Otherland

by Almondie Shampine

  “She’s the reason I’m here. She killed me, then brought me here to have me eternally imprisoned in the darkness. I wish to be free of my imprisonment and slavery so that I may serve a better eternal fate. I want to redeem myself. She didn’t just ruin my life, she has ruined the lives of many, and I know her better than anyone else, the way she thinks, the places she runs and those she hides, as I know her greatest weakness.”

  “I hear your thoughts, and they are less than virtuous, Dark soul, and don’t seem to be of the redeeming sort. We’ve had peace between the Darks and Lights and have maintained balance for a very long time. You wish to kill her, and that we do not allow.”

  “Dark elder, forgive my thoughts, but please know, they are just my thoughts, none that I will carry out against the High ruler’s bidding. I will do exactly as I am instructed. I have been in the darkness for a long time, having only hatred and vengefulness to ease my tortures. I will find her and I will bring her back here as promised. I’m the only chance at ending this for once and for all.”

  “Think your human name. Do not say it aloud, and we will confirm with our records.”

  The boy felt awful, and genuinely frightened for her. The Dark souls and spirits always frightened him, but this one claiming to be her guardian scared him more than anything else ever had. He had to find a way to warn her. If she did remember him, she would come back, and she’d be taken.

  But this Aliyah they spoke of, and the person he’d seen, sounded like two different people. The person he’d seen enter didn’t seem to have a clue as to her whereabouts, calling it a dream wonderland, believing she asleep versus in Otherland. She certainly hadn’t acted like she’d been here before, let alone caused the types of disturbances they were claiming she’d caused in the past. She’d seemed so … innocent.

  “The account of his human life and the records are a match. He’s telling the truth. Are we all in mutual agreement to all that was proposed?” the Light older elder spoke to the others.

  “Father, I wish to volunteer to go as well,” someone shouted from the spectators’ section. They parted and he ran into the center of the room, only feet away from the boy. Another human?

  “On what grounds should that be allowed?”

  “I have several. First and foremost, he is a blackened criminal that has already shown his propensity for breaking the Bylaws and uprooting the peace here.”

  The Dark soul snarled at him.

  “I can ensure he stays true to his task. Two, we must maintain balance as much as possible, so we need to have both a Dark and a Light enter the Otherworld.”

  “I disagree. He is human and may have ulterior motives to wanting to be in the human world,” a Dark elder said.

  “That’s my third reason. He is a Dark soul and I am a Light human knight, so therefore can operate both night and day without being caught or arousing suspicion.”

  “He is correct Dark elders. His position can be just as useful as the Dark soul who knew her in his human life.”

  “I don’t need his help. This is my mission and my mission alone,” the Dark soul criminal growled.

  “Silence, once more and we’ll change our minds. You must always stay in darkness. Should you be seen and recognized as you are, it will destroy the balance we’ve so carefully woven. Humans cannot know that we can exist in their world. It will create the very catastrophes they’ve been forewarned about.

  “Should you not abide by this, you will be cast into the Nothingness and eternally be lost. The human will go with you. He may be human, but he is one of our own, and long-ago vowed his eternal duty, and has proven it time and time again. You, on the other hand, are being given a gift of one chance. One chance to prove your loyalty and redeem yourself from your former eternal fate,” the eldest Elder decreed.

  “Then the ruling has been made,” the powerful voice echoed that could not be seen. “Boundary hunters will be increased at the borders, and these two, one Dark soul criminal and one Light human knight will journey to the human world, find this Aliyah, and bring her back here in her world’s restraints. She is not to be killed or needlessly harmed. At which time we will convene a Ceremony trial on her.”

  “And what of the little human boy, High master?” the Dark prison guardian asked.

  “If this Aliyah was able to come and go without the required permission, was able to resist our spiritual restraints, and conjure magic that could bring her world objects to Otherland, then the boy is innocent,” a Light elder said.

