Chapter 2 One thing leading to another

Theodore was making his way home. Or at least what the Other had called home. “But I guess it is MY home now.” Theodore thought to himself. “Just as well”, he decided, even if he didn't like it, he had no other place to return to, no family to speak to. Other had made sure of severing almost all ties with others.

All that was left was a phone number of his Dad and a monthly transfer of just enough money for surviving to his account. He could call Dad, but what would he say? That he was possessed? That he was back to being himself? That past three years there was something else living in his body? He couldn't do that. Theodore didn't have best of relationship with his parents even before Other came. And if he did speak with them now... He was afraid that they would simply put him into a madhouse.

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Why Theodore thought that way? It was because Theodore was special. He, as far as he remembered, had always been aware of his “soul” and at as he grew up he became more and more aware. He never found it strange, as his soul was part of himself, as was his arms and legs. He never even considered that other people, his family included weren't aware of their souls. Soul was so OBVIOUS to him after all.

Of course, at first he couldn't put a name on that part of his being. But as he grew he heard about souls on TV, radio, in passing conversations and it strangely fitted. This soul of his was certainly immaterial. It never hurt, it couldn't be seen or smelt or touched. It was part of him, intertwined with his body, but also not part of it at all.

By age of nine Theodore strongly felt that his Soul was what defined him. What made who he was. And he felt that he should have a rudimentary control over it. That confidence also grew with time. Theodore felt that within his soul laid a great secret and if he could unlock it he would be someone great one day. It was a childish dream, but he hopped to be a hero someday.

At first he tried everything he could think of to interact with his Soul. But there seemed to be no results no matter how hard he tried. So he did what any child would, he asked for help from his parents.

Now, thinking back to it Theodore could understand his parents. When their child started to speak about things they had no knowledge of, or even considered them to be impossible or not existing at all they would worry and try to help.

His parents had tried to tell him it was only his imagination. That it was only in his mind. But Theodore stubbornly argued back. There were many times when he had a fight with his parents, but soon he simply stopped to speak about Soul. It was easier that way. But his parents didn't forget, and even sent him to several psychologists, but to them Theodore simply said that he was mistaken. That his Soul indeed was only part of his imagination, a by-product of some stories or movies he had watched and which had influenced him too deeply. He did everything he could to be a “normal” child. However, in secret he continued to explore his Soul. He was very secretive about that, only doing it at evenings before sleep, or when his parents left him at home alone.

But despite Theodore's carefulness his still somehow knew. The strange thing was, they didn't continue to help him or talk to him. They instead started avoiding him.

By the age of twelve Theodore's parents almost never spoke to him and he in turn became more and more closed off from the world. At school other children kept their distance, even though he never had spoke of anything they would find strange and tried his hardest to act as he was expected to act.

All of that was for naught. All he received was cold shoulders from his parents and whispers behind his back from his schoolmates. The worst of all, that he was simply left alone. There was no bullying at school nor there was any shouting at home. Theodore felt so very lonely it hurt. Little did he know that worst still had yet to come.

Little before his fourteen birthday when he was walking back home from school he received a shock. Someone or something had touched his soul. It was a passing feeling and after a moment it was over. But Theodore was sure that there was something, so when he finally got home he inspected his soul, with which by now he was extremely familiar with.

After an in-depth inspection he received even bigger shock than one earlier that day. There was something like a thread stretching to nowhere. He didn't know what purpose would such a thing serve, but soon what overcame him was horror. There was something alien and intimidating about this thread.

Theodore had a premonition that if he didn't severe this thread he would experience something that would irreparable damage his soul. This feeling was so strong that even the petrified mind snapped out of horror it was experiencing and scurried to find a solution.

But there was nothing. He didn't know how to interact with the foreign object attached to his soul, and by extension mind. Yes, now that he had made even more of a investigation he was sure, that it wasn't his soul exactly that this thread was attached to. It was his being.

A month after he had made his discovery Theodore felt something more. This thread was transferring... something... If he had to name it was a meaning. Something that was similar to himself in a way that he was similar to other people.

Terrified Theodore thought over what was his options. He had already failed to sever connection and now something was infiltrating his body. He felt that something foreign was taking hold of his body.

That day Theodore didn't go to school, and didn't pretend to be a normal child just as everyone else in his school was. He locked himself in his room and did something drastic.

