Shadow Spirit

"What are the shadows that we cast on the world, and the shadows that follow us through life. More than the forms of our bodies against the light. Sometimes they're the very silhouette of our souls. Sometimes they're the darkest parts of us, parts of ourselves we don't even know, and can never begin to understand." ~ Alex

Shadow Spirit was a guardian-spirit that turned rogue in the episode "Shadow Fall" of the Poltergeist: The Legacy TV series.

History
Night. The ceremony is lit by fire. Drumbeats and chants fill the ceremonial area. An Indian Shaman holds a silver and turquoise Phoenix up to the heavens. A shadow appears from a corner and transforms into an human form adult male Indian. The Shaman puts the Phoenix pendant on an infant crying lying on a blanket. The shadow spirit leans over the infant and everything fades out…

Outside of a graffiti covered wall at a school are 3 teenagers. David, an Native American Indian, is accosted by 2 teens who hit him and tell him to show them a rain dance. One of the boys finds that David wears a Phoenix made of silver and turquoise and rips it off his neck. David becomes very angry and demands that they give it back as they tease him. They begin fighting and the Phoenix falls to the ground near the wall.

Scenes of the Indian ceremony and the drums and chants and the Shaman occur as David gets angry.

The principal, Mr. Westburn, runs out and stops the fight. The other boys tell the principal that David is a savage. David defends himself saying that they started it. Mr Westburn tells the other 2 boys to report to detention or he will expel them. He takes David, his nose bleeding profusely, to his office despite David's request to be allowed to find his Phoenix. In the office, he yells at David saying its the 3rd time he's been fighting with the same 2 boys since he got to that school.

Rachel, meanwhile, comes into the outer office and stops at the Secretary desk saying she is on call and Mr. Westburn called her to see a student. Rachel is wearing an ultrashort miniskirt. She hears the argument coming from Mr. Westburn's glass walled office and decides to get a cup of coffee.

In the office, Mr Westburn notes he has blood on his shirt as a result of breaking up the fight. He angrily says that David couldn't get along in his other school either and that's why he was sent there. He tries to wipe the blood off his shirt.

As, Mr Westburn yells, the tribal scenes of the ritual begin and the drums and the chants continue.. The Shaman has a knife…

Mr Westburn continues, that all the problem kids are dumped on him and he's sick of it. He threatens David, saying, you're in for a big fall mister. If you dont shape up your next stop is Juvenile hall with hard cases. In the corner of his office, a shadow figure of an Indian appears and advances towards the principal, grabs his neck and tosses Mr. Westburn through the glass wall of the his office into the main office where Rachel and the secretary are. Rachel just stares at David. Mr. Westburn is unconscious.

Rachel is with David and Fiona, David's mom. David is holding an ice pack against his nose. Fiona is telling David she can't believe he's in trouble again. He protests that it wasn't his fault. Rachel notes they really don't know what happened because Mr Westburn is unconscious and in the hospital and asks if he pushed the principal into the wall. David denies this and says he just flew through the glass. He tells his mom that the Phoenix is lost. A detective named Groats comes in and arrests David despite Fiona and Rachel's protests.

Fiona grabs the Detectives arm as they are walking down the hall trying to get him to release her son. David, walking behind in handcuffs accompanied by an uniformed policemen, screams at the detective to leave her alone. The shadow Indian appears, picks up a trash can and hurls it at the detective, who falls to the floor unconscious. Rachel and Fiona stare at David.

Rachel tells Derek what happened. He expresses interest in looking into it and Rachel then introduces him to Fiona. She is worried that David's is in Juvenile hall and on assault charges and she can't get him out and cannot afford bail. He tells her the Luna Foundation will bail him out, and offers to get her a lawyer, saying the Luna Foundation is set up to help people.

Rachel, Nick, Alex, Derek are meeting over coffee. Derek tells them he thinks David is the source. Alex wonders if he is doing it by telekinesis. Nick thinks David doesn't realize he's responsible for it and it's involuntary on his part. Derek decides to find out, telling them he'll bail David out in the morning and tells Alex to conduct tests on him. Rachel notes she has talked to Fiona and she is willing to stay at the Legacy House after the bail is posted. Derek says he thinks David is trouble.

