Chapter 2

“Your boyfriend…does he live here with you?” I ask Scilla the next day, after finally convincing her that she can sleep. My soul couldn’t get back to sleep after the memory resurfaced - I spent the rest of the night combing through it, seeing what hints about my life I could get.

And about them. My parents. 

“Yes, but he isn’t around that much, despite it being his house. I just um. I can’t really s-satisfy him anymore, so he goes elsewhere. He only comes back to take his anger out on me,” Scilla whispers, wrapping her arms around herself and shaking slightly. 

Wishing I could hug her, instead all I am able to do is send her some sort of vaguely comforting feeling through our souls. I think it helps though, somewhat. Or at the very least, I hope it does.

“Have you ever gone to the police about him?” I ask, watching as Scilla sits down at her dressing table and begins expertly applying concealer over her bruises. They’ve faded somewhat in the two days since I fused with Scilla, but they’re still plenty obvious.

“No, it would just make him more angry. And besides, without him I have nowhere to live. But he just came back the other day, so he’ll be gone for around another week or so,” Scilla explains. It makes me sad as I watch her cover up the little scars all over her body, knowing that someone did this to her.

“The next time he comes back, I’ll protect you. I can tell that I’m powerful, somehow. And anyway, any evil spirit is more powerful than a regular shitty human,” I explain, crossing my arms- somehow I know I have arms, despite not having a real body? I mean I have Scilla’s body, but not my own - it’s confusing.

“Thanks, Jess,” she says softly, smiling in the mirror at me. “Still though, I’m not sure what to do. I need to get out, but without him I don’t- I don’t have a home. I have enough money saved up for a few months’ rent, but I barely earn enough to survive on my own for long.”

“Can you get a better job or something?” I ask, despite knowing that if she could, she would have already.

“Hm yeah well that’s a little easier said than done. No one wants someone who barely made it through school in one piece. I was a little too preoccupied with my parents’ deaths to think about getting good grades.”

Doing my best approximation of a soul cuddle, I once again wish that I could give Scilla a real hug.

“Well we can work on that plan today at work, right? You can focus on the job and I’ll think through a few ideas on how to get out of this situation,” I offer, but admittedly, my mind is also preoccupied with something else.

“What’s wrong, Jess?” Scilla asks softly, tying her hair up in a neat bun. Considering telling her for a moment, I eventually give in and speak the truth. Our souls are fused now, after all. It won’t be difficult for her to figure out what I’m thinking and feeling, if I think and feel it for long enough.

“Last night, I was thinking about the memory that I had come back. And about something those people said. I think…I think they’re hurting other people, too. I want to stop them. I don’t want to let them continue hurting people,” I whisper, my soul aching for their other victims.

Because I’m sure there are others, just like me.

“Alright. Do you remember their names, or your last name, or maybe even what you looked like? And clues or hints at all?” Scilla asks, grabbing her keys and locking the door behind her. Shrugging, I pull Scilla to an abrupt stop when she almost walks out in front of a car.

“Oops, sorry about that,” she whispers, smiling shyly. And then we continue walking for quite some time until we reach her workplace - a small coffee shop on the other side of town. We aren’t able to talk once our shift starts, as there are too many people around who will be able to hear Scilla’s body speaking.

When I talk, it’s like my words go directly to her soul, but for some reason, Scilla can’t do the same thing. So the only way for her to communicate with me is if she talks out loud, and I just listen to her like normal.

I spend Scilla’s whole shift just thinking, trying to come up with some hint, or perhaps a sliver more of a memory. But Scilla was right - I locked all my memories away. They must be too painful to go through, which…makes sense. The one memory that came back to me…

It was horrible.

I involuntarily let out a shiver, causing Scilla’s body to shake slightly and she drops the coffee she was handing to a customer. It splashes over his black suit and white shirt, and Scilla lets out a yelp.

“I’m so sorry! Are you alright, sir?” She asks worriedly, quickly trying to clean the hot coffee off the man. But he doesn’t even seem to flinch from the heat of the scalding liquid, and instead just gently takes Scilla’s hand, removing it from him.

And then he looks into Scilla’s eyes. My eyes.

Scilla doesn’t see anything unusual, but if I wasn’t already dead, I would have had a heart attack.

