Copyright 2014 JC Wallace
Each week a group of authors participate weekly in Wednesday Briefs Flash Fiction. Each installment is 500-1000 words long and is posted to our blogs each week. After you read the latest in my story, click on the links at the end to visit the other flashers.
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Dr. Winston shook her head, her lips thinned. “Not after you. Do you remember the last
conversation we had in this office before you left school for good?”
He did. Dr. Winston’s concern had been apparent for Levi’s
missing so many classes, his attention wandering in class, his reluctance to
participate. Levi had failed to mention at the time that’d he’d already decided
to leave college. “Yes.”
“I had questioned you about your Guardian?”
There was that word again. “I told you I have parents.”
His tone was a tad snippy.
“Not as in the legal sense. A Guardian is someone other
than a parent who agrees to watch over someone, be a guide for anyone who’s had
his or her soul removed. It goes much deeper than that but you couldn’t name
anyone. So, I sent Jeb to try to find out who that was. I had a fear that this
person hadn’t taken their role seriously and neglected the oath they had
taken.”
Back to the soulless thing. “Mine’s right where it’s
supposed to be.” Levi insisted, pointing to his chest, not wanting to say’ soul’
aloud in front of Jeb.
Dr. Winston sighed heavily and turned to Jeb.
“Having some
difficulty accepting the truth?” the man muttered as if Levi wouldn’t hear.
Dr. Winston only nodded with a faint glimmer of pity. God,
he knew that look well.
“So you believe this? You think my soul is gone, too,” Levi
challenged Jeb, who continued to stare at Levi.
Levi dropped his hands hard into his lap. Despite the
enormity of the situation, he had remained quite calm. From under the fringe of
his bangs, Levi gave Jeb a sideways glance. Jeb continued to silently play with
that damned pendant, his steely control apparent in every movement, every
breath. “Evidently, he didn’t find a Guardian because I don’t have one.”
But I do have a
soul. I have to.
“You’re right. He didn’t find anyone. In fact, you’re
quite a solitary person, Levi.”
“Tell me something I don’t know,” Levi mumbled, rubbing the
tension at the base of his neck. He was so getting a headache.
As if it had been a dare, Dr. Winston said, “Jeb has been
watching you since the day you left school. Since November.”
Levi’s skin rippled over his body, and a sickening chill
spreading from his spine. Levi glared hard at Jeb who truly had been stalking
him. “W-why would you...I would’ve known.”
A smug smile crossed his lips. “No one sees me until I
want them to.”
Levi begged to differ. “I saw you at the college, outside
of the classroom, in the parking lot – outside
of my house. Ran right into you in the hallway.”
Jeb shifted his stance. Apparently, Levi had hit a nerve.
“Those were times I wanted you to see me.”
“Riiiight,” Levi drawled with a haughty air.
“I did ask Jeb to talk to you, to convince you to come
and see me. I sent you several messages to get you to come but you kept putting
me off. Can you tell me what happened whenever Jeb approached you?” Dr. Winston
had moved to her chair and leaned toward Levi. Her closeness made him want to
push his chair back.
“What do you mean?” Levi asked, so ready to hit “end” to
cease this conversation.
Jeb was about to speak but Dr. Winston put up her hand
and silenced him.
Good boy, Levi
snickered to himself when Jeb obeyed.
“Jeb said he ran into some trouble whenever he got near
you. What did you feel?”
“Nothing.” He was so not letting them into his personal
shit. “That wasn’t about him.”
It couldn’t possibly be because of Jeb. None of this made
sense. Maybe Levi wasn’t in that office. Maybe his body was somewhere, drooling
in a heap, his mind cracked. This had to be an illusion. A very real illusion.
“It had everything to do with him,” Dr. Winston assured Levi.
Jeb at least had the decency to look apologetic for what
he’d assumed was his doing.
“If it did then I wouldn’t be standing right now. I’d be
writhing around on the floor in agony, with my blood pouring out of my nose and
my head about to explode brain matter everywhere.”
Dr. Winston raised an eyebrow and glanced to Jeb who gave
him an I-told-you-so look.
Levi startled when Dr. Winston reached above his head and
retrieved something from the bookcase behind him. A small silver metal box was
nestled in her palm. Crossing to Jeb, she opened the lid of the box. Without
being asked, Jeb removed the chain from around his neck, placed it into the box
with a jut of his chin and snapped the lid shut.
A pressure as terrifyingly real as ever slammed into Levi.
Leaning over in the chair, he grabbed his head, nearly falling, crunching his
ribs. An arm grabbed his. The pressure quickly subsided but it was too late.
The blood dripped from his nose onto the rug below. A tissue was stuffed into
his hand. Levi quickly brought it up to staunch the blood.
Slowly rising, he saw Jeb kneeling beside him, his hand
steadying Levi. He held the pendant loosely in his other hand. His expression looked…concerned? For Levi?
Probably afraid he’d be convicted of murder if Levi dropped dead. Levi pulled
away. Jeb stumbled back, surprised by the sudden movement.
“What did you do to me?” Levi gasped, standing on wobbly
legs. Fuck, there was that headache.
Jeb pulled up to his full height. Slowly, he returned the
pendant to his neck but didn’t answer.
Dr. Winston spoke instead. “I’m sorry but it was the only
way to show you. I haven’t figured out why this is happening. When Jeb told me
about your recent reactions to him, I had my doubts. I mean he’s been close to
you for months and suddenly this starts occurring. It didn’t make sense. Now I
feel it has something to do with you stopping the medication. Past that I am
baffled”
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