Swift of Spirit

by Rodzil LaBraun

  In reality, the traumatic incident had been more nightmarish than fantastic. She had a hard time believing that if anyone had literally experienced a visit from these things like she had they were not likely to go searching after them. But then again, there were plenty of people that chased after deadly storms or dangerous animals. Thrill seekers would do practically anything without serious regard for their safety.

  When it all began a few years ago, Sarah informed her parents. They brushed it off as bad dreams and too many horror movies. Her little brother, Hunter playfully made fun of her. Their baby sister, Jenny, was still very young then. Sarah could identify the terror in the little girl's eyes when she recounted her experience. After a witnessing their reactions the first couple times she ultimately decided to never tell anyone again. That was also just after her parents made her see a psychiatrist. Definitely that was a contributing factor in her decision as well.

  Sarah remembered how abandoned she felt by her parents when she first learned they were taking her to see a shrink. She saw a weird disappointment in their eyes then, like her perceived mental instability was unacceptable in their daughter. They whispered between themselves a great deal back then. To her face, they expressed no inkling of a belief in her eccentric accounts. Five short sessions of denying any more encounters finally freed her of any additional obligation to the psychiatrist.

  A chill ran down Sarah's spine as she brushed her long, dark brown hair facing her reflection. The small vanity had a large, framed mirror that flipped up at the perfect angle for sitting on the matching stool before it. Generally, the reflective surface stayed retracted until needed. Sadly, this nightly routine had been avoided for over a month until recently. She shuddered from the memory of the evil spirit that entered her room that dark, eerie night, several weeks ago. The diabolical monstrosity floated over her bed for what seemed like an eternity. The debilitating fear in her eyes must have alerted the creature to her gift of sensing spirits.

  That particular ghostly entity had a dark red aura, from what she could tell. It was the first time she had observed a spirit aura in a predominantly dark environment. People’s auras were visible to her in the dark. She knew that for sure. It gave her quite a fright the first few times she unexpectedly noticed a family member sitting quietly in a poorly lit room. Though she was a little girl back then.

  Viewing this spirit in the reflection of her vanity mirror gave it a more illusionary feel. The limited light cast by the low wattage bulb in the lamp on her nightstand was enough to make her doubt. So, she mistakenly stared directly at it. In an instant the nightmarish creature formed a howling, wide-eyed face of smoke and glided to her left shoulder. Her subsequent, blood-curdling scream brought her father running into her room, thankfully encouraging the evil spirit to exit. To her knowledge, that horrific presence had never returned.

  It was young Jenny that now had Sarah convinced that ghosts did not exist. She claimed that if spirit creatures did exist they were all demons. Sarah's sister explained in extensive detail how disobedient angels had been cast to earth to roam angrily as demons in service to the great serpent, Satan. Sarah herself was not particularly religious, but she did believe in God and the biblical account of creation. The demon theory sounded more logical to her than ghosts. It explained things she had personally witnessed much more than the idea of dead people haunting the living.

  Closing her eyes tightly she banished the image of the recalled demon face from her mind. This certainly could not go on forever. Eventually she would need to properly brush her hair. She had long tired of trying to do so while huddled under the covers after that traumatizing encounter. Sarah had taken to leaving her ceiling light on all night out of anxiety. There was no supportive evidence that light would deter the malevolent intruders from visiting her. She just hoped that the encounters would be considerably less terrifying with the lights on.

  Thankfully, the ghastly face of smoke left her thoughts, but it was promptly replaced with the memory of the blue demon she faced after returning from church this past Sunday. That one had her puzzled. It was not the first of them that she had noticed in the presence of her family, but it was the only one that did not immediately strike intense fear in her. To be sure, she was scared. However, she was almost as curious as she was frightened. It was more like observing a deer that had accidentally wandered into the living room. One would be afraid of what it might do, despite realizing that it meant no harm.

  It took nearly two hours for the visions to completely clear from her head and exhaustion to set in, sending her into a deep sleep. Peaceful it was not entirely. But Sarah had grown accustomed to that. Just as her family had grown accustomed to her grumpiness in the morning, chalking it up to teenage behavior. Unfortunately, her small circle of friends her age had tired of her personality change, leaving her roaming the high school hallways alone. She was never the most popular girl in school, despite many telling her that she was quite pretty. These days even the unpopular girls would not openly associate with her. Only Melissa.

  The girl had found Sarah crying in the gymnasium bathroom one day after a demon had scared the crap out of her. Sarah swore that she had become some type of toy to the sick ghostly beings. She imagined them laughing their butts off each time they got her to scream or cry, like little bullies on the playground. Melissa, of course, did not know what had caused the tears. Sarah had long decided never to reveal her secret again. But the girl had comforted her anyway. A few brief conversations in the halls over the next couple weeks had started a hesitant friendship. They were not close by any means. For example, they did not text each other daily. However, they did at least smile each time they met in the halls. Lately, that was the best that Sarah could hope for. She had pathetically found herself looking forward to seeing that smile every weekday, like a tiny porthole in a large, uncontrollable ship, reminding you that there was still life out there.

