The Shadow Man (Part 13)

Having to deal with the police twice in one day was exhausting. And, at this point, terrifying and confusing. How do you explain something to the authorities when you don’t even know what happened? Izzy was asleep in bed when everyone left the house. But, when they came back he was…gone.

Jesse sat on the couch in the living room, absentmindedly massaging his left arm. When he saw his father covered in blood Jesse jumped out of fright, smashing into the curio just outside of the kitchen door at full force. Now, the floor was covered in pieces of broken china and glass, while his arm had potentially suffered further damage. Jesse barely noticed. His mind was very far off, at the moment. He was in shock; eyes staring out of the window toward the moon, hand rubbing his arm, mind blank. Jesse might as well have been asleep.

Standing only about six feet away at the base of the stairs, Officer Perez wrote notes as she took Jesse’s father’s statement. Although, it was hard to make sense of the hysterical man was saying. No one blamed him, though. While she wrote down Martin’s recount of how he found Izzy in his closet, Perez made a note in the margin of her notepad the last time she glanced over at Jesse: Glassy eyes, refuses to talk, possibly in shock. She also made sure to write in her notes that all three of Izzy’s family members were with the police earlier in the evening when the boy was potentially killed. They all had an alibi.

‘Complicated circumstances. Good thing I like a challenge…’ Perez thought to herself. ‘But, they’re kind of an unlucky family. I feel bad for them. One kid survives getting hit by a truck and passes out on the sidewalk looking for his missing friend. Then the other son is found…like that.’ The officer had a flashback to twenty minutes earlier when she saw the young teenager sitting disemboweled in his closet with a petrified look on his face, while everyone did their best not to step in the puddle of blood surrounding Izzy. Many of the other officers called to the scene couldn’t stand being in the room, much less looking at a victim as young as Izzy who had been murdered so violently. It was all just too much.

Perez finished taking Martin’s statement and he went to sit with his wife. This time, she was the one who couldn’t stop crying. Her face was buried in her hands as she sobbed. Officer Perez and her captain glanced over at the broken family.

“You’re not supposed to bury your kids,” Captain Mercer said quietly so the family didn’t overhear something they already knew.

“Yeah, I’m guessing they’re thinking something similar, right about now.”

“It seems everything’s getting wrapped up here. The family’s going to spend a few nights in a hotel until we get the scene cleaned up. You wanna head back to the precinct and write your report so you can go home?”

“Uh, sure. Just give me a minute. I need to ask the brother a few more questions.”

Captain Mercer glanced over at the teenager sitting on the couch seemingly lost in thought. “Okay. But, I’m not sure you’ll get anything out of him while he’s in shock.”

Officer Perez and Mercer nodded at each other as the Captain walked out of the house, presumably to write his own report. After tonight, he felt the need to spend time with his own children when he left work. He’d instructed many of the other officers whom had children to go home and do the same. Perez walked over to Jesse, sitting down on the couch next to him.

“I’m sorry about your brother…” she said softly. “Losing a family member is difficult, but, it gets easier to cope with after a while.”

The officer watched Jesse, waiting for him to respond. He didn’t, and Perez was expecting that. Out of everyone, he’s been the most traumatized by everything that had happened since his return from the hospital.

“I know that you’re probably in shock, but if you can hear me…” she put a hand on Jesse’s should squeezing gently. “…you can call me if you need to talk.”

She sat there next to Jesse for a bit noticing that his eyes were still glazed over. Captain Mercer was right; there was no getting through to him in this state. However, Officer Perez had an idea about what was going through Jesse’s mind. She recalled the last time they had met, only about an hour and a half earlier. Jesse mentioned something about shadows.

“You think it was them, don’t you? The shadow…creatures?”

For the first time since he had seen his father covered in his little brother’s blood, Jesse seemed to be focused; his mind clearing of the fog that weighed almost as heavily as his brother’s passing. He looked into Officer Perez’s eyes, not sure if he heard hear correctly.

“How…did you know?” Jesse asked her. ‘What, can she read minds, now?’

“Because you told me about them, earlier,” Perez smiled at the teenager. “No, it wouldn’t make sense, but I can see why you’d think that. If these things have been bothering you for a while. Did Izzy know about them?”

Jesse wasn’t sure if he really wanted to have this conversation. But, she knew it wasn’t his fault. She also knew that in situations such as this many victims’ minds replace what really happened with something that would be much easier to comprehend or deal with: a defense mechanism.

“Yeah…he’s seen one of them, before. It creeped him out. Olivia…saw it, too.”

The Shadows' Empress (Part 10)

Father and son brought the pizza and some soda into the living room, setting everything on the coffee table. Jacob and the twins immediately dug into their food as they watched their movie in the dim room. Roland, however, couldn’t stop thinking about the conversation he knew he’d have with Jacob when the movie was over. He spent so much time bracing himself for what he was going to hear that he barely ate any of his pizza, nor did he pay any attention to the movie.

