Chapter Text
A loud crash sounded from across the room. I looked up to see my mother standing completely still, her black coat appearing over her shoulders and her eyes turning that blueish grey colour that I knew all too well. My mother was being summoned to help guide a soul to their gate to the afterlife.
Usually, the souls make their way onto their path easily, but some souls stray from the path because of fear or some other reason, and it was up to them, the Beacons, to guide them back so they can step into the light and into the afterlife.
I knew what my role was going to be from a very young age, my parents are both Beacons so it was only natural to expect that I would eventually show signs of being one as well. When I first got summoned, I was 15 years old, an old lady was confused and didn’t know what to do so I helped her, I walked her to the entrance of her portal and watched her carefully step inside with tears streaming down her face. She was welcomed into the afterlife by her late husband and son; I would never forget that day.
Throughout my life I could never understand why my parents took such great pride in their roles. When I first mentioned my parents’ roles to my friends, they were shocked, according to them I was too bright and cheerful to have such a morbid role, but after that experience when I was 15 it was obvious that I was made for this job.
As time went on, I was assigned to help more with younger kids and old people. When I mentioned that to my father, he spoke about how it was probably brought to the heaven’s attention that my playful nature appealed more to younger people and the old folk.
It wasn’t so bad thought, I just end up crying more than I would like when it comes to watching them walk into the light. That was probably also why people liked having me around so much, I always made sure that no one felt things alone, it was second nature to me to be empathetic.
“Duang where is your mother?” my father asked when he walked into the living room.
“She was summoned,” Duang said going back to his sketches.
“You brother was also summoned, and I need someone to go buy some ingredients for me,” my dad said and I nodded along to what he said.
“Why didn’t you just say so? I can go pick up the ingredients for you before I have my tutoring class,” I said and my father sighed of relief.
I quickly jumped to my feet and walked towards my father. Before I reached my dad I could hear my name being called repeatedly. The calls came from the people seeking my help and depending on their mental state the calls would either be extremely frantic and panicked or very calm. This person was panicked, the little voice was breathless, as if he was running for his life, poor guy.
The official attire for beacons usually appears when they are summoned, it was just a dark cloak over their shoulders and a hood that usually goes over their head. Their eyes turn a blue-grey colour because they receive special sight when they are summoned. This sight allows them to see the souls of the people who passed on. So basically ghosts.
The cloak was always so unnecessary to me because it just made us all look like some knock off versions of the grim reaper and we have two very different jobs. Okay fine they don’t have different jobs, at some point the reaper got lazy and created the beacons to help him out which is why they all received the cloaks. But I didn’t like to associate myself with Grim as much because it made this beautiful job so…grim.
I didn’t have to move on my own, the frantic little soul calling for me caused my body to fly through the air itself in search for the little guy. Poor thing must be scared out of his mind. I saw him sitting in the distance in the middle of the busy highway. Slowly, I made my way to him, I would never want him to be more frightened even though the Beacon attire does come off a little intimidating.
When I got to the boy I was still hovering, his head was buried in his hands and he was sobbing.
“Please help me!” he sobbed.
I tried to reach out to touch his head, but an electrical force kept me from being able to reach out and touch him. What? The boy was flickering in and out of reality, his body becoming almost so transparent one could see right through him.
“This makes no sense,” I muttered to myself. This boy called to me; I am supposed to be able to interact with him… unless.
I looked around me and saw the crowd gathering around a car accident. A mother was wailing with a limp body in her arms, I saw my friend Jamie stand close to the scene hovering next to a transparent older man. In the middle of the commotion was an Angel a being that can transfer life force from one being to another. Depending on how much life the object being sacrificed has, that is how much life was going to be transferred. Angels only extend life though, it’s not like they cure an illness or fix the broken bones, they just breathe some more life into you. In all honesty I never really understood why they were so heavily associated with angels so amongst themselves they started calling them Faux Angels and after a while we started calling them that to their faces.
They are also called upon, when a soul is yearning for more time usually they would show up and grant the request. Some families can afford cattle to sacrifice, and others can only get down on their knees and start ripping plants out of the ground to help their family members. Probably why people associate them with angels, which make no sense to me, but to each their own. It was rare that a soul called out to them, usually it’s the families who book appointments with them so even before their souls could call out the families already had an appointment.
I make my way over to Jamie and greet the man who’s between life and death.
“What’s happening?” I ask them.
“He’s sacrificing his life force,” Jamie said pointing to the scene. The woman Faux Angel was busy, her eyes were bloodshot red, and her fingertips were sunk into the scull of the little boy and the man’s heads. She was vibrating, it seems like the transference was taking a lot out of her since she was trying to milk the last bit of life out of a dying man into a dying boy.
I could still hear the boy’s voice in my head; he was so sad and confused and now I know why. They were pulling him between life and death. I hate things like this; it was always the spirit who suffers the most. Usually, I didn’t mind the work that Faux Angels did, for the most part having that extra hour, day, week or even years of life helped the spirit a lot when the time came for them to walk through the gates. Less regrets plagued them, less unanswered questions and roadblocks.
The Faux Angel stopped vibrating, her eyes returned to their normal light green colour and her fingers unattached themselves from the father and son. Suddenly the little boy opened his eyes and let out an agonizing screech. The first responders then finally moved a muscle, in my opinion if they didn’t wait for the gosh damn Faux Angel to finally decide to show up there probably wouldn’t have been a need for this boy to lose his father.
The people who gathered around let out celebratory cheers. What good happened here worth celebrating? This woman had to watch the life get sucked from her husbands’ body and her son, who can now see being carried to the ambulance, has lost his arm.