  “I request respectfully that we hold him until we know for sure that everything he has told us is true. We cannot risk any other humans permitted into this world. He is guilty of not alerting us the moment that she escaped, and was found hiding this Other-world object, versus bringing it to our attention. According to the Bylaws – .”

  “What do you have to say for yourself, boy?” a Light elder stared at him, or, more like, through him.

  “I – I … I –,” he cried.

  “He’s obviously petrified, Father. He’s been in the darkness long enough to suitably scold him. He’s just a child,” the other human said.

  “Very well. The boy is to be released, but he will not be cleansed of the memories of the darkness to serve as a lesson to the upholding of the Bylaws. He will therefore remember that being witness to a crime and not telling is just as bad as being a part of it. He shall be escorted through the Light wing. The Trial ceremony has concluded.”

  With one swipe of the Dark prison guardian’s arm, he was released from his holds.

  “Boy, come,” the human that had stuck up for him beckoned to him. “Quickly, I don’t have all day.”

  The human moved fast, stood tall and proud, and looked like a soldier, instantly gaining the small boy’s respect. Plus, he was human, which was about one in a million in Otherland. The boy had only encountered a couple in all his time here. “Come on, come on,” he said, seeming irritated. “Follow me. Over here.”

  “Your legs … are a … lot longer … than mine,” the boy said breathlessly. “Where are we going?”

  “To my home. You can help me prepare for my journey.” When their entire environment changed, the building, the endless stairs, everything and everyone else gone, the human stopped running and looked at the boy with a grin, “Oh, and I swiped something for you.”

  The human child’s face lit up brighter than the sun. “My dog! I thought I’d never see him again. But won’t you get in trouble?”

  “Some of the Bylaws are kind of petty, don’t you think? Just don’t let any soul see you have it. They don’t understand such human attachments. We’re more grounded, let’s say, what with both our feet planted on the ground and all.” He winked and grinned at the child, causing the boy laughter he hadn’t felt for however long it had been.

  Chapter 4

  There was a knock on the heavy, wooden hatchback door a second before it squealed open.

  “You really need to WD-40 that, Lydia. Lydia? Where you at, girl? I saw yo’ car in the driveway and you can’t hide from me in here. There ain’t no place to hide here.”

  “Cherise?” Lydia lifted her head from the table, looking as though she’d seen a ghost.

  “What? What is it? You just wake up from one o’ yo’ nightmares?”

  “Look,” Lydia said, her voice lilted in desperation, as she pushed a few papers toward Cherise.

  Cherise breathed, “Wow. I think you jus’ found yo’ calling. Girl, I ain’t know you draw like that? It’s magnificent. I can honestly say I don’t think I ever saw anythin’ so beautiful as that.”

  They were both looking at a painting of the stone crown with the emerald tips, a darkened sunrise, colors purer and more vibrant, and the ethereal glow of a sun. The second picture was of a boy with large, expressive green eyes, and thick, floppy, golden-blonde hair.

  “Who the boy?”

  “I have no idea,” Lydia said.

  “So, what’s the big deal? Why you actin’ like you dyin
g or somethin’?”

  “I didn’t do this, Cherise.”

  “What you mean you didn’t do it?”

  Lydia kicked the empty box of wine. “I was drinking that so I could get a good night’s rest. I passed out. At least, I thought I did. The lights were off, blankets looking like I slept in them, and my glasses were on the night stand next to the bed. I woke up in this chair with these on the table.”

  “Maybe you got a secret admirer. Maybe that boy there.”

  “No, I know I drew them. I had paint all over my hands and clothes.”

  “Girl, you jus’ said you didn’t. You makin’ no sense. Drank too much wine is all. Didn’t yo’ Doctor guy tell you lay off that stuff?”

  “Yeah, Cherise, and then you fired me!”

  “Now you goin’ throw that at me. I don’t even know why I do anythin’ for you when you act like that. Go on, look in these envelopes and see what I done.” Cherise stood, arms crossed, biting on her lip like she always did when she was trying to hold back a smile.

  Lydia gasped.

