Beneath the Elder Tree (4 page)

   ‘We can’t talk to you,’ Emily replied. ‘Guides can’t have anything to do with your kind.’

   ‘I was a guide once. I was majestic and radiant. Then he hurt me. The bastard stopped me from walking into the light when my time had come.’

   ‘I know your story, Mia. You told me once before.’

   ‘Ah, yes.’ A hideous smile grew on Mia’s dead face. ‘I remember you now. Little Emily. The girl who knows everything, yet sees nothing.’ A shade of nastiness crossed Mia’s face, forcing both Emily and I into retreat. ‘Talk with me and I will share secrets. I have one secret that could interest both of you…’

   ‘We don’t want secrets. Leave us be, Mia.’

   ‘There’s one secret you both need to know.’ She raised her arm and pointed a bony finger directly at me. ‘You, child. You need to know a secret.’

   ‘Keep your secrets to yourself, Mia,’ Emily warned her. ‘We want no knowledge of your twisted tales. Go about your business!’

   A grimace grew into Mia’s face and she turned away from us, clambering off between the cars on all fours. Emily grasped my hand and together we raced away along the lines of cars. We were nearing the city when we finally slowed down.

   ‘What the hell was that?’ I asked Emily. ‘What did she want from us?’

   ‘That was one of the black spirits I told you about. I’ve crossed her path a few times before. Her name is Mia. She’s been trapped here for decades and has slowly decayed, losing all her aura, then losing the black force that replaced it. Now she’s a rotting spirit who spies on the living and the dead.’

   ‘Can she harm us?’

   ‘Not really. Black spirits lose their strength over time. Hers has almost completely evaporated. Be careful of her, though. She wants to attach herself to something vibrant - to live off energy like yours. She can drain you and torment you if you present her with an opportunity. Just stay well clear of her kind, Lucy.’

   ‘Oh, I will. I never want to set eyes at that face again.’

   We kept a strong pace and reached the city within a couple of hours. Emily was right about it being no picnic. There was almost as much negativity radiating from the office blocks and apartment complexes as there was on the freeway. It seemed to suck the life right out of mirror world, and our surroundings grew dimmer as we ventured deeper into the inner city.

   ‘This is probably a good place to start learning about what you should and should not do while you’re a spirit guide. You’ll see injustice all the time while you’re in the city and it can be tempting to intervene. That is not your duty though, and it’s strictly forbidden to influence those who have no connection with your chosen.’

   ‘Even if I see some poor old woman being roughed by a gang of thugs?’

   ‘It’s part of life, Lucy, and it’s likely you’ll see a lot worse than that. It’s the way the living world is these days and your role is not the one of saviour. You are only here to guide your chosen because they will have a special purpose in the grand scheme of things. They must remain true of heart when their moment comes so that they’ll make the right choice.’

   ‘None of this makes sense, Emily. Why was I chosen to have a spirit guide? I never did anything important in my life - certainly nothing that would have any bearing on the grand scheme of things.’

   ‘Perhaps your time is yet to come. Just remember, I don’t have all the answers. I didn’t do anything special with my life either. I was just a normal eight year old girl when I died.’

   ‘How did you die?’

   ‘Cancer.’

   ‘But you were so young.’

   ‘I don’t want to talk about it.’ She stopped on the pavement next to me and told me to look at her very carefully. ‘Notice any changes in me since yesterday?’

   ‘You look thinner and you’re eyes aren’t as bright.’

   ‘Exactly. My time here is coming to an end and you need to know some things before I leave. Let’s not waste that time talking about diseases of the flesh, all right?’

   ‘All right,’ I nodded. ‘Tell me these rules.’

   ‘There are eight rules and they’re all very simple,’ she said. ‘They were put in place for a good reason. All you need is a little discipline in your new life and you should have no problems. Rule one: Don’t visit people from your past life. Rule two: Don’t get involved with people who do not concern you. Rule three: Never save someone from death. Rule four: Do not enter the body of a living person. Rule five: Do not fall in love with a living spirit. Rule six: Never harm anyone from the living world. Rule seven: Never reveal yourself to the living. Rule eight: Never forsake your chosen.’

   ‘Sounds easy.’

   ‘You worry me some times, Lucy.’

