The Greatest Obsession

Chapter Four: The Shadow Man

There came a soft knock, but from where, Elijah did not know. He opened his eyes to the darkness of his new room. It all felt foreign to him, despite having decorated the space with his things and personalizing the walls, the bed with his oils, sweat, and body.

The room was abnormally dark. He heard another knock. Elijah swung around, the sheets tangled further around his body. One of the windows was blocked by something. Elijah was reminded of the night before he proposed to Irina when he was first plagued by the shadow at his window.

This time, before Elijah could reach for his lamp, the shadow zoomed away. Another crash sounded against his window and Elijah threw the covers. When he made it to the window, he saw a medium-sized pebble sliding down the shingles of the roof. In the gutter, three pebbles of the same size sat in a single line. Elijah looked out in the street, he saw a shadowy figure that appeared male and stoic in stature.

He couldn't make out a single feature of the being, but Elijah knew by now that this was no dream or his eyes playing tricks. He was fully aware that someone was throwing pebbles at his window. He thought to himself if the figure was a neighbor that was unhappy with the new living situation in the Snow mansion. Elijah never met such a tall man at the engagement party.

Elijah peered closer as the figure's hand moved. It lifted, pale against the moon, and beckoned for Elijah, but Elijah couldn't understand what it wanted from him. He stared intently, as the figure continued to gesture in a quick and fluid motion with his hand.

Elijah pulled his bottom lip between his teeth, sucking it like a toddler might its thumb. He was terrified, no doubt, to go out and see who it was. The young man worried for the safety of those in the house.

Elijah couldn't stand it any longer. He dressed, fast and sloppily, not bothering to put on shoes or even a real shirt. He simply found a pair of trousers and tucked his nightgown inside of them. Elijah crept past Irina's room. He was thankful that Abraham's chambers were far past both of theirs because the old man would have no way of hearing him. Not a single servant was in the halls when he tiptoed down the long marble stairs.

His hands had never gripped the black steel railing so hard in his life. Elijah knew there were servants in the kitchen because he could hear the housekeeper singing to herself. He wandered into the parlor, where through the window the figure could still be seen standing just beyond the iron gate.

He hadn't moved.

Elijah moved back into the foyer and gently cracked the door open. As he slipped outside, he paused midway. The figure had disappeared.

He let out a dramatic sigh. Elijah let his bare feet slap on the clean and warm concrete that led into the house. When he reached the iron gate, he saw no one.

"How strange," Elijah whispered to himself. "I could have sworn that there was someone standing here a moment ago." He stepped into the street to check.

Elijah looked outward toward the main road and further down his own street. Not a sign of life presented itself. He pushed his locks behind his ear and turned to head back to the house and saw that the third window farthest from his bed was open.

Elijah stopped, reevaluating his steps. I never opened my window, he thought. He rushed back, immediately, but nearly cursed out loud, when he remembered he had to be quiet.

Aggravated that he couldn't run to his room as fast as he would have like, Elijah practically hopped two steps at a time, attempting to be light on his feet.

The first thing Elijah did when he entered his room was turn on his lamp. The light flooded the room, and in the light, he saw nothing. Elijah groaned.

He shut his door and walked to his window. No figure was in the street, and no one was sitting on the roof. He opened his closet to find nothing. Elijah even checked under his bed, feeling like a child looking for a monster. He almost wanted, wished even, for the monster to be real.

Defeated, Elijah closed his window. He felt like he'd just lost a game of hide-and-go-seek. He turned off his lamp and smoothed his covers before crawling back into them. Elijah stared at the ceiling.

He was tired, but his mind wouldn't let him sleep--not with the possibility of a strange intruder outside his window.

The hour passed in silence and soon Elijah found himself sleeping on his back, his neck exposed and his mouth parted. He didn't snore, and he didn't roll around like many do in their sleep.

Someone emerged from the dark corner of the room, deciding the human looked peaceful when he slept. Elijah: it was what the red-haired female had called him.

The being had watched Elijah frantically search his room to no avail, because how could a mere human see through the plain of darkness?

No one ever bothered to look in the shadows.
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