Most people are afraid of the dark. That should be the least of their worries. It's what hides in the dark that should concern them. There are millions of monsters out there and some aren’t afraid of the light. They are darkness in its purest form. These creatures are the shadowers.
Jack Billow, a 14 year old boy was afraid of nothing. He’d witnessed his parents murder, his favorite sister’s suicide, and the kidnapping of his neighbor. He is only left with his younger sister, Violet the 8 year old who does nothing but get in his way. Jack despises Violet Billow because she has so much love for the world. He loves her at the same time though because she is all he’s got. If he lost her, he’d be all alone.
Jack is old looking for his age, he could easily pass for 17. He is 5’8, has pale skin, his teeth are kind of crooked, he is kind of muscular, and he has white hair. When he was little, his dad came home from the chemical plant he worked at and stole some chemicals that produced heat. They couldn’t afford the gas and light bill in the cold winter so he had no choice. Jack’s mom had gotten upset and afraid that they would get caught and slapped Jack’s father which caused him to drop the chemicals on Jack’s head. His hair was burned off, his scalp was burned, and he suffered from amnesia, when his hair grew back, it was white.
Violet on the other hand is 4’3, and actually looks her age. She is tan, has healthy, white teeth, thin, and has brown hair. Before her parents death, she had plenty of friends. Now, since she has been running with her brother 3 years, they can’t settle down. People around them keep dying. Someone notices they have no parents and are living alone, etc. Jack doesn’t want adoption, if he’s split away from Violet, he has no memory of his old life at all.
This week, Jack and Violet are in Charleston, South Carolina. They’ve come across a lot of unsecured places where Jack can steal food like he always does. To be so young, he’s good at taking care of them. He’s good at finding shelters when its raining, train jumping, and hiding. Its like he was born for this kind of life. Violet, not so much, she constantly cries, wanting her parents but for some reason, she can always smile and find a reason to laugh.
“Where are we moving next week Jack?” Violet inquired. Jack shot his head up from the map he was looking at, not expecting the question and focused on Violet. “What’s wrong? You don’t like it here? I was thinking about staying,” replied Jack. “It’s too boring here, I miss New Orleans,” said Violet. “It’s easier to watch you though, there’s less distractions,” Jack replied, looking back down at the map.
Violet leaned back with a sigh and started to sleep, sitting in the empty shed Jack found. A twig snapped. Jack sprung to his feet and picked Violet up. He looked her in the eyes, “Shh, be very quiet. We don’t know what’s out there.” “A new friend of course!” Violet replied cheerfully. “I said shh!” Jack angrily whispered. He grabbed her arm and picked up a rock to throw. He peeked his head out of the door to make sure it was safe to exit.
The coast was clear, “Stay here,” Jack demanded Violet. He ran out and looked around the building. There was the sound at the back of the shed, a girl with a gun strapped to her waist. Jack decided he needed a stealthy approach to avoid getting shot. He crouched in the tall grass and started towards her. Within 2 feet away from her, he reached for the gun only to get spin kicked in the face. He fell down and then the girl pounced on top of him, her elbow to his neck.
“Who are you?” The girl demanded. “Who are you?” Jack replied. She put the gun to his forehead, “Right now, I’m the one asking questions. Now, who are you?” Jack threw her off him and she dropped the gun, he ran and picked it up to point at her. She started to stand, “Uh, uh, one wrong move and click boom bang, you’re dead. I don’t know who I am, I’m missing 9 years of my life. I didn’t even meet my parents. I suffer from amnesia.”
She looked behind her. Jack noticed she’s done that a lot. “What’s back there?” Jack asked. “Uh, nothing,” the girl said. “I don’t believe you. Who are you?” He pointed at the gun to remind her of the risk she’s at. “April, April Riverdeen! That’s who I am, now leave me alone. You can keep the gun, I’ve got more. Just let me go, I have to care for my sister.” April said. All of a sudden, two girls ran from inside the shed.
“Look Jack, I told you I would find a friend.” Jack looked away from April to Violet. April sat up, “What did I tell you about talking to strangers Alex!?!” The other little girl looked down, “I’m sorry,” Alex said, “but Violet was nice.” The girl was about the same age as Violet with black hair. She seemed to look just like Violet but with black hair. Jack laughed, “Violet, it seems we’ve found your twin.”
“This isn’t funny! We’re trying to survive!” April said. “And what makes you think we’re not?” Jack said to April. “We’re all alone, we’ve been wandering around the US nearly 3 years.” April looked sad, “Our parents died too, a 1 year ago. My dad and mom were heading to a party and their car crashed. They both died, it was a hit and run. We escaped our adoptive parents last week and are alone now.” “You were together in the same house and ran away? That sounds stupid to me.” Jack replied.
“At least I don’t have amnesia, I know something about life,” April snapped back. Jack balled his fist and ran towards April. She stepped to the side, grabbed his arm, and tripped him. She then twisted his arm behind his back. “I like you,” April said, “you’re funny. You still haven’t told us your name.” “Jack!” Violet screamed. “Just let him go. Alex and I just wanted to be friends.”
