Shadow

When something lurks in the shadows, it often stays there…, but not this time. This time it came out of the shadows…

It was getting late. And I was working overtime. God, sometimes I hate life. I looked at the clock and it showed 08:00 pm. I’ll better call my sister before she gets really worried. So I picked my phone at called her. After two rings she answered. That was quick.

“Sis! Where are you?? I was getting so worried!!” She almost screamed to the phone.

“I'm still working, so I’ll be home later than usual.”

“How long are you going to work?”

“I don’t know yet…, but don’t worry about me. Is everything alright there?” The line went quiet. It gave me the feeling that everything wasn't okay.

“Amy?” I asked, worried clearly heard in voice. After few minutes she spoke up.

“Come home soon, sis. I’m sacred, there are shadows everywhere.” Aww, my little sister is scared of shadows. Well, she’s only 10 after all.

“I’ll be home soon. Don’t worry.”

“Be careful.”

“I will. Now go to sleep, I’ll be soon there.”

“Okay, love ya.”

“I love you too.” And with that she hung up. She sounded little different. Is she getting sick? Damn screw this, I’m doing it at home! With that I packed my things and left the office. Damn it is really dark outside…, darker than I realized…

I walked faster than usual. Our little conversation played like old record in my head. But she didn't usually get scared easily. What made her scared? As I walked I was looking around. I felt like someone or something was following me. I could see some movement in the corners of eyes so I turned around. But no one was there. Must be my imagination. Don’t get paranoid now, pull your shit together, I thought as I started to walk again. But the feeling being followed didn't leave me. Now I’m starting to get scared. I could also swear that someone is hiding in the shadows. I could hear running steps and faint laughter, but always when I turned my head to the sound, nothing was seen. Then I stopped, and looked to right. There was the familiar lane, which I passed every day. It was a shortcut to my home. But now I was scared to enter the dark lane full of shadows. I could take the longer way home but…

I took a deep breath and stepped in to the shadows. Because of the darkness it was hard to see, but I could see a grey figure few meters of me. It looked like a teenage girl with a hoodie on. She also had a grey mini skirt on, grey stockings and grey boots. In fact everything about her was grey. She just stood there, she kind a looked lost.

“Um…, hi there. Are you lost?” I asked as I took few steps closer to her. Then I heard the same faint laughter that I heard before. But it was much louder now.

“Finally… I… found… you…” she said with a rusty voice. I just froze on my spot. My heart started to beat faster. And if I wasn't scared before, well now I was really scared. Or more like horror-struck. The reason? She…, or the thing turned its head towards me. But notice, only the head moved. The rest of the body stayed still and was facing the other direction. It had long dirty ash colored hair. I only could see the eyes, because they were two white shining spots on its face. My brain was screaming to run, but my legs didn't obey. We stared at each other for few minutes, before it turned rest of its body towards me. Then I saw it hold something in its hand. Something sharp…, oh god was it a knife???

Then it took few steps and now it was running towards me. I let out a high pitched scream and fell backwards to the ground. I thought that it was the end of me. There I was waiting for my end. But nothing happened. I slowly opened my eyes and looked around. The shadow figure was gone. Then again I heard running steps behind. I freaked so much that I almost pissed my pants. Was it back? I panicking turned around and was ready escape if needed, but luckily for me I saw a woman and a man approaching me. Was the shadow girl only my imagination?

“Ma'am, are you alright?” The man asked.

“We heard a scream from here. What happened?” The woman asked me as they helped me up from the ground.

“Y-yeah…, I'm okay. I-I must have slipped or something….” I said and let out a nervous laughter.

“Dear, you’re shaking! Are you sure that you’re alright?” The woman asked and took my hand. I quickly pulled my hand away and backed away from them few steps. Now even more people started to gather around.

“Yes, I am. Thanks for helping me up.” I quickly said and got the hell out of there. Screw everything! I’m running home the long way! I have had enough with dark lanes. When I arrived home, it was good that I didn't run through the front door. Once I was inside I locked the door.

“Amy!” I shouted. Nothing.

“AMY!” Now I was panicking. But soon after that a familiar redhead ran out of the hallway.

“Sis! You’re back!” She screamed happily as she jumped into my arms. I hugged her tightly. And even few tears fell out of my eyes.

“Sis, why are you crying?” My little sister asked.

“Because I'm happy to see that you’re safe.” I said. Thank god she’s okay.

“I'm sleepy. Can you stay with me until I fall asleep? The shadow is scaring me…”

“Sure. Now come on, let’s get you to bed shall we?” And with that we walked hand in hand to her bedroom. There I tucked her and after few bedtime stories she fell asleep. I quietly left her room, and went to the living room to finish my work. I opened my laptop but I couldn't get anything done. Guess I am still shocked of what happened earlier. I checked the time; 10:11 pm. I shut my laptop, and turned on the tv. There came few crappy films and a documentary of wild animals. I just decided to watch the documentary. Now and then I went to check on my sister. And every time she was sleeping peacefully in her bed. Maybe I’m just stressing out too much. As I was sitting on the couch, I started to feel very tired. And after few minutes I fell asleep.
I woke up in to a thud. Like something heavy would have fallen against the floor. It was dark. I don’t remember turning off the tv…

Once again I checked the time of my phone; 03:00 am. And I stumbled my way from the couch to the light switcher. Nothing happened as I tried to switch on the lights.

