I don't know these shadows

The idea for this book was to have people give me a word and I would somehow work it in a story. Sometimes that word played a big part and other times it did not. Coming up with story ideas for each word was both fun and challenging.

This story had a slightly different plot than what you are about to read. It still had the same characters, but what happened to them changed. This is very slightly based on an experience I had. I lied down and heard noises. The scariest part was that it only happened when I lied down. It may have been the creepiest thing that ever happened to me. The word for this story is verbose.

THE EYES IN THE FOREST

Holly stood on her front porch with a heavy backpack of clothes and other things such as books and makeup. She rocked back and forth on her heels with anticipation . It had been six months since her older sister Claire had gone off to college.

It was a nice school and Holly was beyond happy for her. She just hated how far away it is. It was practically on the state border, which was about a four hour drive from where she lived. They were going to their father’s house for easter. Their father and step-mother Angela, were planning a nice dinner.

When her sister arrived she ran down the steps ,opened the back door of the car and threw her backpack on to the seat.

“Shall we take the scenic route?”Claire asked.

“Sure. Just be careful.”

“What? Are you afraid we’ll break down and have to run into the woods to get away from some maniac?”

“No. I’m thinking more of you hitting a deer. But thanks for putting that into my head. I’m definitely thinking about that now.”

The road was long and winding. Trees by the hundreds sat on either side. The windows were rolled down as Claire had an affinity for fresh air. Holly would have been perfectly fine with the man made cooling machine given the beautiful name air conditioning. At least at that point she thought it was beautiful, given that its air would have been much cooler.

Holly wondered if Connor would be helping with the dinner. Connor was their seventeen year old step brother who had declared himself the chef of the family. He had made spaghetti once while they were there on winter break. His mother insisted that she be the one to cook for them , but Connor was too excited about showing off his skills. It actually tasted really good. At least Holly and Claire thought so.

They had not been on the road long but Holly had already been up since six and was growing a bit tired. She decided to try and take a nap. As she closed her eyes she caught a glimpse of what looked like a pair of eyes. She sat straight up. She let out a gasp that made Claire stop the car.

“What’s wrong?”

“Did you see that ? she cried.”

“See what?”

“There we’re eyes in the forest.”

“Can’t say that I did. Are you okay? Have you been getting enough sleep?”

“Yes. I get plenty of sleep. I’m just fine in that department.”

“Okay. I’m just checking. I know graduation is coming up for you and you have the year book to help finish. When you have a lot going on , it can really wear you down. Don’t forget I was….”

“Class president , Holly interrupts her. I know . And you played on the girl’s basketball team for three years. Oh and the school put on a play that you wrote. I know. You did it all.”

“Exactly. I enjoyed all of those things, but I felt pulled into every direction. So much of it was to impress others and make them happy.”

Holly smiled and told her sister that she would try to take it easy once and awhile.

There were no more mysterious eyes the rest of the way. Still, Holly couldn’t shake the feeling that something was watching her. She knew how irrational it seemed yet the thought of not being scared seemed down right stupid. She didn’t need another lecture about the effects of stress, so she did the best to think of something else.

“I’m thinking of getting a cat,“Claire said.

She had said it with excitement in her voice. Holly couldn’t help but wonder if this was due to having a new furry friend or a way to combat loneliness for Claire. Her sister had had a bad year so far when it came to dating. Her roommate had been sleeping with Claire’s boyfriend of two years, while Claire worked extra hours to keep up on the bills. The saddest thing was that neither of them felt any guilt over it.

Holly didn’t know if she should ask her sister how she was holding up after something like that. It seemed like the caring thing to do. But it was something that would for sure make her sister break down in tears, so she didn’t ask.

When they arrived at their father’s house, they were greeted by Connor.

“Food is all ready,” he said. “We made a ton of stuff. Ham, potato salad, corn and two pies.”

“Leave it to dad to make Easter into a mini thanksgiving,” Claire said.

The three of them laughed as they entered the house. It had been decorated with colorful plastic eggs and pictures of bunnies and flowers. The smell of the food was strong. Holly’s stomach rumbled.

