Walk with the Spirits

Where one was always anchored in one world or the other, and can only rarely traverse from one to the other, this was not so for him. When he stepped, one foot was planted in one world, the other, in another. He saw the things of both worlds, interacted with them. He didn't know that he was different. He didn't know that what he saw differed from anyone else. Or at least, he didn't know until that fateful day.

Tyr was twelve when it happened. He was a normal boy, who lived a normal life, went to a normal school, ate normal food, and was normal. The one thing that stood out from him was his eyes. Heterochromia, they called it. One of his eyes was a pale blue color, while the other was an eerie gold. Well there was another thing that wasn't normal about him. He was alone. All the time. His eyes stood out from the others. The children who went to school with him often stayed away, scared of his eyes. They whispered that his golden eye could pierce right into one's soul. Tyr wasn't hurt by his isolation. He enjoyed it.

The ones from the Other World especially caught his interest. Back then, before the fateful day, he couldn't tell the difference between the ones of his world and the ones of the Other World. Tyr was intrigued by why there always seems to be one kid, in the back of the class, who sat in the chair silently, almost unmoving. The kid's head was angled downwards, staring emotionlessly at the desk. His purple eyes fixed on the desk, unblinking. Tyr had stood next to the kid's desk hesitantly, wanting to speak to him, but then followed the rest of his class. The class didn't acknowledge the kid's presence either.

Animals sometimes caught his eye as well. Tyr had often seen a doe, standing straight, her eyes gazing straight at him, as if expecting something from him. He'd be caught in this trance for a while, locked in a staring contest with the doe. Then one of them would move, and the spell would break. The doe would sprint away, with Tyr watching her trail.

Tyr didn't understand this. He couldn't see the difference between them and us. Not until that day. The other kids always ignored the strange people and animals, but Tyr always presumed it was because the kid was excluded because of a lack of friends, and since they lived in the big city of Seattle, everyone ignored animals anyway. One day, Tyr had tried to talk to the isolated boy with the purple eyes, maybe become his friends, if for no other reason than that he felt sorry for the child.

"Hey," Tyr smiled at the boy. The child raised his head slowly, his eerie purple eyes meeting Tyr's. Tyr shrunk back slightly, suddenly understanding why everyone was afraid of his golden eye. The boy stared at Tyr unblinking, face emotionless. "Want to sit with me at lunch?" Tyr chuckled nervously when the boy still didn't speak. "I know what it's like to be a loner," When the boy still didn't speak, Tyr just stepped back a little. "Okaaay then," he chuckled once more. "I'll take that as a no," before slipping away.

The day Tyr's life took a complete turn was like any normal day. He got up quietly, silently, since his father was still asleep. He packed his things, left the house and waited outside until his bus arrived at the bus stop. He boarded the school bus, sat there until the bus got to school, and got off. He then went to his class for a normal day of school.

The moment Tyr's life got turned upside down was the last period of the day. Sixth period PE. Physical Education. Exercise. Tyr's least favorite class. It was a class that people with friends loved. They socialized, chatted with their friends and laughed. Tyr, the loner who didn't have any friends, hated being isolated while everyone else talked to each other. At least in science no one was allowed to talk to each other and it felt normal and not lonely.

Tyr was in the boy's locker room, sitting on a bench in the PE uniforms, waiting for the class to start. It was then he started to feel dizzy. Tyr took a deep breath, his heart suddenly pounding quickly, his palms sweaty. Tyr shook his head, trying to clear his mind, but that only seemed to make his world spin faster. Tyr felt his stomach protesting, churning. He put his head between his knees, trying to calm the world spinning around him. Tyr had a sensation of free falling, and one thought came to his mind. Oh. I fell from the bench.

When he struck the ground, he felt the impact, but it felt distant, vague. Like he was in a movie theater watching a boy falling rather than falling himself. Tyr was shuddering, shaking, cold and hot at the same time. Sweat gathered on his neck, on his back. Tyr tried to right himself, not stand but at least get himself in a somewhat vertical position. Tyr's head spun, and he instantly turned his head and vomited his lunch on the… locker room… floor…? As Tyr's head cleared, his confusion grew. Something wasn't the same.

Tyr looked around. Everything was the same but different, vaguely familiar and yet vastly not so. He was in the locker room, that much as clear. But all the boys had vanished, and the entire room had become silent. Tyr stood up, feeling suddenly scared and unnerved.