A guard takes David to his cell room telling him he needs to learn to fit in and to learn to live by rules and that the reason he is there is to learn those rules. He shoves David into the room and tells him to pick up the stuff on the floor. As David leans over, the guard sadistically shoves him to the floor. He then sneers, that another lesson he needs to learn is to 'watch his back'. He leaves and locks the cell.

As he walks away, the security cameras film the guard. Suddenly, the Shadow Indian appears and comes up behind him and grabs his neck, crushing it as they flings him against the wall.

David remembers the ceremony and the drums and the Shaman

In the morning, Derek and Fiona meet with David and tell him he is on bail with the condition that he stay at the house on Angel Island. He protests, saying he has to find his Phoenix and must go back to the school for it. Fiona tells him he has been expelled.

Rachel comes in with Fiona and David. Alex runs down the stairs and introduces them. Alex tells David she is his official hostess and tour guide for this little event. David asks if they really live in this castle. Alex smiles and says "some of us do." Rachel and Fiona go to get coffee while Alex stays with David, who asks about the tests, saying Rachel told him about them. Alex tells him they aren't scary and they're to test brain function, aptitude and he can say no to any of them. David looks at her and says that except he owes them because they bailed him out. Alex smiles and says that's why we know we'll have your complete cooperation.

She then says she'll give him the 10 cent tour and she wants him to meet somebody. They leave the foyer of the house.

Rachel pours coffee into ENORMOUS coffee mugs. Fiona tells her she grew up on reservation and wanted to always get off it. Its very hard for kids there. She asks Rachel if she has children - Rachel tells her she has a daughter who will be 9 next month. Fiona becomes more comfortable and says that David's dad died last year and it was very hard on David. The dad, Joseph, loved the reservation. David was born 2 months premature and there was no access to good medical care- only the tribal Shaman. Fiona tells Rachel she was sure David would die but Joseph took him to the tribal Shaman.

Rachel's cell phone rings…she finds out that Mr. Westburn is going to recover… She tells the good news to Fiona who is relieved.

Rachel asks what the Shaman did and Fiona tells her she doesn't know, that was Joseph's department, but that he believed in the methods of the medicine men. She says she disagreed with him and all she wanted to do was get off the reservation.

Alex and Fiona enter a glass walled enclosed room with an Olympic sized pool and many plants along the sides. Stone pillars go from the floor to the sky lit ceiling. There is a diving board at the deep end. As they enter, Nick, in black swimming trunks, is swimming towards them. They stop at pool's edge waiting for him to reach that part of the pool.

When he gets to the edge, he stops, grabs the edge of the pool with his muscular arm and smiles. Alex grins and says, "David, I'd like you to meet Nick Boyle, our resident Navy SEAL. Nick still smiling, says, "former SEAL, I quit to pursue my real dream of synchronized swimming." Alex, grins and tells David, "He's just getting in touch with his feminine side." Nick, says, "Welcome to the club, man." and extends his hand to shake David's. David shakes his hand and says, "Nice place you have here." Nick replies, "Beats Juvie Hall". David then asks if they do any work around there. Nick, smiling, turns to go back to doing laps in the pool and says, "Not lately." Alex smiles and she and David turn to leave as Nick swims off.

Derek is reading a newspaper story about the guard that got killed in the Juvenile Hall. Nick, with his still damp hair combed back, comes in and asks, "what's up?". Derek shows him the paper and says it the same facility that David was in last night. He thinks that whatever happened to the guard is related to David being there. Nick says he'd like to see the forensics on that murder. Derek says he saw security camera at the facility and wonders if the whole thing was caught on tape. Nick, continuing to read the paper's article notes that the police don't know what happened. He figures if it was on tape they'd have seen it. Derek says, "It depends on what they were looking for." and notes that the police won't make the tapes available by conventional channels. Nick, looks at Derek and says. "I never did like conventional channels." Derek, smiling, pick's up the phone, dials and asks for Detective Carmack.

Alex is conducting test on David. He has electrodes on this head and a monitor records his brain waives. There are 2 distinct wave patterns of different colors visible on the monitor. Alex, looking seriously at that, asks David if anything like that ever happened before, where he was accused of people being hurt when it wasn't his fault. He replies No and that he knows she is trying to test him for ESP. He thinks it'd be cool to have it. Alex smiles wryly and says "you might not like it. It makes you feel like an outsider." She continues the tests asking David to try to move a pen by his thoughts…nothing happens when he tries…

Rachel comes in and tells Derek that Mr. Westburn is going to recover. She is concerned that he has injuries not consistent with being thrown through a glass wall, such as neck ruptures, like he was strangled. She gives him, David's medical records which indicate he has no absolutely no childhood illnesses ever and has never been sick a day in his life. Rachel agrees with his concern, saying he was raised in poverty with only a shaman for a medicine man. Derek, concerned, tells her he wants to keep David there as long as he can and he doesn't want David or Fiona to leave until they get to the bottom of this. He gets up to leave and Rachel asks where he's going. He tells her he is going to visit an old friend and hopes to have a mystical experience there. He tells her he'll be back shortly and leaves.

