what Felix might do. In fact, a lot of us didn’t know about the spirits - all our knowledge of them consisted of rumours, and horrid tales from alleged ‘survivors’ of spirit attacks. The real facts rested inside the cement walls of the Sectors, which were in lockdown for a very long time, even before the war started. And, all my hopes of finding something out from Felix were useless - it didn’t seem like he knew what he was anyway. Once again, Felix’s voice interrupted my thoughts:
‘Do you know where we are?’
‘Ummm... Lanetown.’
‘I don’t know where that is.’
‘Me neither.’
‘Well, that’s useful...’
It would have been helpful if the mist cleared, even a tiny bit, but all I could see for miles is greyness.
‘Felix, can you fly?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Can you try?’
‘That’s the strangest question anyone has ever asked me, Delem. But I have only been in this state for about three hours, and I am too weak.’
‘Okay, I’m sorry.’
I continued walking, staring forward. I could almost see through Felix’s back as he dragged himself along the tarmac. His feet were about half a centimetre above the ground, but he wasn’t floating. His white hair swung from side to side, his arms dangling, his body frail and light. How can this guy be a threat to me? The more I looked at him, the more I knew he looked even more miserable than I did. But still, I supressed my anger at him, and at spirits altogether. That deep hate sat deep in my heart. Actually, I didn’t know why I hated them. They started an entire war against us, and killed us in our thousands, and left many more empty, emotionless creatures. But there was something about them that always stopped me from wanting them dead. My emotions conflicted sometimes, which only made me angrier. I wondered - can Felix feel all this? The hatred, the anger, restlessness?

Soon, we entered yet another abandoned city. I had no idea why the second area we’ve been in was left empty, but at least the mist was no longer creeping around us. The sun started to peek through the thick clouds, sending sun rays along the pavements. Felix lifted his head up to feel the sunlight on his face. His face lit up with happiness and warmth, even if some of the light shone through him, and back onto the ground. Still, it felt like he was absorbing the energy from the sun, like he never felt the sun’s touch before. For a second, I tried to imagine what it’s like to be in a coma for years. It must have been an agony beyond boundaries, especially if he could still feel everything around him... Who was he? Was he a son of a rich man? Or a poor, working-class man? Was his father a scientist, or an outcast, an army general? Suddenly, Felix spoke:
‘It’s so warm.... So wonderful’.
Only now I realised that he was standing with his eyes open, staring at the sun with no discomfort whatsoever. I answered:
‘Let’s hope it stays this way. You want to take a break, and think everything through? I just feel we’re going nowhere’.
‘Sure’.
Soon, we approached a building with a ‘Cafe’ sign on it. Unlike the previous area, the buildings weren’t broken down or bombed. The city just looked abandoned, as if the entire population was forced to flee. We came inside, and I sat at a table on the other side of the room, to avoid contact. Felix walked around for a while, studying the room. The sunlight grew stronger, enough to light the whole room. Some chairs were knocked over, but the tables were clean, and the bar was in perfect condition. It wasn’t a big room, but that enabled me to imagine what this place looked like when people were here. Felix slowly approached a chair, as if not knowing how to sit on one. Then, he turned around and lowered himself onto it. I could see the colour of the wood, washed out with white, through his chest. Felix wasn’t transparent, he could obviously feel and interact with objects, but his whole silhouette resembled a piece of thick white glass. He sat there and stared in front of him, obviously remembering the feelings he used to have. Silence ensued. Of course, after a while, I began to question him - I guess I wanted to find out about him as soon as possible. I still saw him as a threat, possibly.
‘Can I ask you a question, Felix?’
‘As long as you answer mine’, he answered, turning his big grey eyes towards me.
‘Ummm... do you remember who you were? I mean, before the coma?’
‘I don’t remember much. I remember my father, though. He visited me when I was in the hospital. He was a scientist... an investigator of spirits... Ironic, right? If only he could see me now...’
‘He’s not alive?’
‘I don’t know. There’s a war going on, I can’t be sure of anything.’
I was quite alarmed by his lack of emotion towards the life of his father. It almost seemed that he didn’t care if his parents were alive. Of course, he might have forgotten how it feels to care for someone...
‘Now, you answer my question.’
‘Okay.’
‘Why do you feel anger towards me?’
That caught me off guard. He knew all along, he knew my feelings all this time. But I knew I had to answer, I did want to keep in relatively good terms with this spirit, especially because in a fight with him - I didn’t stand a chance. I don’t think spirits can even die...
‘Well... I don’t feel anger towards you in particular, you haven’t done anything wrong. It’s just that the war started because of the spirits...’
‘I thought that you said that you didn’t know the cause of the war’.
‘Yeah, but... All I know it was partly because of the spirits.’
‘I find it illogical to despise something you’re not sure should be.’
I fell silent. Felix kept staring at me, it was intimidating, but I knew his words carried a very important message. Seriously, who is this guy? How could he turn himself into a spirit? I was beginning to get confused, but even angrier at Felix, for some very odd reason. I was about to respond, when he stood up, and announced:
‘I sense fear...’
I leaned forward.
‘I’m not scared! I’m...’
Suddenly, he turned to the window, and cut me off with an even stranger phrase:
‘It’s not your fear.’