Swift of Spirit

by Rodzil LaBraun

"That is all, Swift. Watcher will report regularly. When I need your report, I will have you notified." Hover then turned his attention elsewhere and floated through the low clouds to deal with other business. Swift watched him glide away before looking around for Watcher. He was not currently nearby. Perhaps he was already with the girl. That concerned Swift greatly, so he earned his name and scampered down to the small human village to locate the uniquely talented girl. Her name was Sarah, and she needed his protection. He needed her help as well, if he were to complete this mission. It was the most important assignment he had been entrusted with since Salem. He was determined not screw this one up.

  CHAPTER FOUR: RETURN

  It had been five long days since Sarah had encountered the blue demon in her home. No others had approached her in that time. To be sure, she would have noticed. Not able to concentrate on much else, she found herself wandering downstairs much more often than usual. It was notably confusing to her family. A few times she caught them staring blankly at her as she pretended to have a purpose. It wasn’t easy to disguise that she was probing every room in the house. She did at least refrain from opening the curtains everywhere except in her own room.

  Sarah left school on that Friday afternoon alongside her classmates. It was depressing that her enthusiasm for the weekend paled in comparison to that of every other student at Damascus High School. Most of the teenagers boarded their buses hooting and hollering in their joy. Dozens, like her, began their walk home along the dusty streets of the small town.

  The traffic on Ridge Road was always a bit hectic at that time of day. It was the beginning of rush hour for her little city and driver impatience and irritation would be high. The majority of the town’s work force was employed in Germantown or the cities closer to Washington DC, if not in DC itself. It was customary for people to strive for an early quit on Fridays. Adults celebrated the beginning of the weekend even more than the kids, it seemed. So, the heavy traffic pattern would begin early on the final day of the work week, creating a bottleneck in the flow of cars and trucks approaching the center of town.

  The wait for crosswalks made the beginning of the walk home mildly annoying. Crowds of students, all ignoring her. Those not engaged in conversation with friends would be engrossed in their smartphones. Defensively, she would do the same, mimicking those around her. Perhaps some of the others were like her, pretending to have some purpose checking emails, texts, and social media out of discomfort. Ordinarily she would just keep flipping between songs on her playlist with the cheap earbuds hanging in place. Once she cleared the business district she would be relatively alone for the remaining three blocks and could breathe normally while enjoying the nice weather in her reasonably quiet neighborhood.

  In her state of daydreaming it was challenging to notice at first that she was being followed. It started with a tickling of the hairs on her neck. Glancing over her shoulder every few seconds revealed nothing close behind her. Still, she could not shake the uneasy feeling. It was the kind of thing that came over her after just watching a scary movie, especially if there was stalking involved. Then she finally saw it, as it appeared to be peeking around a house. The blue demon.

  When Sarah stopped in shock and glared at the corner of the house the creature darted back out of view. She waited impassively, but the visual spectacle did not return. Perhaps she was mistaken after all. Maybe it was instead the big, fat, luminous aura of an intelligent hippo. The thought made her chuckle and nearly forget her discomfort. It wasn't until she was one residential block from her home that she perceived the thing again. This time it was watching her from a neighbor's driveway that ended with a garage in the backyard. Again, he darted away.

  Sarah was absolutely certain this time. The blue demon was indeed following her. What did the thing want with her? She quickened her pace and continued to be on the lookout for it. When she eventually reached her house, she hesitated, stopping short of the front sidewalk. Was she going to be attacked by this thing? If so, she preferred that no one else was around to witness it. She had diligently kept her personal problem a secret from her family. Additionally, she worried about the safety her brother and sister. Her parents, too, truth be told. Perhaps she could get the blue demon cornered in her backyard behind the seldom used garage where the old tire swing hung lazily from the oak tree. Not even the nosy neighbors would see her there, since the privacy fence blocked the view from the other three angles. Gradually, she crept in that direction. The house was presumably still empty, but her siblings would be arriving by bus shortly.

  After a few minutes of tolerantly waiting, while harnessing whatever courage she could muster, the blue demon appeared through the fence. He instantly withdrew once again when she turned his way and gasped. It took another minute before it appeared again. She tried to conceptualize that its hesitation was out of trepidation. Maybe the thing was as scared of her as she was of it. Based on her past experiences she considered that unlikely. Though, this demon did function differently than the previous invaders. The colorful mist permeated through the wooden fence again and this time she controlled her jitters better. The luminous entity stayed.

  "What do you want with me?" Sarah asked through gritted teeth. Her jaw continued to display her apprehension.

  The blue demon moved slowly in her direction, causing her to tense up more. Each time her fear intensified the creature would stop. It led Sarah to believe she was not in physical danger. That did not alter the fact that the confrontation was incredibly frightening. When the blue light being was within ten feet of her, she observed the sandy dirt moving around on the ground before her. An arrow was drawn, as if with a stick. But there was visibly no stick. Following the direction of the drawing she confirmed that the arrow pointed at the house.

