Pieces of Sonder

“Don’t scare me!” Heilong shouted, smacking Nightscythe in the back of the head.

Nightscythe stumbled forward and rubbed his injury. Freya also felt like hitting him for his outburst. His shout had made the spirit run behind a column of the train station. 

Heilong continued, “We were told there would be ghosts here. Why are you so surprised?”

“Well, I haven’t seen that many! And they were all animal ghosts, not humans!” Nightscythe complained.

“Oh? It’s a human ghost?” Heilong said, peering in the direction of the child but looking over the girl’s head.

As everyone moved closer to try to see, the spirit ran and disappeared into a wall. 

“You guys scared her,” Freya said, disapprovingly. No malice emanated from the spirit, but something was keeping it here at this train station. She sighed, “It’s rare to see such a young child become a spirit. I was worried when the King mentioned the port is full of ghosts. The demons in this area are going to be powerful.”

“Oh?” Heilong said, looking at Freya. “What do you mean?”

Freya gave her a questioning look, “Spirits attract demons and can give demonic energy to them. Especially non-summoned ones. Don’t you guys know that?”

She looked at the rest of the group. They all had dumbfounded expressions. 

“Wait, so does that mean I’m attracting demons?” Infamous Biscuit asked, pointing at the spirit octopus curled around his shoulder.

“Just one spirit can’t do much,” Freya answered, shaking her head. “And your spirit isn’t emitting much energy since it knows we’re working towards fulfilling its desire. Ignored and abandoned spirits emit the most.”

Freya scratched her head, “I never thought you guys wouldn’t know this. Well, you said there are no demons in your world, so I guess I should have figured.”

“There are no spirits in our world either,” Nightscythe added.

“Really?” Freya exclaimed in disbelief. She looked at the others for confirmation. Infamous Biscuit nodded. 

“I mean, maybe there are spirits in our world,” Nightscythe amended. “People are always trying to look for ghosts. There’s plenty of T.V. shows about ghost hunting. I was watching this one show where they saw-”

“Oh, come on, those shows are fake,” Heilong interrupted. “It’s all trick photography and pseudoscience.”

Freya soon tuned out the rest of their argument. Too many unfamiliar words and phrases flew over her head. She scoured the train station for a little bit trying to find the spirit again but had no luck. 

Infamous Biscuit asked if they should stay longer, but Freya shook her head.

“It would be impossible for me to put to rest every spirit I come across. It’s better if they are put to rest than vanish still unhappy. More demonic energy is released that way, but sometimes it’s unavoidable.”

Heading out of the train station, they exited onto a wide street. Thick fog clouded the town, making it hard to see shops on the other side of the road. Since the sun had now set, they brought out their enchanted light stones to see better. As they walked down what appeared to be the main street, Nightscythe and Heilong continued to squabble.  

Opening her map in her game menu, Freya tried to orientate herself. She hated always relying on Heilong or Infamous Biscuit to tell their location. But matching the shifting mass of grey squiggles to the environment around her was difficult. 

She looked back at the train station behind them to see if it matched up with a larger-looking box on her screen. As she judged the building’s size, she saw the child spirit, once again poorly hiding.

The child looked out at them, ducked to hide, then peered out again. 

“You guys wait here,” Freya said and slowly walked back towards the train station. Nightscythe tried to follow, but K13 held him back. 

The spirit child’s white dress stuck out from behind the post she was trying to hide behind.

Freya called out a soft, “Hello.”

The little girl clung tightly to the column.

“I don’t mean you any harm,” Freya continued. “Are you okay?”

The spirit inched out ever so slightly. 

“Where is my dad?”

Her babyish voice was quiet but clear.

“Your dad? What does he look like?” Freya asked softly.

“He always comes to the train station. I’m waiting for him. Where is he?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know. Do you miss your dad?”

The child became a little paler. She floated back towards the wall, “I need to tell him.”

“Tell him? What do you need to tell him?”

She solidified a bit more and gripped the hems of her dress, “Secret.”

“Hm, I see,” Freya said. Quickly thinking of how to continue the conversation, she asked, “What’s your name? I can try to find your dad if I know your name.”

“Aziza,” the child said easily. 

“Aziza, what a nice name. Aziza, do you usually wait for your father here?” 

The child nodded, “I always wait.”

“You must love your father. Is he a good dad?”

“He’s the best! Best dad!”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes! He buys me dresses. And chocolate.”

“He sounds like a good dad.”

“Yes, he is good. He even helped me with- but’s gone now! I need to tell him!”

Hiding her confusion, Freya asked again, “Tell him what?”

Aziza gripped her dress and swayed from side to side. In Freya’s experience with kids–and even adults, if she could keep them talking, they would eventually tell anything.

“That, that it’s gone! I don’t see it no more.”

“See what?”

“The words. I don’t see the words no more. My curse is gone!”

Freya froze.

“Words?” she asked carefully, “You saw words in the air?”

Heart beating fast, Freya flashed back to when she first saw words hanging in the air. Back then, she had been convinced she was cursed.

The child shook her head.

“No, I don’t see them now. I am not cursed. I don’t see any words above your head!”