CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

Ericka sat quietly; she was at her friend's wake, looking at the coffin where Jasmin's body lay. Even now, she still couldn't believe that her closest friend had met such a fate.

She thought she would be safe, but she wasn't. She understood the connection to the events, yet Jasmin had yet to divulge her knowledge about the warehouse they discovered.

Jasmin, why? Why aren't you showing yourself to me? She wondered in her mind; she wanted to see the last moment of her friend. But she couldn't see it, not even in a dream.

Are you protecting me, Jasmin? Don't protect me! Share with me what you know. She said her mind back then.

No matter what she did, she couldn't see its soul. Ericka regrets not accompanying her home and acknowledges that she is responsible for the delay in getting back that day.

Her fist trembled; she wanted to punch herself. They were together with Jasmin that day; if only she had insisted she sleep over at their place, her friend would still be alive.

Jasmin, though! Tears were welling up in her eyes again.

She heard the cry of her friend's mother again. Jasmin is their only child in the Cuerdo family; the father hasn't come home yet because he wants to investigate what happened to Jasmin first before he comes back home, but he will arrive tomorrow at the final resting place of their child.

"Della! Della!" The mother cried out.

It is so painful for Ericka to see such a situation; if she is hurt by the death of her friend, the pain her mother feels now is double.

When her Aunt Faye cried out Jasmin's name, it pierced her heart numerous times. It seems like the dark event still hasn't sunk in for them.

She wipes her tears and approaches Faye, who is hugging the coffin, wanting to take Jasmin's body out at that time.

The relatives were stopping her; she stood up when she noticed a woman dressed in white standing near Jasmin's mother.

She turned around, surprised by what she saw.

Jasmin! She thought to herself, crying as well, clearly unable to accept its death. Ericka saw the face of her friend— bloodied on the temple, with blood dripping down, and their body riddled with bullet wounds.

Reports stated that bullets riddled Jasmin's body and shattered her skull.

She cried a lot at what she saw; when she learned that Jasmin had been killed, her mother stopped her from going to the crime scene. She wanted to see her friend in the morgue, but her parents confined her.

She knew that her parents were protecting her from the tragic fate that Jasmin had met before.

Ericka clutched her chest, realizing that this was the form she would see as a soul. Her friend is not quiet when she is in that state.

It seemed like she could hear her crying; it mixed with the wind, and only she could hear Jasmin's wail.

Mom, I can't accept this; help me. This plea.

After a while, it suddenly vanished from her sight. She needs to talk to its soul. She must uncover the events surrounding her abduction, uncover the secret she holds, and understand the reasons behind her silence.

Someone held her palm. That's why she turned around. She estimated the boy's age to be around seven years old.

The boy stared at her.

"Greg."

Ericka turned around; she saw Thalia.

"Ericka," she mentioned her name.

Thalia immediately handed her a tissue; she didn't notice that tears were still flowing down her cheek.

"Sorry about Greg." Saying while asking for forgiveness.

She just shook her head, and Greg let go of her hand. She looked at her Aunt Faye's behavior, being calmed down by other relatives, but she kept crying as if she would never run out of tears.

"Greg, don't do that anymore; just leave me like that." She even heard Thalia scolding the child.

The young boy didn't answer; he was still looking at her.

"Stay here for now, okay? Don't leave that spot." The child was told.

Thalia will go to Jasmin's coffin to offer a prayer.

"Sis, can you see that woman over there?" The child asked her.

Ericka stared at the child back then.

"I saw her when we entered here with my sister; she was crying and going back and forth to the gate leading here. Occasionally, she was just there." He gestured towards the door at that moment.

She understood the child's reference; Jasmin's shooting occurred there.

She just listened to the child. "W--- What does she look like?" Then she asked.

"She was wearing a uniform, her shattered skull bleeding profusely, and she had multiple bullet wounds. It's pitiful; she had a wonderful life, and she couldn't accept it right away." Even Ericka noticed that Greg was sad.

"W—What do you mean?" She asked the child.

"Sister, she needs help; I see her life before she passed away, how she died." He said.

Her hair stood on end; she stared at the child; she didn't know why, but she believed this child had an ability or capability that most people wouldn't believe, just like her ability now.

"Believe that, sis. She won't find peace; I see that she won't see the light if she doesn't accept and seek justice with all her heart. She also doesn't want to be a lost soul."

Lost souls—that's what they call souls without a direction, returning and keeping on returning, but not knowing the reason why they are here. I have encountered them several times; they lose hope and identity as they linger in this world.

Ericka clenched her fist; she wouldn't let her closest friend become a lost soul; she would do everything—everything just to do something for her friend.

She noticed that a young soul was following Greg.

"Greg, who is that child spirit?" She asked.

He smiled at her happily. "Don't worry, he's not a wandering spirit; he's my cousin."

Cousin? Thalia had already told her that a family was murdered in their house.