Eventually, Roland decided he’d just not worry about what his father had to say until it came time for him to say it. Instead, Roland focused his attention on getting the box open. By now, he’d come to the conclusion that he had to find the other rooms in his dreams that were indicated on the map using the red symbols. Roland had been to one of those rooms already experiencing the vision that he figured must have been the “secret” the Empress was talking about.

‘So, if I find all of the secrets, the box will be unlocked?’ Roland asked himself. ‘I’m not sure if I really wanna find them given what was in the first one. But, I don’t think I have a choice.’

It occurred to Roland that he could fact-check his dad. All he had to do was go through all of the visions that were kept in those rooms, and he would see the truth. Something about that idea made Roland nervous. If his dad was willing to lie to him twice about the same situation he wasn’t sure he really wanted to know. For a second, Roland wished he’d never asked. Why would he when he was going to figure it out on his own, anyway?

‘Experiencing the vision in that first room unlocked the first of seven locks, causing the first symbol on the box to disappear…’ Roland reminded himself. ‘So, will it still show up in the picture of the map?’ Pulling his phone out of his back pocket the he opened the gallery app and tapped the “Camera” folder that contained the photo he was looking for. He zoomed in on the picture and counted all of the symbols from the left side to the right.

‘Only six…’ Roland’s hypothesis was correct. The symbols vanished from both the box and the picture of the map. ‘At least that makes things easier.’

“Alright, you guys! Time to clean up!” Jacob announced as the lights as he rolled the dimmer switch to increase the brightness of the lights in the living room. Roland realized he had spent so much time up in his own head that he missed most of the movie and the credits were rolling. On top of that, he’d only eaten one slice of his pizza. Something that didn’t go unnoticed by his father.

‘Oh, well. I’ll finish it later, when I’m actually hungry.’

***

Roland sat at his desk, waiting for his father to finish tucking in Scarlet and Spencer. He really just wanted this conversation to be over. And, knowing the next few secrets that the Empress had left for him to find would probably hurt him emotionally as much as the first did, he couldn’t wait to go to bed so he could find them.

Glancing at the side of his bed, Roland checked to make sure the box was hidden well enough that his father wouldn’t find the decrepit treasure in it’s hiding spot. Who knows how Jacob would react if he noticed the box nestled between a few other small boxes that contained things Roland had collected over the years. The young man chuckled to himself as he realized that he’d hidden one box among boxes of other things he didn’t want anyone to know he had.

‘I’d be screwed on so many levels if anyone looked under my bed…’

There was a knock at his door, causing Roland to jump a bit in his desk chair.

“Mind if I come in, bud?” Jacob’s voice came quietly from beyond the Roland’s bedroom door.

“Yeah…” Roland’s heart began to beat faster. ‘Let’s get this over with.’

Jacob opened the door and closed it behind him before walking over to sit on his oldest son’s bed.

‘Good…’ Roland thought to himself. ‘He can’t see the box if he’s basically sitting on top of it.’

Jacob leaned back a bit, his arms behind him for support. He was quiet for a while, looking around the room. He wasn’t sure what to say. He decided earlier in the evening that he’d cross the bridge when he got to it. And now that he stood at it’s edge, so to speak, he found himself more worried about how Roland had felt about the situation as a whole. His son hadn’t eaten much during dinner, which showed Jacob that the subject of his mother’s death was really bothering him.

“First off, I just want you to understand something,” Jacob began, clearing his throat. He suddenly wished he’d spent some time thinking about what he was going to say. “When your mother died, you were too young to understand the situation, and I figured it would be best to just simplify things until you were ready to hear the full story.”

“When were you thinking I’d be ready to hear it?” Roland asked as he thought about how much parents underestimate their children.

“When you asked me about it. Which obviously is now…” Jacob looked down at the floor wishing Roland had just gone along with his original story.

Jacob stopped talking for a while making the conversation—or lack thereof—uncomfortable for the both of them so Roland tried to take lead of the narrative.

“So…I’m guessing it wasn’t really an accident?”

“It depends on how you look at it,” Jacob said feeling a little sad as he looked into the hazel eyes Roland had inherited from his mother. “I was involved in something… My whole side of the family was. And, I tried to keep it a secret from your mother, but no one could ever accuse her of being dumb. She found out about out it, anyway. She insisted on helping. But, that’s what got her killed…”

The Shadows' Empress (Part 9)

Jacob ended his call with the pizza restaurant and went into the living room to see which movie his youngest children selected. He looked at the title stamped across the large screen in LED lights: ‘Suicide Squad’. This was the fourth or fifth time they had watched this movie.

