Loss of spirit

Sensitive content:

Psychological distress

Suicide

physical violence, gore

Child protagonist in horror

Parental neglect

Parental betrayal

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           Nerea was sitting on the wall, looking around the cemetery. Normally, that was the encounter point with her friend Paula, both of them would meet every day in the last few months, something welcome in the monotonous and depressing neighborhood they lived in.

           However, it had been approximately a week since they had seen each other. Paula had gone visit her mother, and haven’t returned to see Nerea since then. That situation was making the girl immensely insecure. Had she said something weird? But no matter how much she rummaged through her memories, nothing stuck out. Even then, she still felt like it was her fault.

           Distracting the girl from her emotional maelstrom, Nerea’s gaze fell upon another friend, Sérgio. Given the time, she assumed he had just returned from the church’s mass.

           The girl jumped, and floated at high speed towards him, screaming his name and startling the boy, making him fall on his behind.

           “Ouch! You scared me, Nerea.”

           “Huh? Are you scared of dying again?” She gave a teasing giggle.

           “Haha, very funny.” The boy adjusted his translucent glasses. “Good afternoon, I suppose.”

           “Good afternoon!” She blinked a few times, distracted by his gesture “Why do you still use glasses?”

           “Is that why you came to annoy me?” Nerea winced a little.

           “No… it’s just… well… Have you seen Paula in the last few days? She said she was going to her mother’s house.”

           “Paula? Last time I’ve seen her, she was with you. Although, knowing her history, she must have lost her energies outside the graveyard, and now is splattered in the midst of a sidewalk, waiting for a specter to help her.”

           “This has happened before?”

           “Frequently while she visited her family, before you arrived.”

           “She never told me…” Nerea downed her gaze, feeling a little hurt.

           “…I think she is just is too ashamed to say that. I think you should go after her. Being unable to move is not a very pleasant experience.”

           “Right! Thanks a lot!” The ghost girl hugged him, and floated to the skies above.

…

           In the path between the cemetery and Paula’s old house, Nerea looked closely to the sidewalk, street, walls and roofs, searching every centimeter of the region to make sure she would not miss the ethereal body of her friend. Unfortunately, she couldn’t find her anywhere, and thus, went to her residence.

           Being in front of that place brought her fears back into the fold, paralyzing her. “What if she is still mad at me? What if by coming here, she chooses to distance herself even further?” On edge, she sat down on the stairway beneath the door. What had she done? She thought over and over, and once again nothing came to her. But I must have done something. I always do.

           While ruminating her thoughts, she remembered someone she had seen on the way there. A beardy and skinny homeless man, laying down on the ground, holding a big black sack. Being close to him, gave her “body” goosebumps. That person unsettled her there, and still unsettle her now. Clearly he was… “That´s why he abandoned you”. A voice in her head said. Yeah… right. Who would want to put up with a ghost who judged others because they were ugly and had nowhere to live? God, she was awful. Ashamed of herself, the girl faced the entrance to the house, and entered.

           It was even more disconcerting inside. No lights were on, and as far as she could tell, there was no one, dead or alive. She wondered if they had gone to one of the cities touristic spots, or perhaps, went to see a movie together?

           Since their return to the house was inevitable, she just sat down on the couch, and waited. Unfortunately, she couldn’t do that by sleeping. Nerea wasn’t capable of sleeping, not outside the graveyard. The outside was uncomfortable, and every instant took away the energies that sustained her. Eventually, night’s shadows took over the house, and not even her inability to feel the world was able to ease her heart from the tenebrous atmosphere. Even though the fear of death felt stupid, she couldn’t help but close her eyes, lie down, and hug her knees.

           When the clock struck midnight, she heard the sound of a door slam, followed by the click-clack of keys hitting each other. Paula’s mom had finally arrived. Her daughter, however, was not along her side.

           Her eyes looked lifeless, and every step was slow, almost like the mere act of walking was an arduous task. Her soul emanated a terrible melancholy that penetrated Nerea’s heart in such a distracting way that the girl took long to realize that the woman was missing her left arm.

           Immediately she concluded that Paula had spent the last few days giving attention to her hospitalized mother. Feeling stupid thanks to her previous doubts and fears, she left to rescue her friend.

…

           The hospital was big, built to attend all the cities’ citizens and the surrounding towns, as a result, the girl painfully spent a few hours going through dozens of walls and floors floors, endlessly searching for her friend. However, she couldn’t find any trace of her, or a sign of supernatural energy, even after looking everywhere multiple times, which made her worried and confused.

           When her spirit finally started to feel as heavy as a rock, demanding a lot of effort for the simple act of floating a few centimeters above ground, she chose to throw in the towel and return home. The last thing she wanted was make another friend upset at her by forcing them to rescue her, splattered on the ground like a carpet.    Paula slowly walked the corridors and doors as if she was still a person, disheartened with her inability to find her friend, once again tormenting herself with the possibility she had done something to kill their friendship.

