Shadows of Legacy

The sound of sirens in the distance battled with the sound of the pounding rain. My scuffed-up purple Converse splashed through the puddles as I tried to distance myself from the accident.

The rain pelted my soft, honey skin, and the platinum blonde braided dreadlocks I’ve been trying to grow out swing with the motion of my run. I wish I had grabbed my skateboard, but knowing my luck, it was probably shattered into a million pieces.

The car had come out of nowhere; I swear! Yes, I had been wearing my Beats, but I definitely looked both ways. I just needed to focus on getting far enough away.

After running about six blocks, I darted into an alleyway to catch my breath. Blood splattered across and soaked into my jeans, staining my hands red when I tried to wipe it away. Shit, shit, shit!

My brain raced with the images of what had just happened. I had looked up just in time to jump out of the car’s path. As I hit the pavement, the screaming of the brakes stopped, and another scream took over. A woman fell out of the driver’s side door and stumbled to the front of the car.

Once on my feet, I slowly approached the front of the car. As my eyes took in the scene before me, the sky seemed to grow darker.

A body.

The woman huddled over a small body, trying to shake them awake. Glass covers the ground like confetti as blood seeps into the pavement.

She shouted something while pointing at me, but everything seemed to slow and I couldn’t make out what she was saying. Rain kissed my skin as a shadow behind the mother caught my eye. The rest of my surroundings blurred, and the only thing in my focus had been that shadow.

This isn’t the first time that I’ve seen a shadow like that one, but it is the first time that the shadow has developed a face.

Bipolar disorder is what the doctors had called it. I’ve been seeing this shadow off and on since my parents were murdered in front of me at the age of two.

This shadow, however, was different. As the shadow slides towards the mother and her child, I hesitate when a large cracking sound precedes a granite face emerging, sneering at me. The air shudders, and suddenly the shadow is ‌engulfed by slithering vines and grows to an exponential height.

“Felicity!” the shadow, that wasn’t a shadow, roared.

I charge towards the mother and try to drag her away, yelling that the shadow was right behind her. I ended up tripping and falling over the body, and my face came within inches of the unblinking eyes of the young boy on the ground. A chunk of his head had been torn away as he flew through the windshield, and there was obviously no saving him.

“Felicity!!” the shadow roared again. Flecks of mud hit my hair and face as the smell of mold and muck overwhelmed my senses. Looking up into the black eyes of a monster, I scream. I’ve never been afraid of anything in my entire life; not even this shadow…until now..

The sound of a police cruiser racing past the alley slammed me back into the present. I have to get back to the group home without anyone seeing me, especially covered in blood. I’ve snuck in and out before, so I take the same path to get into my second-story window.

Once inside, I strip everything off, throw it under my bed, and put my pajamas on. I crawl under the covers and pull my phone out. Searching for what I saw resulted in nothing but video games or D&D. Letting out a frustrated sigh, I then searched for hallucinations in regard to bipolar disorder. Of course, there were hundreds of hits on that search.

Dragging my hand through my dreadlocks in frustration, something falls onto my bed. Confused, I turn my phone’s flashlight on to see pieces of moss covering my sheets. I pull up my camera and look at my face. Mud speckles my entire face and hair like freckles. That sure as shit wasn’t a result of a hallucination.