History Lesson

                                    

                                          
It took a while to convince Jack in not killing Jacob, and once he was calm, I offered him a drink. All we had was water and soda thanks to Jack who could have picked something more than soda. Jacob though decided to have a pop while I took water, Jack not having a thing and leaving us to catch up.
                          
"Just.... Jesus Christ. You're not dead like the news said and you're a Soul Taker too!"
                          
Jacob shrugged. "Not the best life to live. Having to hide what you are from everyone and then there is the training you gotta do when finding out." His voice was now back to normal, but his head seemed to have changed shape. 
                          
"Training?"
                          
"Right, no parents. I should begin from the beginning. A Soul Taker's parents are supposed to tell you what you are at the age of 10. After that, you have to train your body to handle in being a Soul Taker. Switching from one soul to another, the physical changes, their whispers, out of body experiences. Stuff like that. Then we are trained in hiding ourselves in case we ever die and need to disappear. It would cause too much chaos if someone saw another person that was supposed to be dead. Not only that but after our first death we could also be in danger of being tracked down by the-"
                          
"Hunters," I said, letting Jacob know that even though I am new to being a Soul Taker, I still understand the dangers of it. At least some of the risks. Jacob though stayed silent for a while as he looked into my eyes.
                          
"I'm going to tell you something on how to spot a Hunter. It isn't much but it helps. The only way to spot a Hunter is by their name. Hunter are their last names and it does give it away if a Soul Taker finds out but it also benefits them so that they could meet other Hunters. Not all of them have that last name though because they want to keep what they do, a secret."
                          
"I wish that was in the journal that I wrote years ago."
                          
"A journal that you wrote years ago?"
                          
"Blood, reincarnation, stuff like that."
                          
"How much have you remembered, [Name]?" How sounded genuinely concerned and maybe it was because when I lost my memories, they didn't dare tell me what happened or what I went through. I finally know some of what happened and some memories of my past life, so he was probably worried that I only remembered the bad stuff.
                          
"Only the reason why I lost my memory, my family in my past life and Jack's name. That's about it." He seemed to understand and nodded, relaxing his shoulders when hearing my response. He apologized for not telling me about my past before the memory loss because he thought it would have been best that I didn't remember. I told him that he didn't have to be sorry since he only did what he thought was best. After that, I had an important question for him. "Jacob?"
                          
"Yeah?"
                          
"Why have we been forgotten?"
                          
"What do you mean by that?"
                          
"Well.... I guess the closest thing I can get to explaining is by using the witches. They were part of history and now believed to be a stupid thing — a story and magical creature that was never real but taken seriously back then. We were part of history yet there are no stories about us. Why have we been forgotten?" Jacob only looked at me for a moment while I was drinking my water then finally deciding to talk.
                          
"We were never forgotten; we are just remembered by a different name. We are the definition of Death. The Grim Reaper if that helps." His words were a huge surprise to me that I choked on my water. It took a while to stop coughing up water, but when I did, I just looked straight into his hazel eyes.
                          
"We are the Grim Reaper?"
                          
"The Grim Reaper is known to be all about death. Taking people's lives when their time is up, or at least their souls once they leave their body. That is us. Our lives revolve around death; rather it is our own or someone else's. The crows also resemble death thanks to us Soul Takers. They are like our guides, or I guess messengers is a proper word. Each crow resembles a Soul Taker that is near the person that will die, letting us know to be prepared for us to lose a life or accept that a soul will come into our bodies."
                          
"But we look like humans so why is the Grim Reaper shown as a skeleton in a long black cloak holding a scythe?"
                          
"That image was created a long time ago that the story to it is a mystery to us Soul Takers, but that doesn't mean there is no story to it. One of the stories that I believe in says that that is how the leader of the Soul Takers dressed like during the Great Massacre. The story goes that he kept the skulls of his victims and sometimes wore them when leading the Soul Takers or even killing more humans. The scythe is something he created himself to strike fear and demand obedience. The cloak was worn so his body could blend into the night, making his hunts easier since no one could see him."
                          
I looked at him while trying to take in everything that was told to me. It was some heavy stuff to even think about, and yet he was so calm about it. Then again, he has had years knowing all of this while I only had about a month to take in everything. I didn't know what to do other than focus on something else. "Whose soul are you using?"
                          
"What?"
                          
"The only thing that has changed is the shape of your head. That shape doesn't belong to the girl in the woods. It doesn't belong to Olive either so whose soul are you using?"
                          
He took a deep breath before sighing, looking down as if he was thinking about telling me or not. It scared me to believe that he probably killed more people while he fled here. "A man who came to our elementary school. That's all I'm going to say."
                          
"Can you tell me why you came here specifically?"
                          
He was finally looking into my eyes while giving me that famous sly smile of his, which got me to smile too. "Someone you know told me to come here." He pulled out a phone that looked new and not at all his, then gave it to me and when looking down, I saw a familiar face. It wasn't a video nor a photo. It was the real deal. It was BEN, and his creepy smile sent a chill down my spine. 
                          
"Surprise! Guess who helped your friend get here?" He laughed, causing me to throw the phone back at Jacob.