            “Again?” Jacob asked, wondering if he should laugh or be concerned that his young twins were so interested in the concept of the bad guys being made to do good deeds. But still, their excitement made him smile. He especially thought it was cute when Spencer giggled at the screen when one of the characters said something funny.

            ‘He must be smarter than I thought if none of these jokes are going over his head,’ Jacob thought as he looked over at his oldest son who had been scowling since the movie started. ‘Either he doesn’t wanna watch this movie again, or he’s having one of those mood swings teenagers deal with.’

            The chiming of the doorbell rang through the house.

            “Pizza’s here!” Jacob proclaimed, eliciting happy cheering from his children and, in Roland’s case, growling from his stomach despite the look on his face. Although, with the lights on, Roland seemed less angry. He was probably angry about something and didn’t want them to know.

            “You mind helping me out, Roland?” Jacob didn’t need help to carry four pizzas to the living room. He just wanted to talk. And maybe get him to bring the drinks, because it had been a long day, and papa needed a cold one.

            Roland didn’t answer, but he got up from his spot on the couch between his brother and sister and walked over to meet his father in the kitchen. Jacob paid the delivery guy and gave him a decent tip considering he had to drive out to the country to deliver the pizzas. Putting them on the table, Jacob asked, “everything alright, buddy? You’ve been quiet and kinda angry all night…”

            “I’m fine…” Roland muttered, thinking about the dream he’d had. Given the circumstances, he couldn’t just pretend it wasn’t real. How does a picture you took in your dream show up on your phone in real life?

Jacob sighed. He knew better than to believe a child when they said they were “fine”.

“Let me rephrase that. I know something’s wrong. What is it?” Jacob asked putting his arm around his son, so Roland couldn’t try to avoid the conversation.

For the first time since in his entire life, Roland felt uncomfortable around his father. By now, he’d decided it was obvious that Jacob had been lying to him about his mother’s death. Roland even tried to justify his father’s lies. Who wants to tell a young boy his mother died because of something that wasn’t an accident? What would happen to someone so young, mentally, if they knew had that kind of information? Could someone as young as Roland was at the time even understand the situation? Roland figured the reason he’d felt so betrayed was because he’d like to think he was smart enough to grasp the concept of death without potentially going crazy. Besides, nobody likes being lied to in any circumstance.

Roland took a deep breath, slowly in and out. He looked over his shoulder into the living room to make sure his younger siblings weren’t listening. The young man had just realized what the real reason was; no child should have to worry about something as grim as death.

“How did Mom really die?” Roland stared into his father’s eyes who appeared shocked at the question. Roland was just as shocked, himself. He was planning on coming up with something else to convince Jacob that something completely different was bugging him. But, his real concern ejected itself from his mouth.

The pair stared at each other for a moment before Jacob gave his son a gentle smile.

“You’re a smart kid, so I guess I should’ve seen that one coming…” Jacob said softly so the twins didn’t hear. Surely by now they’d be peering into the kitchen to see what was taking them so long to bring the pizza into the living room, so they could eat while continuing their movie.

“You wanna talk about it? Say, after we eat? The Scarlet and Spencer will probably eat us if we don’t bring them their food,” Jacob chuckled.

“Sure…” Roland said, feeling a bit better about the situation, and also sort of scared. ‘What if Dad’s just thinking of another lie or a way to…kill me, too?’ Roland decided he needed to stop being so paranoid and just let things happen.

Jacob face his son and pulled Roland into a big, bear hug, whispering, “I love you, buddy. And, even if you don’t like what I have to say, everything is gonna be fine.”

The Shadows' Empress (Part 8)

Roland sat on his bed thinking about how he was going to complete his task. There was no way he could open it by any conventional means. Which, to him, sucked. It seemed the most important things were never easy, and he hated that life worked that way. The young man listened, sitting quietly to the noise coming from outside of his room. There was none. He felt like people were listening to him through the door, but he had to get another look at the box.

            Sliding down onto the floor, Roland sat on the cheap, clue carpet on his bedroom floor. He scooted over to his left a bit so that he could reach behind him and slide the box out from it’s hiding spot while watching the door. No one entered his bedroom, so he slid the box into the light of his bedroom, making sure to keep it concealed behind his right leg so that if someone did open the door they wouldn’t see the box.

            As soon as Roland felt the old, wooden box against the outside of his right thigh he glanced down at it, then back at his bedroom door. He suddenly began to feel as if there were security cameras in his room where there were none before. Ignoring the feeling, he studied the box, noting the red symbols that he’d remembered from his dream. For a second, he contemplated breaking the box open. His dad would be going into town tomorrow to pick up some groceries—a task the kids rarely participated in. He could destroy it with one of the hammers that Jacob kept in the shed while the twins were busy playing outside.

