Swift of Spirit

by Rodzil LaBraun

  "Oh, nothing. Hi Melissa. How are you?" Sarah asked.

  "I'm fine," Melissa replied. "But you look depressed. Is everything okay?"

  Sarah straightened her back and tried to force a believable smile on her face, but it was considerably more difficult than she thought. When she noticed the sincere interest in Melissa's expression it softened her up a little, and one corner of her mouth raised to simulate friendliness. In her depressed state, it was literally an accomplishment.

  "Yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking about this past weekend. I didn't really do anything fun, and now I'm kind of disappointed in myself."

  Melissa's concern melted. "Well, I'm sorry to hear about that. Honestly, I didn't do much either. Maybe next weekend we can get together and do nothing. What do you think?"

  "That sounds like it could be nice, maybe. Or we could do something. Where to you live?" Sarah asked, mindlessly taking bites of objects from her tray.

  "On the north end, off Gue Rd. How about you?" Melissa asked.

  "West side, just a few blocks from here. Do you have a car?"

  "Unfortunately, no," Melissa responded. "But my mom usually lets me borrow hers for a couple hours on Saturday. Do you want to ride down to Germantown for some shopping? We could grab a bite to eat, too."

  "That sounds good," Sarah replied, trying to keep her enthusiasm in check. Not difficult for her personality. She hadn't gone anywhere with a friend her age in a couple years. "Let me know what time to be ready."

  Her budding friendship with Melissa made Sarah feel a little more optimistic about her future. She hadn't thought about Swift again until she was a couple blocks from her home. That's when she felt like she was being followed again. Looking around for Swift’s blue light as she walked was beginning to get her dizzy. Why would the angel still feel the need to sneak up on her?

  Sarah began reasoning that the spirit would wait until she got home to approach her, so it wasn’t worth spinning around looking for him. She continued her usual lethargic pace and only occasionally glanced around. She lacked the required level of restraint to avoid it completely. Nothing appeared within her vision until a block from her home.

  A pale green aura about twice the size of Swift's blue light hovered lazily across a field behind some houses. Could that be Swift? He was remarkably farther away than she would have expected, now that they had already been acquainted. Between two houses the green glow appeared again. This time she stopped in her tracks to stare at it. Was there a physical form inside the glow? It didn't look like it.

  The green aura then halted, obviously observing her noticing it. Sarah realized this was likely a completely different spirit. Slowly the light seeped into the ground and was gone. It could appear again anywhere. Without regard for how she might look to nosy neighbors, Sarah took off running for her house. She was panicking like all the other times before Swift. This spirit was not her new friend. She was suddenly sure of it. That meant it was most likely not a friend at all. Another demon was more believable.

  Locking her bedroom door made no sense, but she did it anyway. Closing the curtains was just as futile. If the demon wanted to assault her it would. Sitting on her bed against the headboard Sarah pulled her knees to her chest and cried. She was not looking forward to meeting another demon. Something like a half hour went by before she felt the tingle again. Peeking through her bedroom curtains she saw the thing strolling through her back yard like it was on a path in the park. It wasn't approaching the house, but it's presence made her feel like it knew where she was, and planned to stop in for a visit.

  Sarah refused to go downstairs to dinner, despite the pleading of her parents and younger sister, Jenny. It was not the first time she had rejected the request. They would get over it. The thought of drawing the new demon to her family was more than disturbing. Almost as bad was the chance that she would react to it in front of them, causing her parents to contact the psych doctor again. Both scenarios desperately needed to be avoided.

  Then the thought occurred to her, what if the demon was down there in the dining room with her family already? It wouldn't need to wait for her to join them. To her knowledge, demons were free to attack whoever they wanted. Sarah debated for an eternity on whether or not to go downstairs. Eventually, dinner was over, marked by her mother announcing that there was a plate left for her in the fridge when she wanted it. The rest of the evening everyone left her alone. And the tingling sensation of a nearby demon eventually faded away.

  Despite shutting her family out in times of panic, Sarah wished they were there with her. Her father used to hold her tight when she first saw the spirits, promising that everything was going to be okay. Her mother would hold her hand and say the same thing. No one promises her anything anymore. Why should they? She made them feel unwanted. It was not her intent, of course. But she couldn't confide in them any longer. They would have her locked away. She had heard her parents discussing it one time. They said if the hallucinations returned they would have no choice but to have her committed.

  Sarah loathed them after that, but only briefly. When the anger washed away she knew they were only concerned about her health. Yet the ordeal had created a barrier between them. Perhaps it was mostly of her creation. Either way, she never regained that closeness with her parents again. Even her brother and sister were noticeably more distant now.

  As Sarah laid down to sleep she wondered if she would ever see Swift again. She desperately hoped so. The plans to hang out with Melissa was not as exciting as it had been at first. She knew that she would unquestionably mess it up again, like she did with her old friends. But Swift seemed different. He said that he didn't have any friends either. They were meant to find each other, somehow.

