The Shadows Present
*Ranked 3rd place in Short Story Competition*
It was almost here. In just a few moments, Irene White would no longer exist on Earth. Not in any records or systems. She would completely disappear forever. Nowhere was considered safe ever since she figured out she was being followed.
Irene hastily jogged through the complex. She constantly looked behind her, worried that whoever, or whatever, was following her was there. There was no one behind her, but she knew that there was something there. Her fingers fiddled with the keys as she tried to open the door. Sweat covered her palms which made the keys slip out of her hands. Irene sighed and picked up her keys. She opened the door before shutting it tight behind her. She quickly locked all of the locks on the door. Then added a chair underneath the doorknob just in case. Her whole condo was a complete mess. Newspapers scattered across the floor. They were all about mysterious shadows appearing in certain places right before someone disappears. Irene could easily figure out what was connected to all the cases. Now, she figured out that those shadows are now after her.
The phone rang loudly, causing Irene to jump in the air.
That was the first sign. “Don’t answer it,” thought Irene. “Don’t answer it.” After a few moments, the ringing stops and her heart finally slows down to its steady pace. She slumps against the wall. Her mind blank of what to do next. Suddenly, the vase next to her crashes and shatters into a million pieces. The sound forces Irene onto her feet. That was the second sign. After this was one last sign that meant you only had seconds to live.
Hot tears start to pour down her cheeks. Her throat tightens from fear. She didn’t know what to do after the third sign. All she figured out was to stay against the wall and do nothing. A soft whisper fill the air. It got louder and louder before it sounded like the wind blowing before a storm. Irene screamed and begged for mercy. For the first time she actually felt scared, no, frightened. Her whole body shivered and her tired eyes averted around the room. Looking for a shadow other than hers.
The whispers were very clear now. Irene listened intently to what they were saying. “We will get you. You are never safe.” It repeated the same phrase over and over again until Irene started to recite it herself. The whispers didn’t scare her as much. They more likely intrigued her and seemed to calm her instead.
“You will get me,” she began. “I am never safe.” Irene stood up and slowly made her way towards the couch. Her mind was no longer paying attention to anything around her. The whispers seemed to completely cut her off from reality. The shadow appeared right in front of her. It’s invisible eyes looking straight at Irene’s lifeless ones. This was the third sign. The user being completely lost in a trance while reciting a phrase the shadows tell them. It was Irene’s turn now to disappear, and nothing could stop her fate.
The shadow reached its hand out at Irene’s head. She only stood there, letting the shadow literally suck the life out of her. Slowly, her shadow started to disappear as well. Irene’s body shook vigorously before it stopped completely. Her body was like a statue now. Frozen and lifeless. Her heart stopped. Her mind stopped racing from earlier. Irene White was now dead. The body fell to the ground and instantly turned cold.
The shadow’s job was dead. It could continue being active for as long as the energy holds them. She was the last target.
It took one last look at the dead figure before walking backwards into a dark space of the room. The shadow melted into the darkness and disappeared. Irene still laid on the ground; however, in just a couple minutes, her body would disappear as well. No traces of her left. Her existence shunned from everyone else’s.
One week later, the headline on the latest newspaper reads “Irene White Former CIA Agent Mysteriously Disappears”. A couple years later, Irene White was forgotten by everyone. Every victim of the shadows have been abandoned from the world and no longer remembered by anyone. No one else disappeared after the newspaper was published, and the shadows were forgotten, too. Several questions are still unanswered, though. What happened to the shadows? Why do they suck a person’s shadow? And what really happens to the victims when the shadows target them? I can’t answer the first one, but I can answer the last two. Everyone has a shadow. If you don’t, then you practically don’t exist. Take away the shadow of someone, you take away their very existence. When you have no body, you still exist cause your shadow is still active. You need more energy to stay alive if you don’t have a body; otherwise, you’d be as good as dead if you don’t have a shadow.
These shadows are still out there. Watching us from the darkness. We don’t know it, but they’re there. If you suddenly hear noises or realize you’re not a different place, there’s a chance that the shadows are following you. Don’t be worried. They’re not targeting you. They’re only intrigued by your uniqueness. Intrigued by just how different you are from them.