  “Yea, you like that? Got you all yo’ vacation pay. Usually you have to wait months fo’ that. Now open the other one and you know why I did that.”

  It was a letter approving the disability insurance through her employment, paying 50% of her average earnings the past 8 weeks. $225 a week for up to 26 weeks. “I know it half of what you was makin’, but –.”

  “It’s something. It’ll cover my rent, my utilities. If I cut down on some of my expenses, I can make it work. Cherise, you are too good to me,” Lydia tiredly smiled in obvious relief.

  “Yet you always doubt me, fool.”

  “Doctor said I have abandonment issues. Cherise, you are truly my best friend.”

  “I’m yo’ only friend.”

  Lydia chuckled. “Yeah, you are.”

  “But I can’t say I know what it like to have the problems you do. Wake up one day and have no memory of 24 years’ worth of yo’ life, no idea where you come from. No family, man, no one else to step up to the plate and tell you who you is. Disability the best thing fo’ you right now. Means you got six months to pick up the pieces and put them back together. I’d say this right here – ,” Cherise picked up the painting of the boy, “- a good start to findin’ who you is on the inside. I’m goin’ take these. I know people. When you get all rich and famous-like, don’t you forget who was there for you when you wasn’t.”

  Lydia laughed, “I strongly doubt fame and fortune was written into my stars. I’m too busy trying to actually get some sleep. You know what really disturbed me so much about these paintings? A type of inner-knowing that I’ve been there before, like I experienced it with my own eyes. And the boy. I’ve never seen him before, have no idea who he is, but then I do at the same time. You see how the eyes were drawn? It’s like he’s afraid and pleading with me to remember who he is.”

  “Maybe cuz he is. You got 24 years of life you don’t remember, and Lydia probably ain’t yo’ original name. Maybe you lived in France or Italy or somethin’ that might have looked like that drawin’. Maybe you did know this boy. If I’m goin’ do somethin’ with these, they need names. Every artist name their work.”

  “I’m not an artist, Cherise. I told you. I don’t even remember painting these. I couldn’t paint like that if my life depended on it.”

  “Jus’ give it a try. Stop bein’ so pessimistic. Eight months we been friends and you always lookin’ on the underside o’ things. Someone done pissed you off in yo’ past life, that’s fo’ sure.”

  “Otherland,” Lydia blurted out.

  “The what?”

  “Otherland. It just came to me. That’s what I want to name it. I don’t know about the boy. I’ll get back to you on that.”

  “Aiight, jus’ put yo’ jane hancock on it, and we be done here.”

  “I can’t. It doesn’t belong to me. I can’t explain it. Why are you doing all of this, Cherise? You feel that guilty for firing me? I deserved it. I know that. I’m not reliable. The number one thing employers require is reliability, and I just can’t be that right now.”

  “I know dat, but I also know it’s not yo’ fault. No one would want to be in yo’ shoes right now. You got a tough battle that only you and you alone can overcome. And no, I ain’t doin’ this out of guilt. Guilt was keeping you employed there fo’ as long as I could. I’m doin’ this because I care ‘bout you, you my friend, and I sure as hell know you ain’t goin’ do it, cuz you don’t believe in yo’self like I do. Now we goin’ eat or what? I’m starvin’, and you still in yo’ PJ’s.”

  Lydia stretched and yawned and grinned, “The perks of not having a job, eh?”

  CHAPTER 5

  “So this is your place, huh?” The human child looked around him dreamily. Like everything in Otherland, it seemed to stretch on endlessly, and nothing was as it ever appeared. Miles and miles of the plushest green grass. Wild flowers of every type and color in the absence of weeds. A garden and trees growing every fruit and plant imaginable. A flowing stream that was so pure and clean, you could see the fish going about their business, all of them spiritual, as was most everything else here.

  Every living thing seen, but not touched, because physical things didn’t exist here. Only those with memories to the human physical world knew the difference. That’s why the stuffed animal from the Otherworld was so important to the human boy. He could touch it, hold it, feel it, as it was solid. Physical.

