The Keeper
The Keeper is a story that follows a young girl named Aisha, who suffers a tragic loss when her parents are both killed in a car accident. She must stay with her last living relative, her sick and ailed grandmother, who lives in a rundown apartment building in a poorer neighborhood. Her new life is an adjustment, as Aisha is still reeling from grief but seemingly afraid to mourn publicly. Aisha grapples back and forth with her own loss, the prospect of losing her grandmother as her health begins failing, and a change of environment as she integrates into a new school in the middle of the term.
The keeper is a soulless entity, similar to a parasite, that Aisha’s grandmother summons when her health rapidly deteriorates and she looks unable to make it through the night. Rather than leave Aisha alone, at the danger of CPS and the foster care system, she allows the Keeper to invade her body to remain alive and keep Aisha safe. Her grandmother’s actions set into motion a series of events that teach Ayesha about loss, sacrifice and redemption. Though the audience initially trusts the Keeper, it becomes apparent that its protection is a double edged sword. It has no conscience, or ability to tell right from wrong, and is unable to discern true threats over false ones. Inevitably the Keeper puts Aisha in more danger through its actions than anything else. In Aisha’s search to find the truth about the Keeper, she learns of other instances that it has been summoned, always in a last ditch effort to provide protection for a loved one. Although one could say The Keeper is a being that is tied to love, as the summoner must make the selfless sacrifice of allowing it to take over its body to ensure protection, in itself it can never be trusted. It finds its victims in the most bleak of circumstances. I connect Aisha and the Keeper as they both struggle to exist on isolated paths. It is the only presence in Aisha’s life that has any ability to care for her, even in its own twisted way. I feel that Aisha sees herself in the Keeper, explaining her mournful goodbye when she has to burn it down to save her grandmother's soul. Surviving this ordeal, and being able to be the hero for her grandmother in the way her grandmother was her savior by taking her in, gave Aisha a new self-confidence that she can survive the things she has been through. The Keeper always keeps grief and loss at the forefront of the character struggles, but I believe that by the time you reach the end of the novel, you can also look back and see the slivers of Hope presented that feel clearer once the story has wrapped.