My Soul Keeper Read Online Free

the drive. I’m just about to pull away when the front door opens. Mom waves her hand frantically, while her other arm clutches her stomach. I put the car into park and race to her.
    “What is it?”
    “I’m in pain and I’m bleeding.”
    I’m an only child, and the doctors say this pregnancy was a miracle. Mom has to take it easy, especially since she’s older. The fear in her eyes reverses our roles. I need to be the grown-up. I need to stay calm even though every fibre of my being is panicking on the inside. I smile and capture her face in my hands to bring her eyes to focus on mine. “It’s okay, Mom. Does it feel like labour pains?”
    “How would I know?” she cries out.
    “Does it feel like when you went into labour with me?”
    She inhales sharply. “I can’t remember.”
    “Okay, just breathe.”
    The journey seems to take forever; everything that could hold us up does. I have never used my horn as much on such a short drive. Eventually we pull right up to the ER doors.
    “Help, help!” A nurse runs out and orders for someone to bring a wheelchair. Everything happens in a blur of doctors and nurses running back and forth, talking medical speech I don’t understand. I feel like I’ve left my body and am watching everything unfold from another plane of existence.
    Two hours pass. The pale green walls remind me of slime, and the sterile smell makes me think of the janitor’s closet at school where Jacob prefers to spend our lunch break making out.
    I try Dad’s cell again. He’s not picking up. I try Leah and manage to get through. She whispers she’s in class so I quickly explain why I’m not in school. She says she will meet me at the hospital once school lets out before disconnecting, leaving me once again alone with the nervous energy, waiting to hear anything from a doctor.
    I pace the waiting room, and eventually, a door opens and a woman wearing green scrubs walks toward me.
    “We have to take her in for an emergency C-section. She’s asked for you to be there so we need to get you changed for the surgery room.”
    I follow her, speechless in the zombie state I’ve been in since pulling off the driveway back at home as she drags me down a corridor.

I’m waiting as they prep Marie. Simone is by her side offering comfort, her blue eyes the only attribute on display from her full scrubs and mask. I can sense her nervous energy, a gentle tremor in her hand as she squeezes Marie’s.
    “Can you feel this?” the doctors ask Marie, spraying a chemical on her skin. She shakes her head. It doesn’t take long at all to make the incisions to her naval. A small amount of time passes once the doctor reaches in and pulls the vessel from her womb. I reach my hand over and wait as they cut the umbilical cord. I release the life’s soul into the vessel, the light from the soul traveling through me to reside in its new life until I will return for it. A few seconds later the baby cries indicating a successful transfer. I hear Simone praying the whole time and I feel her emotions radiating from her.
    I ache with sorrow, knowing that in a short few months, I will be taking the soul back and leaving Simone the pain of mourning. I wish I knew her destiny and why this had to happen to her. I’m angry with myself for becoming too involved with Simone’s life. This is how it’s always been; my souls are used for a greater purpose, to sculpt and change destinies. I have never questioned my job before her. Never wanted to not be who I am before her. Her power over me, without even knowing she has any, is unacceptable. I need to cleanse her from my thoughts. I leave and plan to stay away for a few weeks to wean myself from the thrall she has over me.

Jacob’s sitting at the breakfast bar eating cereal when I walk into the kitchen.
    “I‘m going to have to start charging you food rent soon,” I joke as I reach for a bowl and pour my own.
    “You haven’t left this house since your brother was born. If