A Girl With No Shadow [Short Story]

A Girl With No Shadow

The moon was full and there was no cloud in the sky, but there was still something unsettling about this night. The raven cawed as the girl walked through the street, casting no shadow. I had been walking home, as always, staying late at work to finish a story or two. Work had been hard these days with all the disappearances that were happening and everyone wanted their article to be the one chosen for the front page. I had taken the train, gotten off at the fifth stop, as always, and proceeded to my apartment a few blocks away. But just as I stepped off of the platform and started walking, I saw that mysterious girl. She intrigued me, so I followed her, she seemed to be going the way I was, so it was a win-win. But the more I followed her, tracing the steps she had taken, the more I started to feel something, something like fear, but not quite. The wind picked up and a few of the last autumn leaves were drifted away, in prepare for winter. I shivered, tucking my coat in tighter to keep me warm. I looked at the girl. She wore no coat, just a plain t-shirt, and jeans, even in the cold. The girl turned right, heading toward a path. I was supposed to keep going forward, but I decided that such an interesting detour would be a good reward for all my hard work back at the office. She headed into the darkness, a path I could barely see but that was all okay. Deeper and deeper the girl walked. Louder and louder the ravens cawed. The chills that had been there before turned into pure fear. Where was this girl going at a time like this in a place like this? She kept on walking until she stopped right in front of an abandoned church. From all the horror movies I had watched I knew this was not a good sign. Even from the outside, it was visible that the whole thing was going to fall apart and the dust seemed to reek out from whatever was left of the doors. There was no name written on the sign that hung at an uncomfortable angle. She stopped staring at the building, bowed a little, and walked in. I decided to follow. Walking in, the mold hit me harder than I expected. My mysterious girl had already disappeared somewhere behind the altar so I took a moment to look a bit closer at a piece of stained-glass that caught my attention as I walked in. I was a depiction of some saint I did not know, but the part that was causing me to stare was its eyes. Rather than them being pure, they were jet black. A shiver raced up and I scurried down to the alter. When I finally made it there without falling into any of the holes in the wood, I saw that beneath the altar was a staircase leading who-knows-where. Holding my breath in suspense, I leaned down and followed the path that was laid out to me by the moon.The stairs winded down and down into the pitch-black midnight as if to create a tower of darkness. I began to slow down as I heard footsteps. The girl! I had forgotten all about while looking at the odd saint. The stairs had ended but then I saw the corridors. I looked up at all the stairs I had climbed one last time and even at the end of the tower, I could still see the sky through the broken roof surrounding the church. The corridors were filled with rotting wood surrounded the ancient halls with peculiar symbols lining them, as if to scream BEWARE at me. The girl took out a match from some pocket I could not see. She lit it, causing the room to be engulfed by the little light. From above, a crow cawed, and the perfect night sky was now filled with the clouds. I took one step, then another, and another. But even as I inched forward, the girl who had stopped did not move from her spot that she had chosen. She raised her hand up, scraping the ceiling, she chanted something I could not hear. As if by magic, the walls opened up leading to another corridor. This time there was light at the end. After a pause, she walked in, and so did I, following her like a shadow. We walked slowly, and even though I was so close, the girl did not seem to notice me, so with every step I moved closer. And closer. If the stairs had seemed endless, then this corridor was an eternity. My legs ached and I had wished that I had gone home rather than follow some mysterious girl into the woods and into this church. And as my doubt grew began to almost cause me to turn around and leave, the light that I had first seen when the girl had opened this odd corridor, was brighter. Now a new hope began to build in me. The light was pure filling me with joy and confidence. I almost ran, but I had forgotten that the girl would see me if I did so, so I patiently followed letting my excitement thrive in my mind. She stepped into the room, now blinding me with all its light. I watched. There were others in the room, but all I could hear for the moment was their laughter as she entered. My eyes adjusted, but slower than I had hoped. I was dying to see what was in that room. Who was there? I wanted to jump right there and finally have my questions answered. Who was the girl I followed? Why is she here? What is this place? After a moment, she looked at me for the first time. She stared and simply said, "You're just in time for the sacrifice mortal."