I still couldn't understand what happened that night and maybe I never will. I think I just saw a Grim Reaper did it's job. Is that how all Grim Reapers takes soul? Or is it just Phantom? Everything is so confusing. For two weeks, I witnessed how phantom touched and took the souls of those people whom he showed me from his hands. Everytime he takes a soul, his eyes would turn redder and redder until it turns black. And when it did, he will leave me for two days and come back. We went from places to places and I stayed on little motels or apartments waiting for him until he show up and bring me to the next soul that he will take. He finished taking the souls of the names that he showed me for one week. The following week he has a new list of souls that he will take. We did that for a month and I have to move from one place to another. Money is never a problem when you have a demon beside you. The length of my stay depends on how many souls Phantom has to take in that particular place. At those times, I have to stay inside since I'm still a fugitive on the run. Being a companion of a demon who takes soul, I saw different faces of evil beyond my imagination. Things that I did not expect a human being can do. A murderer, arsonist, drug dealer, terrorist, corrupt politician, rapist and sometimes worse. I've seen it all sometimes too much, it became normal to me. I feel nothing for their deaths and always feel bad for their victims. There are times, they will die after doing their crimes, like Bobby and, sometimes they will die in their sleep or a simple heart attack. I have been living like that for two months until one day he let me go. I remember, I was alone in my room having dinner. I turned on the t.v and saw something unexpected. A woman of my age is found dead in the river. When they focused her face on the camera and mention her name, I knew I was right. She has my nose, my eyes, my hair. Everything is the same. Phantom suddenly showed up, his eyes are white as paper.
"I'm letting you go on your own." he said to me. "Humans think you're dead."
"Yeah. I just saw my body being lifted from a river. What am I? Who is that?" I ask him. I am so confused with what's happening.
"It's you."
"But I'm here, in front of you. If that was my body, what am I now? Am I still human?"
"You will always be human, only special. That body is something that the humans will forever believe as you." He reached out his hand and made me come to him. "Look into my eyes." He said and I followed. Suddenly, I felt something warming up from inside me. I feel like my organs are being twisted and I feel like throwing up. I tried to look away but his eyes held me and made me paralyzed.
When he let go, I fall hard onto my knees and breathe heavily. I feel like I ran in a 2k marathon in a desert.
"You are now a soul taker. You will have the abilities that a soultaker possess." he said while I'm on the floor. Is this it? I thought to myself. Is the time I've been waiting for? Am I ready? "You are now ready. You feel nothing with their deaths and you understand well how I work. You have now the deaths of all humans into your hands."
"What do you mean?" I was confused and tried to get up "Isn't there a list?"
"There is no list. I just showed you their names so you will not be confused. You will not need a list anymore. It will come to you. Your body will know if the man is evil enough for you to take his soul. When the time comes, I will collect those souls." That was his answer before he opened the black hole. "This is that last time you will see me."
"Then, how are you going to collect the souls?" I asked him before he entered the hole.
"You will know."