The ham tasted as if it had been soaked in its glaze for weeks. Homemade mashed potatoes with the buttery garlic, made for an excellent side dish along with some steamed asparagus. No one had said anything for the first five minutes of the meal. Between work and school, none of them really had time for home cooked meals. Claire had eaten over ten cheeseburgers in the last week.

“It’s so nice to eat something not cooked in grease,” she said.

This made Angela smile. “Me too. Work has been so chaotic. I’m surprised that I got today off.”

“I hate the fact that we only get together during the holidays, ” said Claire. I love school, but there’s so much unnecessary sacrifice.”

“It’s hard,” their father said. “But we are here now, so let’s eat and enjoy our time.”

After dinner they sat in the living room talking more about the things going on in their lives. Angela had started a new job just a few months before. Their father was up for a promotion. It was something Angela had been nagging him to go for. Claire showed them a copy of a book she had written. It was typed out and the pages were held in a three ring binder.

Holly had read her sister’s book twice. Claire was a talented writer. Holly could not and certainly would not have denied it. She did however find a few passages to be verbose. She loved character driven stories, but she really didn’t need two paragraphs on why a character liked blue curtains.

“Was it hard to write?” Angela asked .

“Sort of, ″ Claire answered. It took a lot of research. I read a ton of books on mythology and folklore. That was pretty easy. I don’t mind research. I think it’s fun to learn different things. As for actual writing, the story flowed well for me but I was never very good at all the grammar stuff.”

That night Claire slept on an air mattress while Holly stayed up reading on the couch. She never could sleep the first night of travel, even if it wasn’t a long trip. She usually brought a long book or two small ones. She preferred ones that were very descriptive to take her mind off of the fact that she wasn’t sleeping in her own bed.

She had decided she was in the mood to read a mystery novel she found at a small bookstore. She had bought it in hopes to get more reading done. Thick and a bit floppy, it was a paperback that fit comfortably in her hands. She lied back on the couch and got lost in the story. It wasn’t long after that that she had read half the book.

It was five minutes after one a.m. when she finally began to grow tired enough for sleep. She closed her eyes and as she began to fall asleep she heard crying. Startled, she sat straight up. She looked around the living room, but no one else other than her sleeping sister was there.

Must have been from outside, she said to herself. She closed her eyes again but this time the crying came before she got deep into sleep. Again she looked around to see nothing that could have made the crying sound. She lied on her side but did not close her eyes. As soon her ear touched the cushion, she heard the crying again. It sounded desperate and panicky

“What the hell?″ she cried out loud. “What was that? Who was that?”

Claire rolled over to her side but did not wake up. Holly bent down and shook her to wake her up.

“Stop, stop,” Claire cried. “I’m trying to sleep.”

“I need you to get up.”

Claire looked up at the clock that sat on the mantle.

“It’s past one in the morning. Why the hell are you waking me up?”

“I heard crying.”

“Okay. It was probably the cat.”

“No. It was a human cry.”

“Well the window is open. You probably heard the neighbors. I think I heard Angela mention to dad that one lady two houses down is getting divorced. Makes sense that she would be crying.”

“No. I only hear it when I lie down. I hear it when I’m falling asleep or when I put my ear to the cushion. And besides, two houses down is too far to hear crying.”

“It was a dream then.”

“Please just come look around the house with me.”

Claire sighed and got up. “This is just like when you were five and mom and dad made it my job to check your room for monsters.”

“Hey, I was little.”

“So was I. But I never got scared that easily.”

Holly gave Claire a mean look. She hated when her sister was right about things like that. It was true. Holly was very timid and was startled by the littlest noises. Claire on the other hand, never seemed to be bothered by things that were supposed to be scary. As a child she loved horror movies and campfire ghost stories.

“You like stuff like this,″ Holly said. “Spooky stuff.”

“Not at one in the morning while I was sleeping. Where do you want to check first? The sooner we pick a room, the sooner I can go back to bed.”

“Let’s check the kitchen.”

Holly gestured for Claire to go first. Claire rolled her eyes and then reached for the light switch. As she reached her let out a gasp and quickly pulled her hand back.

What’s wrong?, Holly asked.

“Something touched my hand.”

“What?”

