Death. It was everywhere. It was everything. And it called to me. They called to me. Begging, pleading, screaming. It took everything in me to keep them at bay. In a place like this, it was easy for me to lose control. The line between life and death, so thin here, could easily be broken.
I heard his footsteps before they told me he was behind me.
"Why do you stay here?" I had to know what was keeping him here.
"What?" I could tell he was caught off guard. Most likely wondering what I was doing in his house at four in the morning.
I walked into a side room, or rather what was left of one. Ashes and char filled every inch of this house. Glass crunched beneath my bare feet but I felt nothing.
"They don't want you to be here. They want you to move on."
"What the hell are you talking about? Who sent you here?" Perhaps the only thing preventing him from attacking me was his confusion. Why was a girl here in the middle of the night, dressed in only a lavender nightgown, talking about his house?
"Death lives here, in the shadows. It clings to the walls. It clings to you." I turned to face the man before me. "You're comforted by the shadows because they welcome you. You can feel them in the shadows, can't you?"
"What? Who's them? Who are you?" The confusion over me was wearing off and irritation was taking its place. I was starting to grow tired. They wanted to speak to him so badly. For a moment, I was lost with one of them. His mother, I believe.
"Listen, you need to get out of here, now-" Irritated by my lack of response, the man grabbed a hold of my upper arm. The skin-to-skin contact was too much for me and I lost control. They came at me faster and harder than I could stop them. They reached out for him. Desperately trying to communicate. The pressure in my head grew until they finally broke free.
"What the…" Startled, the man turned around furiously, dragging me with him. From the shadows they came. Transparent, almost see through figures emerged. His mother, who I had spoken to earlier, reached for the man with sad eyes.
"Mom, Dad-" His voice broke as he stared at the figures before him in disbelief. Stepping forward, extending his hand to his mother's, he released my arm, breaking the connection. The figures instantly disappeared.
"What…no! Where did they go? Bring them back!" Grasping both of my arms now I looked into his grey eyes and could see nothing but pain. I knew what it would do to me, but suddenly I could only feel his pain. It was heartbreaking. And I had the ability to cure it…at least for a moment.
And so I let him pass over the line separating the two worlds. For as long as I could, I let him see his family. They told him they loved him, and he said he was sorry. They told him not to worry, they didn't blame him. They told him to move on, to let them go. After all, they were in the past now. It wasn't long before I grew tired, and soon I felt the shadows coming for me. I could feel warmth around my upper lip. As darkness pulled me under, the man said goodbye to his family for the second time.