“It has nothing to do with… I’m sorry,” April apologized for doing that in front of Violet. She stood up and got off of Jack’s back. “Come on, we have to get moving,” April said to Alex. “Bye, it was fun hanging out with you. I wish we had more time,” Alex said to Violet. Alex and April started to walk away. Jack looked at Violet’s sad face. “Wait!” Jack screamed after the girls, “We can work together, we can learn from each other.” April turned around, smiled and said, “Then what are you waiting for? Let’s go.”
Jack and Violet looked at one another, shrugged and jogged after the girls. April looked like she knew where she was going. She actually had a plan. She had a destination. Jack and Violet followed Alex and April, never questioning where they were going until Jack thought about it. “Where are we headed?” Jack asked. “Where the guns are,” April replied. Jack looked back to see Alex and Violet talking and laughing. For the first time in a while, he was happy. “We’ve been walking an hour, is it close?” Jack asked. Silence.
5 minutes passed and April pointed ahead of them, “There’s our place,” April said. Jack saw a shadow at the corner of his eye. Somehow he knew it wasn’t human, the shadow wasn’t even connected to anything. He looked up, there was nothing. He looked back, there was nothing. “Home sweet home!” Alex exclaimed. “Nice place, how’d you guys get so lucky?” Violet said.
“I don’t know,” April said. “Someone just abandoned this house and left guns and canned food in the basement. Sometimes, Alex and I go looking for scrap pieces to fix the car in the backyard. That’s why we were behind your shed.” “You have a car!?!” Jack exclaimed. “Where were, you guys sooner?” Alex and Violet went to the basement still holding their conversation.
“Yeah, we’re lucky aren’t we?” April said. Tears started streaming down her eyes. “What’s wrong?” Jack asked. “Nothing, I just miss my parents, I don’t know how much longer we can stay here. Alex and I are running out of food. We were lucky this one time, we might die out there.” April said. “Truth be told, you probably would die,” Jack replied, “but we all have each other. Violet and I can hunt more food and steal. Food is never an issue.”
“Thank you,” April said wiping away the tears. “Oh and sorry for your shoe sized bruise.” Jack felt where he got kicked, it just now hurt. “Don’t sweat it, I’ll get you back though.” All of a sudden, Violet screamed. Jack ran down stairs and the shadow he’d seen earlier flew past him on the wall then moved to the ceiling to escape through a crack in the roof.
He ignored it and proceeded down the stairs. When he reached the basement, he saw Violet balled up against a corner covering her eyes. “What’s wrong?” Jack asked. Violet pointed across the room to Alex. Alex was shaking vigorously, she was sweating hardly, her skin became pale, her eyes glossed black, the color of darkness. April made it down stairs, she saw Alex. “What did you do to her, you little brat?” April stormed towards Alex. Jack grabbed April’s arm and pushed her back. “Last time I checked, my sister wasn’t a voodoo master. Leave her alone, I’m sure she did nothing to Alex.”
Jack looked back at Alex. He realized something, she had no shadow. She shot her head up at Jack still shaking. “Please help me, I don’t want to die.” April had her hand over her mouth sobbing, she ran upstairs. Jack was too afraid to touch Alex. For the first time in his life, he was afraid. “You’re not going to die. I’ll help you,” Jack stuttered. Slowly walking toward her. “You can not stop this, we are superior!” Alex said in two raspy voices. “What the hell!?!” Jack exclaimed, he backed away from her and tripped. He scrambled across the floor to Violet.
Alex started floating up, all of her skin black, her hair like seaweed, are eyes yellow. She stared at Jack, “You didn’t help me, its too late. I’m one of them now!” Alex became flat as paper and flew into the wall. She moved across the wall onto the ceiling and went out of the crack just as the other shadow. April came back down ready to cope with what was happening. She looked around to see Alex gone. “Where is she,” tears still streaming down her face.
“Is she dead Jack? Did she die like she said she would?” inquired Violet. “I don’t know where she is or what happened, but she’s gone. What happened before I arrived Violet?” Jack replied. “We were just talking about how awesome our parents were, then Alex pointed to a 3rd shadow on the wall, asking if I saw it. I said yes and the shadow swam across the floor replacing Alex’s shadow and she just started shaking. Then, the shadow flew away.”
“Do you honestly think that I believe this crap?” April exclaimed. “What did you poison her with, where did you hide the body?” Jack ran his hand through his hair, “Could the both of you shut up? I’m trying to think. April, it was your food and Violet and I never left this basement. You were standing at the top of the stairs.” “No, I refuse to believe that my sister just turned into a shadow and flew off, shadows don’t do that!” April replied.
“It’s true!” Jack said. “We have no reason to lie. How would we benefit?” “You tell me. You’re the murderers!” April said backing away.Violet stood up and ran towards April. “Alex was my best and only friend. Why do you think I would kill her?” Violet screamed, tears streamed down her eyes too. “I don’t...” April was interrupted as the lights went out. Something threw Jack across the room.
“What was that?” Jack exclaimed. A book was placed in his hands, and the lights came back on. The book was titled, The Shadowers. Jack opened it and started reading. He read aloud so April and Violet could hear.