The man slowly leans forwards, using a gloved finger to push a strand of his deep black hair behind his ear.

“Careful, spirit. You’re wanted back where you belong: in Hell’s waiting room,” he whispers, his eyes two black bottomless oceans, his gaze unshattering as it locks with mine.

“He knows. He can see me. He knows you have another soul in you. He’s going to take me back to  that room, or he’ll just decide to vanquish me on the spot. You have to get away from him, Scilla!” I cry out into her soul, feeling nearly as scared as I did when that memory came back to me.

Scilla quickly backs away from the man- no, the Grim Reaper- her expression full of panic as she runs out of the coffee shop. Her manager calls out after us, but Scilla doesn’t stop running, not even for a moment.

The Grim Reaper chases after us, but while people are looking at Scilla oddly, it’s as if they can’t even see the man. But they clearly saw him in the coffee shop? Grim Reapers must be able to hide themselves from humans at will, or something. 

“There’s no point running, evil spirit! Let the girl’s body go and I will let you remain in existence - but if you continue to resist, then I shall vanquish you and be done with it.” The Grim Reaper calls, his voice deep and oddly calm. 

Scilla darts down an alley, but her heart is beating so fast, and her soul shakes with fear.

“Scilla, my dear. Let me take control. I will protect us,” I whisper, feeling some kind of power bubbling up from deep within my soul. “A-alright!” Scilla cries, and her consciousness falls behind mine. 

And I have never felt more alive.

Getting used to the proper feel of Scilla’s limbs when they’re truly mine, I square up in the alley, waiting for the Grim Reaper. He appears around the corner shortly after, some kind of white smoke billowing horizontally outwards from the creases of his eyes, and flowing from his mouth.

Holy fucking shit.

He’s actually going to kill me.

“You can do this, Jess. I know you can,” Scilla whispers in my mind, and I clench my fists tighter.

“Come and get me, you piece of shit,” I hiss with Scilla’s voice before watching in disbelief as that raw power from inside me starts leaking out in the form of dark black smoke. Just like the Grim Reaper, it leaks from my eyes and mouth, like pitch black breath on a cold day.

“I will be forced to vanquish you, if you do not let the possessed girl go free. Leave her body, and your existence will not end,” the Grim Reaper repeats, but this time, I frown.

“I didn’t possess her. I fused our souls together, and she joined with me willingly. Can’t you just let us go?”

And that manages to break the Grim Reaper’s calm expression. Just for a moment, surprise flits across his dark, dead eyes. 

“I see. That means you are not a lesser evil spirit, like I had first thought when I saw you. No. You are a phantom - far more dangerous, and far, far more evil. You must have killed many people when you were alive, or done something else suitably disgusting. So, tell me, spirit. What is your sin?”

More smoke leaks past my lips as I grit my teeth, feeling some kind of power welling up in my hand. “I’m not evil! I don’t even remember my past life! But whatever I did- I’m sorry! I never meant to hurt anyone, or- or do anything bad! I know that for sure! I would never want to commit an evil act!”

The Grim Reaper shakes his head, raising his left hand to his lips and tugging his glove off with his teeth, before reaching his hand out to me, white smoke uncoiling from his palm.

“This is the end, evil phantom. May you live out the rest of eternity in Hell, regretting your evil deeds.”

No.

Fuck that.

Fuck him.

I don’t know what my life was like, but I know that it was far worse than that shitty Hell the Grim Reaper wants to take me to. 

Haven’t I suffered enough? 

Haven’t I already been to Hell and back again?

Don’t I deserve better than this?

“Yes. You do. Now get us out of here, Jess. I know you can do it,” Scilla whispers softly, her soul wrapping around mine protectively.

Hardening my stare, I raise my left hand out in front of me, mirroring the Grim Reaper. And then I let go the tidal wave of black smoke that was stored up in my palm. 

The Grim Reaper instantly lets out his own white smoke, and the two crash into each other. The white one will win, I can tell already. But I don’t need to win this fight.

I just need to get away.

The moment our smoke hits into the Grim Reaper’s, I dash down the alley, running as fast as I can. But there’s something about the sensation of running that is highly unfamiliar to me, so I let my consciousness fade into the background as Scilla takes control again.

And she just fucking sprints out of there.