Fading Stars

"I still have no idea how I got up here..." Casey said blankly as he looked down the mountain, searching for any visible city lights below. The last thing he remembers doing was jumping into bed after pretending to floss. He had tossed on some thermal night clothes and gone to sleep. He hadn't intended on waking up at the base of a large cliff in the silent hours of the night. A shiver racked his form as thick mist rushed past with the wind. The damp moisture brought a growing sense of panic to his foggy mind. Where was he? There weren't any mountains that were high enough to hit clouds near his house... Let alone his city. That ruled out sleep walking. But from what Casey saw, it wouldn't have been sleepwalking at all. It would have been more like sleep all terrain flat out climbing.

Jagged rocks surrounded the steep cliff face that Casey sat on. Almost like giant teeth covered in moss... Waiting to eat any boy that happened to spontaneously teleport into their grasp.

" hello?" He called out timidly into the dark. His voice echoed into the clouds, breaking the dead silence of the night. A panicky feeling set over him as he felt he had brought made himself known to the darkness. The silence of the night had been broken, now the trees began to sway as The wind picked up. mist began to cascade over Casey. He frantically looked for a way to get out of this horrible nightmare. He felt it. Something was coming. Casey kept glimpsing it out of the Corner of his eye. A shadow sliding over the rocks and up the cliff face. He yelled out again into the dark,

" I'm not supposed to be here! Who ever dumped me up here take me back!" Mist shrieked past him with the wind as it howled up the mountain. A cold feeling washed over Casey as he sensed another presence in his company. Shivering violently he spun around to try and identify it. After several 360s he saw something. A black smudge in front of him. He stared hard at it, waiting for the shadow to disappear in the mist. It didn't. It grew larger, and closer, as if it was consuming the mist and turning it black. Casey stood paralyzed in fear. It approached him slowly until it was right in front of him. His eyes remained riveted on the shadow. Willing it to disappear with every drop of hope he had. The shadow pressed in forward. Out of the darkness two slits of light appeared they steadily grew larger, silhouetting Casey. The light grew steadily, but it wasn't a warm pleasing light. It was a tearing, burning beam that racked Casey to the soul. He remains riveted in fear until he couldn't stand the darkness anymore. Casey jumped away, scrambling backwards. The shadow lunged forward and consumed him in the dark. Casey tried to scream, but the shadow seemed to enter his lungs and silence him. He thrashed as he felt his legs disappearing. He felt it. He was being turned to shadow. His mind flooded with darkness. His memories were rewritten. His life was altered. Casey let go of his mind as one word reverberated through his being. "Shifted." Suddenly the shadow exploded out of existence, pushing the mist back. Casey was gone. Only a black singe remained on the ground. High above the clouds and the earth, into the twinkling darkness of space... a small stars light faded, and winked out.

....

Alex sloshed some milk on to his cereal the following morning. He yawned and scratched his mussed hair. A lot of things were on his mind. The math test... The soccer game after school. He had barely noticed that his brother Casey hadn't gotten out of bed yet...