29th May 2019

NOAH

It has been ten days since I've seen Renee.

Ten whole days of sneaking around the Spirit Portal, searching for her Realm, trying not to get caught by anyone from the ISA, only to have failed miserably in all my endeavours.

I wasn't expecting Renee to make a stable Realm. I knew that it was hard for her, as not only did it require a high amount of energy, but also the expertise of spiritual ways. Both of which she lacked.

I'd figured out that she would end up making a temporary one, which I had to find before it dissolved. I know that the odds were terribly low, but I had a tiny ray of hope.

And Shay knew how to squash it.

"There are a thousand Realms created every day," She frowned at me, as she sat on her bed. "How do you expect yourself to find her exact Realm?"

I sat on her desk chair, leaning my head against the wall, at an angle that would give me a terrible neck ache if I were a human.

"I'll find her Shay," I said nonchalantly, but I thought otherwise.

The thing was, I was drunk and completely smitten the day Renee had arrived in my room. In an attempt to look cool and heroic, I'd made a plan that I now regretted, as it was beginning to look impossible.

And now, Shay was basically listing out every single way it could go wrong. I knew she only cared for me, but did it have to be so annoying?

"What if you don't find her?" Shay leaned forward, now crossing her legs. "You can't search forever."

I couldn't help but panic at her words.

What if I never found Renee?

No. No. No.

Noah, calm down. There had to be a way.

"Then," I shut my eyes, thinking desperately for an alternate plan, "I'll go into her dream. Maybe try to talk to her." I shrugged as I opened my eyes, trying to look like I had it all figured out.

"And you think the ISA won't find out?" Shay raised her eyebrows.

I would've retorted, except that my phone rang. It's a notification, telling me that I had to get ready to guide my next Spirit from the Earthly Realm.

An old lady named Mrs Green.

*****

Mrs Green was a pleasant old lady who had died of old age. Being ninety-five years old, she told me that she had enough of her life on earth and wanted to skip her funeral.

"I want to go!" She pouted, her jaws stuck together due to her absence of teeth and her mouth a mountain of wrinkles. "I've been waiting for this day my whole life!"

I grinned at her enthusiasm, before giving her access to the Spirit Realm. She got a little impatient while filling the form, but it soon disappeared as I opened the glowing white Portal.

The Spirit Portal was a network of pathways connecting all the Realms. And now, it would directly lead Mrs Green to Initiation.

"Wow, this is like magic!" She exclaimed giving me a toothless grin. She ambled into the portal and I helped her out since she'd spent the last twenty years in a wheelchair and was used to it.

Soon we reached the Initiation. A huge glass building, with a central crystal pathway made for new Spirits. The whole structure glowed magnificently under the night sky, looking like a galaxy in a box.

When Spirits entered the Initiation, they would undergo a process similar to reversal of time, emerging out as baby spirits. From here, they would either go to the Earthly Realm or get adopted by a pair of Spirit Parents.

Mrs Green watched the Initiation in awe, the light of a thousand Spirits reflecting off her glassy eyes. Then she turned towards me, a wide grin on her face.

"Thank you, sweetie!" She told me, before giving me a full kiss on the mouth. "If I were your age, I'd totally date you!" She cackled, and I gave her a polite smile, hoping that she was only joking.

She soon left, drifting into the pathway like the other Spirits, not before giving me a frantic wave.
Strangely enough, I found myself waving back at her. For her age, she did have a lot of spunk.

I head back to the office since I had to file in her form.

The office was different for people of different countries. It was easier to take human geography into account, as their death would be filed according to their locality.

'Mrs Judith Green', I typed in, before uploading her form on the computer. Yup, human gadgets were easier to keep records and practical as well. And smartphones were a godsend, simplifying our job by a hundred times.

"Hey man!" Kyle, my fellow Spirit Guide, greeted me telepathically. "Tough day?"

Spirits were forced to use telepathy as a mode of communication since talking was directly a human attribute.

This is why Shay and I spent much of our free time talking normally like humans so that we wouldn't forget it.

"Not really," I replied. "You?"

"I had this cat, who kept insisting that he hadn't died. Because, apparently cats have nine lives," Kyle rolled his eyes. "Quite a menace actually."

We were all new to being a Spirit Guide, which is why we were assigned lower-dimensional spirits. Or higher dimensional Spirits waiting for death.

