by J. M. Pierce
“That’s enough,” interrupted Maggie. “We’re standing together now, aren’t we? How can that not be a blessing?”
“If it weren’t for me, you’d be…”
“Alive?” asked Maggie. “You don’t know that. No of us knows when it’s our time.” Maggie glanced to Cliff with a giggle. “Well, most of us any way.”
Cliff pushed his glasses up on his nose with a wink. “She’s right. Ain’t no tellin’ what might have happened to you or your Mom had things been different.” The old man looked to Test and brought things back into perspective. “So, regardless of whether or not you’re sure if this is real, there’s more that you need to know? You ready to hear what I got to say?”
Test stood in Maggie’s embrace. In a cynical voice, he replied, “I don’t know if I care. Maybe this is as good as it can be?”
Cliff closed his eyes and sighed. “Son, there is too much that you don’t yet know. You have to…”
“I don’t have to do anything, Cliff,” interrupted Test maliciously.
Disgusted with her son’s disrespect, Maggie stepped away from Test. “Test Colby Davis! That’s enough; you hear me? Cliff is right. You don’t have a clue what is happening here. You will listen to him. Am I understood?”
Test had never felt intimidated by his mother until now. There she stood in front of him, her index finger poking him in the chest. He raised both hands towards her. “Okay, Mom. I’m sorry,” he replied.
“Don’t apologize to me. You owe it to him,” she said while pointing to Cliff.
Before Test could get the apology out, Cliff spoke. “No need for an apology. I can’t say as I blame you for wantin’ to stay here. But like I said, there’s too much that you don’t know. This place isn’t the safe haven that you think it is.”
Test’s brow wrinkled in confusion. “Okay. I’m listening. Tell me everything.”
“When you realize your full ability, you, and I mean all of you, body and soul, will be able to walk in both worlds.”
With the arrogance of youth, Test responded. “And that is bad because?”
Cliff huffed in disgust and turned away from him.
Realizing that his mouth had just done some damage, Test stepped towards his friend. “Come on, Cliff. I was just ki…”
“This is no joke, Test,” spat Cliff as he spun to meet Test. The tone of his words were filled with desperation. “You are not safe here, just as you ain’t safe on the other side. You will be hunted here just the same!”
“I’m…”
“No!” snapped Cliff. “Shut your mouth! I ain’t finished!”
Test’s posture stiffened as Maggie gripped his elbow.
“You, when you decide to believe it, will be able to walk on both sides. Believe it or not, you are nothing new. Shadows have been known for thousands of years. For the most part, they remain secretive, much like you have been the past year. They try their level best to live a normal life. Some are able and some ain’t. Just like with normal folks, there’s some good, and some bad. The bad have become beings of legend. They have been known by many names. Names like: Angeu, Ankou, Enma, Yamaraj, Yanluo, Azra’il, La Muerte…,” he paused. “The Reaper.”
Test glared down onto the old man in silence.
“For thousands of years, the Reapers have been known as takers of souls. The truth is that they are few in numbers, but some of them are very old and very powerful. Worst part is, they don’t much care about those they take, it’s the misery they leave behind that feeds them.”
“How old?” asked Maggie.
“Hundreds, some even thousands,” replied Cliff with his eyes still focused on Test’s face. “Your kind’s life expectancy is much longer than ours.”
Reeling from what he’d just learned, Test snapped. “What, I’m not even human anymore?”
Without a change in his demeanor, Cliff replied. “No… you’re not. You’re a Shadow.”
“So what, I’m going to evolve,” he spoke gesturing with his hands, “into one of these Reapers?”
Maggie gently wrapped her arms around him. “No, Test. Of course you’re not. Remember, Cliff said that just like with people, there are the good and the bad. Just because you are one of them, doesn’t mean that you have to be like them.”
“That’s right,” said Cliff. “They’re just the bad seeds. You remember when we met, back at the convenience store?”
Test nodded his head in agreement.
“Ain’t nothin’ changed since then. You still have the shine in you; it’s still there. You are a good kid…” Cliff paused. “Were a good kid. Now you’re a Shadow; a Shadow who can light the way for those who may follow.”
Test’s head hung low, the reality of the moment leaving him without words. With his eyes closed, he felt Cliff’s hand rest gently on his shoulder.
“You’re mother’s right. You have been given an amazing gift. You could say it is the gift of all gifts. You will have more power than you can imagine. Maybe you already have it and you just ain’t tapped into it yet.” He shook Test’s shoulder. “Listen to me, boy. The power to walk between worlds is an incredible thing!”
Test opened his eyes and could see the smile on Cliff’s face. He looked to his mother, and though a tear ran down her cheek, she carried the same reassuring smile. He inhaled deeply and blew the air slowly out of puckered lips.
“Yeah, I guess it’s not so bad. I can come see you guys whenever I want now, huh?” He spoke the words as much to convince himself as he did trying to convince them. “Whenever I need to get away, I can just disappear. Heck, I could just live here.”
Cliff looked hesitantly to Maggie. She nodded her head, agreeing with something that had yet to be said.
