Paranormal Predicament

Chapter 4: Memories

 I sat upright on the couch, ready for whatever information was about to be thrown at me. I didn't know what I was about to hear. All I knew was that this information was extremely important.

 "So," Nathan said, "I guess it makes sense to start at the beginning. If I'm being honest, I haven't thought about this in a long time, and I've never really talked about it much."

 I nodded. I understood the feeling. "It's alright. Take as much time as you need to."

 Nathan took a deep breath. "Alright. So, a long time ago, there was this spirit who made me play a bunch of games. These games could be frustrating on their own, but they always felt so much worse when he made me play them. Maybe it's because I was forced to do it, but I'm not really sure."

 "A spirit? You mean like a ghost?" I asked.

 Nathan nodded. "Exactly. This spirit, his real name was Nathan. Not Nathaniel, just Nathan. But he just called himself the Spirit. There was another spirit, too. Her real name was Cassie, but she called herself the Angel. The two of them seemed to have opposite personalities. Spirit's goal was to make me as miserable as possible, and he went to some extremes to do that. But Angel tried her best to make sure that I was happy. The thing is, I think they were forced to do that."

 "Forced? Who was forcing them?"

 Nathan looked down. "I don't really know. They were never specific on the details. From what I remember, Nathan had gotten into a car accident. He had hit Cassie after she ran to pull someone else out of the way, and they both died. That was the same day that I was born. The next thing they knew, they were standing next to me as Spirit and Angel. Neither of them could figure out why they were there, and they realized that they couldn't leave. They were stuck. They were stuck by my side since the day I was born and they would stay there probably until I died. Once I knew that, I began to understand a bit more why Spirit seemed to hate me so much.

 "But it goes even deeper than that. Like I said, I think Spirit was forced to be evil, even though he never wanted to be. Because of that, it was impossible for him to feel happy. Angel, on the other hand, could only feel optimistic. She literally couldn't complain about her situation."

 "That's awful," I said sadly. "I can't even begin to imagine what it must feel like to have your emotions stripped away from you like that. How long had it been that way?"

 "By the time that we managed to end it, it had been about 21 years."

 I shook my head sadly. I could hardly believe what I was hearing. The amount of torture these poor people must have gone through...

 "Nathan, you said that sometimes Spirit would go to extreme measures to make you miserable. What exactly do you mean by that?"

 "Since he was a spirit, he had all sorts of supernatural powers," Nathan explained. "He was able to recreate the games in real life. That was how he tried to make me miserable. He made me play these real life versions, and there was always another game to play. He could also teleport and create fire, among other things."

 "Teleporting definitely sounds useful." I commented.

 Nathan laughed and nodded. "Yeah, I guess so. Especially when you can use it on other people too. He used it all the time, come to think of it. I don't think we moved from place to place without it."

 I laughed as well. "So what ended up happening to Spirit and Angel? You said it had been 21 years by the time you ended it."

 "Well, they both got power from the Monster I drank and my emotions, so-"

 "Wait," I interrupted. "Sorry, Monster?"

 "Yeah," Nathan explained. "Like the energy drink. Didn't I already tell you about that?"