“By the light switch. It was like another hand on top of mine.”

Holly saw that there was a broom that leaned against the stove. She picked it up and used it to turn the light on. The kitchen was empty. They slowly walked in. Holly held the broom out on its side in case she needed it as a shield.

“You know,” Holly said, “It was probably dad or Angela.”

Cliare looked around. “You are probably right.”

“I’m surprised that it didn’t cross our minds earlier. Especially yours.”

“I know right. I mean...,”

“What’s wrong now?”

“If it was either of them, then where did they go so quickly? Why come into the kitchen doorway just to leave?”

“Do you think someone got in?”

“I hope not. I don’t see any other explanation though”.

Holly opened one of the kitchen draws and took out a knife. She set the broom back against the stove.

“I’m sure this is better protection than a broom.”

“I hate to think about it,” Claire said. ″But what if whoever it was, got dad and Angela?”

“It’s best we don’t think about that just yet.”

Claire grabbed a pot lid from a bottom cabinet. Holly gave her a look of confusion.

“I don’t want to carry anything too heavy. Besides, this is good enough to hit someone in the face if I had to.”

Holly shrugged and suggested that they check the panty. It was small but a person could fit in there with the door closed. She grabbed the handle and turned it slowly. She took a deep breath and swung the door open. No one was there. They both let out a sigh of relief.

“The living room is pretty open, Holly said. Not many places to hide there.”

Claire nodded in agreement. There was a closet in the living room, but it was so packed with things it would be impossible to hide in there without being noticed. Knowing that there were no more places to hide downstairs, the two sisters tightly gripped their weapons of choice and made their way up the stairs. The hallway was dark and all the doors were closed. Claire used her frying pan to turn the light on.

The silence still remained. “We should check the bathroom, Holly said. Finally, checking behind the shower curtain is not a thing of paranoia.”

“True. Now we just need a scenario for bathroom stalls.”

The bathroom just like the pantry had been empty of any other person. In fact, it looked as if it hadn’t been used in hours. The smell from the air freshener dominated the room and the sink was dry.

“All that’s left is Dad and Angela’s room, and Connor’s room,“Claire said.

“I know. Which one should we check first?”

“Connor’s.”

“Okay.”

“I’m going to do it fast.”

“Okay.”

Claire grabbed the door handle of Connor’s room, took a deep breath and flung the door open. Neither of them heard or saw anything. They slowly walked in and Holly turned on the lamp that sat on his desk. Claire picked up a water battle and threw it under the bed.

“What are you doing?” Holly asked.

“I was trying to see if anyone was hiding under there.”

“We could just look.”

“No. What if they were under there? They’d grab me.”

“And throwing something at them is a better idea?”

“We could be out of the room by the time they got out from under the bed.”

“You do have a point. Well we know now no one is under there. Should we check dad and Angela’s room?”

“Not yet.” Claire gestured to the closet.

“I’m not opening it,” Holly said.

Claire raised the pot lid she was holding and slowly slid open the closet door. To their surprise, in the corner sat Connor. Claire gasped.

“What are you doing in the closet?”

“Hiding. I heard voices. At first I thought it was outside, but then I realized that I only heard them when I laid down.”

“What voices?” Holly asked. “I heard voices too.”

“It was like someone crying, he said. Like they were scared. Like they needed help.”

“So you hid in the closet?“Claire asked.

“Not right away. I wanted to see if mom and George were Still up. I wanted to know if they were hearing stuff too. So I knocked on their door, but there was no answer. I waited a few seconds, then I knocked again. But harder that time.”

“And then what?,” Holly asked.

“Then I went in. Normally I don’t do things like that, but there was no way both of them slept through that knock. I went in and there was my mom. She was just standing there facing the window. I called her but she just kept staring at the window. I turned on the light and that’s when I saw that she had blood all over her.”

“The fuck?” Claire said.

“So where is she now?” Holly asked. “Where is our dad?”

“Honestly I don’t know. I hid in the closet, after I saw her in the light.”

“What happened?” Claire asked. “How did she look?” She turned to see Holly leaning against the wall with her head in her hands. She knew her sister was terrified, but they needed to know what was going on.

