Shadows of the Night (Unforgiving AU) - An Afterlife SMP Story

Chapter 11- Comes and Goes like Lightning

(Title taken from 'Lightning' by Mehro)

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Shelby's POV

When the moon finally rose high enough to where the fading rays of the sun wouldn't hurt me, I finally started heading off towards Joey's. As I'm sailing by, I pause, because I see two familiar llamas in a pen out front. 

They don't see me, but Joey does. "Shadow Girl!" he calls out. Shoot. Act natural, Shelby. Don't be nervous...

I feel myself curl up slightly, before calling back, "H-Hey!" I say, slowly heading over, parking my boat on the shore in front of his house.

"What are you doing over here?" he asks.

"I uh... I was... going to head around and see some people" I tell him. It's not a lie.

He looked confused on why my voice is shaky, and why I keep glancing at the llamas. "Why do you seem nervous?" he questions, one eyebrow raising.

"Oh uh... n-nothing! W-Why do you have llamas?" I question in response.

"I just found them. Their owner, a wandering trader i'm guessing, was buried nearby. I didn't do it, and I didn't see who did so... I took the llamas in" he shrugs.

"I... I see" I nod, "Well, that's... unfortunate".

"Yeah. Wish I got there sooner, so I could save the trader but, eh, too late now" he mumbles.

I swallow.

Soon enough, we finish our conversation and I head off, rather quickly, and once I get to the mainland, I hide behind a tree and just... sit for a moment, taking deep breaths while mentally cursing myself for being so stupid to show that I was nervous. "Stupid! You're stupid!" I tell myself, folding my arms and just trying to calm myself down before standing up and heading off, heading right past where I buried the trader.

I don't look, I just keep walking, "Don't look, Shelby. Don't. Look" I whisper and continue onward. 'Why are you acting like this is a big deal? It's just a trader' I think to myself, and I realise that my inner voice is right. It's just a trader... it's not one of my friends. Plus, he attacked me. I didn't attack him! Why should I feel sorry for him? Scott said it's fine so... it's fine!

I shake my head. I'm so conflicted.

I know Scott's not going to be home. He mentioned he was going to be going on a mining trip tonight, so he wouldn't be home. The closest person to Scott is Mika, and then Lizzie. I guess I could go see Mika. I haven't spoken to her since the 4 of us split up, me, Meghan, Joey and Mika, and went off to build our own houses. Which was... a week ago now, I think.

So I change my course and start heading south-west towards where Mika's house sits on the shore. Or, just a little ways from it. Mika probably won't be asleep yet. The sun has only just set.

Although, I'm realising now, as I approach, that Mika has a lot of torches around and in her house. Even just looking at it from this distance is hurting my eyes a little. It'll get worse as I get closer.

Should I not? No, no. I have to go see people... I can't keep avoiding it. I have no idea how long i'll be in this world for, before we go to whatever the next one will be, and some of these people, I might not even see in the next world.

Gotta be brave. Come on, Shadow Girl, be brave!

So I straighten up the best I can and begin making my way towards Mika's house, my eyes squinting the closer I got. I can see monsters nearby. I suppose I should deal with them first.