Sephonia: The Stolen Children

The Shadow Man

  The four remaining children waited days for their parents' return with their sister. But the days turned to weeks and the weeks turned to months. Spring faded into summer and summer into fall. There was never a return as they had hoped. The kingdom grieved and no one had been seen smiling for days now. Their King and Queen had not made it out of there alive, nor had Autumn. The country was left without a ruler and Ezekiel was to be coronated as the new King soon

     The memories of the bandit camp still haunted the twins. No longer having parents haunted them more. One twin struggled to come to grips with this more than the other. Her mind seemed to deteriorate significantly over the previous months and her personality shifted, almost becoming unrecognizable. She wasn't who she once was even a year ago.

    On a night, in the middle of fall, the wind was restless. It screamed outside of the girls' window and it kept Makayla awake, making her uneasy. She was already tired and desperate for sleep. But it didn't seem to be coming to her. She sat up in her bed, looking around the dark room. The moon was casting a beam onto the floor and she could see the shadow of the tree leaves inside of it. She started focusing on it, watching the tree dance in the wind. She smiled to herself. It was beautiful in a way; the way it moved so swiftly, without any cares.

    Makayla looked over at Mia, who had her back turned. "At least someone's getting some sleep," She thought to herself. She was happy that Mia was at peace. She just wished she could have that.

    Mak focused her eyes back onto the moon beam but to her surprise, it was gone. That wasn't supposed to happen. The moon wasn't supposed to just disappear. She looked over again, trying to see if the moon had truly disappeared.

    Mak screamed in horror, falling onto the floor. The moon hadn't disappeared at all. There was a man, completely black, standing in the way. Dark mist radiated off him. He didn't have a face but there was a deep evil in him. The man stood completely still. He appeared to be a shadow of some kind, not a real person.

    Mia sat up upon hearing the scream. "Mak...what are you screaming at?" She whined. "Where are you? Are you on the floor?!" She got up walking over to the side of the bed. Mak shook horribly, pointing right behind Mia. No words would come out of her mouth no matter how hard she tried. Mia's face scrunched as she turned around.

    "What are you looking at? There's no one here," Mia questioned, exaggerating her facial expression.

    Mak cried in sheer terror, "He's right there Mia! He's right there!" But there wasn't anyone there, not anyone that Mia could see. She sat down in front of Mak, genuinely concerned but trying to hide it. She grasped her frail sister's hand and breathed in deep.

    "Look at me Mak...breathe," She whispered calmly, breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth. She gestured to Mak to do the same. "There's no one there...if there's no one there, it can't actually touch you." Mia pushed Mak's long hair behind her ear softly.

    Mia then knew that something was very wrong in her sister's mind. Hearing voices wasn't normal and neither was seeing people that weren't there. She wouldn't dare tell Mak this. It would break her in two. But, it only seemed to be getting worse by the day.

    Mak shook her head, sobbing. The shadow man had disappeared just as fast as he appeared. Her eyes burned like fire and her heart felt like it was being squeezed tightly over and over. She didn't feel safe, not in the slightest, even with Mia there beside her.

    "Do you wanna talk about it?" Mia asked her quietly. Mak, still crying, shook her head. She didn't want to talk about it. Talking about it meant it really happened and that was too hard. Mia nodded gently, trying to think of ways she could make her sister feel better.