Prologue of spirits, draft 1

It started when he was only a child, about six at the time of his first encounter with them.

The young boy rubbed his hands on his shorts. The ice cream his mother had treated him with in return for his good behaviour having left the small fingers sticky. The temporary cooling effect was gone already and the hot sun beat down on them even in the shade leaving Gabriel and all the others around listless and weary.

However even the stale heat cannot distract a six year old for long and Gabriel soon turned back to the swarming crowd, watching the people as they walked past. An overweight man caught his eye and he watched the sweat stained image until he caught sight of a young woman and her friend walking along the side of the busy road. The man was animated, gesturing heavily whilst in return the woman’s responses were hardly noticeable. After a minute the child’s attention was drawn to a man walking the other way, he seemed unaffected by both the crowds and the heat, slipping with ease through the mass of people towards the conversing two.

The next few minutes were a blur to the boy, his mind only grasping a random sequence of sounds and images but those captured were burnt into his soul forever. The three caught sight of each other and their expressions twisted as the lone man surged forward at the girl before sprinting off easily through the crowded pavement.

An expression of surprise, the heavy crunch of metal against bone, the sound of splintering glass that cut a glittering halo in the air for a split second before the coppery smell of blood grew. The screaming started soon after, the boy aware of his mother trying to pull him away from the grisly scene that the child stared in horrified shock as he saw the life fading from the girl and for a second he met her companion’s eyes. The image burnt into him, the silent scream of loss and pure anguish as the man knelt beside the dead girl whose blond hair was slowly turning red. The companion’s eyes widened as he saw the boy staring at him, the expression of pain still burnt onto his face until someone stepped through the man and the boy was pulled away.

It was only later that Gabriel realised his face was slick with tears.