The Man

Chapter 1

Brynn's family had to build a new house. Their mother had another child. Nine years have passed since Brynn's death. Jessica is now 14. They now have a son names Jarvis. He is 9 years old.

The family's new house is ten miles from where their house used to be. They bought some land. Built a barn and decided to raise animals and crops. They wanted to have a new life. Start all over.

It was about 8:00 p.m. It was storming outside. Jarvis and Jessica were feeding their animals. Jarvis was in the hay loft getting some hay for the horses. There's two small windows in the hayloft. Jarvis felt as if he was being watched. He looked out the window. Saw a man's face in the light of the lightning. He was gone after the second flash.

" Well that was odd," said Jarvis.

" What are you talking about, Jarvis?" asked Jessica while stroking her horse.

" Well, I was in the loft, this sounds crazy, but, I saw a face," said Jarvis with a nervous tone in his voice.

" Really? A face? In the window? In the hayloft? Ha, no one could get up there without a long ladder. Bro, you cray cray."

" No! You're cray cray, Jess"

They both laughed and brushed it off as if it were nothing. Just his imagination.

One of their horses started getting sick. The horse's name was Ashara. She would eat, but everyday she kept getting skinnier and skinnier. Whenever Jarvis went into the barn, he kept seeing the man out of the corner of his eye. But whenever he turned around, the man was not there.

Whenever Jessica would come check on Ashara, she would find two handprints on her backside as if someone was pushing her, forcing her out of the stall. And Jessica would find the latch to her stall unlocked, also with the door open. The latches were very very hard to open up. The family could not figure out how it would become unlatched.

Soon all the horses became uneasy and would not eat. By this time Ashara had died. Although they are not for sure how she died. Ashara was Jessica's favorite horse. Jessica was devastated.

Jarvis was too worried to go into the barn anymore. Every time he did he heard whispers, saw the man, felt someone watching him, or felt cold breath on his neck. Soon Jarvis started seeing the man in the corner of his room chanting "I'm gonna get you! I'm gonna get you!"

Jarvis started getting more and more paranoid. He kept seeing the man everywhere. Day or night. Not being able sleep. He finally told his mom.

"Um, mom... I uh, keep seeing this man. Like, in my room, and... he keeps telling me he's going to get me," Jarvis told his mom.

"You know, lately, I've been seeing a man around too. Weird huh?" said his mother.

"Mom. He's behind you!"

" What. That's impo-"

The man grabbed the mother from behind. Covered her mouth and disappeared.

"Mom! Mom! Where are you?" Jarvis exclaimed.

" Oh, she's not here anymore little boy," said the man from the shadows.

"What did you do with my mom?" asked Jarvis.

"I told you she's not here anymore."

"Then where did she go?"

"She lives in the shadows now. She's my slave. You can't get her back."

Jessica and her dad were out at a restaurant. Now Jarvis was home alone with the man. And his mom, a shadow slave.