- CHAPTER FIVE -

The Others

We walked the myriad sombre roadways and found ourselves on the high streets around noon. We were joined by thousands of the living who were on their lunch break, which most of them spent rushing around and chatting on their cell phones. They were all in such a big hurry. Every last one of them would live on for eternity and here they were, counting the minutes and even seconds. They got uptight if they had to wait in a queue for too long, and even became infuriated when a slower person was walking in front of them on the pavement.

   Their actions were robotic, yet their minds were those of confused animals that were trying to cope with existing in a cage. They were all grey and had blurred faces. Emily told me that the more negative a person was, the less visually defined they were. This meant that the vast majority of people were negative. The city was not a cheerful place.

   We did spot a few individuals who were colourful. These were mostly young children, but there were also a few free people who didn’t live by the rules of society, typically teenage artists and musicians or adults who had a will that was stronger than the influences of their peers.

   ‘The living have big problems, don’t they?’ I said, examining the distorted figures as they swarmed over the pavements.

   ‘The living have brought it on themselves. They created cities, endless taxes, pointless laws and even waged wars over differences in their religious beliefs. How ridiculous it all has been… To think they even divided the world up and created borders and claimed areas as their own. How foolish is the notion of countries? How arrogant is it for beings that live no longer than seventy or eighty years to claim a piece of the undying earth as their own. They wave flags and prevent their distant kin from travelling over invisible borders. Don’t ever be fooled, Lucy, humans have brought all this on themselves. They were given the skills and intelligence to be magnificent and artistic, but many end up not being able to afford to live! Living shouldn’t cost a thing. They’ve created a prison for themselves and its becoming very overcrowded.’

   ‘That’s pretty deep.’

   ‘Shut up.’

   ‘I’m serious, Emily. I do understand what you’re saying. I see how pointless their society is now that I’m standing outside looking in at it.’

   ‘I’m just glad I’m ready to leave. Can you see what’s happening to me? I’m slowly being driven bitter by having to look into the world of the living.’

   ‘And you’re not even here that long.’

   ‘Now can you imagine how twisted some spirits can become after spending decades here? Can imagine what goes on in Mia’s mind?’

   ‘That’s something I’d rather not contemplate.’

   ‘Best not to.’

   There was a long silence between us after that. We continued on through the bustling streets and I spent most of the time watching the living hurrying about. Emily spent her time trying to ignore them.

   It was because I was so alert to everyone around me that I noticed the dark figure standing on the opposite side of the street. He looked a little older than me and had the most striking face I’d ever laid eyes on. He was tall and slender, with sharp facial features and long raven hair that swept over his shoulders and across his chest. He was dressed all in black, which made his skin look so white that it was practically glowing. I was officially in love.

   He was as grey as everyone else but wasn’t blurred. Wasn’t anyone who was not blurred meant to have colour? I slowed to a halt and stared across the road at him standing on the opposite pavement. He was facing the road and was watching me carefully. How could he be watching me? Nobody from the living world could see me. That meant he wasn’t in the living world at all. He was in the mirror world with us. And now that I was staring at him, I noticed there was a trace of colour in his eyes - nothing like as bright as mine - but there was a crimson tint to the irises that told me he was a spirit.

   He raised his arm and offered a tentative salute. A hint of a smile brightened his beautiful face. He looked so lonely standing there as the living filed past him on the pavement and my instinct was to go to him.

   I gave a reluctant wave which broadened his smile and lightened his eyes a little. I had to talk to him. I had to find out who he was. I simply had to know him.

   ‘Lucy?’ Emily moaned. ‘Why have you stopped?’

   ‘Look,’ I said, pointing at the male spirit. ‘He’s like us.’

   Emily peered across the street, her head bobbing and weaving as the cars whizzed by. When she got a look at the spirit her eyes became fiery red and her face tightened into a furious grimace. She stomped back to me and grabbed hold of my arm. ‘No, he’s not like us.’ She started dragging me along the pavement. ‘He’s nothing like us.’

   I looked back him and the colour in his eyes disappeared. He appeared to physically shrink with disappointment as we walked away.

   ‘Emily, what’s gotten into you?’

   ‘Come on. Don’t stop.’

   ‘He’s one of us. It’s not against the rules to talk to our own kind, is it?’

   ‘He is not one of us.’

   ‘He looks a lot like us.’

   ‘Not for much longer.’

   We turned a corner onto a side-street and I slammed to a halt and yanked Emily back. Her secrecy had finally broken my patience. I’d had enough of being treated like a child, the novice who wasn’t mature enough to share knowledge with.