            It sounded like a decent plan. However, despite how frail the box appeared, Roland seriously doubted he would succeed. If the virile young man couldn’t open a box that was barely holding itself together with his bare hands, there was no way a hammer would work, either. There was something about it that seemed supernatural. The markings had an innocuous feeling that meshed with a demonic one. And one of them was gone.

            When had that happened? There were seven when he put the box under his bed, and now there were only six. The area where the seventh symbols was felt cold under Roland’s fingers while the rest emitted a faint heat.

            And then he remembered the visions he’d had in his dream. The dream within a dream. Roland hated those.

            There was a brisk knock coming from the other side of the door. It sounded like it was coming from the top.

            “Hey, bud… It’s pizza night,” Roland’s father said, quite cheerily through the large wooden slab.

            Roland quickly pushed the box back underneath his bed, making sure his sheets were perfectly draped over the edge so no one would suspect anything. Then, he stood up and rushed over to the door and opened it up.

            “Pepperoni!” Jacob heard his son’s stomach growl and he laughed until he cried.

            “One large pepperoni…check,” Jacob typed Roland’s order into the memo app on him smartphone.

            The pair walked downstairs, and Roland sat on the couch to watch television with his younger siblings. They were watching cartoons until the pizza arrived at their house. It was also movie night, and they’d picked out a superhero movie. Spencer was huge fan of Harley Quinn, and Batman.

            Roland looked over at his dad who was placing the order as he paced around the kitchen. The phone in Jacob’s hand reminded Roland of when he took a picture of the map on top of the blueprints. He leaned to the right, sliding his own smartphone out of his pocket. He opened the photo gallery app. The first photo that came up was the picture he took of the map. In his dream.

            His heart began to pound in his chest as he turned the screen off and put the phone back into his pocket.

            ‘No fucking way!’ Roland tried to keep a straight face, maybe smile a little at his siblings rolling around on the carpet. But in his mind, he was jumping with joy!

            ‘I can’t believe that worked!’

            The joy didn’t last too long, though. Roland could even feel his appetite slowly dissipate when he realized that the vision he’d had must have been just as real as the picture he took.

            Spencer stared at his older brother, noticing Roland’s attitude go from “normal” to “my dog died” in just a few second. He climbed up onto the couch and hugged his older brother.

            “What’s wrong?” Spencer asked looking at Roland. The younger boy stared directly into his brother’s eyes the way he did when he was trying to read people’s minds. He couldn’t actually do so, but he liked to try.

            Roland smirked at his brother to reassure him that things would be fine. “I’m alright. Just had a weird dream.”

            “Like a nightmare?” Spencer asked?

            “Exactly. Been having them a lot, lately.”

The Shadow Man (Part 10)

“…up. Get up…” there was a sound that Jesse couldn’t quite place. It sounded as if he was underwater. “Jesse, get up!”

            ‘Wow. Even in death, people like to rush you…’ Jesse told himself.

            “Jesse!” The sound was clearer, now. “Oh, please wake up!”

            Taking a second to think, Jesse realized that the voice he was hearing sounded familiar, in a good way. And then he realized: he could think. His eyes snapped open when he figured out what was happening. He wasn’t dead.

            He started blinking rapidly to clear the blurriness from his eyes before looking around to see his parents and Mrs. Sandoval standing over him. In the corner of his eye, he could see red and blue flashing light getting closer. Jesse sat up.

            “What happened?” He took a second to examine his surroundings. He was lying on the sidewalk, exactly where he’d found Olivia’s watch. ‘How’d I get here? I was in the woods…wasn’t I?’

            “Are you okay?” Mrs. Sandoval asked Jesse. Looking her in the eyes, it was obvious that she had been crying for quite a while. That’s when Jesse remembered why he was outside in the first place.

            “I’m fine. Did you find Olivia?” Jesse asked, speaking quickly.

            The adults all looked at each other, then back to Jesse. His parents shook their heads. Mrs. Sandoval began to cry again.

            “No, but they’re looking,” she said as clearly as she could through her tears.

            Jesse held up the watch that he was still holding. He’d squeezed it so tight at one point that the glass on the clock face crumbled, cutting his hand.

            “Where did you find that?” Mrs. Sandoval asked.

            Jesse looked down at the ground. “Right here…”

            Mrs. Sandoval took the watch from Jesse, examining it. A part of her didn’t believe the watch was her daughter’s watch. Or maybe she didn’t want to believe it because of the implications that would have.

            To make sure, Mrs. Sandoval flipped the watch over and checked the underside of the metal plate that covered the batteries. There was an inscription that read:

            “To the sweetest, smartest, girl growing up to be an amazing woman. I will always love you, even when you don’t love yourself.” It was something that Mrs. Sandoval thought would be a good thing for Olivia to hear as she was given the watch while in a mental health clinic two towns over recovering from her body dysmorphia and subsequent eating disorders.

