1 The Shackles (Anima)

"I'm home...." I sigh as my body hits my bed. I roll over onto my back. Staring at the ceiling, I move my hand over for my bag, pulling it on top of me. I open it and start rummaging through it, pulling out a giant book. I lift the book up in front of me and try to open it...it didn't work quite like I was hoping. I struggle to keep the pages open without dropping it. After some time wrestling with the pages, trying to keep it open, I give up and flop onto my side. The book falls shut beside me. I flip back over onto my stomach with the book underneath me as I stare at the cover.

"'Life beyond the Form' huh?" I say as I start to open the book. I flip through a few pages until I reach a page that catches my eye. "'How to free yourself from your body'? That's a thing?" I stare at the image, and see a man outlined in black laying down while the same man outlined in white is in the middle of sitting up out of the original body. "Step 1: find a place to lay down...close your eyes...control your breathing...let yourself go?" I mutter the instructions to myself, "watch as your soul leaves your body? Yeah right, like that would ever work." I shut the book and push it away as I lay on my side, drifting off to sleep.

~~~

I wake up slowly to the sound of my alarm. I groan as I hit the snooze button. I slowly push myself up. I get out of bed and get dressed, looking at myself in the mirror. After making sure everything was good, I skipped downstairs. After not having a meal with my parents in about 2 months I was rather excited to do so. I excitedly sit down at the table with a bowl of cereal as my parents sit across from me. My father is reading his newspaper and my mother is on the phone, as usual. "So...Mom, Dad I was wondering if I could use today to try out some things...?" I glued my eyes to the table, refusing to look at them.

"Some...things? What? Like a new technique on how to stop blood loss while underwater?" He said with an obvious sarcastic tone.

"W-well...no." I respond, clenching my hands.

"Then what? You want to waste your time on that 'hobby' of yours again?" He replies, irritation plain on his face.

"It's not a hobby...." I respond quietly.

"You're right, it's not a hobby. It's a sorry excuse for a 'job'." He says, taking a sip from his coffee.

"Hold on Jasmine, Jas-Jasmine hang on! I have to have a word with my daughter." After she hangs up, she sets the phone down and sets her judging eyes on me. "So, what ARE you going to be doing?" she says in a cold tone.

"Studying for university...?" I say, looking up at my mother.

"That's exactly right. So? Why are you still here? Go on now, get to studying."

"B-but I haven't even finished my cereal!"

"You can eat when you're done. If you have time to eat you have time to study, now get to it."

"Y-yes, ma'am." I said as I slowly get out of my seat, dejectedly climbing the stairs back to my room. I enter my room, closing my door behind me. "Great...more studying and no time for food or baking..." I sigh. I start walking to my desk when I look over at my bed and notice the book lying there. I stare at the book for a little while. Suddenly, I feel wind blowing into my room, blowing the book open and flipping through a couple of pages before stopping on one. The wind stopped as suddenly as it had started. I look at my windows, which are still closed shut. I turn my attention back to the book and start walking towards it. I recognize the page that it was on.

I scan the page that the wind had blown it to. It was the 'How to free yourself' page. I look around the room, not quite sure what I was looking for. I give another quick look around the room before setting it back down and reading through the instructions again.

I lie down on my bed, and follow the instructions as well as I could. I don't believe it will actually work. It's pointless of me to even try. Yet, when I open my eyes, I look at the ceiling and notice it seemed closer than usual. I feel weightless. I feel...alive.

I look down, and saw through myself. I was transparent. Freaking out, I start flailing around, spinning myself in place until I finally manage to calm myself down. I look at my body, still laying there on the bed. Trying to swim through air, I finally manage to get to my body. I notice that I was still breathing, thankfully. I reach to touch my face when a flash of light blinded me, forcing my eyes shut. When I open them again, I am in my bed. I jolt up, frantically looking around my room. "Was-was that all a dream?" I say in between breaths. I know it wasn't. It felt too real. I look at my hand and back around my room.

I pause for a moment, thinking. That was undeniably scary, but I felt some force urging me to try again. I lay back down and try again. When I open my eyes again, I am floating. I start trying to move around my room, slowly getting the hang of it. "Haha! This is pretty fun" I yell. Once I realize what I did, I put my hands over my mouth instinctively, fearing my parents coming in to scold me for being so loud. But to my surprise, no one came. I decide to try and go to my door. I reach for the handle, but my hand goes right through it. I float there, staring blankly at my hand.

I charge at the door, spurred on by a curious thought. I went flying right through it. "Woah!" I yelled, trying to stop myself. After gaining control again, I look around. I hear my mother talking on her phone in the next room. Floating through the wall, I enter to see her chatting on her phone.

"Sorry Jasmine, my daughter was having her delusions again." She says, exasperated. "No, she wants to 'bake' again. Even though she knows full well how pointless that is." I slowly float closer to her, waving my hand in her face. There was no reaction. I try to poke her, but my hand goes right through. "Brrrr, sorry Jasmine, I just had a sudden chill run down my spine." I decide to leave her be and look for my dad. It didn't take long to find him in his office.

I watch as he fills out paperwork. He has a serious look on his face as he works through it all. I look at the mountain of work that he has and back to him. I wave my hand in front of him. Again there was no reaction. "Dad?" I ask. Still no response. After a few more tries I give up, going back to my room. "So no one can see nor hear me? Basically can't feel me either...." I look out my window. "What if I was to...." I slowly approach it.

I reach my hand out. To no surprise, it goes right through. I slowly bring the rest of my body outside. I look around the neighborhood and take a deep breath. "Fresh air," I mutter to myself. I couldn't stop the smile spreading across my face. For once I actually felt...

Free.