   ‘I’m not taking another step before you explain yourself. What do you mean he’s not like us? How is he different?’

   ‘I’ve seen his kind before,’ she said. ‘He still looks like us because he was one of us until fairly recently. Did you see how faded his eyes were?’

   ‘What does it mean?’

   ‘It means his ability to convert energy into positive aura is waning. It means that he is no longer a spirit guide. It means he is now converting energy into negative aura. He must have done something wrong and was punished by the shepherd. That’s what happens: You do something that is forbidden and the shepherd removes your power, breaks your bond with your chosen, and sentences you to roam the mirror world for eternity. That guy looks like us now, but soon he’ll start to lose his mind and become a black spirit - a ghost. Eventually his dark power will diminish and he will become like Mia. He’s much more dangerous than she is, though. He’ll grow strong soon with negative energy and he can do a lot of damage. You can’t talk to him, no matter how nice he seems now. It’s likely he’ll try to befriend a guide for company, but as he changes into a monstrosity he will either destroy the guide or worse, he might drive them insane, too.’

   ‘Him?’ I asked, incredulously. ‘He’s going to transform into one of things you warned me about?’

   ‘Yes. Now can we get going?’

   ‘It doesn’t seem right. He looks like a god, not a monster. And he’s so young.’

   ‘Young!’ Emily scoffed. ‘Don’t let appearances deceive you, Lucy. Remember that guides don’t age in the mirror world. He may have entered this world as a young man but he might have spent decades here.’

   ‘Or he might be new here like me.’

   ‘We’ll never know because you are never going to talk to him. Let’s get moving. I want to go somewhere different.’

   Emily had been very tense since we entered the city and her face was rigid with angst. It hadn’t been helped by the incident with the ghost. I could see she needed to get away from the hordes of living that flowed around us. I humoured her by agreeing to accompany her to wherever she wanted to go.

   ‘These streets and the busy little shoppers are annoying me,’ she spat. ‘Let’s go some place quieter.’

   ‘There’s a park near here,’ I suggested. ‘It’s just up the past the next corner. It might be a little more cheerful than the high streets.’

   ‘That sounds nice,’ Emily nodded. ‘Let’s get some fresh energy.’

   Along the way to the park we passed the rusted iron gates of the old cemetery that was squeezed between the rear of a hotel and a multi-storey car park. I had never noticed it before and approached it out of simple curiosity. I strolled to the gates and peered through the weathered bars at the faded headstones and broken statues. Strangely, I felt as if an unseen force was dragging me towards the graves. It was a subtle pull, like the initial attraction of two magnets. Emily kept her distance and her face had gone very dull.

   ‘What’s up with you now?’ I asked, looking back at her. ‘Scared of a graveyard?’

   ‘Very,’ she replied soberly. ‘Come away from the gates and don’t ever return to this place.’

   ‘Why? Do black spirits hang out here?’

   ‘You will find no spirits in that place, Lucy. Let’s not dawdle here.’

   ‘Not until you tell me why you’re so frightened of this place.’

   ‘There are dead bodies beneath that ground. Bodies with no spirits within them.’

   ‘I fail to see why that would frighten you.’

   ‘Spirits can get sucked into empty bodies, Lucy. They’re like magnets to us - I’m sure you can feel something pulling you forward?’

   ‘Yeah, I can just about feel it.’

   ‘If you walk on a grave you could be dragged below into the empty vessel beneath. You could become trapped down there for all time.’

   ‘Right…’ I slowly backed away from the gates. It was at terrifying prospect. To be trapped forever in a dead body buried in the ground would be an unimaginable torture. I’d steer clear of graveyards from now on.

   ‘Can we leave now?’ Emily moaned.

   ‘Yes, let’s.’

   The park was filled with flowers and winding paths, and was shielded from the city by a border of tall, leafy oaks. We wandered the serene walkways until we came to its centre where there was a wide pond that was dominated by a large fountain that spurted fizzing water high into the air. I sat on the stone ledge surrounding the pool and took in the peaceful setting. Emily sat next to me and sighed wearily. She was even thinner than she had been that morning and her face was old and wizened. She also seemed unable to cope with being near the living people for any length of time.

   ‘What’s going to happen to you?’ I asked. ‘I mean, what happens when someone passes from this world in to the world beyond?’

   ‘Dying is the same in every world, Lucy. I’ll grow too weak to do anything and then I’ll just simply lie down and die.’

