Part 2: Ravens Ridge- missing person

But what he didn’t know was that he would see those souls again, those souls from the hospital, struggling to get to the other side; lost in their attachment to the world they have never quite known.

He would finally know where they went when their eyes were closed on the hospital bed, and they were still breathing.

In Chaims case, he was in one world and when he wasn’t in one, he was in another. But as for those he’s yet to see, they were split in two and in both places at the same time in the same reality.

‘If only I could kill him, ask him how it feels… all I’ve been was nice.’ Chaims disgruntled thoughts came swirling in the wind.

‘Be careful with your emotions, they are the same ones that will lead you astray. We are here for one reason only.’ replied the Raven.

‘What could go wrong, don’t I need it to set him straight?.’ Chaim asked, his words sliding across salivated tongue.

‘He is the only one we need to take, no other. If you go too far, we will be trapped here...’

‘Where is he, you know more than I do, this was your idea.’

‘…the idea you agreed to follow.’

The raven looked towards the coming cars. Chaims mouth was getting dry and there was a slight itch at the back of his throat.

But the urges of the living didn’t last in Chaims new body. Not the itch beneath his hat, it started off as a movement — an insect trapped inside his hair. So it felt, and so he thought.

There was a father in the park that he was now standing in front of, the man was hunched over his child, ‘your arm goes through here I think’, said the father.

Chaim looked towards him, but the raven flew away. He didn’t want to go, the man reminded him of his own father and he wondered what life would be like if he had just stayed home.

The man had a blue roll top bag, but his back was towards Chaim, it was the same bag his father used to wear.

For months chaims picture was glued to the fences, the side of walls, in various cities. But no one knew where he went.

Some speculated that his soul was gone and so was his body, taken by a raven? By many, they said, 434 of them marched into the club. They took him, they took him far away.

He became unaware of his surroundings, feeling a strange sense of knowing. But knowing what, where was his conscious reasoning?

He began to have a physical sensation of the alcohol going down his throat, then an emotional response; unease with dull and distant anger. The mental image faded away, then he knew the man was close. The leader, the one behind his death. Him and the souls that were in the hospital.

Brought back into his shoes and under his hat, his new body felt like it was there. He looked at his arms and his shoes, then he ran to meet with the Raven, his companion in darkness.

He was just as exposed as he was in the club when he came to the river, he remembered how much he didn’t like his face, how everything about him didn’t seem cool enough.

He'd never dated anyone, no one seemed to like his average looks; his short brown hair and his wide smile that showed no lips, and that left eye that looked too sleepy, too creepy.

"We didn’t come here for sightseeing, they are coming up the banks. Duck! make them unaware, then when you see him snip it!’ The raven's words came like waves, crashing against Chaims mind and into his understanding.

So he ducked, the adrenaline blurring the feeling in his tired legs. Then he saw him, thick neck, tall but was made to look pathetic in his hospital gown. Chaim snipped the cord and he rolled down the bank, mud and dead leaves sticking to him as he disappeared down towards the river.

It was over, he felt relieved. But the raven took the scissors and snipped the cord of another person then Chaim was mauled by a spirit dog who was white in colour, spotted and speckled, all three went back to the waiting room of souls. His body turned into swirls of blue smoke, it dissipated and faded in between the twigs on the trees.

But what did it mean, was he to be punished or was he to be awarded after the entire human race have been laid to rest? Afterall, a spirit cannot kill a spirit but the one who set the rules will burn the body reincarnated. The serpent in the body of a raven.

A/N : Thank you so much for reading, this is part 2. You can read part 1 below