Young Writers Society

That would be a little harder than expected, but I would try my best. It wasn't long before we tracked down the clothing store and a new outfit for Bo. We got a few looks from the other shoppers, but dead people weren't exactly a rarity here. I just pointed at him and mimed cutting my throat, and they seemed to get the message.

That, or they thought I was threatening them. I didn't care which if they didn't bother us.

I brought Bo back to the inn that we had been staying in. Nathaniel and Asmira were still out at the beach, so it was the perfect time to deal with Bo getting changed. I had never tried getting my clothes on without being able to look at them before, but something told me it wouldn't be easy.

"So," I said, closing the door behind us, "you can get changed here. The blinds are closed, the door's locked, and there's a bathroom if you don't feel comfortable doing it out in the open."

Bo held the clothes in his hands. He tried to feel for something to set them down on, but before he felt something with his hands, he felt something with his legs. The end of a bed.

He set everything down except for what felt like a shirt. He tried sticking his hands in it, feeling around for the head and arm holes.

"I'm gonna be honest with you," Bo said. "Now that I can't see, it's almost like with babies? How they don't have a sense of object permanence? I dunno, it kinda feels like if I can't see you, you can't see me."

He paused, victoriously sticking his arm through the head-hole. At least, he thought it was the head-hole.

"That said, uh, I don't really care where I do it as long as I'm not running around naked. Just might need help knowing what's what. I mean, I guess if I put my shirt on backward it wouldn't be the end of the world, but you know how sometimes it rides up to your neck and you kind of feel like you're choking? Not really vibing with that."

I resisted the urge to snicker.

Even I had the tack not to laugh at a blind person's struggles - especially when I actually liked said blind person.

"Yeah, I think you might need a bit of guidance," I said. "You have your arm sticking out of the wrong side of the shirt - I don't even know how you did that."

I bridged the little distance between us and started trying to untangle his shirt. It was surprisingly hard, but, then again, I didn't help other people get dressed.

I was so focused that I didn't hear the two sets of footsteps approaching our room. And when the supposedly locked door suddenly swung open with a loud creak, I was so surprised I accidentally used my powers.

...And ended up in Bo's body.

I heard the chaos - the sound of my body crashing to the ground, two people entering the room, and the sound of one coming over while the other probably stared from the doorway - but I couldn't see any of it. Which was really disturbing. It didn't help that I hadn't gotten Bo's shirt off.

There was a moment of silence.

And then I heard Nathaniel laugh from the doorway.

"Oh, shut it, Natty boy," I said, trying - and failing - to get an arm free to point in his direction. I was going to give him the middle finger, too, but it seemed pointless without my hand free.

Bo remembered this feeling. The possessing, the person jumping in and taking control like a puppeteer. He didn't like it any more now than he did then.

He fought back against Skull's control, first, curling his finger down. That wasn't necessary.

"Hey, Skull?" he pushed out through tense breaths. "Mind hopping out of me? I don't see how this is any easier."

"Well, it was supposed to be," I said, cheeks still warm and red.

I just knew Asmira and Nathaniel were sharing that look again. "More like you accidentally possessed him," Nathaniel muttered, his laughter finally dying down.

"It was definitely intentional," I argued. I reached my foot out, trying to touch my body so I could hop back into it. But it had fallen farther away than I thought it had, and I lost the little balance that I had.

I went falling back onto the bed that Bo had been in front of.

Then I groaned.

Bo didn't like the feeling of his body being flung around against his will. Skull's sense of balance as a blind man was worse than his own - and that was saying a lot.

"Okay. Let me try," he said, pushing back against Skull's will and straining to stand back up, balancing on his own two feet. He didn't know if he was facing Nathaniel and Asmira or not, but it didn't really matter. "Which was is Skull's body?" he asked. "My left or my right?"

"Your right," Asmira offered from nearby. If I hadn't already jumped out of my body, I would have when I heard her voice come out of seemingly nowhere. I had never realized how quietly she could move before now.

Following Asmira's directions, I slowly started to inch towards where my body was. I knew Bo wanted control, but it wouldn't be long until I was back in my body.

