I Am the Keeper

I never knew what I was until 3 days ago. My 12th grade history teacher gave me a book, a Regents book. It was a big leather book with golden letters on it. It read Demon and Angels but I should start from the beginning with my story. My name is Tyler Brown, and I am a senior at King High School, but that is not the beginning of what I am.

It happened like this; My family and I were in New York visiting my great Aunt Mary. I did not want to go to her house. It smelled like dust and cat; she even smelled like a cat. Aunt Mary has buck teeth like a rabbit; she is short and round like a potato, and her hair is white, not gray, but white. I was 6 at the time. I had curly brown hair because my mom loved it, and now it is as straight as cat hair. You want to know what happened in New York, not what I look like. I was walking between my mom and dad when they stopped to talk to an old friend. I looked past that guy to see a man in his late 30s or 40s standing in the walk way. He was pale as milk, his red hair was very light, and his blue eyes looked around the street as some child walked right into him like he was never there. The man just shook it off like it happened before. He just stood, there and I kept my eyes on him for some reason. Then his eyes met mine. I was scared. I did not know what to do, so I looked away. It did not stop with that man; soon after that, I saw other people like him. I was outside of my aunt’s house when a pale milk face walked up to me. She was in a cheerleader’s outfit; her outfit was black and light blue with the school name on it “Athena.” Her blond hair was up in a ponytail.
“Hi,” I said.
“You can see me?”
Her voice was like my mom’s, sweet and kind like I could talk to her about anything.
“Yeah, I can, but I do not know why.”


The girl smiled at me. I asked her for her name. Sara was her name. Then I asked her if she is dead because people are walking through her. She said yes. Then she said that her soul is lost because she did not go with the Grim Reaper when she died. So now her soul wanders the earth looking for the keeper of souls. The girl left.
Later that night I was ready for bed when a white ball came through my wall. It was as white as a bulb. It blinded me for a second, Then it entered inside of my body. It hurt so much that I yelled and fell to my knees, and I held my chest. I felt like my body was on fire inside of me. Then it passed. It got cold like a freezer . I took a deep breath out, and that is when I saw fog coming out of my mouth. I felt like my lips were turning blue. I closed my eyes and fell.
The next morning I woke up on the floor like nothing had happened. It felt like a dream, but it was real. I touched my chest; it did not hurt me, and I felt no more fire or cold. I got up, and walked to the mirror. I looked at myself, and my skin looked normal, but my eyes are different. I leaned in to see that my eyes were not brown; they were white like the color of the ball that came in here last night. I kept on looking at myself when my eyes changed in front of me. They changed like fog coming over the water. I was looking at myself with my brown eyes looking back. I did not know what to do, so I took off. I ran to my door and swung it open. I ran through the hallways. My dad picked me up.
“Ready to leave, son?”
“Yes,” I said before he could finish whatever else he would say. thought if I left my aunt’s place and the city, I would stop seeing dead people and that white ball, but I did not. I saw them everywhere I went, and after I saw them, they would turn into that ball and enter inside of my body. Each time it gets easier; it does not hurt as much. Each time I got that ball in me, I got to know that person’s life story from the moment he or she was born to the day of his or her death.
Like yesterday, I got a little girl’s soul. She was about 8 years old when she died, and her name was June Smith. June had stage 5 cancer in her bones. It was spreading fast every night. Her parents, Ron and Amber, stayed with June all night and day. Her mom sat on the bed with her as she read a book to June. June would braid her mother’s long brown hair. June’s father would stand by the window looking at his wife and daughter. It brought a smile to Ron’s face every time June smiled. Neither one of them knows that night would be the last time they see their June again.

When a soul leaves the host body, can it see what’s going on?
June stood in front of her bed; she saw her body lying there and her mom and dad holding each other and crying. The doctor comes in and moves the sheet to cover June’s body. Mom falls to her knees. Dad ‘puts his head on mom’s shoulder. Dad helps mom up, and they leave. Then next to the girl is someone in a black robe holding a scythe. The girl runs away. Now I have her soul. It makes me mad; I get a soul like that one, a young girl or boy who dies from a disease or a car crash or murder. Those children never get to live past their age. I wonder, why do we die? How do we know if our time is up? Is there an invisible number above our head, or is there a book in the world that tells us when we are going to die? Or is it destiny or does God choose? Or the devil chooses? Who really knows?


All I know is that if they choose not to go with the reaper, then their soul comes to me, and why am I it? I do not know, maybe it is a bloodline or destiny.
Whatever it is, I know what I am. I am the keeper of lost souls.