“When she turned around her eyes were like cat eyes. They were yellow and had a glow to them

Her skin was so pale. There were blotches of bluish black and purple all over her hands and face. It was like she was a demon that got the shit kicked out of her. I backed away slowly at first. Then she opened her mouth wide. Like wider than a human being should be able to. Then she let out this sound like she was an animal getting ready to attack.”

“What are we going to do?” Holly cried.

“I don’t know,“Connor said. “I have a feeling we have to leave the house. We aren’t safe here. I don’t even know if my mother or whatever she was, is still in the room.”

“Well we have to figure something out.”

“I say we run downstairs, outside to the car and just take off.”

“I agree,” Holly said.

“We need to think rationally about this,” Claire said.

“Rationally?” Holly cried. “Both Connor and I heard voices and his mom is apparently some kind of cat monster. There is nothing rational about any of this.”

“I think we have just had our imaginations go wild. Let’s go to Dad and Angela’s room and check it out.”

“You are crazy,” Connor said. “I know what I saw. It wasn’t a dream. It wasn’t my imagination. I was awake. I remember it all. I remember the look on her face. She smiled this evil smile before opening her mouth.”

“Okay if it makes you feel better, I’ll check it out. I know I’m going to go in there, find nothing and walk out safely.”

The three of them walked slowly out of Connor’s room. The room down the small hall seemed miles away. A sense of fear and dread came over all of them, though none of them mentioned it.

When they got to their parents’ room, the door was open. Before Claire had entered the room, she noticed that she had stepped into some kind of liquid. She looked down to see that it was blood.

“What the hell?″ she said.

“What’s wrong?” Holly asked, her voice cracking from fear.

“There’s blood right here in the doorway. A puddle of it.”

“I told you,″ Connor said. “I told you that some fucked up shit was going on.”

Let’s go to the car, Claire said in a shaky voice. They ran for the stairs, but once again the hall seemed to stretch. The faster they ran, the further it seemed to be. It felt as if some kind of force was weighing on them, pushing them back.

Something is on me, Connor cried. I can barely move anymore.

We have to push through it, Claire said, trying to catch her breath.

Just then she ran into something hard. She looked to see it was the railing of the stairs. The three of them ran downstairs. Connor grabbed a rock that had been painted by Angela off of the table that sat by the front door. Claire and Holly held onto their knife and pot lid as they all ran to Claire’s car.

Just before they reached the car, Connor’s mother ran in front of them. Her yellow eyes glowed bright. Claire and Holly could see the blotchy bruises that Connor had told them about. They were all over her body. But now she also had patches of fur.

She turned to Claire’s car and sent her claw-like hand through the passenger window. She then sent her claws through the tire, before she howled and tipped the car into its side.

“What the hell is wrong with your mom?” Claire asked in a shaky voice. “Why does she look like that?”

“I don’t know,” Connor whispered.

“We have to think of something,” Holly said.

“I already have,” said Claire. “Connor I know it’s going to be hard, but you have to throw that rock at your mom.”

“I ca..can’t,” he stuttered.

“You have to.”

Connor stood there frozen. Claire grabbed the rock from him. Before he could say anything, she threw it at his mother’s head. The beast-like woman howled and thrashed around.

“Let’s go,″ Claire yelled.

“Where?,” Holly asked.

“Anywhere. Let’s just get out of here.”

Just then in the distance, Holly saw them again. The pair of eyes she had seen in the forest. She then realized it had the same kind of eyes the monster version of Angela had.

“Those eyes,″ she said, pointing to them.

Claire and Connor looked towards the direction that Holly was pointing in.

“Those are the eyes I saw, ″ she said in a panicky voice. The eyes in the woods. I knew I wasn’t imagining them.”

More eyes began to appear. They seemed at first to be just eyes floating in the darkness. Soon they found themselves surrounded. Out of the darkness came more beast people.

“We have to run,” Claire said.

“We can’t,” Holly said. “Those things are everywhere.”

“We have to just run. Even if we have to push through them.” Claire ran, swinging the pot lid as she went. A creature lunged at her, falling to the ground as its head came into contact with the lid.

“Come on,” she yelled. Run.