Derek drives his 4X4 down San Francisco streets until he finally comes to a house in an upper class neighborhood. There is stained glass in the windows of the door.

Derek goes to the door and is greeted by an old native American Indian. They are obviously old friends. The enter the house where there are numerous taxidermy hawks and animals. Derek comments that he has added to his collection. Ezekial notes that his finds were preserved thanks to the generosity of the Luna Foundation. He then asks Derek if he's there to see the collection or because of Legacy business. Derek, smiles, says he is there for enlightenment. Ezekial says proudly that he "Loves it when you have a problem that only the Big Hawk can solve." He then tells him he has constructed a lodge on the ground in the old traditional way and says "Come on, We'll sweat over this together."

The sweat lodge is semi dark….Ezekial, pours water over hot coals. Derek and Ezekial, wearing Indian blankets draped over just the necessities…sit near the coals…Derek, with his muscular arms, shoulders, chest and legs has sweat is appearing on all visible skin.. The Indian blanket is casually draped over one of Derek's shoulders…He looks like he has been in this situation before….

Ezekial lights an Indian pipe, and saying that the smoke brings wisdom… sucks the smoke and offers the pipe to Derek, who also takes in the smoke. Derek shows a photograph of David to Ezekial saying that people around him have been hurt by unseen forces. Ezekial crushes the picture in his hand and says that the spirits tell him the young man has 2 souls and tells Derek to open his spirit and it will talk to him. He then tosses the picture in the fire.

Derek has a vision .of the Phoenix, the shadow Indian, David sinking to the bottom of the pool, Fiona screaming….Derek then clutches his neck….

Ezekial notes that the vision pained him… Derek says it did and he believes the young man received the medicine of a shaman. Ezekial then tells him the mysteries of the Shadow Spirit. When a dying child is brought before a healer, he calls the spirit to shadow and protect the child. The spirits lend strength but are not always benevolent. The shadow spirit is only released in the Cleansing, when the child is grown to fullness. If that ritual isn't performed in time, he can became stronger and attach itself to this world. The shadow can consume the soul he is assigned to protect. Then, only when he dies, is he free of the spirit.

Derek, his body covered with a slick of sweat, looks worried.

Nick is punching in computer commands and tells Alex they owe Carmack big time since he had to go outside his department for the surveillance tapes. The tape of the guard begins to play. His body lies on the floor of the Juvenile Facility and a shadow is over the body. Alex and Nick don't know where it came from. Alex comments that the last one to see the guard alive was David.

David, fully dressed is dreaming of the ceremony and the shaman and the infant. He sees the Phoenix and the Shadow Indian. He wakes up. The Indian appears at the foot of his bed and then disappears. David sits on the bed making shadow figures on the wall with his hand.. He stops moving his hand but the shadows don't stop. The mirror breaks.. The window opens, the Indian appears, looks out the window, and then disappears, through the window. David goes to the window and climbs out.

Rachel asks Nick what Alex found in her tests. He puts the brain wave film where the 2 waves are vacillating out of sync on the screen. Rachel, astonished, says its like 2 different people's brain waves. Nick tells her there was no latent telekinesis in the tests. He then shows an "enhanced" copy of the tape where the shadow is isolated. It appears as an eerie multicolored light that looks like a persons shape. They both note the police don't have the capability and technology to see that. Alex comes in and says that David is gone. Nick, wondering why the alarms didn't go off, queries the security system and finds out a camera is down. He tells Rachel to stay with Fiona and he and Alex go to find David.