  "You want me to go to my house?" she asked.

  Another arrow hastily scribbled in the direction of the house seemed like a confirmation.

  "Are you going to hurt my family?" she questioned the thing with a cracking voice, hoping it could understand her and honestly reply.

  The dirt shuffled again to show an X. Sarah took that as a no. It claimed that it did not intend to hurt her family.

  "Are you going to hurt me?" she asked in a weaker voice, apprehensive of the anticipated answer.

  Another X was drawn in the dirt. Yet, Sarah was anything but calm. Deliberately she slid off the swing and walked into the house. Once inside the back door, she waited for further instructions. There was no dirt to draw in so she wasn't sure what would happen next. After a slight hesitation, the blue demon proceeded to the stairway leading to the bedrooms upstairs. When Sarah followed, the creature continued, all the way into her bedroom.

  Sarah closed the door behind her in case one of the kids came home while the demon was in her room. They would not see the thing, but her actions would more than raise suspicions. In the darkness of her room the demon was too bright to look at directly. And it was huge, taking up most of the room. Sarah turned on the lights and stayed against the wall. As if sensing her displeasure the blue aura spirit mercifully sank into the wall by her dresser, effectively dimming his brightness and reducing his visible size. Sarah climbed onto her bed, leaning against her headboard with her knees pulled up to her chest.

  "What do you want with me?" she asked again.

  The pages of her notebook on her dresser flipped briefly then settled. The blue light relocated to the window and waited. Sarah gathered her courage and tip-toed to the dresser to see the notebook. There was one word neatly written there, as if with a large pencil. "Talk."

  She took the notebook to the middle of the bed and returned to the headboard before continuing the surreal conversation. "What do you want to talk about?"

  The next word appeared below the previous message. "Anything." Well, that didn't help much.

  "You are the one that wants to talk," Sarah said beginning to show some agitation. "You have to tell me what to talk about. Can you only write one word at a time?"


  Again, a scratching of invisible lead on the paper. The blue demon said, in text, "I can write longer responses. Please continue to ask questions."

  Please? The demon haunting her was using the word please? All along she felt that the thing meant her no harm. But that perception was hard to trust. Sarah finally realized then that this was an opportunity to ask questions of a creature that no one else could communicate with. Her curiosity began to overshadow her uneasiness. What would she ask? It took her awhile to think of how to start.

  Before she could ask another question, the writing happened again. "I want to answer your questions. Do not be afraid. I only want to talk."

  "What is your name?" she asked.

  "They call me Swift. You can call me that if you like. Or you can call me another name. I don't mind"

  "Swift? Like, to move quickly? Okay. I can call you that. It's better than calling you the blue demon, I guess."

  More scratching. "I am not a demon. I mean you no harm. Why blue?"

  Sarah smiled, surprising herself at how at ease she was becoming with this intruding creature that claimed that he was not a demon. "Your aura is blue. I can see people's auras. It is a rare gift, or curse, however you want to look at it. You demons, or whatever you are have different color auras, too. Yours is blue. It's the only blue one I have ever seen, without a body attached anyway. Do the others like you not see you as blue?"

  Swift wrote, "We cannot see colors, though we grasp the concept. Is blue good or bad?"

  Sarah softly chuckled briefly. "It's good, I think. You are the friendliest demon, or whatever you are, that I have personally met. The others before you have had scarier auras. What are you then, if not a demon?"

  Swift wrote again, "Angel."

  Sarah took a deep breath, then asked, "What is the difference between angels and demons?"

  A long pause while Swift decided how to respond. "Not much unfortunately. I guess the difference is what you would consider good and bad. Only we are a lot like humans in that way. There is good and bad in everyone. But demons are intent on negatively affecting this world and the people in it. Angels have more positive missions. I'm not sure if I was supposed to tell you all of that."

  Smiling Sarah relaxed against the headboard. This spirit was much more well behaved than she could possibly have imagined. Certainly, leaps and bounds beyond any spirit that she had yet encountered.

  "I can keep it a secret, I guess," she responded. "I pretty much have to keep everything I see and hear about you guys a secret anyway. Otherwise they'll put me in a mental hospital."

  Swift wrote, "I am sorry for the things that others of my kind have done to you."

  "Thank you," Sarah whispered. The sound of Hunter and Jenny running up the steps caused Swift to hide behind the dresser. Sarah inspected the door to make sure it was locked. When she turned back and saw Swift still hiding she laughed outright. "They can't see you, you know."

  Swift calmly returned to the dresser.

  "Is there any other form that you can take?" Sarah asked, keeping her voice low and quiet. "I mean, a ball of light is kind of hard to look at, and a little impersonal. But I much prefer it over some ghostly image, if that's all I have to choose from."

  Swift wrote, "I will have to think about it before my next visit. May I ask you a question?"

  So, there are going to be more visits then. Sarah could almost welcome that, considering she had no friends. "Yes, please," Sarah replied. "Ask me a question."

