Chapter 7. THE TRAPPED SOULS

We sat in our room, everyone from the robbery with Derek seated at the centre. He demanded an explanation as to why we had broken into the armoury house. Robby was explaining it to him. Alexa was sitting beside me, putting on a sad face. Billy looked equally mad as Alexa. Malachi and I were so relaxed. After all, we didn't know what the big deal was now that chubby Derek had caught us. Jonas was looking numb. I could not tell what he was feeling.

"You are all crazy." Derek finally spoke. "Do you know that it's against the rules to crossover unless granted permission by the elders?" He added

"To hell with the rules and those old folks. They never allow anyone to crossover. They are selfish." Alexa said.

"You better be careful 'cause you all apart from the newbies know the consequences."

"What are the consequences, Derek?" I asked.

"They will punish you and lock you up. " Derek said.

"That's all true but we will not get caught unless you rat us out, Derek. And I don't think you will do that, Chubby boy." Billy spoke.

"No. I won't. I am not a snitch."

"Then we are good. Let's meet in the morning." Alexa said and stood up, then grabbed the bag with weapons and headed out. The rest followed her.

****

The following day at precisely 6 am, we met at the incomplete building. It was pretty, most of the people were still sleeping and so a perfect time to sneak out. Everyone was dressed up well for the task. I was wearing black jeans, a black hoodie and on top of it a black jacket and a pair of soldier boots.

"I think we are good to go," Billy said, putting on his backpack.

"Okay. Everybody tries not to make any loud noise. We can't risk getting caught." Jona said.

"Yeah, we can't risk getting caught," Alexa spoke. "Let's get moving." She added.

We started walking outside, talking in low voices.

"Shit! This can't be real." Alexa exclaimed as soon as we stepped outside. To our surprise, Kelly and Kyra were standing before us dressed like people going to war.

"Hey K and K, what are you doing here?" Billy asked and chuckled lightly.

"We are going too," Kelly spoke.

"Going? Where?" Robby asked.

"Don't act so dumb with us. Your boy spilt the beans already. We know you are crossing over." Kyra said, looking at me. Everyone turned their eyes to me. They were angry, I could tell.

"I did not tell them anything." I defended myself.

"You mentioned it when you were drunk and since then we have been following you. To your secret meetings, you know." Kelly said and laughed.

"To your little robbery." Kyra continued.

"You such an idiot. Can't you keep your mouth shut for once?" Robby asked me.

"We don't have time for this. We can't go with you K and K. Sorry." Alexa said and walked past them.

"Then I'm going to Lorna or peter." Kyra threatened.

"Alexa we will have to bring them. We don't have any option. If we get ratted out it will only be minutes before the elders get to us. We will be locked up for nothing." Jona spoke.

"I agree with Jona. If we leave them they tell on us and our efforts will be for nothing. We should also get moving before they start waking up." Billy said.

"Okay. Let's go." Alexa finally said.

****

We left the premises hurriedly, heading to where I could say was a forest. There were a lot of trees and bushes. There was not much talking among ourselves.

Billy and Alexa were the ones leading in the front. I was dragging behind Malachi.

We walked along the slopes, and once we were on the flat areas, Billy and Alexa stopped.

"We should take a rest and eat our breakfast," Billy spoke. Alexa had asked us to pack some food. We sat down and started eating.

Alexa was shooting glances at me from time to time. She looked a little sad. I could tell by how her face was angry.

I stood up and took my food to where she was sitting.

"Hey," I said and sat next to her.

"Hey," she responded without looking at me.

"I am sorry that I told Kyra and Kelly about crossing over. I never meant to spill it but I guess I was pretty drunk." I said.

"And high as well. " I added and chuckled.

"So you are saying it's my fault that you could not keep your mouth shut?" She asked, rolling her eyes.

"Kinda. You know you gave me weed. But I take the full blame. And I'm sorry. Very sorry." I said.

"Okay." She said and smiled ruefully.

Billy was sitting just next to us, shooting glances at us. Harsh glances. It was like she was mad that Alexa and I were talking.

"We should get going." He finally spoke in a commanding tone.

"Alexa! We should get going." He added once he noticed we were hesitating.

"Yeah sure," Alexa said and stood up. She put on her backpack and took her first step.

"Let's go, Chase." She said, giving me her hand. I took her hand and raised it on my feet.

"Thank you," I said. Billy was still staring at us with an unhappy face.

We continued walking along the trees. The more we walked, the denser and dark it was getting. I could hear the noises from all over the place. Hissing sounds, and growling sounds, and It was freaking me out.

"What are those sounds? Are there animals here too?" I asked.