The others followed. The creatures roared. Holly finally figured out what it reminded her of. It was the same roar as a mountain lion. One of them got down on all fours and began to chase them. It leaped high in the air, knocking Holly down as it landed.

She tried to get up, but the creature grabbed her ankle and began to drag her. Holly tried to resist. She grabbed onto the grass, digging her fingers into the dirt. But the creature was too strong. It dragged her a few feet before lifting her up.

It opened its mouth exposing two rows of sharp teeth. It lifted Holly close to its mouth and went to bite her. Holly closed her eyes and started kicking. She figured if she was going to get eaten, she’d at least go down with a fight. Soon she could feel it’s hot breath on her face. But to her surprise, instead of being bitten, she was falling with the creature.

They landed and the creature lost its grip on her. She picked up the knife she dropped and stabbed the creature in the heart. She caught up to the others.

“Oh my god are you okay?,” Claire asked.

“Do I look okay?,” Holly shouted. “I was just almost eaten by a cat person.”

Seemed more big cat like to me Claire said.

Holly breathed heavily. Her sister might have been right but it was not the time to worry about being specific about monstrous creatures. She looked back to see the creatures standing in the distance, staring at them. She wondered why they did not continue to chase them.

The three of them ran until they came upon a gas station. They ran into the convenience store.

“Do you have a phone we can use?” Claire asked the man behind the counter. The man nodded and handed Claire the phone.

“I’m calling dad,” she told them. “Hopefully he picks up.”

“Hopefully he’s alive,” Holly whispered.

Claire dialed her father’s number. The phone only rang once before he answered.

“Who is this?” His voice was strained.

“Dad, it’s me Claire.”

“Claire?”

“Yes.”

“Oh thank God you’re alive. Are Holly and Connor okay?”

“We’re all okay. Barely, but we are. Where are you?”

“At Angela’s mother’s house.”

“Dad, I have to tell you about Angela.”

“I know. She changed.”

“You knew about this and you just left us all. I didn’t leave you. I’m with Connor’s grandmother Elise. Stay there, I’m coming for you.”

“Dad, what’s going on?”

“Angela isn’t what you think she is.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ll tell you when I see you. Where are you?”

“At a gas station. In the store.”

“The one up the road?”

“Yes.”

“Okay ,stay where you are. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

Claire handed the phone back to the store clerk and thanked him.

“What’s going on?,” Connor asked.

“Our dad is coming here.”

“What else? You were Talking about my mother. What did he say about her?:

“He said, she’s not what we think she is.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“I don’t know.”

It wasn’t long before their father arrived at the gas station.

“Dad!” Holly said.

“Come on. We’ll talk outside,``he said.

“What’s going on?” Connor asked as soon as they stepped outside. “What happened to my mother?”

“Connor, there’s something your mother has wanted to tell you for years, but she never knew how. It was the reason we met.”

“You two told me that you met at work.”

Their father shook his head and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. That was a lie.”

“Well I know that now,” Connor shouted.

I’m sorry. At first we didn’t tell you because you were too young to understand. Then as the years went on, it just got harder to find the right way and time to tell you.

“Tell me what?” Connor cried.

George looked at Connor, then to his two daughters. His heart pounded as he tried to find an easy way to say what he was about to say. “Connor, your mother is half daemon.”

“Wha-what?” Connor threw his hands up. “Demon? Like a fallen angel?You have to be kidding me. I met my mother’s parents. I grew up with them. You knew them. All of you knew them. Now you’re trying to tell me that my grandfather was a demon. Was my dad one too?”

No. Your dad was just a person that could see and sometimes hear things of the other world. Also it’s a daemon with an A in it. It’s not what you think.

“Other world?” Holly asked.

“The spirit world. You see Connor, I did actually meet your mother at my job. The thing is though, it wasn’t because we were coworkers. Your father and I met her at the same time. It was our last day of work at the store before we were to leave for school.”

“You both met her at the same time. Any more lies? And what difference does the spelling make?”

“George looked down. No. All that’s left is the details, and what was never told to you. A daemon with an A is a nature spirit. I promise you that the only lie we told was about how we met.”

