Shadows
Even the wind was somehow hot and thick that June evening. Standing in front of the old bowling alley, my favorite old dirty Misfits t-shirt glued to my back with sweat, the oppressive night air seemed to somehow diminish all thought and reasoning, almost as if these record high temperatures were melting my brain. Finally, after enduring this for hours, I decided that I’d had enough and was going to do something proactive about it. I walked inside to the air-conditioned bathroom to splash some water on my face, in hopes of cooling down enough to be able to think clearly again. Immediately upon stepping outside and returning to what felt like the surface of the Sun my inflated determination fell faster than a clumsy three-legged dog. There was no escaping this damned heat, and the realization of that almost made me cry out loud worse than a domestic violence victim.
In that moment of desperation, I saw what I thought was my salvation. My eccentric friend Joker flew into the bowling alleys parking lot blasting Creedence Clearwater Revival with an American flag waving above his truck. There were two other cars following him, like a makeshift convoy. I felt as if I was in some late-night infomercial about appreciating the greatness of ‘Merica!
Everyone sitting outside the bowling alley jumped up and made their way over to the truck. Joker exclaimed “I talked to my uncle who owns a bunch of land outside of town and I’m going to throw a huge party on his property tonight! I already brought up the keg earlier. I’m just grabbing some more ice and munchies and then I’m heading back. Who wants to party like crazy tonight?”
Everyone cheered and started piling into the two cars and the truck. I started trying to find a place but due to my larger than average body size I was having trouble. I made my way walking down the length of the convoy looking for a seat to no avail. Suddenly, I noticed I was the only person not able to fit and then to my horror the cars started leaving. I began begging and pleading in order to obtain a spot in the party caravan even offering to lay down in a trunk but found only half-hearted apologies. And within a moment everyone was gone, and I was standing alone in the parking lot. Almost as if on cue the streetlights flickered to life filling the parking lot in a yellow glow.
Frustrated at my current predicament, and knowing full well I had an over two hour walk ahead of me and it was only going to get darker, I started the long arduous journey home. Little did I know at that moment; this walk would forever change me for the rest of my days. At this time, I was 16 years old, far from being a child and practically a grown adult at least in my own mind. I certainly wasn’t afraid of the dark anymore, that was “little kid stuff.” There is nothing out there that could hurt me. Or so I thought.
It was only ten minutes into this walk and by then I was ready for it to be done. My shirt still clung to my back with sweat, as if I had just jumped out of a pool and thrown on my shirt directly afterward. Although the Sun setting cooled things down a little bit, the heat of that summer night was still stifling. It was so intense it caused my head to feel as though it was spinning on a top. I decided to take a break and try to make this walk better by smoking a fat joint, so I sat down on a bench beneath a large tree. I always made my way home through an old, abandoned parking lot because of all the beautiful cherry blossom trees there. Although they were at the end of their season and their petals were falling to the ground all around me, they were still incredibly beautiful. Occasionally a light wind would blow, and petals would downpour like some sort of pink rain, it was quite a sight to behold.
As I sat there enjoying my J, watching the petals fall to the asphalt, something in my peripheral vision caught my eye and forced a double take. At first, I thought I saw some sort of shadowy hand brush threw the branches of a tree, causing a shower of petals to fall. But when I looked for the second time the branch was moving as if it was in the wind, but nothing was there, and I hadn’t felt a breeze at all. I chalked it up to being tired and exceptionally hot, just my mind messing with me. I’ve always heard that the heat can play tricks with your eyes and so thought nothing more about it. I finished my J and put it out on the ground, saved the roach in some cellophane and started on my way again. I made it halfway through the empty lot and again caught a shadow pulling down on another branch, causing a shower of petals to fall to the asphalt out of the corner of my eye. It quickly vanished behind a large tree trunk just as fast as it had appeared. This time convinced I saw this shadowy apparition; I ran over to the tree to see if it was someone playing a joke on me. But to my shock, nothing was there.