  Sarah dreamed about her spirit friend, as a handsome man with a bright blue aura. They walked together and talked for hours. He sat beside her on her bed and they conversed some more. He was so good looking and nice to her. She placed her head on his shoulder and looked up into his dreamy eyes, feeling his lips drawn to hers. It was both scary and exciting at the same time. She had never been kissed before. Well, not since becoming a woman, and never by a man.

  Before their lips could meet a dozen angry men with pale green auras burst into the room and grabbed her Swift. Screaming madly, she watched helplessly as they took him away. She cried after him, begging for his return, but they left through the wall and were forever gone. As she retreated to her headboard once again she felt the familiar shiver down her spine. Instantly, one green assailant returned, screeching at her, piercing her soul with big black demon eyes. Its mouth grew wide like a beast, baring thousands of razor sharp teeth as he dove for her throat.

  Screaming and kicking at the sheets Sarah woke up in a fury. The walls of her bedroom all looked a pale green in the dim illumination of her night lights scattered across the room. She could still feel the tingle of the demon's presence. Sarah's father then rushed into the room after unlocking the door with an emergency key, and then cradled her in his arms until she eventually fell asleep sobbing. A seventeen-year-old woman being rocked back and forth like a baby. It was pathetic but incredibly comforting at the same time.

  "Thank you, daddy" she thought she whispered, her eyes already closed and her mind drifting. But different words must have left her lips.

  As she began slipping into a warm, deep unconsciousness she could faintly hear her father's voice asking, "Who is Swift?"

  CHAPTER SIX: ENERGY

  The Hutchins home was serenely nestled in a quiet neighborhood surrounded by farm land. Sarah and her family had lived there since she was little, it turned out. It was probably the only home that her younger siblings could remember. Swift systematically followed the path from the high school, exactly the way Sarah had walked it the day he stalked her. He never stopped imagining what it would be like to be human. What some spirits considered to be limitations, Swift believed to be liberations. Confinement to a planet’s surface with a breathable atmosphere would be worth it
, to be able to touch, and smell, and love.

  He spied other townspeople going about their business as he slowly glided toward Sarah's residence. He knew they could not see him. Nobody could see him, as far as he knew, except Sarah. And she didn't really see him. She simply saw the auras of all living things, flesh or spirit. Neighbors were returning home from their daily work. Retired people were toiling in their yards, raking leaves and such. Swift could not fully fathom it, really. The urge to remove dead, fallen leaves from the lawn. The feeling of physically accomplishing such a frivolous task.

  The Hutchins house was not new. The style and condition led Swift to believe it to be at least fifty years old, possibly much older. He had seen many dwellings over the centuries, a plethora of styles dating back to primitive huts. It had always been fascinating to watch the humans design and build something new. It was not within the capacity of angels to do such a thing. Some of his kindred had grown rebellious from jealousy, when Alpha Omega created the human species, giving them qualities and opportunities that his spirit followers did not have. Swift was not among them, but he could somewhat understand why they felt such a way.

  Both Colton Hutchins and his wife Jessica's cars were neatly parked on the faded pavement of the driveway indicating the whole family was likely to be in the house. The trees here were just starting to turn, so the lawn was still relatively uncluttered by debris. A chain link fence surrounded the small property, rising to six feet tall in the back yard with redwood slats for privacy from the neighbors on three sides. Sparse flowers peppered the heavily mulched front yard. A trampoline and patio with a barbeque grill complimented the back. A basketball hoop, backboard and pole stood to the side at the end of the driveway just before the garage that blocked the view of the tire swing. Swift had not yet watched the children of the house play in the yard. He hoped that this assignment and the timing of his visits would soon allow it. He was fond of the creativity and imagination of the young.

  It was his intention to approach Sarah as a display of energy that resembled a human form. To literally take on a human physicality would expend a significant amount of energy that he would not be able to retrieve. In his opinion it was in great wisdom that Alpha Omega designed the angels the way he did. They had very few bounds in the spirit realm. However, in the physical world of the humans they were quite limited. Unlike energy expended on their plane of existence, physical tasks cost them energy that could not be reacquired. That was why so few spirit creatures did it. Not only did it reduce their overall energy wealth for eternity, they would be weakened versus their spirit adversaries, thereby risking attack.

  There were some, in the early years, that took human form and kept it. Evidently, so much of their energy had been spent that it wasn't wise to return to spirit form. They lived long lives among the humans, taking wives and producing offspring. But eventually they died. Swift thought at times that it might conceivably be worth it. But to die? To never exist again? That had to be a very hard decision for them to make. It was rumored that scores of those angels had fallen for the physical beauty and sexual attraction of the women. Once fallen their choices were limited. Even if they returned to their world they would not have Alpha Omega's blessing any longer. They would have to join Lucifer and his legion of demons.

