Chapter One: Goodbye (Vienna's Point of View)

Running, panting, fear running through her veins…my veins. They chased her… The Seekers, running after her, screaming after her. "Anne! Anne! Don't get hurt," they'd said. But she kept running until she hit a fence too tall for her to climb. She was stuck and she was weakened by starvation and thirst. They caught her. She did her best to fight them, but before she knew it she was stabbed with a needle and everything fell to blackness.

I jolted from sleep dripping in cold sweat and my mouth dry. This happened every night. Her memories would replay over and over. She wasn't a strong human, she knew I wouldn't harm her or get her harmed, so she gave in except replaying the memories. The day before her voice faded she'd said I'm only replaying these memories, because I'm human, your body is human. You must remember that and I trust you unlike the other two Souls who have claimed my body. You are as close to a human as any alien can get. Remember this body is human. Those were the last words she'd said to me. Sometimes I can still feel her presence, like when I draw or paint. She'll send signals on how to move my hand to give the picture a certain effect other than that she'd locked up almost dead, I had never forced her to do that. She'd chosen it.

Sometimes even though I know she is basically dead, which is sad, I speak to her through my thoughts. I call her by her name Anne. She had given me a name before she left. She told me she had wanted to name her future daughter this name. That's why my name is Vienna, like the city in Austria. Anne was of Austrian decent and I have her body now. I've grown to love the features of my new body, my dark chocolate brown eyes, my olive toned skin, my long odd wavy almost black hair, my full heart shaped lips, my bushy eyebrows, and my broad and sturdy build that somehow also looked so delicate and feminine.

I moved my hair from my face and wiped my face with the rag I kept on my night stand every night. Lately Anne has been showing me different memories, memories she had kept locked before. Recently I had been feeling trapped and suffocated by having to be so much like others. I read books about human and how they acted differently from Souls like me. I loved how different they were from each other, in looks, in opinions, in likes and dislikes, and in ultimately everything!

Desert, my mother gave me a book on the desert it's in the living room! Grab it! Get it now! If you are truly tired of this grab it! Anne yelled at me for the first time in nine months. I ran to the living room and grabbed it. She showed me an image of one of the pages in the middle of the book, page 137 with an index card with directions to somewhere new to somewhere with hope and happiness. Go! Go now! Anne screamed.

I was ready for where ever she was sending me. After nine months of solitude and silence if she said something that meant I must do it. Anne knew me more than I do. Hurriedly I grabbed the biggest backpack I own, which was fairly big, and filled the bottom with bottle and bottles upon bottles of water. I then filled it with granola bars, raisins, beef jerky and other things that wouldn't expire. I grabbed things from my giant medicine closet. Twelve months ago my Healer Blue Seas gave all the supplies I could ever need, because my host would do anything to get the Soul out of her body. One time in the first few months she made me stab myself in my stomach and then my arm. Thankfully I had what I needed to heal myself.

I took everything from the cabinet and threw it in my bag. Then I grabbed clothes. I grabbed three t-shirts, underwear two extra bras, a two pairs of shorts, one pair of sweatpants, and extra socks. I threw my pajamas in the bag too. I pulled another t-shirt over my head, pulled on a pair of jeans, then put on socks and a good sturdy pair of sneakers. My backpack was completely full so I slipped the index card into my bra and through my hair into a ponytail, then grabbed my flash light.

It took me a half hour walking to find where I had to go first in order to make it to the first stop. It was freezing but it was better to walk now than at midday. I was lucky my host's home was already close to where she was sending me. It took me a day and a half of painstaking walking to make it to the first check point. There I rested for twelve hours. I hid in a small broken and filthy shed and ate and drank and slept. When the sun set again I started walking again. I could here wild animals hunting. I acted like I had no fear even though I was horrified. I knew if I acted fearless they wouldn't touch me. When I got to the second checkpoint it had been a week since I had left. I was starting to think I was going crazy and Anne was trying to kill me. I promise you I'm not trying to kill you. Keep going! Just keep going! She yelled and I kept moving.

As I walked for the next three days I compared myself to Anne. She had always been shy, sweet, and gentle. She was geeky in middle school. She had one friend her entire life until her friend became inhabited by Soul and got her caught. I was like her in the friendship area except I had no friends. I'm blunt, loud, tough, and talkative, but also sweet, caring, nurturing and most of all worrisome. Anne liked math and science and logical things. I like art, dancing, dreaming, and hoping. She and I are very different except the body that we share.

When I reached the third checkpoint I could feel Anne fading from me. It made me angry and upset and depressed. Anne was my friend, my best friend. I didn't really like the Souls I've met. They're all the same, nice and polite, and most of all boring.

Don't leave. Please. Just don't leave, I begged her.

You don't need me anymore Vienna you're at the final check point. I have to leave now. Burn the directions so no other Soul can find it. They'll destroy you and if there's others they'll destroy you too. Goodbye Vienna. I'm glad you're the Soul in my body. If it was anyone else they'd be dead, she said. A small smile filled my face.

Goodbye Anne. I'll miss you, I thought.

Tell the others about me. Promise? She asked.

I promise, I thought smiling and she was gone. Completely and utterly gone. I felt empty. It was only me in this body. Anne is gone.