            Jesse follow Mrs. Sandoval’s eyes, knowing exactly what she was looking at. As tear welled up in her eyes again, he spoke the words in his mind. He was glad that someone in her family took notice of Olivia’s situation, and tried to help her through it. Aside from Jesse, Olivia’s mother was the only person who would even talk about her problems, even if only with Olivia. No one else wanted to talk about it. Not her friends nor the majority of her relatives, and especially not her father. He couldn’t fathom the idea of someone with a mental illness of any kind being a part of his family. In fact, he was usually the first to make jokes about “crazy people shooting up schools”.

            Two police officers walked up to Jesse, drawing his attention back to the present. “Hello, young man,” they said as the bigger of the two helped Jesse to his feet. He was a huge guy. Tall with the build a bodybuilder would have. Jesse immediately thought about telling Izzy that he got to talk to someone who was his younger brother’s type.

            “I’m Officer Perez. This is Officer Clayton. Do you have a minute to give us your statement?” the other asked. Jesse was taken aback by her appearance. She was beautiful. Dark hair, rather short, with a Hispanic accent. Jesse had a feeling people didn’t take her seriously, whether it be people who broke the law, or people who were the law. ‘Who says women can’t be badass?’

            “Sure,” Jesse replied.

            “I’m gonna go talk to the mother,” The larger police officer said before walking over to the sobbing Mrs. Sandoval through a crowd of other officers and detectives.

            “I’m sure you’ve been through a lot tonight, so I’ll just get to it, if that’s alright…”

            “Sure.”

            “Can I ask you what you were doing in this area?”
            “I called Olivia…well, I tried to. Her mom answered, instead, and told me that Olivia left the house, and hadn’t come home.”

            Officer Perez wrote Jesse’s response on a small notepad she’d pulled out of her breast pocket. “Do you remember what time this happened?”

            “Around five or five-thirty, I think?”

            “Okay, and what happened before you fell unconscious? Do you remember?”

            Jesse didn’t actually want to answer this question. Should he tell her that he ran into the woods and got attack by shadows at a cave? That sounded stupid even to Jesse.

            “Uh…well, Mrs. Sandoval said she was probably walking back to my house after a fight they’d had. I just decided to go from my house to hers to see if I could find her along the way.”

            “Okay, good. And after that?” Officer Perez tried to keep Jesse talking. She was hoping for as many candid responses as she could get out of Jesse, but she felt like he was holding something back from her. He kept rubbing his right arm with his left and shifting his eyes a bit.

            Jesse hesitated to answer. I-I…saw a something in the trees,” he said as he pointed to the woods behind the houses.”

            “And did you follow it?”

            “No…not really.”

            Officer Perez raised an eyebrow at Jesse.

            “’Not really’?” Perez lowered her notepad.

“Look, Jesse, I have three kids. Two of them are your age.” The officer smiled. “Plus, I’m a cop. I know when I’m being lied to.”

Jesse knew she was right. Parents always know everything their kids do, even when the kids think they’ve gotten away with something. And cops are trained to distinguish truth from lies.

“If I tell you, do…you promise not to tell my parents? They’ll think I’m crazy.”

“Pinky swear,” Officer Perez held up her pinky finger with a big smile on her face as Jesse linked his pinky with hers.

“Uh…okay then.”

What Happened on Mom's Birthday (1/3)

Eva held the bottle of Vicodin in her hand, weighing her options. She could not take the pills, and pretend everything was okay like she had been for the past few years. Or, she could take them, and get on with it. The thing about committing suicide is that when you’ve decided death is the best way out it’s hard to change your mind. She opened the bottle of her mother’s medicine.

            “I’m sorry, Mom,” she whispered. “Hopefully, you’ll forgive me.”

            Eva poured a handful of pills into her hand and stuffed them in her mouth. Taking several hard gulps with a glass of water she thought ‘This is how they do it, right? At least in the movies. Maybe I should have taken them one by one?’

            “That should be enough. Well, more than enough.”

            Closing the medicine cabinet, Eva looked into the mirror noticing the puffy, red areas around her eyes. Obvious evidence that she’d been crying. She Splashed cold water onto her face a few times trying to decrease the swelling. If anyone asked, she would just say she had allergies. That sounded stupid, even to Eva, but who cared? She wouldn’t have to keep up the charade for too long.

            ‘Now for part two…’

            There was a knock at the door, and then the doorbell rung throughout the house. It had to be her sister Natasha. ‘Impatient as ever,’ Eva thought as the doorbell rang again before she could even make it down the hallway.

            “It’s about time!” Natasha said excitedly. “We have to set up for the party!”

            Looking around the house, Natasha noticed that there were no decorations, no cake, and something seemed wrong with Eva.

