Shaded

souls

“Its not that I know things, I see them too “

My name is Casey. I think I am the weirdest

person on the world. I seem to be the only
person in this world to know about Shades.
Shades are shattered souls that lurk around
areas depressed, grieving about almost
anything. Souls turn into shades when
something harmful happens to them, a loved
one, or if they see something that is too much
for their eyes.

My best friend, Jonah, has lost almost every

one in his family, I’m actually
surprised that he has not shaded at all. Though
I hope he doesn’t. What would it be like if your
best friend turned into something you have
always feared of? All Jonah has left is his older
brother Shiloh, who is one of his most
important things ever. (Except me) If
something happened to Shiloh that would be
the end of Jonah. He would probably Shade by
then and I would have to help him in some kind
of way.
I now decided to get up off of the couch to go
outside and see Jonah to day. I had a little
trouble looking for my keys, but they turned
out to be in yesterday’s pair of jeans. As I
drove a few block’s to Jonah and Shiloh’s
apartment I saw a few Shades lurking around
the building, weeping. As I pulled into the
parking lot it seemed that they were running
towards me, but must have got caught up on
something because when they were a few
yards away, the disappeared into the shadows.

That was weird.

I walked to the door and knocked on it. As I

waited I thought I heard some muffled crying
and soft sobbing. Could that be Jonah? I thought
mentally. Nobody had answered the door yet.
So I started to call Jonah on his phone. I was
able to hear his ring tone through the door.
Why wasn’t he answering?
Time to bust in…I knocked harder before I
started picking the lock.

Bam!!!! I swung the door open. I saw that

Jonah’s curly hair was visible behind the couch.

“Jonah!!”-I yelled. “Why are you crying?!”- I

said a little more loudly.

“S-S-Shiloh”-Jonah’s voice croaked.-“He is g-g-

gone”-His voice broke some more.
“What are you talking about?”-I asked
skeptically. I was getting scared on the inside.
I was also confused. I slowly walked to the
other side of the sofa.
I gasped. First at that I saw Shiloh sprawled
over the floor, eyes closed and not moving.
Second, Jonah was a light shade violet and
almost transparent like any other Shade I have
ever seen.

‘Jonah!!!!!!!!’ –My mind screamed. I nearly

started to hyperventilate. Questions were
flying trough my head. Oh my goodness .My
biggest fear was for this to happen. ``Wh -wh-
what happened?”-I stuttered as I tried to get
the words out. “Jonah, what happened?”-I was
nearly screaming.

Jonah finally opened his mouth to say

something, but he hesitated. “I don’t know
what happened. I came in here and Shiloh was
… gone.”-He managed to spit it out.” When I
saw him every thing went black.” He paused.
“Wait…Casey, you can see…and hear me?”

I wished that he haven’t had asked me that.

“Yes, I have been seeing
Shades,”-He interrupted me then.-“Wait, what
are Shades?”
I had to think about to say to him before I told
him the real truth about me.
“Shades are…are, they’re just,” -I couldn’t
explain it. It was too hard too explain. ” You
could say they are what you are right now.
Kind of blacked out, ghost like, and not in your
own body. “- yeah, that was the way to put it.
“So they are people who can see us or them?
And since you are the only one who can really
see me now, that must mean you are the only
one who can help me.’’-He concluded. I
thought about what he said about me being
the only one to help him.

“Jonah I don’t know. To be honest it could be

dangerous. Because I don’t know how to do it
and how it will work.”- I said.

He sat there thinking, his flesh still glowing

violet. “Well we can always find out .Do you
think that there is some kind of reverse to
this? Like…Don’t know, some way to bring me
back to my body?”

“I really don’t know I never really socialize

with these things. I just am able to see them.
We could see somebody, but I think I am the
only one who even knows of their existence.”

“We could see that physic, umm, Sara, I

believe. You know they know all that freaky
stuff about ‘other things’”-He said. It sounded
like a good idea.

“We could try it, but like I said I believe I am

the only one you can see Shades.”-I said.” But
let’s go any way.” I picked up my keys and
wiped tears off my face from earlier. And then
we were off.
On the way to the tarot card reading place, I
saw the same Shades from earlier, but now
instead of crying they were following us. And
they were running this time with ferocious
scowls on their faces. I accelerated the speed
of the car to get away from them. I could see
the worry on Jonah’s face
“What is with them?”-Jonah hissed once they
disappeared into the dark.

“I don’t know. That has never happened .It

totally freaked me out. We may need to get to
Sara fast. This may get out of hand.”-I
responded. As I swerved though the road, I
finally found Sara’s little crypt. “Were here”

We walked out of my car cautiously. Just in

case nothing would start chasing us again. As
we walked through her door frame we heard
someone humming in the back. ”We should go
see if she is over there.” Jonah whispered. We
saw her hovering over a crystal ball. When she
heard our footsteps, she stood up quickly. I
heard her swallow a gasp. She pointed a
slender finger in Jonah’s direction and said:

“Get ‘that’ out of here now.” She nearly yelled.

I could feel Jonah’s arm trembling. He backed
out slowly but only stepped out of the door.