  Swift wrote, "Have others of my kind noticed that you can see us?"

  "Some, I think," Sarah replied. "But not all, as far as I can tell. I was too scared to really notice. But some of them definitely wanted me to see them."

  Swift wrote, "Are those the ones that you drew in your notebook?"

  "Yes," Sarah whispered. She wasn't sure whether to feel like her privacy was invaded. "Are those your friends?"

  "No," Swift wrote quickly. "But some of them could possibly be like coworkers. The ones that scared you are mostly like players on the other team. The bad team."

  "Will they come back?" Sarah asked.

  Swift wrote, "I don't know. I hope not."

  "Is there any way that you can protect me from them?"

  Swift hesitated, then eventually wrote, "I'm not sure. I will try. It doesn't work the way you think. It's not a physical confrontation between us. But please be aware that I don't want you harmed by anyone."

  Sarah settled against the headboard to contemplate. She wasn't sure if Swift was planning to be her friend or had another motive in talking with her. Surely these angels didn't just wander around the earth looking for people to chat up. He appeared to be totally up front with her so far. Should she press her luck?

  "Swift? What is it you really want with me?"

  There was brief scratching on the pad, but no words materialized. Sarah got the impression Swift was trying to write but kept changing his mind on what to say. It didn't seem like a good thing to her. The dark corners of her mind began to conjure up feasible motivations.

  Finally, Swift wrote, "It's hard to explain. I'm very sorry about that. You are the first person I have ever met that I can talk to. I do not really have friends of my kind. I would like to have a mutually beneficial communication with you, if you allow it. I believe that is what you would consider to be friendship. However, with what you have experienced so far, I doubt you are eager for a friend like me. I am still a little cautious myself. You look like you are getting tired. I do not want to exhaust you. Will it be alright if I return another day?"

  "Yes," Sarah answered, shocking herself. "I would like that. Is there any way you can speak instead of writing? It would be easier for me."

  Swift scratched out on the paper, "Making sound to simulate human speech would be fine with me. I have no voice of my own so I will need to replicate an actual person's voice. Do you have a preference? Male or female? A particular individual's voice, such as an actor?"

  "You can do that?" Sarah replied. "Actually, I'd rather it be someone's voice that I don't know. Male, I think."

  "I will master the voice before I return. Thank you for making me feel welcome, Sarah."

  The blue aura instantaneously faded into the wall and was gone. It was then that Sarah realized she had been partially holding her breath, during the entire conversation. It had made her alarmingly dizzy. No wonder she looked tired to the spirit. Lying her head on her pillow she breathed deep and slow until Hunter knocked on the door asking if it was okay to go outside and play. The mental image of a spirit approaching her brother on the playground sent shivers down her spine, despite how well she believed the encounter had went. But it was ridiculous. None had ever bothered him before. He would not be able to see what she could. At least he had never confided in her that he did. She decided to go with him to the playground, much to his dismay. But his insistence on not needing a chaperone fell on deaf ears.

  CHAPTER FIVE: SCHOOL

  The weekend had uneventfully come and gone. Swift had not yet returned. Sarah avoided leaving the house both Saturday and Sunday. She wasn't sure if the affable angel would be able to find her if she wasn’t near the house. Based on people’s perception of angels it seemed ridiculous to think that he couldn’t. She figured that most likely he would, but didn't want to chance it.

  When tempted to join her family for shopping or a movie she contemplated what would happen if Swift did approach her out in public. Would she be able to keep her cool? Or would she look like she was talking to herself in front of everyone. Undoubtedly, she would have to sneak away to have a conversation with the friendly spirit. That would raise suspicion as well. Her family was accustomed to her acting weird. In the end, she decided to avoid those potential problems and just remain in her room.

  Sarah felt like a lonely idiot waiting around for him, but did it anyway. She worked on a list of questions, and then spent hours debating on which were the best ones to ask. It felt like wasted effort since he didn't show, but what els
e of any importance would she have done?

  It wasn't like he said he would return on a certain day. His first two appearances were five days apart. Should she not expect him again until Wednesday? She had no reasonable idea. On her walk to school that Monday morning she wondered if Swift would appear in physical form as she requested. If so, it was feasible that she not be able to recognize him at first. Some humans had blue auras, though they were not near as bright. Would his aura change if he took physical form? It was uncharted territory for Sarah.

  By lunchtime she was feeling a little depressed that Swift had not yet made an appearance. It made sense to her that he would not approach her at school with other people around. Perhaps when she arrived home he would be there. Or maybe he would follow her home like last time. Again, she didn't know if she would even recognize him. A vision of mistakenly assuming a stalker as Swift clouded her mind, causing a noticeable frown.

  "What's wrong?" a female voice said from across the table. Melissa had taken a seat at her cafeteria table and she hadn't even noticed. Sarah was not sure if the girl had spoken to her before this question or not.