            “Well, it’s not like setting up for a party will take too much time, if it’s the both of us,” Natasha smiled brightly.

            Eva was suddenly reminded of a song by her favorite band, Paramore:

                        ‘If I smile with my teeth, I’ll bet they believe me

                        If I smile with my teeth, I think I believe me’

            She thought it was amazing how they can make an album that seemed mostly about depression sound so upbeat. But maybe that was the point.

            “What’s wrong with your eyes, Hun?” Natasha asked reaching up to touch her sisters still slightly puffy eyes. Eva swatted her sister’s hand away saying “I think it’s just allergies. They’ve been like this all day.”

            “You’ve never had allergies, but if you say so,” Natasha watched as Eva walked over the wine cabinet and poured herself a glass. “You’ve never been much of a wine drinker, either.”

            “Maybe I want to take a break from appletini’s…?” Eva said with a hint of annoyance.

            “Are you sure you’re alright? You’re moving kind of slow, today.”

            “Yeah, I’m fine. I just took some allergy medicine. Maybe they’re making me a little drowsy.”

            “Should you be drinking after taking them?” Natasha asked suddenly feeling alarmed at her sister’s lack of concern.

            “I’ll be fine,” Eva smiled for the first time that day. ‘Vicodin and alcohol are normally a bad match, but I’m not planning on not waking up.’

            Natasha was almost positive that something was wrong, but didn’t want to push the issue and make it worse. She’d done that in the past with other people who ended up not talking to her for days at a time. “Okay. Well, I’m going to start on the cake. D’you think you’re alert enough to put up—”

            “Yeah, I got it.”

            Natasha rolled her eyes as she turned away from Eva. “Thanks…” She decided to bring up her sister’s strange attitude up with their father when she got home. ‘No sense in making their mother worry on her birthday.’

            It had been a few minutes and Eva was feeling really tired. ‘Must be working,’ She thought as she hung up the string of letter that spelled out Happy Birthday. ‘I should have done this the first time.’

            As Eva was unsteadily attempting to pin the Happy Birthday sign on the wall, she noticed that someone was in their back yard. Thinking it was one of the neighbor’s kids trying to retrieve their football—for the twenty-seventh time that week—she was shocked to see an adult standing there, so still.

            Staring at her.

            The combination of the drugs and alcohol must have been really kicking in now. Eva was unable to recognize any distinguishing features about the person. They seemed to be wearing all-black winter clothing, which would make sense as it was snowing outside. However, Eva was unable to see their face properly. All she could see was a blur. But then she realized, the person’s face was the only thing that was blurry. The rest of them—their clothes, even the small logo on their hat—was still clearly visible. And they looked familiar.

            “Hey, Tasha!” Eva tried to sound nonchalant about this bizarre person on the other side of the window. “When are Mom and Dad getting home?”

            “They should be here in about thirty minutes with Benji. Why?”

            “Just wanted to know if I was making good time.”

            Natasha walked into the living room, wiping her hands with a paper towel. “The ‘Happy’ side is lower than the ‘Birthday’ side. Could you…who is that?”

            “You see them, too?”

            “Yeah, it’s pretty obvious that they’re there when they wear all black in the snow.” Natasha’s temper was beginning to rise faster than the temperature in the oven. Not being one to mess with, she went to the back door and opened it wide, yelling “I don’t care who you are, if you don’t leave, I’m getting my dad’s shotgun! I’ll call the police when you’re dead!”

            Normally, that would scare people away. Really, Natasha’s yelling could have caused most people to grow a tail and run away with it between their legs. But not this time. They start slowly walking towards the door, one step at a time, as if they were only now learning how to walk.

            Natasha closed the door and locked it, “I’m going upstairs to get Dad’s gun! I need you to make sure all of the doors and windows ar—”

            CRASH

Shadow Man (Part 2)

The moment he got home, Jesse ran upstairs into his bedroom. It was great to be back. He couldn’t wait to sleep in his own bed again. But it was only a little after 10 o’clock am, and he wasn’t tired. ‘First thing’s first,’ Jesse looked at the label on the bottle of meds he was given. He made a mental note to look up information about Lortab some other time, and put it in the bottom drawer of his desk. The drawer where he put things he didn’t want his parents to know he had.

 He then picked up his cell phone off of his desk and checked the messages, inwardly thanking his mother for plugging it into its charger while he was away. Thirty-two texts, nine missed calls, and over fifty emails. All of the calls were from his parents when they heard about the accident he was involved in. Despite calling so many times, they only left three messages. No doubt because they already knew what happened and were calling to see if Jesse would even answer.

Most of the texts Jesse hat received were from his friend, Olivia. Seventeen of those messages were from her. The rest were from Jesse’s other friends, his younger brother, and s few relatives who had heard that he was in the hospitals several days after the fact. Jesse sighed.

