57 Questions
As Nana and the Little Red Haired Girl left, Spirit felt the pull of air escaping the window and new fresh air enter the Pumphouse prison.
“I long to be free” it called to the air “take me with you.”
“You would abandon Body?” Soul asked.
“I just long to be free as I once was. Light as air and bright as a single torch. I don’t know why I am in here but it is breaking me.”
“And are you free to leave?” sighed Soul.
“I guess I could be. I could ask the realms above to release me from this Body, this place, this broken place.”
“And do you think they would consider that?” asked Soul.
“Possibly not, unless under exceptional circumstances. But if I just give in, and let go to the forces surrounding our predicament, Body would give up too and die quicker maybe. One has to ask would that be better for Body? Would it be easier? Would that be the unselfish thing to do? Would it appease the darker spirits and winds that have carried us here?”
“A lot of questions” sighed Soul. “Here’s one for you. Do you think Body would collaborate after the mess it put her in last time? After all the shame of the attempt? The records put on her medical file for life? The heartache it put her family through?”
“At this point, no collaboration would be needed” stated Brain “her vital signs are diminishing fast.”
“We are aware thankyou Brain” sighed Soul. “But if no one knows how we got in here Spirit, their assumption would be that Body did it on purpose. Purposefully isolated itself to give in, to chose to just fade away and starve itself out of heartbreak or loneliness, and poor mental health.”
“You mean crazy, you mean people would think Body and I are crazy” stated Brain. “After all, we have no proof of Noswad’s intentions, no proof of ‘spiritual attack’ (or more to the point I think they were intimidation tactics). No proof of the ‘affair’ with Friend.”
“How so intimidation?” called Spirit.
“Well we dismissed a lazy, unskilled builder and refused to give him any more money. Money he was expecting. The noises from the roof Body and I heard, the strange un local people driving, walking or cycling by the house observing and watching our progress. His van driving past at speed. Door handles being tested and windows tapped on at night time. It’s intimidation and I think he is revengeful.”
“You believe so” sighed Soul.
“I am beginning to know so. Like the neighbours appearing at their doorway every time Body leaves or returns to the house. It is not ‘normal’ behaviour. Like listening to the roof walking and knowing it’s a two legged creature not a four legged cat or dog, knowing it is much heavier than that. He will know by now that Body and I are pursuing him at a court of law for fraud and poor unsafe work, and it is enough to make him want us to go away, stop the proceedings and he wants us to feel afraid as he knows Body lives on her own. He wants us to give up and leave. That’s what the intimidation is for.”
“You seem to have thought hard about this Brain” sighed Soul .”
“I have. I have tried to be factual and logical and with hindsight it is starting to make sense. It is starting to form a bigger collaboration of people. There are more facts I am assimilating and yet to process but that is the bare bones of it. Spiritual attack? maybe, maybe not. Intimidation, definitely.”
“I suspect it is both” called Spirit “I can feel it especially in the house. Maybe it’s a past lost spirit from a previous owner. Maybe a deliberate attack but their gifts are far stronger than my own.”
“In what way” asked Brain.
“I cannot make the lights switch on and off but ‘they’ have been able to do it. I cannot touch Body but ‘they’ have as Body would be able to confirm. I cannot destroy a candle or break a mirror. I cannot ‘touch’ anything my gifts are not that pronounced. I have intuition, a hunch now and then, joy when allowed and sometimes prediction, but their power is strong, deliberate, and I feel it is dark.”
“Hmmm” is all Brain could comment.
“Try Brain. Try to keep an open mind” called Spirit.
“All I can say is that people want us to disappear, to go away and stop causing problems for them” stated Brain.
“My original question was” Spirit recalled “would it be fairer, simpler and quicker for Body if I just gave in? Just let go of the battle for all our sakes?”
It was a good question but not one that anyone could seem to answer.
Soul spoke first. “Let us try not to be so defeated. Why don’t we just see where this next part of our journey, our path, takes us to? What have we to lose by doing that? After all, Body has always had a finite amount of time on this earth, so we are fully invested anyway.”
“How so?” called Spirit.
“From Body’s point of view, there is only one way off this earth anyway.”
“And mine” stated Brain.
“And mine” whispered Heart.
“There are the odds then. The casting vote is three against two” called Spirit.
“Are you assuming I agree with you Spirit” sighed Soul.
“Well ermm….yes.”
“Let it be known now, I do not agree with you. We will remain on our journey and see which paths appear, and take it from there.”
“Why?” asked Spirit.
“Because it’s the right and fair thing to do. Body deserves to live as long a journey as others are allowed to.”
“Well said” the familiar higher voice replied.
© 2025 Jennifer Harris. Free And Alive
