Beyond Gods 10 Seeking Answers

She was totally different from what Johan had expected.

"The good guys are sometimes the bad guys and visa versa," muttered Johan feeling depressed.

Ever since Johan was little, he'd dreamt that he'd meet a beautiful girl, with a heart of gold, who'd love him unconditionally. He'd marry her, go on adventurers with her. Have children with her, and they'd live happily ever after. When he saw Jade in the principal's office, he'd thought she was that girl.

But despite having seen her dream, which was possibly a memory, and the way she acted and spoke about him. Johan knew he couldn't leave her. She had no one else she could turn to for help.

Mind jumping was an odd concept to him. Things had just gotten real weird, nothing seemed to make sense anymore.

Ghosts, monsters, and mind jumping?

Yet, having his father's ghost in his head, even if it was a hallucination made Johan feel less alone.

Jade moaned and got up rubbing her eyes.

"You are up early," said Jade, "it is 3 am. Why are you awake? Can't sleep?"

"You were dreaming," said Johan. "Your tossing around woke me up."

"Sorry, I was dreaming about school," said Jade. "it was a memory. I miss being normal."

"What was it about?," said Johan.

Jade's face froze looking as an expression of shame spread across her face.

"Just stupid stuff," said Jade.

Johan pondered confronting her over it, but decided against it. Knowledge was power, and the less she knew, the less she'd be able to lie convincingly. People said offensive things all the time when they weren't simply and honestly expressing their thoughts.

[But I don't have to like her,] thought Johan. [Even if I do help her. If she does it again, I'll shut her down.]

"Either way," said Jade, "wake me up when you decide to find the black card sender. It has been a while since I could sleep on a full stomach. It feels GREAT!"

Johan nodded and said, "I was thinking of going out now. Do you want to try leaving?"

Jade got up, and took a deep breath, "Why not."

She walked to the door and opened it.

"This is where it usually gets weird," she said, "I take a step and hits something like glass …"

Jade took a step, towards the door, and like she had said, it was as if she'd hit an invisible wall, she couldn't exit the room. Johan scratched his head and said, "What do you think would happen if I pulled you through the doorway, have you tried the windows?"

"I don't know," said Jade. "I'm hoping I wouldn't get hurt, and yes, I've tried the windows as well, same thing."

Johan grabbed her hand, and attempted to pull her through the doorway, and like she said, while

Johan could leave the room, it felt like Jade's hand had hit an invisible stone wall. Johan pulled harder, and Jade yelped in pain.

Johan let go of her hand and to his surprise, Jade was bleeding.

Johan frowned.

"I'll go and search for these signs on the letter, soon" said Johan. "Maybe the sender will be able to help you."

Jade nodded sadly. "Being stuck here is terrible. It is like being in detention."

Johan nodded.

-- Ø --

It was 3:30 am and it was pitch dark outside like nights often are.

Johan walked down the street next to the hotel, looking for a sign. The periodic street light were like beckons which motivated him to keep walking.

Perhaps, thought Johan, this was all a dream.

Dreams, monsters, a dead father, a ghost … walking along the night street, without actually seeing them made everything seem questionable. Unreal.

"This isn't going anywhere," muttered Johan after walking for an hour without seeing any signs.

Just as Johan was going to head back to the hotel. He heard his father grunt at the back of his head.

[What's going on with your shadow,] said Johan's father.

Johan looked at the floor and saw his shadow, except, it was waving at him as if to get his attention.

"Huh!?," gasped Johan jumping in surprise.

His shadow had effectively separated from him and was moving on its own. It seemed to nod and pointed to the street light ahead and gestured for Johan to follow it.

"I guess this was the sign," muttered Johan.

Nervous and yet curious, Johan followed it to the next street light.

"This is bizarre," muttered Johan.

Johan went from yellow streetlight to yellow streetlight until he was brought to a closed wooden door illuminated by a single green streetlight that appeared to flicker off and on. There was no building behind the door, it was simply a wooden door that stood alone in the middle of the side walk.

Johan looked down at his shadow that stood next to the wooden doors shadow, it appeared to open the door's shadow and walk into it … disappearing.

Johan frowned as anticipation filled him.

What was behind the door? Should he follow it?

Ignoring his fears, Johan took action, opening the door to only see darkness.

[Common son, lets hurry this up,] echoed Johan's father. [Lets get some answers to what is going on.]

Johan held his breath and stepped through the door, hoping answers and not something more devious waited for him within the darkness ...

Chapter end