Shadows of the Mind

Chapter one: My Dream

I hear my sneakers slap against the pavement as I run through the streets, my heart pounds against my chest. I keep running, turning corner after corner but it seems like I'm not getting anywhere, but the thing chasing me sure is. It's so close that I can feel its heavy panting against my heels. I can't see but I just feel that it's about to leap on me but thankfully I wake up just before it hits me.

"Aaaah!" I scream, my heart still beating rapidly from that horrible dream. I've been having that same dream a lot lately and each time the thing that's chasing me gets a little closer. Last night was the closest it's ever been.

"Taylor, are you ok?" my mom asks as she opens the door to my room.

"Yeah I'm fine mom, I just had a dream," I tell her.

"Ok, well if you're fine I think I'll get going, I have to go take your sister Hayley to school." Just then I hear my little sister yell for my mom to hurry up.

" You should get ready too or you're going to be late for school." she tells me and then walked back out, a moment later I hear the front door close, shutting out all the noises with it.

I get up and get dressed, pull on a blue sweater and grab a muffin to eat on the way and my backpack and head outside in to the chilly fall morning, just in time to see my bus driving down the road,

"Great, I guess I'm walking to school today," I say to myself glumly.

I begin the half hour walk to school, I'm definitely going to be late today I think to myself.

I kick the colourful autumn leaves as I walk down the sidewalk

I walk for about twenty minutes but then stop when I hear a high pitched scream come from a few houses away.

I run over to see what happened and arrive to see a massive black dog, if you could even call that snarling beast a dog. The dog has a little girl cornered against a house and was snarling and barking madly at her as she cries.

The girl notices me, "Help!" she screams.

"I'm coming!" I yell back to her.

I see the dog crouch, getting ready to leap on the crying girl, I reach in to my backpack desperate for something to distract the dog with and my hand closes on the muffin I took as my breakfast I throw it at the dogs head but the dog barely even notices. I

realize there's only one thing to do. I run as fast as I can then launch myself onto the dog but not in time, the dog already jumped into the air and was about to land on the girl as I watch unable to do anything. But then the girl just vanished. There was just poof of smoke and then she was gone like she was never even there. I gasp, confused and scared but then I quickly scramble away from the dog who seems just as confused as me and I get to my feet. But then, the dog remembers that I'm still there and turns to me, baring his teeth, foam on his jaws.

I look around for something to keep him away and quickly grab for a broom that's leaning against the wall of the house. The dog steps forward towards me and I hold the broom out in front of me to keep him away.

I scream and hit the dog on his shoulder as he tries to bite me with those big teeth, foam from his mouth sprays me as he snarls once again.

The broom distracted the dog for a moment, just long enough for me to run away I decide to run to my school, and what is usually a ten minute walk soon turns into a two minute sprint, the school is a little ways away but it's the closest place for me to go.

I run as fast as I can through the streets and only after I go down three streets do I stop for a moment to catch my breath, my heart pounds against my chest. I look behind me to see if the dog was still after me. I start running even faster than before when I see the dark shape of the dog getting closer by the second, it's about half a street away so I decide to take a quicker way to school, by going through the yards. I sprint down the street and turn the corner, I run over to a house and climb over the chain link fence.

"Hey!" I hear someone yell from behind me but I'm already in the next yard and running down a back lane. At the end of this back lane is my school. I get to the front doors of the school and turn around to see if the dog is still around. I see the dog at the edge of the schools property staring at me, I stare back at it with my hand on the handle of the door ready to open. the dog barks once then vanished just like the little girl just wisp of smoke replacing the vicious beast.

I stand there my mouth open, staring at the place where the dog was just standing.

I'm startled by someone tapping on the other side of the glass window in the door. I turn around and see the principal , Mr. Silverman.

He opens the door while giving me a disapproving look for being late.

"Where have you been this morning miss Evans?" He asks me.

"I... Uh... missed my bus, I had to walk to school." I tell the principal although it is the truth I didn't tell him all of it because the rest seems a little unbelievable. I glance at the clock on the wall behind him and see it's already 10:30, great I already missed two periods and the school probably already phoned my mom at work which means I'll have to be questioned later by her.

"Alright then," Mr. Silverman says, eyeing me suspiciously, "well then you better get to class." he says, "I'll let the office know you're here now." then he walks away in to his office closing the door behind him.

I walk down the hallway to my locker, that principal creeps me out. I got in trouble once because I tried to help a friend who was getting beaten up and now he treats me like I'm a delinquent, like at any moment just for fun I might punch a kid in the nose, tear up my homework and run away from school.

After school I get a ride home from my friend Rebecca's mom.

"How come you were late today?" Rebecca asks me.

"Why don't you come over to my house so we can talk." I tell her, wrapping my light brown hair around my finger nervously.

"Yeah... sure," she says looking at me curiously, "Mom, could you drop us both off at Taylor's house?" she asks her mom.

"Sure honey," her mom replies.

"Ok so why couldn't you tell me why you were late before?" Rebecca asks me once we get to my house.

"Ok well, this sounds weird and really it is, but last night I had a dream that some sort of animal was chasing me while I was running down roads. Then today, I was walking to school..." I start telling her what happened while we walk upstairs to my room. "and then, the dog just vanished just like that little girl," I finish, "it was so weird, I was completely terrified."

"Wow that is weird they just vanished? just like that?" Becca asks shaking her head.

"Yeah," I reply not knowing what else to say. I hear a car door slam outside then the doorbell rings.

"That must be my mom," Becca says getting up and grabbing her bag, "see you tomorrow Taylor."

"Bye Becca," I say.

That night while we were eating dinner my mom asked why the school called her and I just said I slept in and had to walk there because it seemed the easiest choice. She seemed fine that answer because she didn't ask any more questions after that. Instead she listened to Hayley go on about how she made a mask at school for Halloween next week.

Later, I lay in my bed thinking of this morning, noticing how similar it was to my dream the other night. I decide it to be just a coincidence and let it go but I won't forget how the dog and the girl vanished into smoke. after a while I drift into sleep, thinking of that morning over and over trying to figure out what happened.