Nighttime. David is searching the ground looking for his Phoenix. The 2 teenagers that he fought with before come up and note they saw him go over the fence. David, insisting he doesn't want trouble, tells them to leave him alone. he remembers the shaman and the ceremony They taunt him and then shadow Indian appears behind them goes up to the boys and grabs them. Bones crunch…

Nick and Alex, in Nick's red vintage Mustang, are near the high school when they see David walking on the sidewalk. They stop, get out of the car and ask him where he went. He denies going back to the school and says he just wanted to get away from 'that place.'. Nick notes that Angel Island isn't easy to get away from and is curious how he did it. They tell David he's lucky they found him before the police did. David apologizes and they get in the car and leave.

Derek explains to Fiona that he had to leave so he could find "Dad's Phoenix". He gets increasingly agitated and demands to be left alone.

Nick, sitting behind the computer terminal is talking to Derek on the speaker phone. Derek says to keep David there and that the Shadow Spirit's sole purpose is to protect David. If it feels threatened it will attack others. Derek worries that the spirit will turn on David or get loose in our world. Nick, while listening to Derek, sees a shadow of an Indian appear in the control room. Nick says, "we have company."

Derek tells Nick that if the spirit is visible its because David is agitated and he should find him and calm him down. Derek tells Nick he's nearly back to the house. Nick gets up from his chair and watches the shadow. It picks up the speaker phone and tosses it against the wall, destroying it. The spirit then leaves the control room.

Fiona, David and Alex are in foyer. Rachel comes in and says she just talked to police and the 2 boys from the school are in the hospital badly hurt. She demands to know what happened. David denies it was him and says ominously…"It was him.!" The shadow appears, takes human form and strides up to them. David says the spirit is his and that he protects him. Alex tells him to send him away as the spirit approaches the group. Fiona tells David that the spirit killed Joseph, his father after an argument. Joseph hit David and the spirit appeared and killed him. David looks totally shocked at that news.

Nick comes into the room and goes up to the human form of the Indian and tells it to take it easy, "I wouldn't do that if I were you.". The spirit turns, grabs Nick by the neck and lifts him up then throws him against the far wall. He crashes to the floor, unconscious. David, yelling to Fiona that she is lying to him, runs away. Rachel, worried, rushes to Nick. Alex runs after David. The Indian spirit follows David and changes back into a shadow figure.

David runs down the hallway and keeps seeing the Indian. Alex is close behind. He keeps running, eventually reaching the enclosed pool room.

Nick, now conscious, is sitting straddle legged leaning forward with his hands on his neck. He is saying, to no one in particular, "Four years in the Navy and I never got beat up as regularly as I do around here.". Rachel, on the floor next to him, says thankfully that at least his neck isn't broken. Fiona, looking worried, is nearby, saying that Joseph told her a shaman gave the child a guardian spirit. She never told anyone because she was afraid they'd take David away.. Rachel, with her hands on Nick shoulders, looks up as Derek walks in. He asks where David is. Rachel tells him that David took off. Derek, looking down at Nick, points, and says to Rachel, "Is he all right?". When she answers, "I think so." , he leaves, followed by Fiona.

Rachel asks Nick to let her see his neck. He complies and comments,, "I'm going to start putting in for combat pay."

The room is lit by the pool's lights. David stands by the edge of the pool. The Indian Spirit is in human form again. Alex comes in and the Indian immediately grabs her neck. She implores David to tell the spirit to leave saying she knows he doesn't want to hurt her. Derek enters and sees Alex in the grip of the spirit. He also calls David and tells him the Shadow Spirit isn't his friend and that he must reject the spirit. Derek moves slowly towards Alex who is being choked… David, crying, says he didn't mean to kill his father and it was never his fault. Derek again says the spirit is not his friend, he's a ghost who will haunt him forever and will destroy him. David screams, "Leave her alone!' to the spirit and tells it to return to hell. The spirit looks at David., releases Alex and moves towards David. Derek goes to Alex and embraces her.

The spirit seeks refuge in David's body by engulfing his body…David flies backwards, as if thrown, into the pool.

Derek, stands up, pulls off his jacket and dives into the pool. He goes to the bottom and pulls David's lifeless body to the surface and to the edge of the pool where Alex and Fiona pull David out. Alex, checking for breathing, starts CPR. Derek stops her and says they must wait to force the sprit out. It won't inhabit a dead body. . Fiona screams "Don't let him die", but they all wait. The spirit suddenly leaves Davis body and ascends upwards, disappearing. Alex and Derek do CPR. Derek doing the heart compressions while Alex does the breathing. They revive him after a short time. Fiona hugs him. Alex and Derek exchange meaningful glances.