GIMI Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

I slowly hovered off Isis’ garden and flew into the clear blue sky. I looked behind me and saw Shigure tailing behind me not so far behind.
“Where do we go first when we get to Nippon?” I shouted.
“Your house, I guess,” Shigure replied, “You provided the transportation. I don’t wanna seem ungrateful!”

I looked down and took a final glimpse of the garden before ascending into the air. I felt so free. The wind rushed through my long blonde hair, the pressure was off my feet. Before heading toward a desired path, I twirled in the air and absorbed all my emotions, living the moment.

I ascended higher into the air and said, “Which way do we go?”
Shigure whipped out a telekinetic thread and threw one end of it in a certain direction. “That way.” She said.

I followed the direction of Shigure’s thread. I looked below and saw the landscaped change from one plain to another. I heard Shigure’s voice “Can’t wait to get home!”
“Me too!” I shouted back.
Shigure looked at me in surprise, “I didn’t say anything.”
I shook my head in confusion.

After a few minutes, I saw Nippon under me, “I’m going down!” I said when I saw familiar places under us; it was my school.

“Nobody’s here.” I said.
“It’s a Saturday.” Shigure said, “There’s no school on Saturdays, remember?”
I lost track of time and dates when I was in Anathema, they were never of any importance.

We landed in front of the school gates then I said, “Let’s go!” I ran towards my house and Shigure followed suit.

The front door of my house was open so I just ran in. My parents jumped from their seats at the sight of me.
They were watching T.V., “Bewitched” was on. On the television was an oatmeal raisin cookie with the raisins arranged in such a way that it looked like a smiling face.

“Iris!” my dad said, “We have been worried sick!” he ran over and hugged me tight. My mom followed, “When we haven’t heard of you for weeks, we had assumed the worst!”
I introduced them to Shigure, and then we all shared some juice in the backyard.

“So,” my mom started the conversation, “where have you been, Iris? Has anything changed? Are you in trouble?”
My parents listened intently.
“I found out that I-“ I thought whether to tell them of my talent or not.
“Found out what, Iris?” My dad asked.
Shigure was silent for quite some time.

I sighed and said, “I belong in this group called Anathema.” Before either of my parents could speak, I said, “Watch this.”

I shifted my gaze to the glass of iced tea on the table. It shook a bit, but it rose into the air and slowly floated toward my mom, who snatched it from the air reluctantly.

“That is what we do in Anathema.” I said. Shigure seemed shocked at my actions.

The opened their mouths to speak, but I just said, “I just found out the day after I got to Anathema.”

We were silent for a while, but then I broke the ice. I started talking about Anathema, about Shigure, Isis, David, Cole, Lance, Integra, Soren and even Joshua. They listened intently at the details and such.

“So,” my mom interrupted hesitantly, “you have to go back?”
I looked at her with tears in my eyes and said, “Yes, but we’ll see each other again.
“As long as you don’t start dating anytime soon!” my dad joked. I laughed, and so did my mom and Shigure.

“We’ll be heading off now.” I said, rising from my seat. My parents rose and hugged me tightly. When we were already outside the house, I asked, “Should we go to your house now, Shigure?”
She agreed and she led me her house. It was a quaint house a few blocks away from mine. The windows were open and the wind was blowing the curtains, swaying them. The front doors were blocked by a bright yellow plastic ribbon with the words “Police Line, do not cross” printed on it.

“What!” Shigure exclaimed and tore the tape in half, barging into the house. I followed closely behind. Inside, there were antiques and pieces of furniture, but there was an eerie aura of emptiness everywhere.
“What happened?” Shigure said. She ran across the room and scanned the environment. She let out a loud scream.
I ran to her and said, “What is it?”
She pointed to a spot on the ground with the outline of a man and a woman in white chalk. There were marks of dried blood on the floor. Shigure dropped to her knees and began to cry.
I bent down to pat her back and comfort her. “What happened?” she said.
I looked around and saw a newspaper, it was two days old. On the front page was a picture of Shigure’s parents; standing next to each other. I recognized them from a picture Shigure had shown me when we were still in school. Above it were the words, “Local Residents Killed By Unknown Robber”

I placed it before Shigure and she cried even harder.