  Swift understood physical attraction. He had occasionally found himself drawn to specific humans a few times before. Never lustfully, but there was a noteworthy enticement. Sometimes he knew it was happening. On other occasions he didn't realize until later. Though Sarah may not have been considered a woman yet in modern day mentality, she was beautiful enough in her own right. Her robust and symmetrical facial features popped healthy from her olive skin, bordered by straight, dark hair. Her customary modest attire only seemed to accentuate her blossoming, girlish figure.

  In the old days, she would have been married to some lucky, and most likely wealthy man, with at least one child by now. They still operated that way in many parts of the world.

  Like many American teenagers of this century Sarah did little to compliment her appearance. But Swift knew to keep a constant guard against being drawn to her physically. It would be her captivating personality that would get him, if anything did. It was always the inner elegance that warmed his lonely soul. Combined with a pleasant exterior she would be utterly dangerous.

  The television was noisily consuming the shadowy living room. The parents, Colton and Jessica gawked at it mindlessly. The situation comedy on the screen made little sense to Swift. It did nothing to stimulate viewer imagination in his opinion. Television had become a drug to so many in the United States. In his estimation, it might be as bad as most of the illegal drugs that were hunted by the law. It's negative effect on productivity was possibly worse than the effects of marijuana. It infinitely bothered Swift to see adults subdued by the device. However, to watch children have their energy and creativity sucked out of them was simply infuriating. Witnessing Hunter sitting beside his father with the same blank expression was unbelievably painful for him. Though it was not his place to interfere, the urge to cut the cable connection was undeniable.

  Upstairs Swift found the youngest child, Jenny, doing homework. It was his impression that the little girl was intelligent and dedicated to learning. The sight helped him recover from the scene downstairs. Before approaching Sarah’s bedroom door, Swift focused on adjusting his form. It was a technique that he was far from perfecting. Without the ability to see himself through Sarah's eyes he could not be sure his appearance would resemble human, but it was the best that he could do at this point. Before passing through the bedroom wall from the hallway Swift had the feeling that his new friend already knew that he was there.

  Sarah sat impatiently with her back pressed against the headboard, her knees pulled up tight to her chest with her arms. Opting for comfort, her black leggings and faded orange t-shirt were not typically her first choice for receiving guests. She figured that it wouldn’t matter as much to a non-human anyway. Besides, her endurance was fading, having anticipated the visit for several days now. Sarah’s eyes were focused on Swift immediately, having suspected that a spirit was nearby. She noticeably relaxed once he penetrated the wall.

  "Swift, is that you?" Sarah asked. No doubt his aura was still blue, which had become his signature.

  "Yes, it is I," Swift answered. "Is my appearance more pleasant to your eyes?"

  "You are still very bright," Sarah replied while grabbing her sunglasses from the night stand. "But I anticipated that wouldn't be something that you could change. Ah, that's better. Yeah, you certainly have the shape of a real person. I mean, a human. You look like you have arms and legs, but they are not moving as you go. Can you fake human movement with your limbs?"

  Swift did his best to separate his energy into humanoid arms and legs, then move them to simulate a convincing body motion. An exaggeration was required to achieve any kind of distinct separation. He suddenly found his attempt very humorous. In an effort to appear more human to his new friend he decided to laugh. His intention was to make a chuckle sound, but it came out more like a roar.

  Alarmed, Sarah asked, "What was that noise?"

  "Sorry. I was trying to laugh. Acting like I'm physically walking is very funny to me. Does it look hilarious to you?"

  "No, well maybe a little." Sarah answered with a smile. "You look like some kind of bizarre alien walking through my room. Your laugh sounded weird, but not necessarily disturbing. I guess could get used to it. Can you sit on the end of my bed while we talk?"

  Swift walked around the bed and sat on the edge of Sarah's side of the mattress, doing his utmost to stay in casual human form while he did so. He leaned back on one arm, but couldn't figure out how to make it look like he was facing her. He was never one to make himself appear as a ghostly, smoky image. Once Sarah was more used to him he could give it a try. He did not in any fashion want to duplicate those bad experiences in her past.

  "Nice," Sarah said. "Thank you for you
r efforts to make me more comfortable with your presence. I really do appreciate it. What would you like to ask me today?"

  "When did you first notice the auras of angels and demons around you?"

  Sarah reflected for a moment. "I'm not sure. I think that I have always been able to see the auras of living things. I didn't realize until I started school that other people didn't see them. It's possible that I saw spirits when I was young and just didn't know what they were."

  "When were you first frightened by a demon, then?" Swift asked.

  "I think maybe around age ten or eleven. One came through my room, but left quickly. It wasn't until a couple years ago, that any of them noticed that I saw them, even though they were in spirit form. I was probably fourteen or so when I thought I was being attacked by one."

  "Why do you say 'thought' you were being attacked?" Swift asked.

  "Well," Sarah replied, "I wasn't hurt by it. There was nothing physical about the encounter. Why is it that most of the time I don't feel any real contact from them?"

  Swift considered his answer carefully. He was never briefed on what information to reveal or conceal from the girl. Personally, he had no desire to keep secrets from her. However, some information might be considered quite disturbing.