Shadow Man (Part 3)

The sound of the doorbell ringing sounded throughout the house, and Jesse sat up on his bed groaning. He hated that his parents invited so many people over to him now that he was back from the hospital. ‘Hopefully, not too many people are coming. All the really needed was a call from my parents that I’m not dead,’ he thought to himself.

Jesse looked up to see his younger brother standing at the top of the stairs, in front of Jesse’s open door. Izzy turned and looked at Jesse, “I don’t have to go down there, too, do I?”

“Boys! Come down, already!” their father’s voice came from downstairs.

“That answer you question?” Jesse asked, chuckling a bit at the timing.

“Yeah, yeah…”

To his surprise, the first person there was his friend, Olivia. She said a quick hello to Jesse’s parents, and turned to go up the stairs to Jesse’s room.

“Hey!” Jesse said happy to his best friend after his two weeks away.

Olivia nearly tackled Jesse when she ran over to hug him tightly. “You really are back!”

“Um, yeah. Didn’t my mom tell you?”

She did, but, I mean, you got hit by a car. A CAR!”

“Yeah, Liv. I was there,” Jesse laughed, grabbing Olivia’s hand. “Come on! I’ve got something to tell you!”

Jesse glanced up at his dad who was wiggling his eyebrows at his son, insinuating a romantic relationship between the two teenagers. Jesse glared at his dad before turning around and walking up the stairs. When he and Olivia got half-way up, they heard Jesse’s dad yell, “Use protection!”

“What?” Olivia was flustered. But not as much as Jesse whose face was almost the same color red as the shirt he was wearing.

“Don’t listen to him. He’s on drugs, or something,” he said trying to diffuse the situation. It didn’t help that they could hear Izzy laughing from downstairs.

The two entered Jesse’s room, and Olivia sat down on the bed, crossing her legs in front of her. Jesse closed the door behind him as quietly as possible. He didn’t want his mother yelling at him for closing the door with a girl in his room. Again.

“So…” Olivia started. “What’s so important that you couldn’t tell me over the phone, and you have to close your door like you broke into your own house?”

Jesse chuckled a bit, looking at the floor. He had only recently realized that he felt as if he was going crazy because of the shadows he’d been seeing.

“Maybe they shouldn’t have let me out of the hospital,” he said slowly.

“Why not? Are you still in pain, or something?” Olivia began to feel a sense of panic.

“No. I’m…seeing shadows, everywhere. Most of the time, they’re just in the corner of my eye, and they disappear when I try to look at them.”

“Yeah, they’re shadow figures,” Olivia stated as if everyone should know that fact.

“What? So, you’ve seen them, too?”

“Nope. But they’re scientifically proven to be caused by blind spots in the back of people’ eyes.”
            “Do they ever show up in front of you?”

“No, that’s pretty much impossible. Why?”

Jesse stared Olivia in her hazel eye, waiting for her to understand. He imagined the words to describe his situation in his head, and telepathically sending them to his best friend.

“You can see them…in front of you?” Liv said as if saying it too loudly would cause the world to collapse in on itself. And for Jesse, maybe it already had.

“Just twice. The second time, it knocked over my lamp,” he said pointing at the desk lamp lying on its’ side amidst a puddle of broken glass from the lightbulb. Jesse still hadn’t cleaned it up. Part of him was too afraid to go near it, thinking something invisible might pick it up and throw it into his face. But he also wanted proof, no matter how admittedly weak that proof was.

Olivia looked over to the lamp, and back at Jesse. “Are you sure you didn’t just bump into it?”

            “I’m sure, Liv,” tears began to pool in his eyes, and form trails down his cheeks. “You see why I don’t wanna tell anyone else?”
            “Yeah, I do. But, I don’t think you need to go back to the hospital. You’ve been through a traumatic incident. Just give yourself time to…I don’t know, get used to being home?”

            “I’m sorry I told you,” Jesse said, whipping the tears away. “I should’ve known nobody would be leave me.”

            “It’s not that I don’t believe you, but…” Olivia paused to think of something to say. “Yeah, actually, I don’t believe you.”

            Jesse felt a little shocked but tried not let her know that.

            “You’ve never lied to me, and I don’t think you’d start now. And if you were lying, I’m sure you say something that’s actually believable.”

            Olivia began to pace back and forth, thinking. She only stopped when she had come to a conclusion. “You may not be lying.”

            After what she had just tole him, Jesse was even more shocked to hear her say that.

            “I mean, there are reasons that people can see things that other people can’t. Maybe it’s a supernatural thing. Or, maybe getting hit by a car caused some type of mental illness.”

            Jesse didn’t like that idea. “I got hit by a car and now I’m crazy? Great.”

            “Mental illness and being crazy aren’t the same thing. Read a book.”

            “It’s right there,” Jesse pointed towards his window, behind Olivia. Not taking it too seriously, she turned to face the window. There it was, just outside the window. It looked like it was grabbing onto the frame of the window on the outside, looking in. Just as featureless as the other shadows. Or maybe this was the same one.

            “I have to pee,” Olivia said, not entirely sure if she was surprised or scared.

            The shadow person moved its head presumably in her direction when the door to Jesse’s bedroom opened.

            “Hey, guys. Mom said w—what the actual fuck is that?