  The weekends were not necessarily harder, just different. Her family would repeatedly attempt to draw her into their lively activities. Occasionally, she would submit. The family would play a game of cards, or go to a movie, as long as it wasn't scary. Sometimes it was just going shopping or dining out. She stayed a meager part of the family as best she could muster. She had inadvertently become the stereotypical teenage daughter in the back row of the family photo, the only one without a sincere smile. When walking through a parking lot or shopping mall, she was always a few steps behind the rest of the family. Never expressing an opinion in what to do or where to eat, her parents stopped asking after a while. Politely, they would obtain her unnecessary approval after the decision had been made. She always agreed, of course, appreciative of not being forced into the decision process.

  She naturally meant no harm to her parents or siblings. Her despair and secrecy had simply shaken her to her core, causing her to assume the identity of a person she had never thought she would be. Each time she witnessed a roll of the eyes from her brother Hunter, or that brief frustration in her mother’s stare, she wished that she had responded differently. Sometimes, she would even vow to herself to do better next time. Possibly muster some perkiness, maybe even some excitement about an upcoming activity. Or, at least reply to her parents with more than a yes or no answer. She repeatedly believed that she would do it, too. Yet when the moment came she stayed the same ole stick in the mud. Though they unquestionably could not see it, she actually clutched to her family for strength. And silently, without any expression to support it, she cherished her time with them.

  CHAPTER THREE: WANDER

  Swift wandered aimlessly for a while. His kind did have concept of time, it just didn't function the same as it did for humans. Spirits were capable of speeding up and slowing down time at their will when alone. Essentially, it was adjusting their own level of consciousness. Reduce your intellectual pace and time flies by. Increase your mental focus and time would appear to crawl like an impaired sloth.

  It was of great benefit to their existence
. When you had no particular assignment, or just felt like pondering some philosophical viewpoint, you could let the world pass you by for a while. Many believed you would receive an enlightenment from the process, much like human meditation. The instant you were needed, though, you could conveniently snap back to real time.

  If you found yourself in some predicament that required cognitive velocity, you would crank up the windmills of your mind to accomplish the task. When involved with humans you could achieve dozens of tasks in the amount of time that they completed just one. It allowed you to stay ahead of their sluggish earthling progress. In practice, it was similar to anticipation or premonition. However, instead of just having a feeling that things were going to go a certain way, you would be reacting the very instant that they started that direction.

  Some of those populating the spirit realm would regularly speed up time out of boredom. The resulting effect was that they were technically dormant for a while as the universe passed them by unawares. It was reported that some spirits would skip decades, even centuries this way. Swift was still much too fascinated by all the life on earth to do such a thing. He was much more likely to slow down time so he could examine something more closely without missing out on anything else.

  Today he did it to give himself some time to think. Hover, his supervisor, would be waiting for him to give his official report on the Hutchins family. Chances were that Hover was watching him the entire time as he meandered through the small town of Damascus Maryland. Each instance that it appeared as though a human could see him he darted for cover. Looking back, he could clearly see that every occasion was simply a matter of coincidence. It was only Sarah that was able to see him, he told himself repeatedly.

  He wasn't sure what to do with that information, or how to personally feel about it. He was possibly the most terrified that he had ever been in his life since coming to this planet. Yet, at the same time, he was elated at the prospect of communication with this delightful species known as human beings. They were the primary purpose for the angels to remain here when Alpha Omega departed so long ago. These flawed and fleshly people were his love, his food, his constant refreshment. Sure, many of them had chosen to do wrong on a regular basis. Way too many these days. However, most of them continued to have an incredible goodness in their hearts, even if it was only exhibited toward their own family members. Each occurrence he witnessed was like a sweet piece of delicious candy to him. An addictive chocolate would be more precise.

  Hover probably already knew something was amiss. Presumably, he was previously aware of the girl's uncommon ability. Avoiding him or attempting to conceal information would not be wise. Though Swift did respect Hover as much as any other angel he had known, he regularly feared displeasing him. The supervisor was seldom wrathful, though. It was one of the qualities that drew Swift to his service centuries ago, when angels were still allowed to choose their role on earth. Fortunately, Hover remained good hearted, for the most part. And the hundreds of angels in his service continued to cling loyally to him.

  As Swift finally ascended toward the upper atmosphere he encountered Hover floating silently in the clouds. That's why the senior angel was designated Hover so long ago. He preferred to view human activity from high above. He had the ability to process significantly more action that way, but far less details. Swift did not find himself envious of the tendency. Each time he personally tried to track progress on the surface from so high above, something would happen to snare his attention involuntarily, compelling him to swoop down near the planet to investigate.