           After she arrived at the emergency room, the girl noticed a familiar figure sitting down, holding and looking at a pair of translucent glasses. It was the same homeless man as before. Once again, a horrendous aura seemed to be emitted by the spirit of that man, making every centimeter of her soul to beg her to run away. Her mind however, was consumed by an irrational curiosity, because looking up close, the man looked even worse. His clothes were extremely ragged, dirty, and they looked old, like they were stolen from a period film. Between his feet, lied a big black sack, and an angler’s net. Most notably, there was a serenity in his eyes. He was not drunk, sad, tired nor had the frown of someone who had given up on life. In fact, he looked like the happiest person inside that hospital. Every second she stared him, the weirder he got.

           At last, he grabbed the cloth bag, and got up. While standing, he had an exaggerated, absurd figure, taller than 2 meters, and yet his movement was graceful and calm. The man put the glasses inside the sack, lifted his eyes in Nerea’s direction, and gave a big, enormous smile.

           “Are you ready?”

           She looked behind. There was nothing besides a double door. All the accumulated terror in the still and dry air penetrated her like a spear, as all rules of the world stopped making sense. Only one living person should be able to see her. The man, still in the same place, started laughing, loudly.

           Without hesitating, the girl ran through the hospital walls, and flew away towards the graveyard, without a care if she fell somewhere weird and unknown.

           There was only silence in the neighborhood of the dead. She screamed for Sérgio, Paula, and other spirits she barely talked to, but no one was there. Her anxiety was being mixed with an immense feeling of loneliness. She wanted her friends, her family… her dad. She needed them, and yet, there was no one. Tired and despondent, she lied down on her grave, and fell asleep.

…

           It was a hot summer day. His daughter sat uncomfortably in front of the car. Starting that day, he could finally move on.

           “Dad, where are you going?”

           He did not answer.

           “Dad, where are we going to?”

           The adult man kept ignoring her.

           “Dad. Please, answer me. Please. Please” She kept saying these words, until they became weaker, as something seemed to get stuck on her throat.

           After 5 minutes he gave a sideways glance towards her, his eyebrows furrowing in disgust. Madness from grief. That was all she was. At least, that was what the psychiatrists loved to say. But if that was true… why was he stuck with the hallucination of that stupid girl, and not his wife?

           “Get out.” He growled.

           “W-what? Why?”

           “I don’t want you.”

           “Dad… why… are you saying this?” Seemingly fake tears filled her disgusting translucent eyes.

           “She would still be alive if not for you.” The body floating above ground, held only up by a cord, tormented him for the last 5 years.

           “No... that… No!” He rolled his eyes, as the wraith was ready to spill her crocodile tears.

           He spat at the ghost, which went right through her, hitting the window. The thing stopped moving and speaking, giving him a moment of reprieve. Which didn’t last long, as she started to speak again when they arrived at crossing between the road and the avenue that surrounded the city, right at it’s border.

           “Dad… Please, no. I… promise I won’t annoy you anymore. I will only visit you once a week, or month. But please, don’t go. Please. Please. Please. Please. PLEASE” She screeched, and his ears exploded into a confunsing, and awful ringing noise. But somehow, that did not stop the wails from that horrendous creature from entering his mind, producing a melody of misery only he could hear. And worse, he soon realized that his windshield had cracked.

           After what felt like an eternity, the stoplight turned green, and the man stepped on the pedal with immense pleasure, as the abomination was forced to remain inside the confines of an invisible wall.

           However, to his dismay, her squeals and cries still pierced the cities’ border, and for kilometers ahead, the sounds of his car didn’t even seen to exist. Even when the little girl gave up and stopped, her screams would keep tormenting him.

           No matter what he did.

…

           The night was dark, the moon was pitch black, and clouds permeated the sky, blocking the starlight, meanwhile below it all, the girl woke up feeling depressed. Sleeping was a mistake, it was always the same terrible dream, the revelation all woes of her life were her fault.

           She was still tired, and the act of using her powers to do something as simple as float gave her a strain. The ghost looked around and sighed. Nobody seemed to have come back. Neither ghost, grave keeper, guards nor crickets were there. A suffocating silence permeated the air, leaving the poor girl distressed. She hated being alone, and in that horrible day, the night choose to torment her.

           Feeling uneasy, she started to walk, and even after crossing the vast sea of graves, she was unable to find anyone. The situation was getting unbearable. When she arrived at the wall, she tried getting up, to at very least look at the city lights. But her small ascent was stopped by an invisible force at the top. It wasn’t like the cities’ perimeter. The girl could push it a little bit, and looking closely, there was a dim glow, made of dozens of crossing lines, like a net had covered the skies and the ground in a dome.

