Shattered Soul

Chapter 2- Lost

My blood went cold like poison when those words escaped Sonia's mouth. me? dead? Impossible!

"d-dead?" I stuttered in complete shock, "that's not possible! Look at me! I'm here!"

"You're dead," Sonia repeated with a glint of compassion in her voice, "this is YOUR funeral."

I still could not believe it! I refused to! I couldn't be dead! That meant… no…

"Just think about it, Frankie," Sonia explained, "since you got here, nobody has been able to see you, haven they? You couldn't even touch your mother and nobody hears you. As if you weren't here at all…"

"SHUT UP!" I screamed at her in anger as I took my fins to my ears and turned away. However, as I was looking out in the window, I could see one figure peeking from there… a figure I knew too well.

"Lenny!" I swam towards the window, but I just swam through it. damn, I was still getting used to this fiasco… the window should have shattered into millions of pieces, but it was still intact. And I had no scratched… anyway, I swam towards my brother.

"Lenny, you idiot!" I growled at him, "how could you leave me there-?"

But when I tried to smack him, my fin went right through him. and he didn't even notice me, neither. I felt my heart accelerating its pulse.

"See?" Sonia swam closer to me, "you're a ghost. They can't see you, hear you and they can't even sense you're here, Frankie,"

"Hey, listen, you're starting to get on-!" I stopped abruptly when I realized one thing, "how do you know my name?"

"I'm the Keeper of the Dead; when someone dies, it is my duty to collect the soul and take it to the afterlife. Long story short, I know everything about all the people I have collected, you included," she explained

Keeper of the Dead? Pop had told Lenny and me stories about the Keeper, but u had never believed them… I always thought he only told us that so that we would behave.

"If you know EVERYTHING about me, then tell me a personal thing of mine," I smirked mockingly; there was no way she could answer that.

Sonia, however, simply sighed annoyingly

"When your brother, Leonard, was born, you loved to annoy him by taking away his pacifier… oh, and your full name is Franklin Lino,"

My smirk faded away; how did she know that…? This meant… was she really a Keeper of the Dead?

"So… that means you're going to take me away?" I raised one eyebrow

"On your case, not yet. I can clearly see you still have some loose strings here," Sonia replied.

"What do you mean with loose strings?"

"It means you have some unfinished business,"

Unfinished business? What did it mean? Argh! Whatever! But how did I die? It had no sense… had the anchor I spotted earlier something to do with it? this was stressing me to no end… I was so deep in my thoughts that I almost missed Lenny swimming away from the ship.

"Lenny!" I swam after him, again forgetting he could not see or hear me. he seemed hurt, but I had not paid attention to what he was spying on, but then it hit me… Pop.

He must have said something that made Lenny feel bad, and apparently Lenny had not taken it kindly…

"So? Where are we going?" I heard Sonia's voice from behind again; I turned my head back and saw she was holding a grip on my dorsal fin.

"Why are you following me?" I snarled at her without taking my eyes off my runaway brother.

"It's my duty! I'm supposed to keep an on you until you're ready to go on," she replied almost yelling

"well, you're wasting your time because I don't need a babysitter" I'm not a pup!" I snapped indignantly

"Hey, look! I don't make the rules, okay?i just follow them!"

I rolled my eyes in annoyance and returned my gaze to my brother. He suddenly slowed down his pace and eventually came to a halt behind a large boulder. He then rested in the sandy ground and covered his face with his fins.

"I'm sorry, pop," he whispered in sorrow and guilt before starting to cry.

For the first time in years, my heart sank when I saw Lenny cry like this… I had not felt like this since I had to defend Lenny against some bullies when he was four years old. How I wished he could see me so I could comfort him… this made me actually feel sorry for him.

"How painful, isn't it? You can see him suffer like this and you can't do anything about it," Sonia's voice interrupted again.

"Would you be compassionate for me, at least?" I growled, "you have no idea how it feels to see somebody you love suffering while being able to do nothing about it!"

"But I DO have idea, Franklin!" she replied indignantly, but she called me by my FULL name! "I was alive once, so I know how it feels to watch someone suffer while being unable to help it!"

"Don't call me by my full name!" I snapped

After a while, while I was trying to calm down, I heard voices in the distance.

"Lenny!" they were calling out for my brother

A soon as Lenny heard them; he quickly swam out of sight. I barely had time to react.

"Lenny, wait for me!" I called out as I swiftly swam after him. I felt Sonia getting a hold of my dorsal fin once again. I ignored her and swam as fast as I could, but I had a hard time catching up to Lenny; he was one of the fastest sharks of the reef. I still had to get used to that 'invisible' thing. The sun began to set in the distance and I noticed Lenny was heading towards the reef. Just what was going on inside his head?