My Little Shadow

Chapter Fifteen: Tremble, Quiver, and Stutter

"May? I'm home." The house was eerie quiet, so quiet I could have heard a pen drop. The lights were dimmed and instantly my heart plummeted and my breathing picked up. All of those fears I told myself were made up come rushing back to the center of my thoughts and the only thing I can think about is that she's gone forever.

All the reasoning the smarter side of me had was overshadowed by the all-consuming fear. The only sound in the entire house was my boots echos, "May?" Surely she would have called out if she was here? We had moved on from the absolute silence.

Just to be sure I check every room, even the ones I knew she wouldn't be in.

She was gone.

Every second that passed my chest closed in on itself and only a minute went by before it was growing hard to breathe.

Why would she leave? It's late. It's too dark for her to be out by herself with no vehicle. What if he found her? What if suddenly because I had her, she was worth his attention?

The more unreasonable my thoughts became the more panicked I felt. I rushed out of the house and looked around the dark yard, it had begun sprinkling lightly, but I didn't care as long as I found her.

She's a grown woman, surely she hasn't gotten lost somewhere. Despite this fact, it was one of the thoughts that bombarded me propelling my feet into the direction of the street.

"May?!" I called out loudly but was only met with the pattering of the growing rain. It was starting to pour.

I pulled air through my mouth the coldness of it chapping my lips but I couldn't feel that air entering my lungs. I couldn't feel my chest rising. I was so tensed up with fear that I felt like I couldn't even move. I spun around in every direction willing her to be in front of me but she wasn't.

My vision was growing blurry from the rain and the oncoming panic attack. I was wheezing, I could hear it in the background but there was no calming down from the riptide shakes causing my hands to tremble, my knees to quiver and my heart to stutter.

"May!!!!"I screamed into the night and just before the panic overtook me I heard the softest noise.

"August?" I spun around so quickly that water slung itself from my parted lips drips flying from my loose hair. She stood there with a bag from the local store in her hand. She was soaking from head to toe but she was here.

She wasn't taken, lost, or ... died. She was here in front of me. I rushed to her so quickly that she stumbled back with a hint of fear. Fear was quickly erased when I pulled her to my chest and squeezed her to me until there was no room between us. Our clothes stuck together because of the wetness.

She was so tiny in my arms, my body enveloped hers, shielding her from the danger of the world. My little Shadow was right where she belonged, in my arms.

Her feet were dangling but she didn't complain. She didn't even question me when I kissed her damp black hair. "You scared me."

"I just had to go to the store." She whispered. "I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere."

I think it astonished her, I don't think she understood to the extent that I needed her. She knew that we were leaning against each other in the worst points in our life but I think I just really showed her the extent of my crippling fears. Showed her just how screwed up I was.

Yet she still says she won't leave. It makes me even more protective of her because if she can't sense the danger these feelings put both of us in then how would she be able to tell when she was in trouble elsewhere?

I knew I would never hurt her, but who was to say we would always be here, together?

She needed an example of how to be treated. She needed to know her worth and a delusional man yelling her name in the streets wasn't how I feel like she needs to be treated. So from today forward, I would make myself the example that she deserved so when everything blew up in our faces May knew the type of man she needed to look for.