This choice: You ask the lady her name • Go Back... You appraise the soulless body. Slumped against a brick wall in the alleyway is the body of a young woman, eyes closed, raven-coloured hair tussled and messy. Her dress is torn at the waist. Her pert breasts rise and fall gently with each breath, though you can tell her breathing is very shallow. Her skin looks unnaturally pale, to which you attribute her body's ebbing vitality. Furthermore, you notice the track marks on her forearm and wrists, the pronounced cheekbones, the disheveled appearance and worn out makeup.
This woman, whoever she is, must be a prostitute, one who seems abused in more ways than one (you can only imagine the drugs coursing through her bloodstream right now).
And this woman, who you've just met, suggests that you possess this body?
You spin around and glare at the woman suspiciously, who floats there calmly without a care in the world. Obviously, she isn't possessing this body, so why should you?
"I don't want this body... I want my old body back! Someone stole it from me! Can you help me get back to normal?"
The ethereal woman shakes her head and replies, "I'm sorry, Lost One, but that's quite impossible. Once one of our own possesses a fledgling and their soul is ejected from their body, they become one of us."
"A... fledgling?" You ask.
"Very much like a newborn bird, having fallen out of its nest. You are struggling in the leaves on the ground, coming to terms with your new abilities, not fully appreciating the destiny awaiting you." The woman explains in her strange tone. "Although we all begin that way: mere fledglings abandoned from the nest of the living, but we all learn how to fly eventually. Some of us choose to occupy another nest... and others like myself choose to wander the skies forever."
You watch other people walking about the sidewalks, entering and leaving stores, talking and chatting without any of them noticing you or the enigmatic female apparition levitating next to you. Going about their lives, some of them even pass through you! But you feel nothing. You notice you're no longer starving, no longer feel the cool sea breeze or the warmth of the mid-day sun. Like your faded, semi-transparent form, everything feels muted. You begin to calm down, even though you're still pretty distraught about having your life stolen by what sounds like another of these so-called "Lost Ones".
"Let us take a stroll along the beach, shall we?" Suggests the woman, and you two hover across the boardwalk and back to the golden sanded beach, where you and your girlfriend were less than half an hour ago.
---
"I have always liked the beach. The rhythmic cresting of the waves, the occasional ship on the horizon, the carefree attitude of beach goers." She narrates, more to herself it seems than to you. You follow alongside her as you stroll down the beach, not saying much for a while as you eventually find yourself alone with her.
"What is your name?" You ask.
As if she had forgotten you were there, she turns to face you. "My name?" She repeats pleasantly. "I used to have a human name, but I haven't gone by that for decades. I suppose you can call me Sapphire."
Sapphire. The name makes as much sense as any, you surmise. Between her bluish spiritual aura and her jewel-like azure eyes piercing through you, or her elegant demeanor as if she hadn't a care in the world, she seemed like a woman who carried herself with poise.
"Nice to meet you I guess... my name is --"
"Not important anymore..." Sapphire interrupts you gently, stopping for a moment. "It's better to forget the person you used to be. Release yourself from your old life in both body and mind, and you will know peace."
"That may be fine for you, but I came to the beach with my girlfriend and now someone else is in my body! What if he... does something bad to her? Something bad to me?" You sputter.
"How can you be harmed now?" She replies undisturbed. "Here you are with me... as a Lost One, nothing can harm you."
Whether she understands your concern or not, she hides it well behind her neutral visage. Or perhaps this woman has been a wandering soul for a long time... she did say her body was stolen decades ago, right? So you ask, "Why didn't you take that body from earlier? Why give it to me?"
"I already said, some of us choose to take a new human form for ourselves. I prefer to remain unbounded, free to roam wherever I please. Of course, you do not have to occupy the same body, once possessed, forever. I imagine the Lost One who stole your body saw something about your life it liked."
"So then... he could de-possess my body and leave it like... that woman's body from earlier?" You ask uneasily.
Sapphire pauses for a moment. "Yes, I suppose it is possible." Causing a chill to run down your incorporeal spine. She adds, "Without a soul, the human body is frail, like a seashell. It can expire within 48 hours if left empty. In addition, if a human body expires whilst a Lost One is occupying its form, then both body and soul perish forever. As a free roaming spirit, however, nothing can cause you to expire."
"But you don't get to enjoy being alive... being human." You retort.
"For every benefit, there is a cost." She answers simply. "For every blessing... a curse. How you choose to view it is your affair. But this is how we Lost Ones get by over time."
"Over time..." You muse aloud. "So how long have you been like this? As a 'Lost One'?"
"I remember the day as clearly as if it were yesterday," Sapphire begins. "It was the 18th of April, 1920. I was in the flower of womanhood at the time, having borne my third child to a man employed in the merchant marine of a country that no longer exists. On his many voyages, he would return with the most exotic gifts and stories that made my heart ache for the unknown. The romantic appeal of journeying to a new life, a new world, unburdened by caring for the children and the farmstead and a dozen other tedious and frustrating problems that humans no longer deal with regularly. The chance to begin anew spoke out to me in my dreams... but they would remain dreams for a long time.
"Then the Great War came, and a lot of young men lost their lives in the tragic struggle. My husband was one of them, along with two of my children when the flu came and went. The Four Horsemen made their respite at my door and would not leave until they were full and satisfied in my misery. I found no reason to live, with my third child having died shortly thereafter in a carriage accident. Released from any life purpose, I decided to sell my belongings and purchase passage to this country.
"While out on the sea, that 18th of April, I remember standing out on deck overlooking the shoreline. The ship was about to make port. And as clearly as I see you right now, I saw a spirit appear before me. Where she came from I'll never know. She possessed my body and expelled me from it, in much the same way as happened to you I imagine.
"At first, I was furious and confused. I tried to overshadow her, but it was fruitless. For several months I haunted my old body, never tiring, reminding its new occupant of whose life it had stolen. None of this was interesting, and her willpower was too strong. She outlasted my patience, and then one day she was murdered. A robber broke into her house, there was a confrontation. That left me alone, until I found others like myself. Other Lost Ones."
Sapphire recounted her story as dispassionately as if she were retelling someone else's life. That caused you to ask another question. "You seem to remember a lot about your old life. Yet... you told me to forget about who we used to be. You said it's easier that way."
"I do believe that... no good can come of dwelling upon one's old life." She nodded. "I keep it as a reminder of the fleetingness of human life. The robbery occurred by chance; he could have selected any house within the dozen or so around where she lived. Death comes upon us at any time... but as Lost Ones we can escape his grasp."
"So... you're afraid?" You conclude. "Afraid of dying? Having seen it over and over again, you don't want it to happen to you... so you won't even take the chance to be human again."
"That is my preference," Sapphire replied, more icily than before. "Life is nasty, brutish, and short. Death always follows wherever it goes. But to escape this cycle, to exist eternally as a soul, has a lot to recommend it. Not everyone thinks as I do, but I am not alone."
You thought about her perspective, about being a soul existing but never really living. Never really dying. You could go on like this, but there's so much more to life isn't there? Maybe Sapphire is right, maybe you can't return to your old body. But you could at least assume another human form and live a decent life. Maybe you could even persuade Sapphire to take a risk, to try becoming human again.
"There are others like us," She announces to you. "I can take you to see them, but the journey is quite long. Are you coming with me? Or shall we meet again, some time?"
How do you respond?
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