“I need help. And it is a very long story to

explain, but I think you’d understand.”-I said
softly.
 “What do you need and if it’s about that...”-
she pointed out the door, “then you are the
only one to solve it.”
She thought about something for a moment.”
But all I can do is tell you how to fix ‘that’
problem .To get him back to his body all you
have to do is go through this ancient ritual…
blah, blah, blah. It’s actually on this big old’
dusty book over here. I’ll go get it.”-She
walked out of the room, making some kind of
hissing sound as she passed Jonah. He cringed
when she did that. He inched his way right
back next to me .His skin was still glowing
violet and that is when I remembered
everything that had happened.

Sara made it back into the room, and looked at

Jonah with a ‘ get -out -of -here -or - I - will -
gleefully-pound - you - to -death’ look. “Here it
is. The ritual practice is in the context
somewhere. I can help you practice it before
his deadline.”-Wait, what deadline does he
have?

“What are you talking about. ‘A deadline’?”

Her words seemed to scare me.
“Well you should know that any shattered soul
has five weeks to live before their actual soul
moves on .You knew that, don’t you?”

I heard Jonah gasp behind the door. No wonder

when those other Shades disappeared right
then. At that moment I realized that I was one
of the only ones that could fix Jonah’s problem,
or all Shades problem.

I glanced back at Sara. She was still holding

the book out to me. I hesitated to grab it. Once
it was in my hands I started to flip through the
pages. I could feel the dust flying into my eyes
and smell all the years it has been hiding in
Sara’s crypt. I finally found the page Sara was
talking about. It was bordered with some kind
of ancient characters. The words were actually
not in English so I stared back at Sara. She
scooted over next to me and started to run her
hands over the pages and she was mumbling
something under her breath.

“Now I will translate this for you quickly then

show you the actual pronunciation .Got it? O.k.
Here goes:
‘Grief for grave,
Shade is new label of
name,
You mourn, you cry
Forget your life, and die,
Carcass left behind,
eternally lost
And gone.

I see, I hear, I hope for

salvation
Put you back together, and
I am savior
Prevent you from a rest of
eternity
 I say; eternal lived, eternal
lost,
Combined.’

“I think I could do that .So how does it sound in the

original language?

“It sounds like this, but after I show you we

should start on the English version of it.”

‘Grief pro
sepulchrum ,
Umbra est novus titulus
of nomen
, Vos plango , vos
vox
Alieno vestri vita , quod
intereo
Carcass relictus ,
intemporaliter lost
Quod absentis.

EGO animadverto , Audio ,

Spero pro salus
Loco vos tergum una , quod
EGO sum savior
Preoccupo vos ex a sileo
of infinitio
Inquam ; eternus ago ,
eternus lost ,
Combined.’
We practiced and practiced. She told me how
the ritual was performed. Inside I still felt sick
for Jonah How come I didn’t know a stage like
this would be so scary for him. I could actually
hear him heaving behind the door.

Sara said I could come back tomorrow. As I

said good-bye Jonah abruptly opened the door.
“I’m terrified. I think I saw some I guess
‘Shades’ run towards us, or you again. They
were different this time. More impatient or
eager. Like they want to consume you and they
believe they have got their prize. But they
were ugly; tired looking, rusty, worn out and
their eyes were all puffy and bloodshot.”-I
thought about how he said they seemed to be
after me. I new I was able to save them or put
them back in their body’s, but helping them
may be threatening.

As we walked out’ I noticed that Jonah’s skin

was turning a lighter shade of violet. That
made me wonder if he was starting to wash
away or something.

“Are you feeling okay, Jonah? You are starting

to look different.”

“I’m fine. I just need to sit .I think I just took in

too much information that has made me
nervous.”-I leaded him to a nearby bench on
the sidewalk. He plopped onto the seat with a
‘Hugh’. I didn’t notice that people were staring
at my treating an invisible figure. I guess I
forgot that I can only see him at the moment.
Out of the blue, I saw a ferocious group of
Shades running towards us. They looked the
same way Jonah described them earlier. They
came to a stop right in front of us.

One started to open its mouth slowly and said,

“Return us.”-he said it in a scary voice. I tried
to ignore them and walk away as I used to do
to them when I was young, but he grabbed my
arm tightly and pushed me back. I could hear
Jonah groaning behind me. My arms turned red
at the Shade’s touch. He spoke again, “You
know you can see us so help us, NOW!”

“You’re a Healer, and I demand you to help us

now. We have a little time left and we don’t
want to lose ourselves.”

“I -I -can’t. I don’t know.”-I stuttered. The

Shade stared back at me with cold eyes. I
started to think about the quote, ‘If looks could
kill, then kill e now.” But he interrupted my
thoughts. He grabbed my arm again and this
time swung me onto the bench hard next to
Jonah and stared into my eyes deeply and said,
“Do it now or regret it. I and they need this.
Your friend over there needs it too. So now .I
have seen you learning the stupid ritual so do
it now.”-He said sternly.

I stood up and began to open my mouth, but I

still needed to decide. Could I do this? He said I
was a Healer, so I guess this would work. I
looked back at Jonah who was more sleep than
awake. I touched his face softly then removed
it. Then I began:

‘Grief pro sepulchrum

,
Umbra est novus titulus
of nomen
, Vos plango , vos
vox
Alieno vestri vita , quod
intereo
Carcass relictus ,
intemporaliter lost
Quod absentis.

EGO animadverto , Audio ,

Spero pro salus
Loco vos tergum una , quod
EGO sum savior
Preoccupo vos ex a sileo
of infinitio
Inquam ; eternus ago ,
eternus lost ,
Combined.’