the shaman way

Walking down the street after what had happened, it was an understatement to say that Viora did not feel well.

"Well, it should be expected... it always happens this way with me and people. And I thought he would be different,"

she thought, staring at the setting sun.

As she walked, Viora could see many happy faces—married couples, friends… or were they siblings? It didn't matter to her. Whatever way these individuals were connected, one truth stood out to her: they had connections. And she did not. She was all alone.

Viora's life had always been marked by instability and uncertainty. She moved from one foster home to another, rarely staying in one place for more than two years. That was the reality she had come to know as her life.

She didn't know what had happened to her parents, and honestly, she couldn't care less. Her whole life, she was either treated as a temporary child or outright avoided. They were just the first ones to abandon her, and at this point, she was used to it…

As she walked down the crowded street, she turned right, then left, and then another right. Finally, it came into view—her home, or at least the place she called home until the time came for her to move somewhere else again.

She walked, and walked, and walked, until she finally stopped in front of her front door. As she stood there, she thought:

"I wonder how long this will last this time… One year? Two years? Or maybe not even another month…"

Her hand lingered on the door handle, uncertainty clouding her mind as she debated whether to open it or not. Finally, with a sigh, she turned her back to the door and decided to walk away, choosing to go somewhere else for a while.

***

After hours of walking, Viora stumbled upon a graveyard in disrepair, its once-pristine grounds now overgrown with weeds and forgotten tombstones leaning at odd angles. It was clear that the place had been abandoned for years.

"Abandoned... just like me," she thought bitterly, staring at the neglected graves that seemed to mirror her own feelings of neglect.

Without thinking, she raised her foot and kicked a hole in the rusted fence with an unexpected amount of strength for someone her size. The metal gave way with a loud, sharp crack, and she stepped through the gap, her expression unreadable.

The silence of the graveyard could have been unbearable to some, with only the sound of footsteps cracking the brittle wood of old gravestones and the occasional rustle of wind. Viora, however, didn't mind the quiet. To her, it felt strangely comforting.

Viora had always possessed the ability to perceive spirits, though the images she saw were often blurry, like fragments of a forgotten dream. Still, she could sense them—standing right next to her, their emotions almost palpable. Was it despair in their hollow eyes? Anger in their restless movements? Or perhaps peace, something she had never quite understood but longed for? She couldn't say for sure. It was as if they were speaking a language she didn't fully comprehend, just as many parts of her own life had been a mystery. She could feel their presence, but like the unanswered questions that haunted her existence, she couldn't grasp their true meaning. The spirits were another reminder of her own inability to understand the world around her.

She continued walking through the graveyard, her hand shoved deep into her pocket, the cool air against her skin barely registering. Her mind, however, was alive with countless questions, all swirling in a storm that never seemed to calm.

"Why was I abandoned?"

"Why did no one want me?"

"Why can I see ghosts, but can do nothing with this ability?"

The questions echoed through her thoughts like the wind rustling through the old gravestones, but there was never any answer. It was as though the world had decided long ago that she didn't deserve the answers, leaving her to wander through her own darkness, searching for something that felt like belonging. The ghosts around her were a reminder of her isolation, of the things she couldn't change, and of the endless questions that would never find closure.

But then she perceived something in front of her. She could not see it clearly, but she knew something, or rather someone, was in front of her.

"Move, I'm not in the mood," she said, trying to push the spirit out of the way, but it was as if a wall was in front of her.

The voice responded with:

"Come on, young lady, didn't your mother tell you to never disrespect the dead?"

Viora recognized the voice. It was the spirit from Cyrus's backyard. With that realization, she let out a simple:

"What do you want? Depending on your answer, I might give you a correction or not…"

Despite the threat, no one would be scared of her because she was so short.

Umeboshi, holding his wooden staff, looked at the approaching night and said:

"Want to play some poker?"

Startled by the young man—no, not so young man's proposition, she let out a:

"Huh?!"

***

She didn't know how many hours she had played poker with the group of spirits; all she knew was that she was losing every game!"

"Damnation! Can you guys stop cheating?"

She said, throwing the cards at a decaying grave in anger. But then, shockingly, the graveyard seemed to respond to the blasphemy.

"Can this old man rest in peace? You guys are making too much noise!"It was a spirit that came out of the grave.

Then many voices laughed at the spirit's anger.

"What? How dare you laugh, Umeboshi! This graveyard was so peaceful until you guys decided to make it your playground!"

He said, pointing his finger at Umeboshi in anger.

Still laughing, Umeboshi looked at his card with a wicked smile on his face and said,

"Come on, old man, stop being such a jerk. When you're dead, you don't care about how much noise you make! Ha ha ha!"

He said, flipping his card up and down like a fool.

Many of the spirits playing poker with Viora and Umeboshi could be heard chiming in:

"He's right, John, stop being such a party pooper and come play poker with us!"

"He's right, it's not such a big deal!"

"Hey, are you trying to teach us how to behave?"

Viora had never seen such an ambiance in a graveyard. Despite most of these spirits probably being dead for decades upon decades, they were laughing and hanging around as if they were in paradise itself. She found that admirable—how they could still find joy, even in death, while she struggled to find any peace in her own life.

Then she said, "How can you guys be so happy even though you can't move on? I don't know how you guys are able to do that. It may be a silly question, but it's a true question I have..."

Her black and purple hair moved with the flow of the wind as she looked at Umeboshi with intensity, along with another indescribable emotion.

Umeboshi, still looking at his card with a gentle smile, responded to her question:

"I can't know for sure about the others, but as for me... ha, great question you have! Well, to be honest, I don't know if I'm happy or not, or if I'm a fool for playing poker as if I didn't ruin my life… Ruined? Huh, I don't know if my life was a failure or not, to be honest with you, brat. I had many happy moments and even more sad ones... I acted a fool my whole life... rode a lot of bikes and dated a lot of pretty girls! I had my fair share in life, to the point where I can act like a fool playing poker in a decaying graveyard!"

Viora lifted her head, looking at the moon, and said,

"If you could come back to life—or rather, have a different death—would you take the opportunity?"

Without a hint of hesitation, Umeboshi replied,

"Yeah... without any hesitation."

Viora then let out a heavy laugh and stared at the man, still laughing.

"Did I say anything wrong?" he asked, not amused by the young girl's laughter.

"You're a man who loves to contradict yourself, aren't you, mister?" she replied.

Then the man started to laugh along with the young girl and said, laughing,

"Didn't I tell you I was a fool?"

Then another voice joined in, a male spirit with an arrow in his head, saying,

"Ha, I won!"

Umeboshi faced the man in outrage, saying,

"No, you didn't! I wasn't ready! Brat, look what you've done! Because of your stupid question, I lost!"

He said in anger. Then Viora started laughing—she had never laughed so much in her life. Multiple voices could be heard laughing, and the laughter of the graveyard seemed to never stop.