"Yeah. There are animals. Wild animals." Alexa responded.

"Are they dead? Just like us?" I asked curiously.

"You ask a lot of questions, Chase Brown. " Billy spoke before Alexa responded to my inquiry.

"Okay. Sorry." I said.

The more we walked in the forest, the more the growling voices became. I could read fear in almost all of us, even Robby, who was always the confident kid. As we strolled over, we finally got to a place where there was a cemetery. It was a big area full of graves and surrounded by trees. The sinister sounds in that part were great.

"What are those growling?" Kyra asked.

"Ghosts. The trapped souls." Alexa said, freaking her out. I was freaked out, too, and so were most of us.

"They are very dangerous and they don't like us that much," Jona spoke.

"Don't like us?" Kelly asked.

"Yes. They are angry that we are free ghosts while they are entrapped forever." Billy explained. The more he explained, the more it got scary. First, I was freaked out to hear that we were ghosts.

"What do you mean we are ghosts?" I asked nervously.

"We are dead, Chase boy. After we die what remains loitering around is our ghosts." Robby spoke.

"But I have a body. I can feel my body." I said, sampling my body.

"Yeah. We have that because ghosts can see themselves." Jona said. The more they explained, the more I got confused.

"I am not following," Malachi said. He was equally surprised as I was.

"We don't have time to explain. You will learn everything as time goes by. You have till forever to learn things on the world of the dead." Alexa said.

"Let's continue moving," Billy said, and we started walking.

We continued slowly, not to raise attention to the "trapped souls," but it didn't take long before I started hearing and seeing things. At first, I saw a figure covered in cloud haul before me. My heart almost sank into my stomach.

"Um....did anyone see that?" I asked.

"Yes. I saw some figure covered in cloud."Malachi said with his lips trembling.

"Those are the trapped ghosts. " Alexa spoke.

"Get your weapons ready. We are up to a fight." Billy said. His eyes were glued to the front. It was like he was seeing something we were not seeing.

"What is it?" Jona asked.

"There is a like any army of them coming to us," Billy responded.

"Where are they? I can't see them?" I asked.

"He can see a kilometre away than we all can. Believe him when he says so." Jona said.

Robby, on the other side, was walking around sniffing like a small dog looking for something to eat.

"Yes. I can smell them. Their scent is pretty close." He spoke.

"Ooh, God! What about you, Robby? What can you do that we can't?"

"I can find anyone by following their scent. I am a scent master, Chase boy." He responded proudly.

"It's like I don't know anything about you guys. How did you even get those abilities? What is mine? Or Malachi's? Yours? I asked, pointing to Kyra and then Kelly.

Before anyone answered, the growling continued. It was so clear. The ghosts started hauling from every side. It was like a fast wind passing.

Everyone was holding onto their weapons. I had a slaughter knife in my hands. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to use it. My heart was throbbing, and my hands were shaking. I was scared.

"Shit! Let go of me." Alexa screamed, drawing our attention to her. A ghost woman was holding her by her neck. She was strangling her, and in a few seconds, she was choking.

I was staring at her, perplexed, not aware of how to help her. Billy removed a small knife from his side pocket and aimed at the ghost woman. The knife hit the ghost's neck and fell to the ground, releasing Alexa.

"Are you...." I was to ask Alexa if she was alright when I heard something hit my head. I lost my balance and fell to the ground. I looked over and saw it was a male ghost covered in clouds. The male spirit grabbed my leg and dragged me towards the dense forest.

"Help! Help." I screamed. Everybody was busy fighting the ghosts that they did not hear me.

"Let go of me," I spoke to the ghost. He was not listening to me. I tried to throw my slaughter knife at him, but he reached it first and threw it away.

"Ooh my God!" I exclaimed silently. I was out of options.

"Help! Help.' I continued shouting.

"Alexa! Robby. Guys help me." I called out loudly.

I continued yelling as the male ghost dragged me into the woods. However, there was no response.

I gave up on the shouting and started begging the male ghost to let me go.

It was not working, though. He kept dragging me deeper and deeper.

After a while, the male ghost stopped. As soon as he released my legs, I sat down and turned to him. He was staring at me, and I could tell he was furious. By the look on his face, I could tell he was old. Maybe old enough to be my dad.

"What do you want with me?" I asked. My heart was still throbbing so fast. Well, I wasn't even sure if I had a heart now that I knew I was a ghost too.

The male ghost did not respond to me. Instead, he grabbed me and nudged me onto one of the big trees, then tied me to it. Once he was done tying me up, he sat, looking away.

He was thinking of something serious. I could tell how he was staring at one place, scratching his head.