Jamie and I share a look, they have worked so hard on sending their subliminal messages that to the naked eye it just looked like a quick glance, but they knew the truth. That look was a big fat “What the fuck?” being screamed. Jamie looked at the man standing next to him, he wasn’t transparent anymore so that meant that he was dead now. I looked at the glooming cloud of the depression hanging over the man’s head and it was clear that he was not ready to leave, he didn’t want to move or even blink. Jamie has his work cut out for him today.
Without anyone noticing someone was standing next to Jamie.
“Shit!” I said when I noticed the person standing with us. My heart was beating so fast, I don’t know how he creeps up on us like this every time.
“Jeez Marvis why do you keep doing that?” I said rolling my eyes.
“Why do you scare so easily? We literally work with ghosts.”
I stare at Marvis blankly. He wasn’t wrong, but I am in no mood to admit to this smug man that he was right. Marvis was also a Beacon, he was popular amongst everyone because of his looks and charm, everyone hoped that Marvis would be theirs but at the end of the day when the pull happened it was Jamie and Marvis who were drawn to each other.
Think of the pull as you finding your soulmate because that is basically what is it. Once you meet the person you are drawn to then you are permitted to appear in front of the council, once it’s on your record it is as good as saying your married. The pull doesn’t ask our preferences or sexuality, whether you’re a Faux Angel or a Beacon though a Faux Angel and Beacon couple is rare, it’s not impossible.
“Let me take him,” Marvis whispers to Jamie and Jamie looks at Marvis offended.
“Babe, just let me-”
“Jamie, I got this,” Marvis says and Jamie reluctantly steps away from the man staring at the spot where his body once laid. The crowd disappeared, there was nothing left, but blood and wreckage.
“I’ll see you in class later,” I say turning around to go back home. The coat slowly disappears from my body, and my feet touch the ground which was odd because my attire never disappears so rapidly.
I remember how everyone described the pull. It got its name for a reason; it was a pull. It felt like something was tugging you into any direction and all you can do is follow. The streets suddenly felt crowded and I suddenly felt heavy disoriented. What was happening?
Suddenly I crash into somebody, but before I could see who crashed into me the only thing I saw was someone running away. I wanted to follow, everything in me wanted to run after the moving figure, but I stayed frozen in place. If this was truly what I think it is then surely faith will bring us back to each other again when it must happen.
At the dinner table that night I was picking at my food, the delicious rice and stir-fried meat and veg was suddenly very uninteresting. Dare I say my mother’s food looked… unappetizing. Suddenly, I felt a hard slap against my head.
“Stop doing that you’re freaking all of us out!” Funan scolded me and I was about to flip him the bird when I realized we were still at the dinner table.
“Ow! Mom, Funan hurt me!” I whined holding my head. My mother immediately got up from her seat worried and started doting at me.
“Oh, my baby, are you okay!” she started checking through my hair for any signs of major injury.
“Funan, I agree that Duang’s actions were concerning, but did you have to hit your brother so hard?”
Funan rolled his eyes and went back to eating some of the papaya salad that was on his plate. I sent a little smirk his way then went back to whining. Being the baby of the household really does have its perks.
“Duang what’s wrong, you look like you’re in a whole other world,” my father asked dishing more rice onto his plate. Couldn’t even leave the food for a second to give me any attention, I was offended.
“Yes, Duang if you need to talk you could always talk to us,” my mom said walking back to her seat.
“No, I am okay just had an emotional day,” I said.
“Okay, but you can’t leave without eating what’s on your plate Duang,” my mom said and I nodded.
I slowly brought a spoon full of food to my mouth, and it tasted exactly how I thought it would, like air. Every bite was excruciating, there was no taste, no texture to me all there was, was nothing.
Later that night I knocked on my brother’s door. The usual scent of lavender and cinnamon that lingered in the hallway was faint, almost undetectable. Usually, this time of the night the smell is prominent and overwhelming because around this time my mom turns on the little aromatherapy machine she bought when Funan’s gift manifested and he had nightmares. Then when it was my turn I also had rough nights, but it seemed like the smell really helped me as well because my struggle did not last long at all.
I softly knocked on his door and he opened immediately.
“Ready to tell me why you’re being so weird?”
“What do you know about the pull?” we spoke simultaneously.
“Wait… the pull? You’re feeling the pull?” Funan said concerned.
“Shh stop speaking so loud and no I just, I don’t know okay, just tell me what you know about it.”
“It feels intense like it’s pulling you toward your partner. But it only happens when you are in close proximity to one another, other times it just has these weird effects on you,” Funan said and I frown in confusion.
“What do you mean?”
“Once you started feeling the pull there’s really no going back, it wants you to unite with whoever the person is so it will constantly remind you that something is wrong,” Funan said and I still didn’t understand what he was referring to.
“What kind of effect are we talking?”
“Well since Tutor left for his internship abroad, I have lost all my sense of touch. You can burn me and I wouldn’t feel a thing,” Funan said it all started to click. The reason he couldn’t taste anything. I tried to think of other reasons this might be happening, maybe I wasn’t feeling the pull, but who was I kidding? What else could explain the restless feeling going through his body right now?
“Okay… thanks.”
“Keep this to yourself for now, you know how mom gets when it comes to this stuff. She will personally bring every person here to the house to help you,” Funan said and with that I turned around and went to my room.
I looked at the laptop sitting at my desk ready for me to start my nightly catch-up work. I have to actually go to campus tomorrow, so I have to study, but when I sat down and stared at the laptop and the pen in my hand and I started drawing the outline of a person running away. Why did you run away?