Hiding in the shadows

Chapter 4

//Hey Ari, did you really just say all of that to your dad?!//Jas

//What??//Ari

//Deegz just recorded everything and sent it to me//Jas

//Oh, yeah, do you mind if I crash at yours tonight?//Ari

//Do you even need to ask?//Jas

//Alright, I'll be there in 10//Ari

//Be safe//Jas

I walked off of the road a little and took off my backpack, taking out the head phones I put in earlier and plugging them in my phone, as well as grabbing out my flashlight to ward off any more unexpected visitors. I turned on my phone and chucked it on shuffle before placing it in the back pocket of my ripped black skinny jeans. One of my favorite songs came on, Temporary bliss by The Cab. I was tunelessly humming while kicking a small rock along one of the main roads when Deegan and his mates drove past blaring some absolutely shit music that shouldn't even be classified as music and yelled out to me,

"Go home, Ya bitch."

Then the car sped off with his mates laughing. I just shrugged it off but deep down it hurt a little bit.

When I turned in to Jas's street, she was waiting to walk with me. She embraced me in a welcoming hug and turned to walk to her house.

"How are you feeling, Hun?" She asked with a concerned tone in her voice. I knew she was asking about the fight with dad.

"Pretty shit, what about you?"

"Better now that you're here. Mother dearest is glad that you're coming over."

"That's good." I replied with a grateful tone in my voice. Evonne took me in like a second mother, she was always really nice to me no matter what, but I never called her by her name, she called me daughter and I called her mother, I guess that's just how we felt comfortable around each other. She was so warm and friendly, I guess a lot of people wouldn't think so because she is covered in tattoos but I loved looking at her ink.

When I opened Jas's front door her dog Nelson greeted me with a bark and a kiss, which I immediately wiped off.

"Hello Mother, how are you?"

"Probably a lot better than you."

"Can't say that you're wrong there." I replied

I walked into Jas's room and chucked my bag on her floor and said hey to her girlfriend Aubrie. I told Jas that I just wanted to sleep and so she set up a mattress on the floor and left me to it. Just as I was on the edge of falling into a comforting bliss of nothingness I heard a strange noise coming from under Jas's bed. My eyes flew open and I saw two deep purple eyes staring back at me. I reach for my torch and turn it on, the Shagara fizzles, lets out a shriek then disappears.

"Ari, what are you doing?" Jas asks me, looking at me with tired eyes from her bed.

"Sorry, I just needed to go to the toilet."

I turned off the torch and rolled over, my body trying to calm down while lying in a cold sweat. To think that Shagara was about to take all happiness from Jas or Aubrie...

When dawn broke I left a note on my bed explaining that I went for a walk and that I would be back in a little while. I walked back to the rock I found the previous day and found that just above where I sat was a tree branch that was easily accessible to climb and was pretty high off of the ground. I strapped my backpack on to my body then stood on my toes, reaching for the branch. I hoisted myself up, then onto another. I got comfortable, feeling more at home than anywhere before amongst the clouds and the stars. I took out my thought journal and wrote down a few things before pulling out a second book labeled 'songs'. since I was little I have had the biggest dream to become a singer-song writer. I had a bunch of songs written down and I had composed heaps of sheet music for both guitar and piano. What no one knew was that I went out of town a few nights a week to play at bars, which is how I earned my money, as well as doing street art. Not one of my friends knew and I intended to keep it that way. The same goes for being able to see Shagara's. I tried to tell my parents a few times but they just said I was seeing things because I was tired, or laughed and mocked me, so I gave up on that idea and thought to prevent other people from thinking I was crazy, I should keep it a secret. I have never found another person like me, at least, not one that was open about it or one that I could recognize. Out of nowhere a bunch of lyrics flowed into my mind. I quickly scribbled them down before I could forget, then looked up to the clouds through the beautiful array of branches. What the Earth managed to create never failed to amaze me and it absolutely pissed me off when people thought they had the right to destroy something that everyone shared. I lay my head back on to the trunk of the tree, a part of my black hair falling in my eyes behind my glasses. I brushed it out the way then decided it was easier to just loosely gather my  shoulder length hair back into a small bun. I was just lying there when I heard a crunching of footsteps, knowing that it wasn't a Shagara because it was a sunny morning, I curiously peered to where the sound was coming from, and what I saw surprised me more than I was expecting.