A hard bump of the cab startled Liam awake. He froze, remembering he was in a cab on his way home and must have fallen asleep. He almost burst into tears, the weight of sadness excruciatingly pressing on his heart. Could it be because he missed his Ouma? Or was his gift trying to tell him something?
He was descended from a long line of powerful seers called kragtige siener in his hometown, Benoni, South Africa. After the civil war that wiped out most of his bloodline, his grandmother moved to Port Elizabeth, a neighbouring town where he grew up. His pursuit of admission into a higher institution took him overseas to the United Kingdom where he had since settled down.
He raised his head slowly, realizing the cab had stopped abruptly. He was surrounded by silence except for chirping sounds of nocturnal insects in the woods close by.
The cab driver's seat was empty. His heart began to race. Something was not right. Where was the old man?
He looked through the window glass and the sight of headstones scattered around answered his question —he was right in the middle of a cemetery! Now his heart raced faster.
He scrambled, picked up his laptop bag and fiddled with the lock to open the door when the old man's face appeared suddenly, pasted on the window glass.
Liam shouted and shrunk back from the unexpected sight, his chest heaving. The old man was in tears, his wrinkled face in much pain. Sadness pressed down more heavily on Liam that he had to squeeze his eyes shut to steady his breathing.
Then he understood what was happening —his gift had connected with the old man's emotion. That was what his grandmother was trying to tell him in the dream.
He unlocked the door and stepped out to face the old man. "Wie is jy? Who are you?" He asked. The old man smiled through his tears and whispered, "I have been searching all over for you, the last living kragtige siener. I was told I will find you here, in the city of London."
"Who told you that?"
The old man looked down at his feet. "I cannot say. I have been sworn to secrecy."
Liam was running out of patience. "Fine. What do you want from me? This place is creepy. Why did you bring me here?"
"Son, I had to. My soulmate is bound to this earth here and in torment. I have roamed around for a decade searching for a way to free her so we can be together."
Liam stared at the old man, not sure of what he was saying. "In a cemetery?"
"Yes, kragtige siener. Don't you understand?"
"Um, don't call me that. And no, I don't understand."
The old man moved close and attempted to touch Liam on his shoulder. His hands merely moved through Liam's shoulder. The old man was a ghost.
Liam startled back a few steps in surprise, his heart beating fast again.
"You are dead and so is your soulmate?" Liam asked. The old man nodded in sadness.