"What were you even doing?" Nathaniel asked.

"I was trying to help Bo get his shirt off," I replied. I felt my toe hit something, but it was just the bag of new clothes. I wasn't going to possess that.

There was a pause. With Bo's shirt tangled, I doubted either one of them had realized that it was Bo that I was possessing. I could imagine them sharing that look again. Not because of me this time, but because they hadn't expected Bo to die anytime soon.

"He's a little visually impaired right now," I offered. "And his clothes are a little bloody, so I thought it'd be a good idea to change them up."

"I have a solution," Asmira said - once again startlingly close by. Our feet bumped into each other just as she surprised me, and suddenly I could see again.

I blinked.

Well, Asmira blinked. I had just possessed her, after all.

"Oh," I said. "Hi Asmira - wait, why are you holding a knife?"

Well, Bo had control of his body back, but his arms were still caught up in the shirt. Arguably, it was worse than before Skull had started helping.

"Considering I died by knives, that's not very knife of you to be walking around with something like that so casual."

I snickered.

"Good one," I said.

Asmira took back control of my mouth. I didn't really fight it - there wasn't really a need to. "I was going to cut you out of your shirt," she said. "I don't think you'll be able to use anymore with all of those stains and cuts."

...She did have a point.

"Before you do that," I said, "let me just do one little thing."

I maneuvered around Bo and touched my body with my foot. A second later, I was back on my actual feet, and Asmira was going to get Bo free from his shirt.

Bo drew back a little. "Wait, wait, wait. Which shirt? The bloody one I'm wearing or my new one? I want my new one to stay intact..."

"The bloody one," Asmira confirmed. When it seemed like Bo wasn't going to move anymore, she cut his shirt off. The bloody, tattered pieces of cloth fluttered to the floor, revealing what I had meant when I said he was a little visually impaired.

Nathaniel stared.

Asmira stared too.

I knew both of them wanted to ask questions about it, but they could put the pieces together. It had to have come from Bo's death.

I grabbed the new shirt from the bag and broke the silence.

"I'm going to help you put your new shirt on," I decided. "It's easier getting them on, anyways."

It wasn't the weirdest thing he'd ever experienced - people helping him get dressed and all. It reminded him of his recovery days after the motorcycle accident when he was bedridden for a while and couldn't even feed himself. There was nothing like not being able to move and having people literally carry you to a toilet to humble you.

Comparably, this was nothing. He didn't feel the pain of his once-fatal wounds. He was just blind.

It felt good to be in clean clothes again. Ones that weren't littered with holes that let in gusts of air.

He sat on the bed, comfortable, but feeling out of place.

"Thanks for giving me a hand. I guess for every eye lost, you need an extra hand."

"Apparently," I agreed.

There was an awkward silence.

"Let me guess," Nathaniel finally said, crossing his arms. "You want to get Bo back to his world."

I shrugged and smirked. "How did you know?"

Nathaniel sighed.

"Don't worry," I said. "I didn't sugar coat it. He knows that it won't be easy. But I did it with Nikko, Megara and Eddie, so I can do it with him, too."

There was another pause.

"...He does have a point," Asmira said.

I gave a smug grin. "I know I do."

Our conversation was interrupted by my stomach grumbling - it looked like it was time to grab something to eat. Stretching, I started heading to the door.

"Now that we've gotten that taken care of, let's grab something to eat," I suggested. "I'm starving."

Bo's brows shot up at the mention of food. Food would be really comforting right about now.

"I'm down to eat!"

It didn't take long for us to leave the inn, even when we had to lead Bo around. It felt weird having four people to our group instead of three, and even weirder to have someone who was clearly an adult with us. I knew that Asmira was technically one, and Natty boy as well, but both looked so young. Bo actually looked the part.

Our world was a weird mix of modern and high fantasy, but this town thankfully had some seaside stalls. I wasn't sure what Bo would want to eat, but the fried food they had smelled delicious. I grabbed us all a stick of the unnamed meat and paid for it.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a shadow.

Considering that the sky was overcast, and that there wasn't a person to go with the shadow, I should have been more suspicious. But I was starving, and I was more focused on having Bo around now.