In my confusion I couldn’t help but say to myself, “What the fuck is going on?” To which I had no answer, only a warm breeze blown on my face. Which while comforting on this sweaty humid night, gave no relief to my confused mind that swam in the possibilities of an infinite number of mysteries. I quickened my pace in hopes of getting home faster even though I knew in my heart I was in for a long journey. I felt uneasy after the incidents with the parking lot and because of that I kept catching myself jumping at every little sound. I took the quickest route home which took me first under the old bridge overpass which was above the rusty old train tracks and then I had to make my way through the suburban labyrinth leading to my house.
Still on edge from everything earlier while I was crossing the tracks I heard a loud sound that made me jump right out of my skin. Turning towards the sound with lightning quick speed, I saw that it was a rock that was tossed from the small flat area near the top of the bridge. When I looked up there, however, what I saw made my blood freeze; it was an inky black, shadowy figure. Not like someone’s shadow that was projected on a wall, but a corporeal being composed of pure dark shadow. My jaw dropped and I felt as if I couldn’t move any of my muscles at all. As I stood there paralyzed in fear, the jet-black figure started down towards me from the small area under the bridge above at an alarmingly fast pace.
Like a cornered jack rabbit facing its own demise, I bolted as fast as my feet could take me. I have never run that fast in my entire life. I sprinted so long I thought my heart would explode and my hands were shaking. I came up to the old wooden fence that led into the neighborhood, and instead of taking the time to jump it like usual, I threw my right shoulder into the wooden boards with all my might. I broke two of the boards instantly. I quickly pulled them off and threw them out of the way. I climbed through and took a second to look backwards through the hole in the fence hoping to see nothing behind me. To my shock and dismay, I not only saw the shadowy figure in hot pursuit, but now it was joined by two other dark shadows. I couldn’t help but exclaim “You are fucking kidding me!” After which I turned and bolted again. I was determined that whatever those damned things were, I wasn’t going to let them reach me. God only knows what they wanted with me, I felt as if I was in some cheesy horror movie.
I was making exceptional time and was only about six or seven blocks from my house at this point. Because of my arduous pace, what usually took me hours to do was almost complete, but I was running out of gas. I didn’t know how much longer I could keep running at full speed like this. My heart was pounding so hard I thought it might burst from my chest and my head was swimming. I didn’t know if that was from the constant running or the terror of those things chasing me, in reality I think it was a bit of both. I zig-zagged through the neighborhood in hopes of shaking the vile things and throwing them off my scent in a way that a desperate animal would. I walked through this neighborhood every day, to and from school, nobody knew it as well as me. I could do this. I took a left then a right and another left, no way those things could be following me still.
I dared not stop till I got home but I needed to slow down to catch my breath. So, I turned and walked slowly backwards to look behind me but also kept myself moving towards my house. I didn’t see anything unusual and thought I was in the clear. Then what I saw made my whole-body tremble with pure terror. A shadow came around the corner so quickly I felt as if I couldn’t blink, or it would instantly be upon me. When a shadow came into view I tried to duck behind a large bush, but it was too late. It had already seen me and it let out this God-awful shriek that was like nothing I had ever heard before. In mere seconds, around the corner filling the entire street came running over 20 more shadows. For just a second, the thought ran through my mind that this was it, this is how I was going to die.
“No, fuck that!” I ran as fast as my feet could carry me with no regard to my exhaustion. In my mind I assured myself that I would rest soon, I just needed to get home safe and sound. They wouldn’t be able to get me there, I just knew it. I turned the last corner and was on my street, I’m almost there. I fumbled with my house keys in my pocket and had them in hand to get inside as fast as possible. Running up the steps to my house I heard another blood curdling scream but didn’t stop to look around for the source. I unlocked my door as quickly as possible, ran inside and slammed it shut. Locking everything up tight, I looked out the front window but saw nothing. It was as silent as the grave outside.
“What the fuck was that man?!” I was breathing heavily, my heart pounding like a jack hammer, my hands were shaking uncontrollably, and I was covered in sweat. I walked to the air-conditioned bathroom to splash some water on my face, in hopes of cooling down enough to be able to think clearly again. It was cool and refreshing as I leaned over the sink, cupping my hand and drinking deeply from the faucet. I stood up looking deeply into the mirror trying to wrap my mind around everything that had happened that night. Just then from behind me a pair of shadowy hands gripped my throat and covered my mouth so I couldn’t scream. All I could see was jet black shadows as I heard that blood curdling shriek echo in my ears.
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