Years of tinkering with his soul had made it strangely malleable, but he was sure he could make it stronger than any steel if he wished for it. And while his soul was still intangible it had became thicker, more of something, as if it was empty when he was smaller and with growing up it had filled with... him. He couldn't put words on it, but he could feel that he was not mistaken.

So he forced “Himself” into soul. It would undoubtedly damage his soul, but he didn't fear it, only hoped that by doing so he would be able to keep what made him – him.

After he had gone trough process he felt as if his body was not his any-more and it collapsed on ground. He still could feel it, but all of the control he had just a second ago was lost. This surreal feeling continued for an hour. Theodore was making sure, that he was as safe as he could make himself be. He fortified boundaries of his soul, locking them with imaginary locks, sealing all cracks, all that would leak “his” presence. And then he waited did something that he had never considered before. He ripped part of his soul out. Unimaginable pain suddenly overcame him. Theodore blanked, his consciousness drifting on painful waves that pervaded his soul.

While Theodore still was suffering consequences of his actions something else was happening simultaneously. In the now empty part of his soul something else started to form. Even with all the pain Theodore was feeling he could still tell that the empty part would be no longer empty. In that place all of the “something” that was trickling down the connection took form. It was another soul, it was weak, small and seemed almost vulnerable.

Theodore knew better. It was only a part of a soul. He grimly took notice of the fact. Someone somewhere had separated part of his soul and had tried to take over his.

Theodore couldn't even start to fathom how could something like that be possible. But the fact was, he was the unfortunate target of such a thing. And even if seemed to weak, such a soul could be anything but.

And after another hour passed his body started to rise, but as of that moment it was not Theodore who was owner of it. It was now the Other who was the owner and a moment later he spoke: “So this is my new body, huh?”

Theodore that day discovered another disturbing thing. He was experiencing everything that the Other did.

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It was strange. Theodore watched on as Other lived his life and seemingly even better than he ever could manage. Other had somehow picked up the language Theodore was speaking, even thought Theodore suspected that Other was originally speaking in a different language all together. He even spoke some scant words when no one else was around to himself.

Other wasn't social person either, but somehow no one bothered him, at school there were no more whispering behind his back, at home his parents even sometimes bothered to speak with him, but mostly everyone just him to his own devices.

At first Others life was awkward, because it seemed that he didn't inherit memories of Theodore, but as time went by... No one noticed! Other showed surprising amount of adaptability and even people who had knew Theodore for years were none the wiser. That Theodore had closed himself of from others also played a big role. As even when Other messed up people just played it of as him being a weirdo Theodore always was in their eyes.

Theodore could only continue on, living on, as months passed by Other too started to write down copious amounts of text, he was strangely avert to using computers, only opting to use pen and paper. The language was something that Theodore had never seen before, and even when it was his body that wrote down those texts he was none the wiser what was actually written in them. Theodore did suspect it was the same language Other seldom spoke to himself in.

After almost a year had passed and Theodore's fifteen birthday was closing by Other discovered something in a forest near the city of Sanna. It was during a school trip to a nature park, when they stopped in Sanna for a bathroom brake. After that Other changed his attitude. He spoke with Theodore's parents about wanting to move out and move to Sanna. After he was refused Other instead of giving up blackmailed his parents. Theodore didn't know how Other knew where to look for, but he had found incriminating documents regarding his fathers business.

A week later Theodore moved to Sanna with assurance that he would be taken care of till age of eighteen when he reached his adulthood. Another week later Other had started multitude of strange things that Theodore could only call crazy. One day Other would stand next to the Spring in the nearby forest chanting for hours upon hours. Another day he would carve out various runes into seemingly random rocks he had found. But the worst days was when Other decided to carve out those runes into his body. Theodore felt every bit of pain and these runes that Other carved seemed to burn with fire some times and felt like were filled with ice other times.

This went on for almost a year. He could see that Other had gotten increasingly more and more frustrated, but one day Theodore felt something he had never felt before.

It happened one day after almost 5 hours of chanting what could only be called a spell. Theodore felt that something started to move in his body. An energy he had never had experienced before seemed to seep into the very soul he had closed off from outside. It was a wonderful and fulfilling feeling that made Theodore feel like he could take on a whole world.

And within this energy Theodore saw a chance to fight back against Other and challenge his ownership of this body. Theodore would have his revenge one way or another.