“At least they didn’t leave messages. I’ll just send a group text to my friends, then text Olivia back. Everyone else is gonna be hear, later, anyways.”

As he typed a message into the box at the bottom of the screen for his friends to see Jesse felt a presence behind him. It felt similar to the feeling people get when they’re being watched. Except it was accompanied with a feeling that someone—or something—was reaching out to touch him. Jesse didn’t want to turn around. He wasn’t afraid, but felt that he didn’t want to see what was behind him. For the first time in his life, he felt like something dark was following him. ‘I hope a serial killer didn’t sneak into our house. I just got out of the hospital!’ Jesse thought as he forced himself to turn around.

“Why did I turn around?”

Jesse found himself staring at a tall, black shadow. It was shaped like a man, and seemed to exist entirely on its own. It wasn’t cast across the floor and walls like any other shadow. It stood in front of Jesse silently staring. It had no eyes, but Jesse could feel its gaze looking him over.

And then it was gone. The whole experience lasted no longer than four seconds. It didn’t fade out, or dissipate the way a cloud of smoke would, which is what Jesse was hoping for. It was just gone.

“Should I not have turned the hallway light on?”

Jesse looked through the door to his room, slightly to the left. His brother, Israel, stood leaning against the door frame with one of those sarcastically concerned expressions that he was known for. ‘So, that’s what happened…’ Jesse realized he’d been saved by his little brother. ‘I didn’t even notice the lights change.’

“Nah, it’s fine. Why?” Jesse asked as he sent the message on his phone.

“You looked like the light from the hallway bothered you. Did those doctors turn you into a vampire, or something?”

“I bet you wish they did.”

“Yeah, kinda. It would be cool to have a vampire for a brother. You’d be so much cooler than you are now,” chuckled Israel.

“Yup…” Jesse quickly searched for Olivia’s contact in his phone, sending her a quick message that he was home, and asking if she could come over to his house.

Israel saw the serious look on his older brother’s face, and, this time, was legitimately concerned. “You know I was just joking, right?”

“I know, Izzy. You’re never serious about anything,” Jesse said as he tossed his phone onto his bed behind him.

Izzy looked down to the floor feeling badly for annoying Jesse. “Sorry…”

Jessi sighed, again. “Come here, bud.”

Izzy walked over to his older brother, who pulled him into a long hug.

“What’s wrong, Izzy?”

“Mom and Dad made it sound like you might…not be coming back,” Izzy began to tear up. “I mean, you were kinda mean sometimes, but I didn’t want you to…” The younger boy trailed off.

“Die?” Jesse was surprised. Sure, they were bothers, but they had never been close. So, Izzy’s reaction to his return from the hospital caught him by surprise.

Izzy let out a small whine, “Yeah,” before sobbing into the crook of Jesse’s neck.

“Dude, calm down! I’m not gonna die, alright? Everything’s fine now,”

The two ended their hug, and Izzy took a couple steps back.

“Now, go clean yourself up. We’ve got people coming over in a little bit. Can’t fucking wait,” Jess added that last par under his breath.

“I’m going, I’m going.”

As Israel left the room, Jesse realized that same uncomfortable feeling he’d had earlier was back. Although, this time, it felt a bit stronger than last time. Jesse saw a dark object in his peripheral vision, and quickly turned his head to the right just in time to see the same large shadow man flash in front of him swing its arm and knock over the lamp from his desk.

A few seconds later, Izzy popped his head back into his brother’s room, still wiping away tears, asking, “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Jesse said catching the breath he didn’t know he was holding. “I’m good, bro.”

Shadow Man (part 1)

“All I remember is a flash of red, getting the wind knocked out of me, and not being able to get up…” Jesse mumbled as the doctor helped him sit up in his bed.

            “That’s completely normal,” the Dr. Ross said. “An accident like that often causes your brain to hit the inside of your skull, which results in loss of memory. In all honesty, I’m surprised you don’t have more injuries than just your broken arm.”

            “Yeah, I guess I got lucky,” said Jesse looking into his lap.

            “The man who hit you is in prison, at least for now. DUI, I think.”

            Jesse nodded his head, leaning his head back against the bed. “I’m not sure if that makes me feel better, but I guess it should.”

            “Well, it’s not as good as preventing an accident, and he didn’t apologize…” said Dr. Ross as he walked to the other side of Jesse’s bed. “...but it’s something. And, in any case, you get to go home today!” Dr. Ross smiled.

            Jesse smiled and blushed a little still looking down. He appreciated Dr. Ross doing everything he could to make him feel better, but he couldn’t bring himself to look the man in the face. Jesse liked his doctor, but Dr. Ross also reminded him of his Uncle Julian. And that was something Jesse didn’t want to think about.