           “Nerea. Are you ready now?” Her spirit flickered in fear. Behind her there was the same strange man, standing still, with the same enormous smile of glowing eyes. As always, he held his black sack.

           “Who are you?” She managed to ask.

           “Oh. I am the man who the adults call when children are naughty.” He tapped the ominous cloth bag in his hands.

           A shiver went by her, a flash of distant lightning broke through the night, and the world seemed to stop for a few instants. Nerea didn’t wait, nor asked more questions, she simply ran away as fast as she could, towards the gardeners’ shed. She needed to leave, and felt like the only way to pierce that trap was by cutting that damned net.

           It didn’t took long to find what she needed in that small wooden hovel. It was full of scissors, saws, clippers, and other cutting objects. The girl choose the biggest scissor she could find, lifted her arm, and concentrated. After a few minutes, Nerea could finally feel the object rise, towards her hands, where she could grab and feel it. The wooden handle was dirty, used, and yet… by feeling every imperfection of the rugged texture, it made her feel alive once again.

           She took a deep “breath”. There was no way to gothrough the walls with a real object, she would need to leave by the window, or the door. Neither option felt like a good idea, and the girl could easily imagine that slim and tall figure, waiting exactly where her eyes could not see. Inside, it was safe. He could not enter without the girl seeing him. The idea of waiting looked much more attractive. And so, she did that, ready to take action on her enemies’ first move.

           It was a mistake. Eventually, she heard the sounds of something being dragged through grass, followed by the sound of something heavy hitting against the door. Her ghostly heart stopped, the man was definitely outside.

           Another lightning pierced the heavens, the silhouette of the man shone through the walls, and on the outside of the window, the man was there, digging his fingers on the frame, pulling it out with dramatic flair, breaking the wood around it. Then, in a performative manner, he slowly entered through the opening, one leg at a time. He, of course, was smiling the whole time.

           Nerea tried to leave, and open the door. But there was something heavy, blocking it. Her girly strength was completely unable to force it open.

           “Oh. How naughty. Trying to cut my net?” His voice dripped in mockery, like he held a laugh “But… I guess you’ll need to leave the scissors, no?”

           The girl stared at the tool in her hands. She could leave it, but it was her last hope. Trying to hurt the man would be foolish, he was too big and strong.

           Thus, Nerea screamed, synchronous with the tempest’s thunder. It rumbled, breaking through the barrier between the supernatural and the real world. Instinctively, the man covered his ears, falling on his knees. The hut shook, and in an instant, it collapsed above them.

           Luckily, it didn’t take much strenght to free the scissors from the rubble. Meanwhile, the creature, still linked to the physical plane, struggled to get rid of the weight above him. His black sack had rolled away from the debris, and immediately she tried to cut repeatedly, with no success. She gave up on destroying that thing.

           Nerea felt so tired, screaming in such a manner had taken a lot of energy. But her will to survive trumped her desire to rest, and she ran to the border of the graveyard. She got on top of the wall, and with a simple cut, made a big hole, on which she could easily leave.

           “You don’t want to see Paula again?” His face did not demonstrate its characteristic joy this time.

           “What?”

           “I know where she is”

           Nerea stopped, her eyes started to fill with tears as she finally understood what had happened.

           “Why?”

           “Because she was a naughty child.”

           “Her mom would never call you!”

           “That’s true.” His smile returned. “But, that doesn’t matter. All children are naughty.” He put his hand inside the sack, and grabbed something. “And adults are just big children.”

           It was an arm. It looked burned, and blood dripped from it. He squeezed it, and threw it in her direction. It hit her, like she was still in the physical plane, and disoriented, with no mental energy to keep herself up, she fell inside the graveyard.

           The man grabbed her by the neck.

           “Your father hates you. A lot. I’ve never seen someone so happy by knowing I answered his call. You truly are the naughtiest child of all.”

           Unable to move, her spirit broken, she started to cry. He threw her to the ground, and slowly started to push her inside the black sack, starting with her arm. In a disturbing moment, it made her feel alive. Her limb burned, and her bones seemed to crack one by one. But she felt energy again. Instinctively, with her supernatural strength, the ghost cut her own arm.

           She jumped away, the man looked at her with incredulity. Her arm wasn’t in her body anymore. However, even after the sudden burst of adrenaline, she was feeling tired again. She couldn’t run away forever, or kill him. She looked to the ground, where the dim glow was also there. She took the scissor, cut the lines beneath, and allowed herself to fall to the cold heart of the earth.

           The girl hugged her knees, and eventually her body stopped moving. All her energy had left. Bobody would come to rescue her, as all her friend’s souls had been eliminated, their right of eternity denied. And it was all her fault. She started to sob and shed tears once again, something she would do for all eternity.

           As there was nothing left to do.