Out of the Shadows

A New Type of Fear

You pack your bag up, putting away your notebooks and untangling your headphones. It was Friday and the entire class was bubbling with excitement for the weekend; You shared that feeling. It had been a really long week. Once the bell rang, everyone ran out so fast that the door was bottlenecking. You didn't bother getting up for a couple moments, knowing you'd have to wait to get out the door, anyway.

"Thank you, Mrs. Cleverson. Hope you have a good weekend," you said, throwing your backpack over your shoulders.

"Oh Y|N, I'm glad I caught you. I wanted to give you this flier from the teacher's lounge. There is a chess competition this weekend for students K-12. I think you have a really good shot at winning. The prize is 200 dollars cash and a trophy. No harm in trying, right?" She said handing you the paper.

"Thanks, I'll let you know how it goes on Monday," you said, walking towards the now empty doorway.

"Good luck!" she called out to you as you walked out.

You put on your coat, it was late November in New York and the cold was intense. You put one of your headphones in and start walking towards the subway. You were excited to get home and tell your friend Donnie about the chess competition. You met on Chess.com as mutuals and your friendship grew from there. One of the main reasons you liked him was because he preferred to talk on the phone rather than text back and forth. Not only that, he was really smart and was extremely good at communicating. He was easy to talk to, it was nice to talk with a guy and not have your feelings shot down or mansplained back to you.

You've been talking with him for 8 months now, and maybe you were miss reading him but he seemed to be into you. Always getting quiet when you talk about boys flirting with you at your work. Insinuating that he wishes he could have been there for you in a time of need or a bad day. You would try to avoid thinking too deeply about it by telling yourself he was just being friendly. You did have reservations about getting as close as you have with Donnie. You'd never seen a picture of him or talked to him over facetime/video chat. This is obviously a red flag for multiple reasons. He always said he was insecure and didn't like showing his face to people on the internet. That was understandable enough but as time progressed you grew sick of that logic.

You walked down the concrete stairs, making your way to the subway. It was only a 15 minute ride from the stop closest to your school and your apartment. You pulled your phone out and texted Donnie, letting him know you'll be home in 20 minutes and asking if they could talk on the phone for a bit. He immediately texted you back agreeing. The station wasn't too packed and was filled mostly with other students. You got a text from your mother saying she was going to be working late which was typical. After getting off the subway and walking the 5 minutes home, you throw a couple of frozen hot wings into the oven.

You get into your bedroom and set your backpack down next to your desk. You grab your chair and plop yourself down before whirling our computer up. You pulled your knees to your chest and opened Discord. You smiled seeing that he tried to call you once already.

"Hey Donnie," you said once you saw that he was on call.

"Hi Y|N, how was school?" he asked.

"Boring, glad it's over," you said.

"You say that almost everyday," he said.

"Consistent honesty," you said laughing before continuing, "guess what?" you asked rhetorically.

"hmm?" He said.

"There is a Chess competition tomorrow, 200 dollars cash for the winner. Obviously I'm gonna be there but what about you?" you asked, picking at a hangnail.