“Well no offense George, but I think letting a child believe he was fully human, was kind of another big lie.”

“So how exactly did you meet Angela?,” Claire asked.

“We met her through a sort of meditation. George looked to see the three of them had looks of confusion upon their faces.

As I had said before, both Jacob and I had the ability to connect with the spirit world. We had heard about the ability to contact spiritual beings through meditation.

What we had to do was sit in a quiet room, close our eyes, and try to envision what we thought the other side looked like. I’m not sure how we both envisioned your mother, Connor. I really don’t. Perhaps it was because we both meditated at the same time. Maybe his version of the spirit realm looked similar to mine. I never got the chance to ask him. All I knew was that when I opened my eyes, an image of Angela stood in front of me. Jacob asked if I saw her too. I said yes and described her.”

“So what happened after that?,“Connor asked.

“We locked up the store and got the hell out of there.”

“How did my parents end up together if you two were scared?”

“She came into the store. At first neither Jacob nor I could believe it. We thought we we’re Imagining it. Your father went up to her. I tried to stop him. I didn’t think it was safe to go up to someone who’s image you conjured up in meditation. He told me that something was drawing him to her. That he felt like he needed to talk to her. He walked up to her. They stared at each other for a moment, before your mother spoke.”

“What did she say?,“Connor asked.

“She said, ″ I know you. You’ve been in my dreams. I know I’ve been in yours. Then he said that can’t be possible, but still it was. She then said her mother had told her that as she got older her powers would become stronger.”

Powers to do what? Connor cried.

“To go in and out of the spirit realm as she pleased. Also to shapeshift into animals.”

“So let me get this straight. You and my father did this ritual meditation thing. You both saw my mother in some kind of hallucination and dreams. Then you randomly met her in a store where she confessed to having powers.”

“As strange as it seems, yes.”

“And why would she do that? Who just randomly goes up to a person and say hi I’m that shapeshifting spirit from your fantasy?”

“I know it sounds crazy, but I think it was love at first sight.”

“Crazy and cliche,” Claire said.

“Okay, so my mom’s a daemon.”

“Half daemon actually, George corrected him.”

“So which one of my grandparents is the daemon?”

“Your grandfather.”

“But grandpa is so nice. He’s like the nicest one out of my whole extended family. ”

“Being a daemon doesn’t mean someone is mean,” George said. Remember these are spirits of nature not symbols of absolute evil.”

“No offense but why did she try killing us if they’re not evil?,” Claire asked.

“That’s sort of where Connor’s grandmother comes in. She practices magic. She’s actually very skilled in it.”

“I thought there were no more lies Connor ″ interrupted.

It’s not a lie. We just never told you.

“Again telling me all these people were normal, was lying.”

“Your grandmother met your grandfather when she was doing a Mabon ritual in the forest. He had been watching her from behind one of the trees. Her love and respect for the natural world drew him to her. The story they gave me was that he began to whistle. Only it wasn’t a normal whistle. It sounded like birds singing. They say that another witch saw this and became infatuated with him. She became enraged and full of jealousy when he chose your grandmother. So the other witch cursed her. The curse was that her first born child would suffer a night of lycanthropy every ten years.”

“Wait so I’m part daemon and part werewolf?”

“No. No. That part is a curse, so it only applies to your mother.”

“But she looked more cat-like than wolf-like,” Holly said.

“That’s the result of her shape-shifting abilities. Instead of turning into a wolf everytime, she turns into random animals.”

“So my mom’s a cat person at the moment, and then years from now she’s going to be what? A giraffe? A dolphin?”

“She could be any of those things now. The shape shifting comes at random.”

“What’s the plan? Claire asked. What the hell are we going to do?”

“We have to capture and put her in her cage.”

“Cage?” Connor asked. His voice shook with surprise.

Yes. A cage. It’s just until she turns back to normal.

You mean when she turns back to looking normal, Connor said. She never was normal and neither was I.

“Wait if Connor has daemon in him, then why doesn’t he have any special abilities?” Holly asked.

“He does. He was born with great intuition,and prophetic dreams.”

“I always thought I just had good judgment,” Connor said. “And the dreams, I thought everytime they came true were just coincidences.”

