Shadow & Smoke

Chapter 4

The drive home was just a bunch of mindless motions. There was little traffic on the roads and I was in such a trance, I barely remembered the drive at all. It wasn't until I parked in my driveway that I snapped back to reality and the doom that loomed over me.

Physically, I was alone but I didn't truly feel that I was.

Goosebumps danced on the surface of my skin as it often did. I tried to push it all from my mind but even my quaint, comfortable home seemed insidious standing before me. I hated that no place was safe for me and nothing of mine was sacred—not my bookstore, not my home, not even my own mind.

I was being stalked. Invaded. Plagued. But by what, I had no fucking idea.

Was I going crazy? It sure fucking felt like it.

Nothing I Googled helped in any way. It only reinforced my two main theories: one, that I was crazy and should be locked up in an insane asylum or two, that I was being haunted by something demonic and it was trying to take over my life.

A part of me didn't even want to go inside the house. I was afraid it wouldn't be any more comfortable than it was in my car. Eyes that I couldn't see would be watching me regardless of where I went or what I did.

Forcing myself to get out of the car, I headed into the house. I was so fucking exhausted. The not sleeping was one thing but everything was just icing on the exhausting as fuck cake. I didn't know what to do or who to turn to for help.

I was so tired.

I needed to sleep soon or I was really going to lose my mind.

Once I closed the door behind me and dropped my purse to the ground, I looked at the plush couch in the middle of the room and headed straight for it. I wasn't stupid enough to think that I was going to be able to get any sort of rest. The other presence was still there and would never leave. Once I did mange to fall asleep, it was a guarantee that I would have the most horrific nightmare that would jolt me from sleep at three a.m on the dot.

Face down on the couch, I was too exhausted to fight anymore.

I hadn't slept through an entire night in too long. I hadn't had a single moment where I was actual alone—even when I was the only person in the room. There hasn't been a moment in months that I'd been alone with my own thoughts because someone else—or something else was always trying to pry its way in.

I was on the verge of letting it in.

The fight I had was slowly slipping from my grasp because I was too fucking tired to keep trying. I had more questions than answers and less and less sleep each night. After what happened at the bookstore, I had no place left to go that felt safe.

I flipped over onto my back and stared up at the ceiling with a blank, defeated look on my face.

I surrender.

The thought was simple and instantaneous but the surge that ran through me at that moment was both unexpected. I jumped up from the couch and the air in the room was immediately thicker.

What the fuck?

I paused and tried not to panic because I would be forced to flee my own home and then where would I go?

Steadying my nerves, the heaviness in the air seemed to dissipate slightly and I eased back onto the couch, turning on the TV so that I wasn't stuck with the deafening silence. Every little sound made me tense up with dread.

I must have laid on that couch for hours because the sun had long set but I'd made sure that every light in the house was brightly lit. The fear was still crippling me. I should have cooked dinner or ordered in. I could have had a relaxing bubble bath or watched a movie. Instead, I just let myself surrender to the weight of my despair.

At that point, I was so close to a complete breakdown. The lack of sleep, the shadows dancing in my peripheral—all of it was becoming too much. There was someone constantly looming in the shadows but none that I could see—only feel.

"What do you want from me?" I whispered to the shadows.

I didn't know what lurked there but I knew something did. While I couldn't see what, the feeling of being watched continuously danced on my skin.

Expecting nothing in response, I was insanely disturbed when a surge of electricity immediately pulsed through the air. I sat up in alarm, scanning the room back and forth, up and down to no avail.

"Whose there?" I asked into the darkened corner where the shadow seemed almost darker than the rest of the room.

Silence.

"I know you're there." I snapped. The urge to scream profanities at whatever lurked was strong but what was I going to do? Fight the shadow monster?

If a hideous monster slid out of the darkness at the very moment, what the hell did I expect to do? Run. That's fucking what. I would bail and never look back. Even still, I was so furious, so frustrated and so fucking exhausted that I was just about ready to pick a damn fight with anyone or anything.

But no, it wasn't a hideous monster that slid out of the shadow that darkened the furthest corner of my living room. Instead, it was the most beautiful man I had ever seen.