“Hold on there, son,” said Cliff as he removed his hand from Test’s shoulder. “There’s still some things that you have to know.”
Maggie patted Test on the chest. “Listen closely, Test. It’s important.”
Test glanced back and forth between the two of them. “Okay, I’m listening. Tell me.” There was a new confidence within him that had suddenly emerged.
“Being a Shadow doesn’t mean that you can live in a world outside of your own,” said Cliff.
“I don’t get it. You just said….”
“Listen to me,” interrupted Cliff. “I know what I said, but there are limitations to what you can do. The main limitation is how long you can stay on the other side. The reason that you don’t have powers here isn’t just because you don’t need them, it’s because the act of shifting between worlds temporarily zaps most all of your energy. It’s true that a Shadow has seemingly endless amounts, but it only seems that way. The reality of it is that you can only be here for about fifteen minutes before your energy runs out and you shift back to the world of the living, whether you are ready to or not.”
Test wrinkled his nose. “But we’ve been talking here for at least a half an hour.”
“Yes, but you haven’t shifted,” replied Cliff. “How can I put this so you’ll understand?” He paused for a moment as he pushed his glasses back up his nose. “Right now you’re just kind of sliding. It’s your mind, your spirit; that is the part of you that is with us now. When you realize the full potential of being a Shadow, your entire body will be able to exist here.” The old man stared at Test’s blank expression. “Do you understand what I’m sayin’?”
Test replied timidly, the confidence slowly beginning to fade. “I—I think so. Fifteen minutes? That’s not very long.”
“It is and it isn’t,” replied Cliff. “You’re thinking about the physical limitations of the living. On this side, I can be in New York five minutes from now if I wanted to.” The old man slapped Test on the chest with the back of his hand, and puffed his chest out with pride.
Test raised his eyebrows. “Seriously?” he asked.
“That’s right. The catch with you is, the more you do on this side, the shorter your time here can be. So instead of making it to New York, you’d have
to stop in Chicago,” replied Cliff with his trademark wink. “Like I said, the act of shifting takes most of your power.”
“I’ve always wanted to check out Chicago,” replied Test as a large grin appeared on his face.
Maggie giggled. “Me too.”
“So is that it?” asked Test.
“Mostly,” replied Cliff as he glanced to Maggie.
“I wish you’d stop that,” said Test. “Just tell me, will ya? I’m ready to know.”
Cliff peered around the frames of his glasses. “You can take people with you.” The old man paused. “You can take them with you to this side.”
With a burst of enthusiasm, Test replied. “What? That’s awesome!”
“Whoa, whoa there,” whipped Cliff, holding his hands up. “There is great danger for them to come with you. It ain’t like you can bring your girl and go frolickin’ through the spirit world holdin’ hands. For you, if you’re here too long, you just shift back to the other side. For regular folk, they…,” he removed his glasses as he spoke. “Well, there just ain’t no good way to say it, son. They’ll die.”
Test’s eyes grew wide.
“That’s how the Reapers kill their victims. They grab a hold of them, shift to the other side, and then leave them to die. Sometimes they take the body back, other times they don’t.”
“That makes no sense,” replied Test.
“Don’t have to make sense. It’s just the way they are. Like I said before, they don’t get the satisfaction out of the killing. They get it from the misery of the living. They’re heartless.”
Trying to overcome the weight of the moment with some levity, Test quipped. “Okay, that’s a pretty important safety tip. Thanks for sharing that one.”
Cliff glared at him without any emotion. “Test, I don’t want you to think that once you become a full Shadow, everything is going to be roses.” Once again, he nervously shifted his gaze to Maggie.
“Will you two stop it!” spouted Test.
Cliff took a deep breath. “They’re going to come for you—or those you love.”
“Who?” asked Test.
“The Reapers.”
Test thought for a moment. “Why would they come for me?”
“I was visited by one of them a couple of weeks ago, the day you saw me across the street from the hotel. This Reaper was a woman named Lauren. She told me stories. She taught me about what you are.”
“But that doesn’t make sense. If the Reapers were coming for me, why would they warn me?”
“Because she developed something that the others haven’t; a conscience. She was actually sent to find you, but, because you didn’t use your gifts often, she had a difficult time. Then she said that, and I’m assuming it was the incident at the lake, something you did led her to you.”
Test listened intently as Cliff spoke.
“She said that the first time she saw you, something happened to her. There was something about you that reminded her of her brother.”
“Why? Did she say?” asked Test.
“She did,” replied Cliff. “Her gifts didn’t show until she was in her early teens. Apparently the onset of power is different for each Shadow. According to her, you showed at an exceptionally young age and that’s partly why, she thinks, the Reapers are so interested in you. Anyway, she was able to keep her gifts hidden, much like you, until she was seventeen.
“Her father was an alcoholic and abusive to both she and her brother. Even though she had become very powerful, she still feared him. There came a day when her father picked up a shovel and attempted to beat her with it. Instinctively, she used her power to stop him. She left home that day without a soul to turn to.