  Jasper had spoken to many souls in this world. He’d been raised and surrounded by them. In a way, it’s all he knew, but he also knew otherwise, and that’s the part he could never speak of. They were completely content here, especially since the peace between the Darks and the Lights. They had no sense of time, no need for the five senses, as they had the sixth sense, and that’s all they needed. The Dark ones, whom did have their memories, spoke of the difference.

  The majority of them were glad to no longer be human, contained by something physical, and being required to maintain it with all its physical needs. They claimed it was freedom, being released from the physical restraints, and called their times as humans imprisonment. Those who wanted to go back to a human body were those with memories of things left undone, whether good or evil.

  But even they would say that if ever given a chance to take care of their necessary business, they would easily release the confines of the physical human body, now knowing and recognizing how they were never free while designated to a physical body.

  Being human in this world, besides the prejudices due to fear of treachery, there was a type of attachment to something this world couldn’t provide, and that was the greatest difference. Being human, there was always a type of void and discontent, where the souls didn’t feel that.

  The biggest complaint of the Dark souls was wanting to be free of those memories from the human world that haunted them and kept them from ever being entirely free. The greyer ones had enough light to see what they’d done wrong, feel remorse about it, and accept the fate they’d been given. Once humbled, the High master might give them a chance to correct things for the greater good. But most remained dark.

  That’s why the human boy didn’t understand why the High master would agree to send a soul almost as dark as night to the Otherworld to retrieve this girl, that may or may not be the one who came here, and may or may not be his human mother.

  “Do you have a home or a family that you need to get back to, human child? Someone or thing you’re attached to?” the Light human asked him.

  “Not really, I’ve just kind of been … wandering. I don’t think they’re going to let me go back to the scope.”

  “Were you scared in the darkness?”

  “More scared than I can ever remember being before,” the boy trembled as an afterthought. “I don’t ever want to go back there. That’s why she was so nice to me. She gave me the stuffed dog to make me less afraid. I felt less alone. Will she be hurt?”

  “Not if I have anyt
hing to do with it. That’s why I volunteered.”

  “I don’t understand why the High master would agree to trust such a blackened soul.”

  “We don’t question the High master’s reasons. He is all knowing. We must trust and do our duty by him, no matter what.”

  “Are you a knight or something?”

  “That’s exactly what I am and what I’ve been for a long time. A Light knight. I swore my duty and loyalty to my Father. I serve him in both this world and the human world.”

  “So you’ve been back there since coming here?”

  “Many, many times. I’ve been in places you could never even imagine. Places darker than the darkness. I’ve been to the Nothingness, walked the Forbidden, where all you can hear are the cries and moans of the Lost ones. It is the most pitiful, yet most dangerous, place to be. Once there, it never quite leaves you,” the Light knight sighed sadly.

  “Why did you have to go there?”

  “Some souls and humans accidently wander there and become lost. The Lost souls can be nasty things, wanting to destroy anything and everything they come across. They created the Nothingness and it gets larger and larger through the passing time. If someone or thing wanders too far, they won’t hesitate to snatch them right up and carry them off to become a Lost soul themselves. I went there in search of someone. A human who could freely travel the realms.”

  “Aliyah?” the boy whispered.

  The Light knight smiled in fondness, “Yes, Aliyah. She was not supposed to have found her way back here; I’d made sure of it.”

  “You don’t seem too upset that she might have,” the boy said.

  “Aliyah was always stubborn, even as a child. Would not listen to reasoning, or follow orders. Guided not by a sense of duty, but by one of love. I think I know why she has found her way back.”

  “It’s me, isn’t it? That’s why you brought me here with you. You know, don’t you?”

  “Huh? I brought you here to keep you protected. One of the blackened guards seemed intent on finding a way to keep you in the darkness. Regardless of the peace, there are some that maintain old perspectives and prejudices toward humans being here, believing they don’t belong in this world.”