And that was it. He was gone and left me in that small room. I processed everything he said to me before I realized that I'm alone. He said I have a soultaker's ability now. The first thing I did was to check my eyes in the mirror. Nothing's changed, I still have my same black rounded eyes. I tried focusing myself in opening a black hole but there was nothing. I'm started to wonder what abilities I have when I remembered that we or I never paid for anything. Phantom would always disguise himself as a man just like what he did at the hospital and he would take care of the room to where I stayed. So, I took my jacket from the bed and went down to the reception area. I checked out and was waiting for the teller to ask for payment but he didn't instead he thanked me for staying. That was the first ability that I know I have, hypnotism. I smiled at him and went outside. It's past six in the evening and it was raining. I put on my jacket as I blended myself to the pool of people on the streets. Everywhere I look, I saw their names and age, if they are married or not. In my head, I can see their profile. It was no news to me. When I was with phantom, I also knew the profile of the person that he will kill in my head. The only difference now is I can see each and everyone's profile and their relationship with each other, not just a particular person. I can see if a man and woman is a couple or if they are just friends. I can see if a woman is the man's mistress or vice versa. I can see who in the group of friends is being real or not. I continued walking, not knowing where I'm going. When the rain grew heavier, I went inside a restaurant and waited for it to stop. Phantom was right, I'm still human because I still feel hunger. I look around and saw that it was crowded. Maybe they are waiting for the rain to stopped too. I went inside and settle myself in the table at the corner where nobody will notice. Then, a waiter came to me and asks for my order. His name is Andrew, 18 years old like me, a working student and product of a broken family. I studied his face and tried to know more but there's nothing. I saw him became awkward and smile, I must be staring at him for too long that he thinks I'm flirting. So I gave him my order and look the other way. When he left, I realized that it's the only thing I know about him and everyone in the room and their profile. I studied every person on the crowd, some of them gave me an awkward feeling and some they don't. I thought to myself, how am I supposed to know when the person is evil if the only thing I know about them is their profile. I remember phantom said that it's all because I'm human. He said that my knowledge is limited until I take the soul of a person. I didn't understand him at that time and I didn't know that I will sooner than I expected. When my order came, the rain already stopped and people started leaving. I was eating my dinner in silence when two men caught my attention. One look and I knew that they are brothers. They are fighting over money then suddenly the older one punch the other. He fell onto the floor and when he got up, he shouted at him and left while the other get back to his seat and keep drinking. His name is Roger, 30 years old, a smuggler, a thief and killed his own mother when he was a teenager. Richard is his half-brother and only 22 years old. That's all I saw to him, unlike his brother who has crimes. One look at Roger and I knew I have to take his soul. A sudden urge came to me and I can feel it in my bones. Like an itch I have to scratch. I have seen different sinners while on the streets but, he is the first one that gave me that feeling. I thought of what phantom said to me and this is it. Every part of my body can feel his evilness. I put on my hood and followed Roger's swaying body. Luckily, there are less people outside because he was cursing them and pushing them aside. I keep following him until he went inside an alley. It was dark but I can clearly see his big body stumbling on the ground. I looked around and saw nobody around. I slowly walked to him and lowered myself to face him. When he saw me, he laughed and said "Are you blind? Why is your eyes white?" I was surprised by what he said and wanted to look myself in the mirror. When he tried to get up, I stopped him. He is struggling but he couldn't fight me. He's like a baby with my hand in his shoulder. I suddenly remember how I beat my family's murderers. I cupped his face and made him stare into my eyes, I saw as his eyes turned white and when it turned to normal, he was frightened. He got up and was trembling while he ran away from me but he didn't manage to go far. He suddenly fall, face flat on the ground. I looked at him as he turned on his back and hold his chest, his breathing heavily and with a final gasped, I saw his eyes turned red. Suddenly, I felt like something came inside me and the urge was gone. That was the first time I took a soul from a human body. The moment he was dead, I suddenly knew everything about him. His mother is not the only person he killed, he also raped five women and killed three of them. He was a drug smuggler and a smuggler of stolen cars. He stole money and things, from whomever he wants to, even a beggar. When the information about Roger stopped, I felt exhausted. I wanted to sit down but I know I have to go or the police will see me. I put back my hood that fell when he was struggling and walk along the street. It was not long before someone pushed me inside the alley again and pin me in the wall, it was a guy. I looked at him and I couldn't see anything from him, not even his name. I tried to fight him but he is also strong. Then I felt a cold hard thing pressing on my stomach and when he let go of me, I was already bleeding. I saw him smiling as I was sliding from the wall and when I fell down, he lift my shirt up. "I was right." he said while looking at my wound. I looked down and to my surprise, I saw my wound closing on its own until the pain was gone.
"Hi." he said to me while I looked him confusedly. He was smiling at me like we're two friends who hasn't seen each other for a long time. "Sorry. I just had to do that to make sure."
"To make sure of what?" I ask him while pulling my shirt.
"That's you're a soultaker. You're new aren't you?"
"Who are you? How did you.."
"Know? Because I am one." he smiled and continued "I'm X and you are?" I just looked at him and didn't answer. "Well, it will be unfair if you tell me your real name and you'll know me as X. How about I call you Lux?"
"Is that a name?"
"Of course. I saw it in one of the signage while walking here." He stood up and reached out his hands to me." Let's go. It's getting cold out here."
