Underlying Truths

Underlying Truths - Chapter Four - "The Shadow"

Hey! Sorry for the lack of updates. I had plans for Wed, Thurs, and Fri this past week and they were all ALL-DAY things. I was absolutely tired after each day and could not, for the life of me, write a single word that could even help contribute to the next chapter.

BUT, I'm back and ready to go.

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This chapter begins immediately after the last one, which left of with...

"That night, I wasn't awake to hear the absence of it."

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Underlying Truths - Chapter Four - "The Shadow"

I rolled over and grunted as I heard my cellphone beep and vibrate for the last time. I blindly reached out and grabbed it off of my bedside table, rolling back to lay on my back once it was within my grasp. I gently rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand as I pressed a button below the screen of the phone in order to check why it had went off. I squinted as the bright light of the phone graced my eyes and a message indicating that I had missed a call from Spencer flashed across the screen. I checked the time on my phone, seeing that it was 2am in the morning. I shook my head lightly and groaned. I dismissed the alert and promised myself to call him back once I really woke up in the morning.

Just as I had blackened the screen of my phone and slipped it under my pillow (too lazy to lay it once again at my bedside table), my eyes slid back shut almost as a reflex. I was surprised to see red behind my eyelids instead of the complete blackness that I expected due to my rooms total lack of even a sliver of light. My eyes immediately opened once again and I sat up in shock. I looked to my left, seeing both of the windows in my room shut and curtained. My glance was then directed to my bedroom door, which was slightly ajar, letting in light from the hallway, which we always left alit. The pace of my heart picked up, my senses at an all time high. My bedroom door was always shut when I was in it. I have never, since I was 12, left my door open while I was in my room. It was just a habit I picked up and never got rid of.

My mouth fell open as my breathing got heavy and labored from fear and panic. My parents would never leave my door open if they came in, though I would never mind if they did. They knew how I liked it closed. My eyes suddenly flicked back and forth across my room. After the third time they swept over my room left and right, I noticed a shadow behind my slightly ajar door, which opened towards me, and the bathroom door behind it, the small, faintly hidden area becoming their hiding place. I stared at it for a few seconds before I noticed a faint glint of metal in what looked like their hand. To scream completely slipped my mind as I instantly lunged for my bedside lamp, flicking it on instantaneously when my fingers came in contact with its switch. The shadow slipped out of my bedroom door almost at soon as light flooded the whole room. All I received was a realization that the figure was dressed thoroughly in black before I jumped out of my bed and ran to the doorway of my room.

I slipped out into the hall in a jog, as I heard footsteps climbing down the stairs in a rapid pace. They stopped once I reached the top of the stairs; the view of our front door swinging as it was left open graced my eyes as I stared down the staircase and at our foyer. I ran down and to the door. Hurriedly stepping out of my house and into our front yard, I searched all around me, down both ways of the street, even going as far as running around my house and into the back yard. Despite being barefoot, I repeated those actions three times before the hope of finding out who was doing all this to me finally fled. I dropped down to my knees on the grass in front of my house at the spot where I had stood just minutes before. Three circuits around my house had only worsened my panicked and shaken state. By now, tears of frustration, anger, fear, and hopelessness were streaming down my face again. I sobbed loudly, before shaking my head at just how pathetic I was.

I slowly brought myself back onto my feet and found my way back to my own bedroom, my parents staying fast asleep throughout the whole ordeal. Slipping back under the covers, I grasped for my cellphone under my pillow, sliding it open and contacting someone on speed dial before bringing the phone to my ear.

"Hello?" he grunted into the phone, his voice thick with sleep.

"Spencer?" I asked quietly.

"Yeah, Cari?" he asked.

"You called?" I asked in a whisper.

"I did. I just remember that you told me you'd always be there when I needed to talk."

"I am, Spence. I am."

"Lately, I've been doing things differently," he said, almost as if confessing. "I've really gotten into computers and the things you can do with them. I don't know

whether its good or not."

I laughed lightly, the topic of our conversation taking my mind of what had just happened to me a few minutes before. "It's not bad to let the geeky side out of you

every now and then. Just never forget that you can't live life through technology. Sometimes, you have to go out and do things yourself, maybe breath some fresh air and have some fun out in some places. You can't live through the computer. Or all by yourself."

"I just realized that, too," Spencer admitted. "I need to learn to get back on my own to feet and do things for myself, learn to be on my own."

"Yeah, it seems as if all of us are learning to become our own person this summer. You, Will, and I. We all seem to be learning to cope with problems," I

remarked.

"All on our own," I added in a whisper.

"Yeah," Spencer breathed out.

I smiled on my end of the phone, realizing that though right now was a tough time for all of us, we all seem to be making progress.

"Thanks for listening," Spencer said after a few seconds.

"No problem, Spence. I'm always here," I said honestly.

"I'm gonna go back to sleep. Goodnight and goodbye, Carina."

"Bye, Spencer," I said before hanging up.

I stood up, placing my phone at my bedside table as I made my way to my curtains, pulling them both open, and letting the streetlights offer my room a light glow. I then made my way to my bedroom door, shutting it lightly before slipping back under my covers and staring up at the ceiling--Will's, Spencer's, and my own doodles and writing staring down at me. My lips tugged into a smile as I thought back to all the various times we ran up to my room with a set of Sharpies, an idea in mind to add to my ceiling. We were all carefree, our shoulders unburdened by the heavy weights of real life. I remembered the times when we argued about markers and colors not trust and the future of our friendships. Why couldn't life stay that way? Why did our youthfulness in spirit have to slip away the older we got?

A single tear of regret slipped out of my eye as those thoughts ran through my mind. A second promise to myself was made that moment: this would be the only time I would cry due to regret. Life was not meant to be lived so that you'd look back with thoughts of what if, could've, and would'ves. I just prayed that this promise wouldn't be broken like the last.

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A/N:

Short? Yes.

Crappy? I don't think so.

Important? OH YEAH.

I couldn't have ended this chapter at a better place. Hopefully you guys are awesome mystery solvers and have already picked up on a couple of clues I've left here and there.

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