Shadows in the Concrete Jungle Book One: The Grey

Chapter Thirty-Four

She felt the presence long before she turned from the scene before her. Noah was pressed against Nick as he sobbed after he thrashed around, Nick holding his broken arm out of the way of Noah's ceased flailing, his own bones sticking out from his arm. Nicholas and Jolly knelt on either side of her body, their hands pressing against the damage there. Emergency vehicles pulled up, slow, and fast, then slow again. Every sound was a strange echoed silence in her ears.

Everything around her was awash in grey, varying shades of it, streaky, like she was looking out from behind a pane of glass that was barely wiped with water.

"Am I d-dead?" She asked, her voice stuttering on the final word.

"Your body being there, and your soul being here, doesn't look that good," he said, his voice gentle.

"Where are we?" She asked as she stared at her broken body.

"The Grey," he replied, his voice the only thing that didn't echo around her head. "It's where souls reside until they move on to the next life. Some stay for a while, some move immediately on. Cooper immediately left. He was... sad that he died, but happy to be reunited with his parents."

Kendra looked down at her own grey hands, at the flimsiness of her form. She could see the ground through her boots, through her hands.

She could feel him standing beside her then, no warmth or coolness coming from him, only a shadow beside her. But she knew where his eyes rested on the scene before him.

"It's not your time," he said, his voice quiet with sadness. "He can't lose another one, not so soon. It would destroy him."

She knew who he was talking about, her eyes shifting to look over Noah's form, the edges blurring out into shadows as he stared down at her dead body, his mouth open in anguish as he rocked against Nick.

"You replaced me, you know," he continued, his voice heavy. "In more ways than one; a partner, a best friend, a confidant. He needs you, and losing you will break him."

She could feel a tug in her chest, and she looked down at herself, the thinnest thread of glowing golden light springing out from her shadowy form. She turned then to the figure beside her. He was cast mostly in shadow, but light glinted off his dirty blonde hair, the apple of his cheek.

"Who are you?" She asked, and only then did he turn to face her. "Have you been waiting here this whole time?"

"I'm his old partner... Keaton," he smiled sadly. "Yes. I've been waiting for him this whole time. Ever since I left him, and I will continue to wait for him until his time, even if I am just a shadow of a soul."

Kendra felt a sharper tug in her chest, and she could see out of her periphery the thread of light brighter and stronger.

"Can you tell him that for me?" He said, his eyes moving from her to Noah before them. "Could you do that for me, Kendra, if you remember?"

If she had the capacity to cry, she would have, but she only felt an overwhelming sadness, and no output for it. "Yes," she finally said. "Yes, of course."

He turned to look at her again, the sadness evident in his eyes and smile. "Thank you," he whispered. "It's time to wake up now."

Another tug at her chest, the sharpest and most painful one yet, made her stumble forward. She caught herself, and turned to look at Keaton, his smile kind though sad, and he nodded his head once, in reassurance.

"It's time to wake up now."

The last tug was excruciating, propelling her soul forward through an infinite expanse of space and time, the light from her chest burning her, blinding her, until all at once it faded into absolute nothingness.