B Groves [Groves - The Soul Healer

B. Groves

The Soul Healer

Copyright 2019 B. Groves

All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations em- bodied in critical articles or reviews.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organiza- tions, places, events and incidents either are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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www.bgrovesauthor.com

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First Edition: July 2019

Book cover design by Broken Candle Book Designs

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Contents

Epigraph

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may desire. -Francis Quarles

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my Aunt Maryann Layton. Thank you for all the shares, comments, and the encouragement on my books and book covers. You rock!

Chapter 1

Journal Entry May 27, Early 2000s.

Its been two years since the drunk driver ruined my life. As time passes, I remember that day with more clarity. I often wonder what made him get behind the wheel that night. I will never understand it because he died at the accident scene. There are days I wish our fates had taken a different path.

If anyone ever reads this journal and asks why I would say such a thing. Live my life for a day and maybe youll understand.

Grateful? Thats what my family tells me I should be. I should live life to the fullest and thank God Im still alive.

All that bullshit about the sun shining brighter, the birds singing in the trees, the sound of the waves crashing against the shore. I should appreciate those little things.

Its not easy. Its not the recovery. I've recovered. Hell, I even drove again after my initial fear of getting behind the wheel. I enjoy driving again. Its my source of freedom.

Its not that at all. Whoever reads this journal long after Im gone, youll doubt my sanity. Youll think I had lingering brain damage. Nope. All brain scans are nice and normal.

Normal. What is that word? Im not normal anymore.

The images may say I have normal brain activity, but something inside my subconscious came to life the minute metal rammed metal and the windows shattered all over me. When I woke up from my coma, I knew something inside me changed.

My vision of the world changed to utter darkness. I see things, dark things.

When I was still in the hospital, a lab technician entered my room in the middle of the night. He came to draw my blood for the doctor.

I turned over in bed so he could greet me. He had such a nice voice too. Smooth and boyish. His dark hair slicked back with a nice smelling gel.

It was his eyes that caught my attention. They flickered. Its the only way I can describe it. They flickered and turned black. Not just the pupil or the iris. His whole eye turned black.

I thought I was seeing things. I blinked a few times, and he became nervous and missed my vein. The stinging pain made my eyes water, but it brought me out of my sleepy state.

I pulled my arm back and looked at him again. Thats when I saw my first shadow. Thats what I call them; shadows. I cant think of anything better right now.

His human form darkened with each movement as he tried to find my vein. His eyes never returned to their human form. His voice was raspy, and a shadow circled his chest.

I remember screaming. I remember jumping out of bed and pulling out my IVs. I remember crying for help. I didnt know what this man was. He tried to calm me down, but the more I screamed, the angrier he became and the shadow around him formed a head, mouth, and eyes to laugh at me.

I tried to run out of the room, but my ankle was still in its cast, and I fell against the bed. Nurses and the night doctor on duty came running in, confused about what was happening.

I pointed to the lab technician telling them there was a monster in my room. They thought I went insane. I tried to escape, but they held me down.

The hospital staff sedated and restrained me. The last thing I remember from that night was the doctor ordering a change in my meds.

It wasnt the pain medications. That was the night I became a seernot quite a hunter, but a seer. That was the night my life turned on its head.

Im sitting here waiting for a response from another person like me. I dont know what to do.

This idiot in this secret place called The Network said that I should be proud of my gift.

Sure

I guess when God was handing out straws about who can contact ghosts, who can predict the future or any other psychic power, I drew the short straw.

Because Im stuck with this gift.

Chapter 2

Present Day, Charlotte, North Carolina

Alison Stark typed away at her desk. She should have been working, but instead, she was answering her mother on Facebook.

Yes, Mom, Alison typed. Ill fly down next month.

She closed out her Facebook page and sighed. She had four hours before calling it a day. She knew she needed to start her new project for the new company they had assigned to her through the firm, but she wasnt feeling it today.

This was a huge score for her company and while everyone else was hard at work trying to please the client, Alison played on the internet. She hoped Brian wouldnt walk by her while she answered her mom.

She strained her neck to look above the dull, gray walls of her cubicle and spotted her manager on the other side of the big room.

Alison turned back to her computer monitor and pulled up the project files for the assignment.

She shifted in her seat when a pair of eyes searched her out. She hated those eyes, but this one was one of the few that were harmless.

Alison learned over the years how to categorize the shadows. Some were benevolent, and then there were different levels of malevolent. There were the ones that liked to play pranks on the humans and then there were the ones that outright murdered the living. Shed seen them all.

Owen was a benevolent one.

I need to leave this body soon, he commented.

Why? Are you bored? Alison looked back down at her monitor and chewed on her pen.

She quit smoking six months ago and sometimes the cravings became unbearable. Now was one of those times.

The balding, pudgy man made a gesture to his chest. This guys arteries are getting worse.

Then take him to a doctor, Alison answered with a shrug.

His husband is cheating on him too, Owen commented.

Alison bit her lip trying to hide her smile. She looked back up at the shadow and waved her hand.

Owen, she whispered. I hate seeing you. You know that.

Owen looked at himself and Alison caught the shadow disappearing into the meat suit.

Did you leave his soul in the cage? Alison asked before she tried to work again.

Hes there, Owen said. Meet me in the parking lot after work.

Alison nodded without looking back up at the shadow. She hated seeing their true forms. It never failed to make her nauseous even after eleven years.

Alison waited for the clock to tick away while she tried to concentrate on her numbers. She chanced a glance at her personal emails. There wasnt much there, mostly spam, but sometimes there was an occasional sale that interested her.