            “Alright,” Dr. Ross scribbled something on a paper on his clipboard. “Everything checks out, so I’ll finish the paperwork, and you can finally get out of here.” He flashed Jesse another one of his genuine smiles.

            Jesse blushed again, “Thanks.”

            “Don’t mention it. Now, I’m also going to prescribe some Percocet for any pain you might feel. Be sure to call if you still feel pain relating to your accident or if it gets worse. Like, if your back pain comes back; something like that.”

            “I will,” Jesse nodded. Not that he’d actually take it. He’d been on Percocet before and hated the withdrawal that came with it.

            “I’ll leave you to get dressed,” said Dr. Ross.

            “Okay. Thanks again.” For the first time since he’d gotten there, Jesse looked directly at Dr. Ross, and returned the smile he received from the doctor.

            “No problem,” Dr. Ross was pleasantly surprised. Until now, he’d thought Jesse was one of those teenagers going through a rebellious phase, and worried he’d have to deal with a kid with an attitude problem. Glad this wasn’t the case, Dr. Ross left the room, and closed the door.

            Jesse got out of bed, and took off the hospital gown. He hated the feel of the paper-plastic amalgamation that reminded Jesse of a grocery store’s checkout counter. But before he could but he could put on the clothes his parents brought for him, Jesse noticed something dashing across the room from the corner of his eye. He turned around, looking for thing that caused the dark grey shadow, but didn’t see anything that wasn’t already there. ‘Well shit,’ Jesse thought. ‘Maybe I’ve been stuck in this room too long.’

 Suddenly, the door to his room opened, and in came his mother and father, excitedly talking about finally bringing Jesse home after his week in the hospital.

“What are you doing just standing in the middle of the room in your underwear?” Jesse’s dad asked.

“I was getting dressed!” Jesse replied more than a little panicked.

“Well hurry up so we can go home!” Jesse’s mother “I told everybody you were getting out of the hospital today!”

“Who is everybody?” Jesse almost yelled. He wasn’t the type to be comfortable in big crowds, and the thought of suddenly being surrounded by people made his heart beat more rapidly than it did when his parents walked in on him mostly naked.

“Oh, just grandma and grandpa…” Jesse’s mom said.

Jesse relaxed a bit. “Oh…I guess that’s not bad.”

“And your Uncle Julian, Aunt Gloria, and your cousins…” Jesse’s dad added.

Jesse’s heart sunk upon hearing his Uncle was going to be at his house, and secretly hoped that he could just hide in his room.

“Please tell me that’s it…” Jesse groaned.

“Almost. We invited your friend Olivia to come, too.” Jesse’s father wiggled his eyebrows at his son.

“It’s not like that,” Jesse said quickly, picking up on his father’s obvious insinuation.

“Sure, it isn’t,” his dad winked.

“It’s not.”

“Hurry and get dressed!” Jesse’s mother said

Jesse did, ignoring his mother every time she asked if he needed help. Even with a broken arm he felt too grown up at fifteen to ask for his mom’s help getting dressed. As soon as Jesse was dressed, and the paperwork was completed a nurse brought him a wheelchair and wheeled him out to his dad's truck that was pulled up in front at the curb near the front doors. It embarrassed him at first, but he soon forgot about the awkwardness of the situation when he noticed another shadow in his peripheral vision. Jesse thought it was a cat, but wasn't sure. He didn't get a good look at it, nor did he think there would be a cat in a hospital. 

"Is something wrong?" the nurse asked Jesse when he turned in his chair.

"No, I just thought... It's nothing," he replied thinking he would sound crazy if he told her what he thought he saw. The last thing Jesse wanted was to be kept in the hospital for a longer period of time.

Jesse's dad helped him out of the chair and into the back seat of his truck, buckling him in as the buckle was on the side of his broken arm. He smiled to himself. 

"I haven't buckled you into your seat since you were six or seven." 

"You're loving this way too much," Jesse said rolling his eyes.

"And you're growing up too quickly."

Jesse looked his father in the face, noticing the wrinkles that weren't there before. 'You smile too much, old man. I love you, though.'

As the family drove away, Jesse's parents talked excitedly about everyone seeing their son now that he wasn't stuck in a hospital. He let them talk, while he watched the world pass by the window. Every now and again he'd see a dark grey blob out of the corner of his eye. He'd ignore it, mostly. Until he could swear he saw a shadow-like claw reach over and tap the window before disappearing. Jesse turned quickly to see what it was that he saw. 

"I'm definitely not taking those meds," he said. "I'm hallucinating enough as it is..."

"What did you say, mijo?" His mother looked slightly concerned. 

"Nothing. Just that we should visit the restaurant we passed someday."

"You'd almost think they were starving you in that hospital," she laughed.