“Damn, it must be a power failure…” I muttered to myself as I walked to the kitchen to get my flashlight. As I was fixing my flashlight, I heard running steps from the stares. Once again I froze. No it can’t be…, I thought for myself. I walked to the hallway and saw that my sister’s room door was slightly open.

“Amy, are you there?” Silence. I opened the door and aimed the flashlight at her bed. She wasn't there. Again running steps were heard above my head. I walked out her room and was now heading to the stairs.

“Amy! Answer me!! This isn't funny!” I shouted as I walked to the second floor. As I got up, I stopped and sniffed the air. There was this metallic odor in the air…, all rusty and sweet. I wanted to throw up. Some noise came out of the bathroom. I almost jumped because of it. Panic and fear slowly filled my mind as I slowly approached the door. The rusty sweet odor got stronger as I came closer to the bathroom. Sweat drops formed on my forehead and on my back. I opened the door. Before I could see anything my attention was nailed at the floor. I had stepped on something warm and thick liquid, I think.

“What the hell…?” I said as I searched for the light switcher with my hand. I tried it few times, and first nothing happened. But then like a miracle, the lights went on. And I saw what the liquid was on the floor. It was red. Blood. My eyes widened in shock. A chill of fear went through my spine. Slowly I lifted my head up from the floor to face the macabre and obscene scene in front of me. As I saw what was in front of me, the fear paralyzed my whole body. Screaming on the top of my lungs I fell on my knees. My little sister was hanged! And not just that. Her stomach and chest was cut open so all of her inside organs were hanging out. And her mouth was cut from ear to ear, and her eyes were out of her eye sockets. Her body was almost covered in blood. And there was blood everywhere. I was now violently crying and shaking on the floor. As my stomach couldn't take it anymore, so I threw up. There I was gagging on the floor, and then there was the laughter again. I turned around and there at my sisters corpse stood the shadow girl. Now I clearly could see her face. Her white eyes looked at me, and you could see the evil in then. She also had this scary grin on her face, and some black thick liquid ran out of her mouth. I saw the knife in her hand, and it was covered in my sister's blood.

“Beautiful, isn't she?” She spoke in her rusty voice.

“You…, YOU MONSTER!!!!” I screamed like an animal. Her gaze snapped out of my sister and now she's staring at me. In horror I looked at her eyes disappear, leaving only black holes left.

“You shouldn't have said that!!!!!” She screamed. It sounded like a dying animal crossed with something unholy. With one hand movement she sent me flying out of the bathroom. My whole body crashed to the hallway wall. Her evil laughter echoed in my house. Before I could even think of getting up, she was on the top of me. God, she's heavy! I couldn't breathe properly. I tried to move my hands but they were numb. I couldn't feel anything. Panic in my eyes I stared at this monster.

“Now, now… what should I start with? Oh, I know!” She laughed out and stabbed the knife into my left eye. I screamed fully of the pain. Then she slowly pulled the knife out of my eye. As I looked at her with my right eye, I saw maggots crawling out of her eye sockets. And I absolutely hate any kind of bugs! So now I was screaming there in terror. She just calmly placed the sharp edge of her knife against my mouth.

“And now then…? Let's make you pretty as your sister!” She said in her demonic voice as she sliced my mouth open to my ears. And I couldn't do anything to it. I just kept on screaming and crying in pain.

“Now you look really pretty.”

“Go to hell!” I spat in anger.

“Oh I will. AND I’LL TAKE YOU WITH ME!!” She screamed. She quickly got of me and she was floating in the air. I in other hand had no time to escape as she again sent me flying down the stairs. The speed and force was so hard that I hit the front door. My limbs were working again. As adrenaline filled my veins I got up and tried to open the door, but then I remembered that I locked it earlier. I had to get out somehow!!

“The game isn't over yet!” I turned to her as she was floating above the stairs, and her white were back.

“Then you leave me no other choice.” I said as I ran and busted trough one of my windows in the living room. The sharp glass made cuts everywhere on my body. I was a blood dripping mess as I got out of the house. I didn’t look back as I ran to the road. Luckily I saw a car driving towards me. I started to wave my hands. As I started running I slipped on my own blood, and as I fell I hit my head on one of the sharp rocks aside of the road. There I was lying again. This time I knew it would be the end of me. With my last breaths I saw the car stopping next to me, and two people stepped out of the car.

“Poor girl…” It was an older man who spoke.

“Honey, what- OH MY GOD!” A woman screamed. Then they started babbling about something, as I started to fade away from this world. With my last strength I let out an ungodly sound and that was it.
Amy, wherever you’re, I’m coming after you…