Lost - part 3

"I think he came in with one of the attendants. I don't remember seeing him ever before, and since this wasn't a place where they put insane kids, I figured he must be somebody's child. I couldn't imagine what type of parent would bring their boy into an environment like this, but I also didn't care. I was on the verge of giving up on life. I would sit in a chair in the corner and watch as men and women walked around aimlessly. I began to wonder how many of them were truly insane and how many were driven there simply from living in this place.

"My attention went back to the young boy who walked straight up to me. He stood there and held out his hand. Before being admitted into the ward, I would have asked him what he wanted. I would have tried to communicate with him. Instead, I stared at his hand, trying to decide if I really wanted to make the effort to move.

"'Do you want to know?' the boy asked.

"I looked up at him with a curious look on my face. Somehow I saw a glimmer of hope for understanding in him. Plus, what did I have to lose? I finally decided to take his hand and follow him.

"We walked towards the exit as I wondered what this boy had in mind. It wasn't until we started walking past the guard that I became nervous. However, the guard paid no attention to us, and before I knew it, we were outside in the free air. I took a deep breath and a slight shiver ran through my body as it tingled from the rush of oxygen. I could already feel my mind start to clear.

"I turned my head down to where the boy should have been to thank him, but he wasn't there. I quickly scanned around me and saw him walking away.

"'Wait!' I called. He didn't stop, but kept on walking. I ran and caught up to him and stood in his way. He waited in front of me motionless, as if I were a door that wouldn't open. I stooped down and looked into his face and was almost taken back by the emptiness in his eyes. It was almost like a void where the only visible part was the deep black of the pupil.

"'What's going on?" I asked.

"'Your time is done,' was his reply.

"'My time?" I asked. 'What do you mean?'

"'Anathoth wasn't supposed to tell you about us. We had to make it so no one would believe you if you were to talk, which you did. Now, everyone will take you for a crazy man.'

"'Who is Anathoth? I don't remember talking to him. What is it I wasn't supposed to know?'

"'Come,' he said. 'I will explain everything.' I followed him into a nearby park, and we sat under the cool shade of a tree. The grass was so soft underneath. I could barely remember ever feeling grass that soft. The years I had spent in the hard, white prison had dulled my senses. Now, everything felt more alive and vibrant than ever before.

"'We exist through you,' he started. I started to open my mouth to ask a question, but he held up his hand. 'Please do not interrupt. When I am done, you may ask.

"'We need you to live. As one of us is born, the new life is placed into one of your newborns. The two co-exist peacefully for the first several years of life. But we grow much quicker than you do. By the time your child has reached the age of 8, we have reached our maturity. Until then, the human child has complete control over his mind and body. However, once we reach our stage of adulthood, we must release ourselves from what has sustained us. It is almost like your incubators that you use for chickens. We would not survive outside a human body until we have fully developed.

"'Once we are there, we must find a way to leave. So, we take control of the child's body and go away from everyone. The process of freeing ourselves is not one to be witnessed by human eyes.

"'After the transformation is complete, the child is free to go, and we go on living our lives invisible to the rest of you around us.'

"I sat with a stunned look on my face. I couldn't tell if I was still crazy or if what I was hearing was real. I had so many questions that I didn't know where to start.

"'So, you're like parasites,' I said.

"'A harmless parasite, but yes.'

"'Harmless? Hardly. You take over a child's body, somebody's son or daughter that they love, and leave them alone somewhere in the world after you're done using their body. How is that harmless?'

"'We do not leave them there. After exiting their body, we lead them back home. That is how that girl that you ran into was able to find her parents again. She had been led back.'

"'I did not see anyone lead her to me. She seemed to come out of nowhere.'

"'We are invisible to those who do not believe. The human child's imagination is so immense that they can see us. Most adults refer to them as the child's imaginary friend, but we are as real as the kid says we are. And, when we so desire, we can make those we touch invisible as well. How else do you think we could have walked right out of that hospital?'

"'But you still look like a child.'

"'Yes, because I have not yet freed myself from him. I was instructed to come release you from your sentence beforehand. You had spent enough time in there for no one to believe what I am telling you now. I am sorry we had to do this to you, but we could not jeopardize our existence. Anathoth felt compassion for you and told you a riddle that would explain who we were. Though most adults would not have thought twice about such a thing, you did. And we could not take the chance that someone else would think the same way.'

"'You mean, Anathoth was the being that was inside my Antonio?'

"'That is correct. And it was his time to be freed. And now, it is time for me to go as well. I cannot keep this body any longer or we will both die.' He stood up and started to walk away again.

"'Wait!' I called once more. 'What do I do? Where's my Antonio?' But there was no response. He walked around a bend and was gone.

To be continued ...