   ‘This is not going to be a pleasant couple of days, is it?’

   ‘Try to remember what I said about sorrow. It may be natural to feel sad as you watch me die, but imagine that I’ll be passing into a higher place and I’ll be a thousand times stronger after I leave here.’

   ‘I’ll still be sad that you’re gone.’ I held her frozen hand. ‘I do like you. You’re kind of like the sister I never had … I just can’t figure out if you’re my big sister or my little sister.’

   ‘You’re so silly,’ she smiled. ‘I shall miss you too, Lucy. Although, I am certain we’ll see one another again, in a different time and a much happier place.’

   ‘I do hope so.’

   ‘Do you have any more questions about your duties as a guide?’

   ‘You said that you influenced me over the years. I was wondering how a guide can do that to their chosen?’ 

   ‘It happens quite naturally after a spirit bonds with a human. You must spend as much time with them as possible if you want to increase your influence over them. Your auras will gravitate towards each other over time and eventually they will blend together. When that happens, you can control their thoughts when you need to.’

   ‘How long does it take for the auras to blend?’

   ‘Sometimes it happens right away, other times it can take a few months. There is one other way - a more direct way - but it is dangerous and can bring about unwanted attention.’

   ‘How is it done?’

   ‘By walking directly into them and occupying their body. The living call it possession. Don’t ever do it. Actually, I shouldn’t have told you about it. I know exactly how reckless you are.’

   ‘I’ll stay out of trouble.’

   ‘You better,’ she said, raising her eyebrows. ‘All my hard work will have been for nothing if you don’t.’

   ‘You worry too much,’ I told her. ‘So, I just find my chosen and hang out with them. It’s sounds straight forward enough.’

   ‘There’s a little more to it than that. You will have to bond when you first meet which can sometimes be difficult to deal with.’

   ‘What does this bonding involve exactly?’

   ‘A spirit can only become the guide for a living human if they shed a tear. The tear must then be placed on the chosen’s body and it will find its way to the their heart.’

   ‘But we can’t cry.’

   ‘We can cry if we feel strongly enough. It will manifest itself as a tear but it is really just a part of our inner aura separating from us.’

   ‘Inner aura?’

   ‘It is the deepest and strongest part of our aura. Passing some of this aura to another is what makes the bond occur.’

   ‘I wonder what my chosen will be like,’ I said, after contemplating the inner aura for a time. ‘I hope it’s not some snot nosed brat.’

   ‘The chosen are usually very vibrant individuals who will constantly amaze you.’

   ‘Did I amaze you? Did I ever do anything amazing?’

   ‘I told you already,’ she replied crankily, ‘each of the chosen will do one thing in their life that will have a great impact on the world.’

   ‘I didn’t.’

   ‘You didn’t do much in life but you may still do something very special as a spirit.’

   ‘I doubt it.’

   ‘We’ll see. I think you’ll do something extraordinary before you leave this place.’

She took a look at the sweeping trees and her eyes flowed from grey to lilac. The fresh surroundings seemed to brighten her mood slightly. ‘I like it here.’

   ‘It’s certainly a welcome change to high streets and freeways.’

   ‘It’s not without its dangers,’ she said, pointed towards the centre of the park. ‘You see the elder tree over there?’

   ‘Yes.’

   ‘Never approach that tree. There’s an unmarked grave right in front of it.’

   ‘How do you know about it if it’s unmarked?’

   ‘The spirit that guided my guide knew about the burial - it was a long time and the body was to be hidden for some reason. Anyway, just steer clear of it. You don’t want to be sucked down there and get trapped in a dusty corpse for all eternity, do you?’

   We stayed at the park for most of the afternoon and I would have gladly remained there longer. Emily insisted that we could not linger though, and that we had to make our way to the suburbs. We needed to be in the vicinity of my chosen when night world returned so that we could find the beacon.

   I thought we were in for a long walk along the grey streets, but to my surprise, Emily suggested we take a bus. It had sure been a weird couple of days but the most surreal part of it all was riding on a bus. Here we were, two spirits of the mirror world sitting on a bus and staring out the window at the living world.

   Emily sat silently watching the city fade into suburb. She didn’t say much as the day wore on and she looked truly dreadful. Her face was growing skeletal and her eyes were almost black. It was heartbreaking to watch her deteriorate so quickly. I could do little to comfort her. I had to be emotionless. I contained my compassion as best I could.