“Not long after her leavin’ home, she discovered the Shadow’s ability to shift between worlds. She had to learn like most all others of your kind, the hard way; discovering the limits of her power on her own. She used them to get food and supplies, shiftin’ to secretly enter the market, grab some food, shift again, and then leave the market unseen. She came to find peace on the other side, but that feelin’ was short lived.
“In her time spent on the other side, she had encountered several spirits that kept their distance from her, but one day, during a shift, she was visited by an Asian man. His face was scarred heavily from burns suffered in the past. The man introduced himself as Anil. Lauren knew immediately that there was somethin’ not right about him. It wasn’t all of the scarrin’ on his face, it was more in the way he talked, his mannerisms. He told her that she was not alone, and that she could come with him. Of course she declined, and before Anil left, he told her that he would return and he suggested that she change her mind. The encounter left her shaken, and as if it hadn’t already been rattled enough, put her life into yet another tailspin.
Feeling lost and alone, she decided to make a secret trip back home to see her family. She needed to know that at least her mother and brother were okay.
“When she arrived, only her brother was home. His face showed the marks of beatin’s that had occurred not long before. The brother was so happy to see his sister, and without even askin’ for an explanation, he begged her to take him with her. Before she was able to answer, her father burst into the house. With a bottle of moon shine in one hand and a hammer in the other, his eyes locked on his daughter and the anger in him spilled out like the booze from his bottle.
“Before he was able to touch either of them, she took him in her grasp and held him in the air. The red pulses flashing down her arms illuminated his face and painted him the devil that he was. Her brother hugged around her waist, not showing a fear of her power, but instead a fear of the man that had burst through the door. Again the boy begged Lauren to take him away. Not knowing what would happen, she wrapped her arm around her brother and shifted to the other side.”
Test squeezed his mother’s hand tightly. “No,” he whispered.
“That’s right. She didn’t know,” replied Cliff. “She stood on the other side with her brother who lay limp on the ground beside her. In front of them her father had fallen to the floor, and she watched as he frantically backed himself to the door. Being on the other side gave her the advantage of watching his fear. She found great satisfaction in it; she felt powerful.
“She looked down at her brother and realized that he was not moving. She knelt beside him and shook him, but he showed no sign of life. Suddenly, she became aware of another presence standing beside her. It was Anil. He stood smugly staring at Lauren’s father. He told her that she should have killed the old man instead of the boy. Her heart sank. She didn’t understand. It was then that he told her that she couldn’t bring a human to the other side without killing them. She began to sob over what she thought was her brother’s dead body. Anil laid a hand on her back and told her that she should avenge her brother’s death and take the one that made them both to suffer.” Cliff took off his glasses for a moment and rubbed his eye. “You, Test, are not the only Shadow with anger issues. It actually seems to be a byproduct of the energy within your kind.”
Test mind was in a fog. It took a few seconds to understand that Cliff had stopped telling the story and was talking to him. “She killed her father, didn’t she?”
“Yes. Sadly, that act of violence and malice was what saved her life,” replied Cliff.
“How?” asked Test.
“Anil was giving Lauren a test. Had she not had the fury, the rage—the madness to take her own father’s life, he knew that she would not be a Reaper. If she would not be a Reaper, then Anil and the others would not let her be.”
“Why do they want me?” asked Test. “Do they do this to all of the Shadows?”
“No. Like I said, your early development has something to do with it,” replied Cliff as he slid his glasses back onto his nose. With a stern tone, he continued. “Your lack of self control is more than likely attractive to them as well.”
Looking somewhat ashamed, Test asked, “Why didn’t Lauren just come to me?”
“She knew that you would have run. She’d hoped that you would listen to me. You are lucky that it is Lauren they sent for you. You being captured would have meant a certain and quick death for you had it been Anil. Apparently she’s keepin’ her secret, otherwise...”
“Cliff! That’s enough!” yelled Maggie.
“Ain’t no time for sugar coatin’ it, Mrs. Davis,” replied Cliff in an uncharacteristically savage tone.
“Oh get off your soapbox, Cliff. You’ve both been sugar coatin’ everything this whole time.” Test pulled away from Maggie and began to walk away from both of them. Once several feet away, he spun and with finger pointed at Cliff. “Tell me again how this is a miraculous gift! Tell me again how lucky I am!” he screamed.
Maggie and Cliff remained silent. Test turned and began to walk towards the drive, and after only a couple of steps, his mother appeared in front of him.
“There is nothing given that doesn’t come with a price, Test.” Maggie’s words were soft and purposeful. “I wasn’t lying. I truly think you have been given an amazing gift. You just have to be strong and find your way through this.”
“Keep that shine, son. That’s what makes you special. That’s what’ll save you.” Cliff approached from behind and put his arm around Test. “We can do this. I’ll be with you every step of the way.”
Test sighed. “I know that. I’m just tired of people getting hurt because of me.”
“Well,” replied Cliff, “now’s your time to be the hero instead of a victim.”
In an instant the fog thickened around them, and all that was light grew dark.
Chapter 22
The familiar hum of the lights had become audible through the haze from which Test was awaking. He was careful not to move, breathe loudly, or even open his eyes. He could hear the Professor in the room talking aloud, and assumed that he was dictating notes into a recorder.