  "You have observed the family," Hover said. It was not a question. He knew.

  "Yes, sir," Swift replied. "They arrived home from church while I was searching their home."

  "And you have met the girl," Hover stated. Again, not a question.

  Swift estimated then that it was indeed the girl, Sarah, that had warranted his reconnaissance mission. Any confusion regarding the overly religious mother and daughter, or government employed father had vanished.

  "Yes."

  "What do you think of her?" Hover asked. He had a reputation for vague questioning, to avoid leading conversation in a specific direction. It was a valuable investigation technique.

  "She is lovely," Swift responded softly before he could consider his words wisely. "And terrifying. I have never seen anyone like her before."

  "Why lovely?" Hover's question may have been directed toward Swift's sense of physical beauty. It was well known that some angels lusted after human flesh in a sexual way. It transpired in the beginning, and it likely still occurred routinely. Surely, Hover knew Swift was not one of those. Instead, he had unaffectedly developed a sense of what was considered beautiful in the eyes of humans. His own sense of beauty was more directed toward the human heart. The attraction of kindness had perpetually fascinated him. In Swift's mind, it was conceivably Aplha Omega's greatest accomplishment.

  Swift concentrated on Hover before speaking again. It was the invisible creature equivalent of making eye contact. The approach was something another spirit could sense easily. "She has a good heart, I believe, though guarded. My experience was brief, but profound."

  "Why terrifying?"

  "She saw me! I have not met a human that could see. Ever." Swift did nothing to mask his bewilderment.

  "Are you certain that she saw you?"

  "Absolutely," Swift answered. "She looked right at me. At first, she was frightened. That's how I realized that she definitely knew I was there. Then she spoke to me directly.”

  If Hover was uneasy about the confrontation, he was not revealing it. "What did she say?"

  "She asked me what I wanted. She appeared to be worried about the welfare of her family. I believe that she considered me a threat to their safety."

  Hover asked, "How did you answer?"

  Swift chuckled in embarrassment. "I fled. I must admit that she startled me. I was not prepared for such a confrontation. If I had been forewarned I'm sure I could have responded in a more dignified manner. I apologize for my unprofessional behavior."

  "Are you suggesting that if I send you back to investigate her more fully that you will not run away next time?" Hover may have been smiling. His aura glowed slightly brighter. Swift did not care if he was laughed at by his superior. Not much. He would certainly prefer that over angering him.

  "Are you sending me back?"

  "Will you be able to communicate with girl? In such a way, so as not to harm her? I believe that some of our kind have damaged her much already. Will you add to her woes?"

  Swift was initially offended. However, the question was a good one. Would he be able to communicate effectively with the human girl? Could she possibly understand him? Would she desire, or at least consent, to communicate with him as well? If so, would that necessarily be a good thing for him? Why would Swift be chosen for this paramount mission? They never gave him anything very important to do anymore. He often felt like an infant among adults when they graced him with a group mission. He was repeatedly easily distracted and unfocused. He assumed it was well known among the league that he would never rank high in any skill set.

  Swift decided to answer honestly, and hope for the best. He wished the girl no harm but was excited for an opportunity to speak with her. Imagine all the questions he could ask. "I would do my very best, sir. It would pain me greatly to cause her any harm. I wonder, though, why you would choose me for this mission."

  "Your heart is good, Swift. I believe she may well respond to you better than others. Will you accept this mission?"

  Swift's enthusiasm overwhelmed him, "Yes, please. I will do my very best. Please let me know what you want me to accomplish and I will do it. I'll report my progress to you regularly."

  Hover smiled again, "I know you will do your best. I trust you to do what you believe to be in everyone's best interest. There are no complex objectives in this mission. Only this: establish basic communication, do not harm her, and do not cause a panic among t
he humans. It is best if only the girl knows of your existence. Can you do this?"

  "Definitely. Thank you, sir. I appreciate your trust." Swift was delighted and eager to begin.

  "One more thing," Hover said. "You will not be alone. Watcher will be with you to observe your progress."

  Swift's heart sank. No angel that he ever met cared much for Watcher. He made them all uneasy in their work. The trust bestowed in him now seemed so little. It was to be expected, honestly. Swift had not earned a stellar reputation. He would not dispute Hover's decision, even if he could.

  Hover felt Swift's reaction. It was to be expected. The angel was sometimes like a disappointed, yet well behaved child. He would obey despite the sadness he felt. "Swift, this is not a punishment. This is a tandem mission. I do not want your focus to be on reporting progress. Your attention needs to be on the girl. Watcher cannot do this mission. I think you know this. He will do what he does best. Allow him to do so. Coordinate with him as needed."

  "Yes, sir." Swift knew it to be true and wise. His enthusiasm for the mission diminished regardless.