All of a sudden, the wind and the light from the beaming sun got stronger. The floor tiles broke and a small apple tree emerged from beneath it. “Huh?” I said.
A cloaked figure emerged from behind the tree. “Hello there” he said.

“Who are you?” Shigure wiped her tears.
“I am Balberith.” The cloaked figure said and picked an apple from the tree then handed it to Shigure, “Take a bite. Every time you do, you can make a wish and it will come true.”
Shigure stared at the apple for a while before she took it. We both gazed at it for a while. “Will you do it?” I asked her.
She looked at Balberith and asked, “There must be a catch!”
Balberith’s face was hidden beneath his hood, but we could tell he was looking directly at us, “Take but one bite, and your soul is condemned to eternal damnation. Once you finish the apple, and there is nothing left but its core, you shall die and your soul is sent directly to hell!”
With that, a small portion of the floor opened up, spitting out yellow and red flames. Balberith jumped in and the ground closed.

Shigure alternated her gaze between me and the apple. Tears fell from her eyes and to the ground, some landed on the apple.

“I love you mom and dad.” She said. She lifted the red fruit to her lips and bit a large chunk off it.

The windows started opening and closing violently, the curtains tore off their hangers and swirled around the room, the lights flickered on and off. Shigure stood up and hugged me tightly, “Hold me!” she said.

Everything stopped as fast as they began. The curtains fell to the ground, the windows stayed open and the lights turned off.

All of a sudden, there was a knock on the door. We waited for the knocking to stop, but instead, the door opened by itself and Shigure’s parents entered.

“Mom! Dad!” Shugure let go of me and ran towards her parents, “I’m so happy you’re alive!”
“Where could she be?” The dad said. He walked right through Shigure as if she was made of gas, “It’s been more than a month!”
Shigure looked at me, searching for an answer. I raised my shoulders.
The mom walked passed Shigure and said, “How much more do we have? Have we paid the investigator yet?”
“I’m afraid that we’re nearly bankrupt! We’ll have to find some other way to get some money.” The dad said. He walked to the closed behind Shigure and took out a can of shoe polish. “I don’t have anything to do this weekend, so what do you say?” he looked at Shigure’s mom, “For her?”
A tear rolled down the mom’s face, “Yes… for her.” She hugged him tightly.

All of a sudden, time seemed to stop.

Balberith appeared behind Shigure, “Now is your chance, you can save your parents from dying. But, act quickly!” All of a sudden, he vanished.

A hole appeared on the ceiling and Soren fell through, landing on his feet. Shigure’s parents stared at him.

“I won’t be long. Just tell me, how can I kill your daughter.” He said, “you see, telekinesis is becoming a real bother to me. I can never seem to penetrate it.”
The dad looked at Soren and said, “I will never tell you!”
He looked at them as if he was reading a book, then gave up.
“Then you do not want to know where she is?” Soren said.
“We’d rather not know where is but know she’s alive rather than kill her!” the mom said.
“Oh well, you brought this on yourself.” Soren said. He faced his palm at the two parents and said, “Either tell me or you die!”

The two parents started to scream in pain. They dropped to the floor with their hands on their heads, squirming.

Shigure whipped out her telekinetic thread and tossed it to Soren, who caught it with his hands, “My, my. When did you get here?”
Shigure’s parents stood up and stared at her, “Shigure!” they hugged her.

Soren took a sword from his side and prepared to strike at Shigure’s back.
Before he could even swing his blade, I focused at one of the wooden coffee tables and made it fly over Soren then dropped it on his head.
He dropped his blade as he fell to the ground. The table legs barely missed his head as it fell with a loud thud.

“Shigure!” the dad hugged her tightly, but Shigure pushed him away gently.
“We have to go! You have to hide! You are not safe as long as I am alive!” Shigure said, “I will miss you dearly, but I promise that we’ll see each other again!” She gestured for us to leave.

Outside her house, I focused hard and we both lifted from the ground and flew towards Egypt.

I sobbed a few tears for my parents, “I love you both!” I thought to myself. I knew that my parents heard me. I looked back and saw Shigure weeping a few tears of her own.