“We have to find her,” George said. “There’s a few places she could be.”

“Where should we try first?,” Claire asked.

“You’re not going to like this. But we need to check the shed behind Connor’s grandmother’s house.”

Claire groaned. She liked Elise, his grandmother. She didn’t mind being in her house. The shed was another story. It was old and falling apart. The door was cracked in several places and the paint was chipping off. She thought it looked like something out of a horror movie.

“It’s so creepy,″ she whined. It looks like a place in a slasher movie where the final girl finds the other victims.”

“We’ll all go together,” George said.

Claire took a deep breath. “Okay. Let’s go.”

“Wait, Connor said. How exactly are we supposed to catch her?”

“Enchanted dart gun,” George answered. Elise put a spell on it. I’ll shoot Angela in the leg or something. She won’t be hurt. It’ll just put her in a trance-like state. Then we’ll put her in the car and take her home to her cage.”

“Cage? Connor said with surprise. Where did you have a cage that I never saw?”

“Oh no,″ George said. We just bought it earlier today. You know since that time was coming.”

“That used to mean something else,″ Connor said. I didn’t need to know that about the women in my life and I don’t need to know this crap.”

“Well that’s life, Claire said. If you ever want a girlfriend, you’re going to have to deal with it. By it I mean a menstrual cycle of course. Not the supernatural stuff.”

“Uh yeah. Got that.”

They drove to Elise’s house. All the lights we’re out.

“Grandma must have gone to bed early, Connor said.” She’s usually up past twelve.”

“Hopefully we don’t wake her,” said George. She needs all the rest she can get after tonight. She had to use a lot of her magic to keep your mother from getting any worse.”

The four of them crept into the backyard. They didn’t need to go very far before they spotted Angela through the small dirty window of the shack.

She was throwing things in all directions.

“We have to get her to come out of there,” George said.

Claire picked up a pebble and threw it at the window of the shack. It made only a soft dining sound, but it was enough to catch Angela’s attention. She stopped, dropped what was in her hands, and stared at them through the window.

The four of them stood in fear. George raised the dart gun, prepared to shoot at a moment’s notice. Angela continued to state back. Her eyes were now black with gold irises. Her mouth opened to reveal three rows of teeth. She growled loudly.

“We need her out here,” George said. “I won’t be able to use the darts unless she does. We may have to break the window.”

Connor and Holly looked around for bigger rocks, but could not find any. Then Holly noticed a metal thermal cup sitting on the patio table. She picked it up and knew it would be heavy enough to break the window.

Holly threw it as hard as she could. It went right through the glass and landed by Angela’s feet. The beast-like woman let out another roar. She grabbed the windowpane and tore a hole in the shack.

When she stepped out, George raised the dart gun. He tried hard to steady his shaking arm, but it was no use. He knew he had to shoot and hoped the dart hit Angela.

It flew faster than he expected. It flew into her left arm. Angela fell to the ground. Her face twisted, going back and forth between human and animal form. After a few seconds, she fell asleep.

The four of them didn’t sleep that night. They all stayed in the living room while Angela slept handcuffed to her bed. When she awoke the next day, George undid the handcuffs and she recounted all she could remember. She remembered being hungry and in pain but not her transformation or how she got anywhere.

“It’s all a daze,” she said. “It felt just like a really vivid dream.”

“Well now that that’s over, we can have a real spring break,“Connor said.

Claire excused herself from the conversation. Sorry, I need to go clean up, she said. It’s been a long night and I just have to wash away as much of it as I can.

After Claire did not come back down for a long time, Holly decided to check on her. She knocked on the bathroom door.

“Are you okay?” she asked through the door.

Claire opened the door. Yeah I’m okay. It’s just I’m having a hard time deciding what was worse. Being attacked by our supernatural stepmother or the fact that our family kept things from us.

“Well at least it wasn’t as bad for us,” Holly said. “I can’t imagine what Connor is going through. Finding out something about your parents like that.”

“Neither can I,” Claire said as she stared at her golden cat-like eyes in the mirror.

The book is now complete and it is called I don't know these shadows. Author name S.C. Dickinson. It is available onAmazon, lulu, and ko-fi