"Hello?" he called out. No answer. Tyr was alone. Tyr walked over to the door, hesitating. Something was bothering him. Something wasn't right. Tyr shook his head to clear it. He pushed the door open, walking out. He made his way around the school, but there was no one there. Tyr pushed the door leading outside the school open, peering out. What Tyr saw was so strange and shocking that Tyr froze, confusion swimming in his brain.

He suddenly realized what had been bothering him. What was wrong. There was no sun in the sky. No moon either. The sky was full of bland gray clouds. This meant that there was no shadows. Anywhere. In a small closed off room like the locker room or the school hallways, this wasn't very noticeable, just some strange objects that was unnerving. But looking out into a field, everything looked flat. Two dimensional. Like someone created a bad simulation on a computer screen. But this was real.

Tyr stepped out of the school, taking in the strange scenes surrounding him. No wind blew. No sun or moon existed. No birds cried out. The leaves didn't rustle, the grass didn't move. Everything was still. Tyr walked forward a few steps, gaping at the world. His mind tried to race to an answer to all his questions about what had happened to everything. His only logical answer: he must've been dreaming. Tyr pinched his arm. Hard. Nothing. Tyr slapped himself in the face. Still nothing. Tyr was wondering how else to wake himself up when he noticed something. The doe. The same one he's seen a dozen times before, staring at him. It watched him, standing still.

"Hi," Tyr's voice was raspy from recently regurgitating his lunch. The doe didn't break away this time. The beautiful animal didn't flee. In fact, she trotted down towards Tyr, her ears bouncing up and down as she walked. Her hooves moving through the grass was unusually loud for the silent world. The deer stopped in front of Tyr, seeming to evaluate him.

"A boy..." a voice emanated softly from the deer. Tyr startled a bit, stepping backwards. The doe didn't move at all, her ears only flicking softly in interest. "A human boy..." the soft voice came again.

"Are you talking?" Tyr was incredulous. "Am I dreaming?" He slapped himself again. A soft laugh emanated from the doe, her ears flicking in amusement.

"It's been far too long since I've seen a human," the soft feminine voice echoed. "They really are interesting." Tyr stretched his hand forwards, resting his hand on the doe's head. Her fur was short and soft, her ears perked in interest, and her eyes watching him curiously.

"What's your name?" Tyr blurted out. The doe blinked, seeming surprised.

"Yes. Humans have names. A word that means nothing and yet is associated with a person. A meaningless word that has all the meaning in the world to the person who owns it. It's been so long since I needed a name. Yes. They called me Shai. And what is your, ah, name?"

"My name's Tyr," he smiled at Shai. A doe named Shai in a moonless, sunless world. If he told anyone what was happening, they'd think he was crazy. And he probably was. Tyr's eyes was suddenly drawn to something hanging on the doe's neck. Something so obvious that Tyr wondered how he didn't see it earlier. "What's this?" he asked, tracing his finger gently on the glinting silver pendant that hung on Shai's neck.

"It's what we call a Spirit Link Charm. It binds our souls to this world." The doe's ears twitched, almost amused. "Now, I've got some questions for you too, boy. How did you get here?"

"What do you mean?" Tyr was puzzled. "I walked out of the locker room and out of the school,"

"No. I don't mean to this area. I mean to this world," the doe lowered her head, watching him almost cautiously with her round yellow eyes. "You are in the world of ghosts. The spirit world. It is connected directly to the physical world, just one layer beneath. Most humans cannot see through the layer, much less pass through it."

"Oh," Tyr thought on this for a moment. "Well," he spoke slowly, carefully. "I was in gym class. Then I started to feel really sick. And then I fell. When I got up, everyone was gone," The doe raised her head, her eyes meeting Tyr's.

"Those eyes…" Shai's voice echoed. Tyr could've sworn a glance of pain passed by her eyes. "They're the eyes of…" the doe shook her head gently. "Never mind me," she seemed to be trying to reassure herself. Shai touched her nose to Tyr's head. "Return to your world, you hear?" Her voice was suddenly the one of a strict mother. "You are not safe here." Tyr felt his world start to spin once more.

"Shai,��� he protested, trying to focus on the beautiful doe once more. The graceful animal was slowly fading from his vision, along with the rest of the world. Suddenly, the ground underneath him dipped and Tyr felt his vision fade into nothingness.