In Spirit

My sister, Rana, always struggled with strange experiences. She would often drift off mid-conversation and begin to wander off as if our discussions never even happened; on other occasions, we’d find her sleepwalking past locked doors. While these were not frequent at first, they became a common occurrence as she grew older. Grandma insisted that it was possession and said she needed to call her witch friend, Mina, but she was alone in her belief.

My parents made an appointment for Rana with a specialist, but the treatment only seemed to work for a couple of days before she returned to her routine. Mom and Dad spent weeks checking with different doctors, but it was to no avail. Rana’s sleepwalking only escalated as time passed.

One night, Mom put the door keys in a new safe she bought, but the next morning, she woke up to find the safe broken into and the front door fully open. Rana was thankfully not missing, and without harm; however, that same morning, we heard alarming news that made us wonder if Rana posed a danger to others. The news spoke of an incident where a dark grey minivan had run over a teenager, fatally wounding them. The child had died on the way to the hospital.

No plates were mentioned, but the fact that our minivan was dark grey, and that Rana was asleep behind the steering wheel when we found her, was something we could not ignore. Grandma pleaded with Mom and Dad again to let her call her friend, but she was dismissed. My parents went to the police, and Rana was later admitted to an institution to be kept under observation.

Not even a week passed before we were called in by the specialists there for an urgent meeting. One of the doctors played security footage from the previous night, and what we saw left us frozen… It seemed that Grandma was right; the footage showed a shadow approaching Rana while she slept. The figure melded with Rana, forming a dark aura around her, and soon, Rana rose from her bed, as if in a trance, and proceeded to undo the locks with shadow magic before leaving the room.

Mom and Dad were finally ready to listen to Grandma. That evening, we visited Mina at her home, which was located in a secluded part of town. There, she gave Rana a potion to help her sleep before beginning a summoning ritual. According to her, the house was heavily warded; she promised that no harm would come to us. We had no choice but to put our faith in her.

It was not long before the shadow appeared before us and proceeded to meld with Rana. My sister opened her eyes, but it was the shadow that spoke. Their voice was distorted, echoing with each word. However, we soon came to realise the tragedy behind their existence. The shadow was also my sister, just not the one who was still alive. Rana was the survivor of twins Mom gave birth to when I was just two. This was my sister who was unable to move on, wanting to stay with her twin even in death.

We were heartbroken to learn the truth. Her name was to be Lia; Mom and Dad had picked the names beforehand. It was a bittersweet conversation that we had that evening, and Lia let Rana maintain her consciousness as we spoke. All Lia had ever wanted was to talk to all of us, but she could never fully resonate with Rana’s soul to do so. Mina said that it was only possible because they were twins.

Lia apologised for the trouble she had caused. We assured her that we weren’t angry. She said she could finally move on since she was granted the opportunity to talk with all of us at least once. She thanked everyone one last time before leaving Rana’s body and dispersing into the air. All of us were in tears as we watched her vanish once more before our eyes.