As we got better, we would be taught to deal with intricate Spirits who didn't want to leave, and those who wanted to be Ghosts.
This is why I had a hard time dealing with Renee when she died.

Then I directed my attention back to Kyle, who was still blabbering about the cat.

We were soon joined by other Spirit Guides, Matt, Raina, Louis and also Shay, who were discussing the latest news. We talked telepathically, floating in silence in our white robes like eerie ghosts.

Yeah, we're supposed to wear white robes as a part of the uniform when we're around the ISA. Stupid rules.

"Apparently Sir Johannes has escaped again." Raina nodded towards me and Kyle, pulling us into the conversation. "Him and his cronies."

Sir Johannes was a high-security criminal, known for his twisted and notorious ways. He was popular for escaping the Spirit Realm, and returning before anyone noticed. The only way we'd know of his disappearance was through the chaos he'd created in the Earthly Realm.

"They say the Head Spirit, Lord Augustus helps him out since they were friends," Matt added without thinking.

"Matt, no," I said softly, throwing a sweeping glance at the office building we'd just left. Matt's eyes widened, and he hid his face, trying to control his stream of thoughts.

We were still within the quarters of the ISA, and they could tap into our telepathic conversation any minute.

And if they'd noticed that Matt had just bad-mouthed the Head Spirit, he'd be thrown into the prison in the blink of an eye.

"But Lord Augustus is the Head Spirit. Surely he wouldn't associate with his friend, even though he's a criminal." Kyle said in disbelief.

"What makes you think Lord Augustus is perfect?" Shay laughed, though I heard the bitterness in her voice.

Lord Augustus was the only person to reach the White Realm in a hundred years, which caused him to be elected as the Head Spirit.

Only Shay and I knew of his ruthless side.

And, like always, we were forbidden to think of it.

"Shay, you don't mean that..." Louis started, eyeing the office building, guarded by the higher Spirits.

Shay quietened as understanding dawns on her. "I didn't mean it." She said in a flat little tone.

And at that moment, anger surged through me and filled me with hatred towards the ISA.

I hated the way we were reduced to people without their thoughts, their opinions, their individuality.

The ISA was initially created with good intentions, to guide Spirits to the White Realm or enlightenment. They taught us that it was the only goal a Spirit was expected to have, and the only goal that would ever matter.

And if you didn't agree with us, you weren't worthy of being a Spirit.

It was as simple as that.

"Noah?" Shay said telepathically to me, her voice hesitant.

"Yeah?" I looked up and realise that we'd exited the ISA office building a few minutes ago. We were now drifting along the road that led to our houses, and Raina and Matt had already left, taking the road that led them home.

Spirits didn't own vehicles. We could drift at any speed we wanted, so it didn't really matter.

Kyle was now talking about the cat Spirit he'd guided today, and I groaned internally. This day sucked.

This whole life in the Spirit Realm sucked.

I'd rather have a hundred human lives than a life where I live in oppression, hiding every part of my true self which I could never reveal.

"You okay?" Shay asked again. "You look angry."

I immediately relaxed my face, trying to calm down my thoughts. Spirits always looked calm, and even the tiniest emotion was discouraged.

"I'm fine," I told her.

"I had to guide Truffles," Shay said, giving me the tiniest of smiles. "And I met Renee."

I fought the grin that forcefully made its way to my face. Then I gave up, allowing myself to grin for a fraction of a second, before maintaining my calm composure.

"What did Renee say?" I asked her, my voice jubilant.

"She told me about her Realm. It's a meadow filled with flowers, the sunset streaked with orange." She told me quickly.

We paused our conversation as Kyle and Louis stopped since their houses were on the adjacent street.

We all exchanged silent goodbyes, and they both left, still talking about the cat.

"She's making a stable Realm after all," Shay told me, sounding impressed.

"How?" I asked her immediately. "She needs a lot of-"

"Energy." Shay completed. "I know. That's why she made a device."

I gasped in awe. Had Renee actually done what I'd thought about years ago?

"Does the device stimulate her pineal gland?" I inquired, feeling the excitement rise in my chest.

"I don't know, Noah," Shay shrugged. "I just saw her wearing it."

We fell silent, me thinking about Renee, hoping that I'd see her soon. If she had really managed to pull off a stable Realm, it would be very easy to find her.

All I had to do was work on the Shield now.