“Shadowers are creatures from the 4th dimension. They see everything, past, present, and future. They can see through things and see what they are looking at. When there’s light, they become 2 dimensional beings forced to live in the walls, ceilings, and floors. If they touch your shadow, it dies and you turn into a shadow as well because you have no shadow. The only things with no shadows are shadows itself. While it reaches your shadow, you can do something called shadowboxing, you can move and punch and kick and they are affected. That’s your only chance. Look out for shadows that shouldn’t be there. Always stay in the light where you have a chance. In the dark, Shadowers become they’re pure form and can attack you from every direction. Our 3 dimensional physics don’t apply to them. They have no limits in the dark so. STAY IN THE LIGHT. This book was given to you buy a Shadower because we like a fair fight. Take use of this knowledge. We will not leave you alone until you are one of us or we die. We will hunt you down youngest to oldest. Good luck! - Shadower Aliz Ka.”
“Oh, my god!” April exclaimed. “What are we going to do?” April continued. “We’ll do what the book told us to do.” Jack replied. He started to walk out and saw a shadow fly across the ceiling, over his head, “Where is it heading?” he wondered. “...We will hunt you down youngest to oldest...” He remembered. He turned around. “Violet look out!” Violet looked up and saw the shadow coming across the ceiling, she didn’t know what to do. Jack ran to the shadow and punched it across the room with his shadow.
The lights went out again, “No interfering!” Jack was once again swatted across the room. April looked around scared for her life. The lights came back on and the shadow went back for Violet. Violet was shocked, she felt dumb, she felt paralyzed. She didn’t know what to do. The Shadower killed Violet’s shadow, and flew off again. Jack woke in time to see what had happened. “Noooo!” He ran to Violet and picked her up, “I’m so sorry,” he said, tears streaming out of his eyes. Violet put her hand to his face and smiled as her lips were covered by the blanket of darkness. “It’s okay big brother, you did your best.” Her eyes glowed yellow and she flew off and disappeared into the crack just as Alex.
Jack fell to his knees and started crying, “She was the only thing I had of my old life. I don’t even have memories.” Jack cried. “It’ll be okay,” April told Jack. “You’re right,” Jack said, “there’s no time for mourning. How old are you?” April looked him in the eye and told him, “I’m 13.” Jack got angry, “That means you’re next! I can’t lose another one of the only people I care about. I’m going to kill this thing!” Jack exclaimed. “It’s an entire species Jack, we don’t stand a chance it’s over, they’ve won.”
“Well, we’ll fight for our sisters. We have to try or they’ll just kill us.” Jack looked at the crack in the ceiling. “We’re ready! Bring it on!” Jack and April heard a deep chuckle. The shadow flew down toward April. She was ready, she stepped to the side and reached out to snap the shadow’s neck. “Woo-hoo! Awesome April! 1 down and probably billions to go!” April laughed, “I’m going to miss you even as a shadow.” Jack looked frowned, “It sounds like you’re giving up. What’s wrong?”
“Alex was the only family I had. I promised to protect her. I have to go after her. See you later as a shadow I guess.” She jogged to Jack and hugged him. “Are you sure about this?” Jack asked. “I think I am,” April replied. “Take care of shadow Violet for me,” Jack made April promise. “I promise I will.”
Jack and April screamed in unison, “Next!” The next shadow came swooping in at April, her arms wide open, ready to be attacked and be a shadow forever. It defeated April, she turned into a shadow and flew away. “Goodbye Jack.” Those were April’s last words. Jack was determined to win this war. If all shadows influenced them, he could shoot them with shadow bullets. He run upstairs and got some guns.
He ran back down to the basement with his gun aimed. “Come on!” The shadow flew out and Jack waited until the shadow was on the floor opposite the ceiling light and shot straight atop the shadow. The shadower was dead. “Woo-hoo! I’m genius!” Exclaimed Jack. He did the same thing for hours, then he had 1 bullet left. He called the next one and decided he would refill after the fight. 6 shadowers came out.
“This is insane! What happened to a fair fight?” Jack exclaimed. The shadowers spoke in unison. “What happened to shadowboxing?” They came rushing at Jack. Jack shot one, but they were getting closer and closer. Then the April’s shadow, Violet’s Shadow, and Alex’s shadow came rushing in. Jack’s allies saved him and fought off the other 5. Jack thanked them. “Let us take you.” April’s shadow said.
“Yeah Jack, it doesn’t hurt. We’re a lot stronger now, especially in the dark.” Alex’s and Violet’s shadows said. “I’m afraid.” Jack said. “Trust us.” They said in unison. April’s shadow killed his shadow. Jack started to lose control of his body as he turned black. The pain, it was excruciating to be flattened. The mind in his head he knew it wasn’t his. “You shadowers lied to me! How is this fair?” Jack demanded from them. “You slaughtered our soldiers. We did what was necessary,” the Shadowers who controlled his friends continued. “I will always hate you!” He exclaimed as his eyes turned yellow and his mind was taken over. Jack was gone. The Shadowers had taken over.
