The Soul Catcher (Harry Styles)

15 - Perfect Duo

"The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated."

― Mark Twain

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Elaine and I exchanged exasperated looks, our fight momentarily forgotten.

"Is this when the good times start?" Elaine asked. An emotion hushed over her face, one I hadn't seen in her so far: hope.

"It's about to get better. And hey, you wanted to go to Italy anyway, right?" I nudged her in the rips, making her squirm slightly.

She looked at the ground. I could see the small smile on her lips before her hair covered her face.

We walked to the bridge that still stood in its shimmering beauty in between those colourful flowers. Elaine was wary, stopping at the edge of the field.

"Don't worry, it'll be alright," I said, sensing her unease. "You're not alone."

"There's one thing I don't get. We're going to Italy, but none of us speaks Italian. How are we going to communicate with the twins?"

That was an excellent question I had already asked myself. "We'll see, maybe they speak English?" I didn't sound very reassuring, making it sound like a question.

Elaine took a deep breath and caught up with me. She was still hesitant, but took steady steps.

Just when we reached the edge of the bridge, I could see the doubt in her eyes. Out of instinct – and without really knowing why – I intertwined my right hand with her left, giving it a little squeeze.

Elaine smiled gratefully at me and together, we crossed the bridge, holding hands until we reached the other side.

"Woah," Elaine groaned, covering her eyes with both hands.

My right hand tingled, feeling as if something was missing.

"Argh, the light," I exclaimed, mimicking Elaine's actions. So far, I couldn't see much, the light was blinding me.

After blinking for some time and putting my hands away bit by bit, my eyes adjusted to the light. I still squinted, but I could finally take in our surroundings.

"Oh woah, we travelled back in time," Elaine remarked, turning around so the light wasn't shining in her eyes anymore. "Holy shit."

"Did those twins die in 1588 or what are we doing in an ancient castle?" I couldn't help but ask.

I was rather confused. We stood in the lobby of a castle. As in, a real and huge castle built with grey cobblestones. Behind us – or rather, behind me and in front of Elaine now – was a wooden gate with a thick barrier, hooked into a hanger in the wall.

The light that nearly blinded us came from several floodlights hanging from the ceiling. They resembled a theatre's equipment. There were only too many of them, hung up for bad purposes, probably to scare away burglars.

"We're back in the Middle Ages," I murmured, not really believing what I was seeing.

Elaine, on the other hand, seemed totally fascinated. "This is amazing! Look at this! It's medieval. It's perfect, right out of an old movie."

"I wouldn't be surprise if the twins were out of the Middle Ages, too," I mumbled.

"I doubt it. Aren't we supposed to catch souls that are ready to cross over? I don't think it took them centuries until they suddenly decided, they wanted to move on," Elaine pointed out.

I shook my head. "Either souls, that are ready to cross over, or souls, that have been on earth for too long."

Elaine's mouth formed a little 'o.' "Crap, then they died, their parents moved away and no one had been in this place ever since then."