Eternal life

Chapter 30

Aeri materialized in front of the temple, where she was in the morning. She looked around and searched for Shaman in hurry. She asked everyone she could find, that they noticed her. Unfortunately no one saw the person she was looking for. She was scared, but thankfully she heard familiar voice behind her.

'What happened?' Neatly clothed woman asked her, worried.

Aeri looked at old lady with tears in her eyes. 'I pushed him...'

'Pushed who? You?'

'With this hands!' Aeri showed her hands, as she couldn't believe they belonged to her.

Shaman grabbed her. 'Who did you push?' The nurse was crying and she couldn't utter a word.

'No good... Come on, follow me.' Aeri was leaded to shaman's place. It was near the temple, therefore they got there soon. Her door was covered in many talismans. She started to take some of them down, explaining why she even had them. 'It's for those like you. I deserve some privacy, don't you think. The nurse was still sobbing, so she didn't answer. Shaman picked the last one and went inside, holding the door for her guest to follow.

Inside was gloomy, even when shaman switched the lights on. It was the basement of building, therefore the windows were high. The walls were all covered in various things, like bells, yellow cards with weird signs on them, as well many shelves with books, that looked very old, also some figures were displayed. From the ceiling different herbs and plants were hanging. In the corner was a hanging bar, where many colourful hanboks where hung. In the middle of the living room was a low table, with some papers and again talismans on it. On left was bead curtain, probably leading to more inhabitable part of the flat. Woman ordered Aeri to sit on the ground beside the table, she took a place in front of her.

'I will not offer you a tea, forgive me that. I'm straightforward, so let's go to the point. You've got worked up, right? That's why you pushed him. Who was he?'

'Um... I don't know who he really is...' After calming down, the emotions again left her mind, so she started to think more clear.

'So why him?'

'I have to find my past... And the one who killed me might be the answer.'

'You visited the one that killed you?! Are you crazy?!'

'When I saw him, I suddenly felt so angry. I didn't know... He will ignite me like that...' Aeri was feeling guilty. Why she even got there?

Shaman sighed, as she had to explain more than she thought she would. Usually her work was easy, but phenomenon like the girl in front of her sometimes happened.

'Yeah, I should blame myself... Usually, I don't tell that to ghosts like you, to not scare you, but since it's already happening, then listen: everyone's time is limited. As a mortal and also as a ghost. Normally, everything ends when you die and you ascend. But, as for some people, their time gets divided: for human part and ghost time. Especially for those, whose mortal time got unexpectedly decreased. In other words: they died before their time.'

Aeri nodded. 'You told me that last time...'

'Listen, please. Your goal is to close the stuff on earth, here, and go further. But there are some restrictions: first, you have to close before your original time will come. Second, you can't try to possess or harm living people. You need my help to do that and I won't let you. Third thing is you should not try to feel human. This I told you last time, right? But I didn't explain what it meant.'

She cleared her throat and continued. 'Humans have emotions in nature, because it's connected to their body. Their emotions are mostly chemistry inside them and the soul is more like a memory storage for those experiences. When you die, you get rid of human flesh and the shell that produced those feelings. What you feel as a ghost is just an echo of what you've been as a living person. Soul is full of those memories and it works on simple terms. It does what you've done in the life: if you were happy, you'll be happy. If you were sad, you'll be sad. Worse, if you had some hatred inside of you. It's going to stay there, pushing on you the reason for staying here: to take a revenge. But I thought it wasn't your goal...'