The Shadow Man

     I woke up out of a dead sleep drenched in sweat with every muscle in my body tensed. I had no clue as to what just happened. I suspected that it had been a nightmare, but was unsure of it. The thing is, is that this has been happening a lot lately, the same thing over and over. I layed in bed a bit longer before the sudden discomfort set in. I was so confused as to why these nightmares kept happening, well if they even were nightmares. But I was not going to let that ruin my day, I had it all scheduled out I was going to the Supermarket to get some fresh produce, then maybe grab a snack and admire the beautiful artwork around the market. There was one thing I absolutely had to do first, and that is to take a shower. I had to get rid of the feeling of sweat because it began to feel sticky.
    I decided to walk down to the market because it was only a couple blocks down and I could use a little fresh air after everything that had been going on. As I was walking, I saw the newspaper vender and the same headline for the last three weeks was still on the front page in big bold letters that read, "Mysterious Paranormal Activities Involved with Missing Persons." Within the past three weeks exactly three people had gone missing with no trace of where they would have went, they basically just straight up vanished. The first person to go missing was Allen Bergstien, they say he was the sweetest man you'd ever meet then one day he just disappeared. I could only imagine how devastated his family must feel. The second victim was Becca Steal. The word around town was she seemed to be a little off at times, but no one really knew what was wrong, she wasn't really the type to socialize. Then lastly, Lizzy Rendo. Now this one really hurt me. Lizzy and I went to school together we were the best of friends, the type that was inseparable. Well that was until last week. The man at the vender then said, "Sad, huh?"
    I replied, "Yea it's hard to think about. I knew this girl right here." I pointed toward the picture of Lizzy, my voice was shaky from the tremble in my voice.
    "That must be hard for you I bet. What's your name miss?"
    "It's Shay, Shay Airwalk. How about you?" I replied.
    "Oh what a beautiful name, I'm Gordon Goodman. Nice to meet you Shay."
    I responded with a sudden feeling of happiness, "You too, Mr. Goodman. It's nice to know that we still have decent people in this world." Gordon then reached for my hand and shook it very gently almost with ease as he replied with a gentle heart warming smile,
    "You too Shay, I look forward to seeing you around. You have a nice day now."
    I turned and said, "You as well." Then I continued my walk to the Supermarket as a million thoughts rushed into my head I instantly had a flashback from school. It was all just a blur so I don't know what it was about. Once I got to the market, I headed towards the flowers there were these gorgeous roses that caught my eye. The color of the pedals were almost a deep red velvet but the tips of them were a jet black. They smelled so good almost as if the smell of spring were in the air. At that moment, I felt as if someone or something was staring at me. The feeling was so intense that it sent a shiver down my spine. I turned around and glanced over at a figure that caught my eye. It was a dark black shadow in the form of a man it's eyes were a piercing fiery red. He had no skin on display it was just all black, it was the Shadow Man. Within that moment I began to feel light headed with the feeling of emptiness. Then everything went black.
I awoke laying in the sand in a unfamiliar location, I looked around self-consciously and that's when I realized that this wasn't just a regular beach, it was a deserted island. I then looked off into the distants and saw a cluster of big palm trees so I headed over to one of them for a little shade so I could think things through. It wasn't until I got a few feet away that I saw this deformed part of the tree bark. Once I got up to the tree I then realized it was a message engraved in the tree that read, "This is faze one, your here for a reason. Be Careful the wrong move and your life will slowly fall away. Remember I am always watching!" Below that was the most bone chilling thing I think I will ever see, they were the names of the victims, the feeling of immediate heartbreak then consumed my soul. I look at Lizzy's name and put my hand over her engraved name. Then I thought to myself, If she really is gone I can't believe that this is the very last message she wrote. That's when it hit, it felt like a huge punch in my gut, I was the next Victim.
    After staring at the note for a few moments longer I then looked around me to examine my surrounding, and that's when I realized there was a red arrow pointed left on another palm tree ahead. The feeling of fear set in, I hesitantly turned and cautiously walk in the direction of the tree. Once I got to the tree I saw another arrow colored green pointed upward, I suddenly felt the feeling of someone watching me so I curiously looked around me to make sure there wasn't anyone around me and that there were no cameras. That's when it came back to me, the feeling of fear and intensity was re-occurring, I suddenly remembered the feeling of discomfort in the market, then everything seemed to fast forward to the point of the note left on the tree. I then began to climb the tree. Each branch I reached for my hands trembled more and more intensely. Once I reached the top I looked around and then I realized I missed something so I glanced back over and saw a message written in the sand that stated, If you see this message you are getting close, all you have to do now is find a ribbon, the color of the darkest blood but remember cautiousness is key. 
    It felt like something was pushing me, I began to lose my balance. I slipped and fell a couple branches and that's when my shirt caught on a little stub in the trunk of the tree catching me from my almost deadly fall. I slowly climbed down the rest of the way and reached the bottom. I began to frantically search for this so called, "red ribbon." I was beginning to get frustrated to the point that I didn't now if I wanted to break out in tears or just scream at the top of my lungs. So I took deep breaths in and out to try and calm down because I knew this is what he wants, he is trying to get to my weak point and I wasn't going to give it to him this easily. I knew it was time to put on my poker face even though on the inside I just wanted to yell. I then began my search. That's when I caught a glimpse of something, it was something that I couldn't quite put my finger. It was like something that seemed off or simply out of place. Once I took a second look that's when I saw it, it was the "red ribbon."  But when I tried to run towards it, it felt like my legs were stuck in place like in the cartoons, but I ran as fast as I could. I ran faster then I ever have before. Once I reached the ribbon I began to untie it from the branch it was on. When I eventually got it off I looked over and saw, the black shadow. The feeling of emptiness was over taking me for the second time.
I woke up to myself coughing, like something had been choking me yet nothing was. Once the cloud of blurriness cleared my eyes I began to look around. I was about fed up with these little games. "What do you want from me!!!" I must have been thinking out loud because the sound of my voice echoed off the walls. I immediately thought that I was showing weakness so I didn't even think twice before I tagged on to what I just said because for some reason I just knew he was listening. "Your a sick man whoever or whatever you are! Your entertainment is to watch all of these people scared for their lives as they fight to stay alive! As they are scared to make every move and hesitate over every step they take, in fear that it might be their end! If you ask me that's pretty messed up!" At this point I was over being scared my adrenaline was starting to kick in and I was over all this suspense.
    When I finally calmed down, I realized that I was in an old abandoned house. The windows were all boarded up with a little light showing through the cracks of the boards. The room I was in had one dim light bulb hanging in the middle of the ceiling. All the walls had paint peeling off to where you could see the latin plaster from the old house structure, in almost every corner there were cobwebs that seemed to have been there for years. My curiosity as to what else was in this house began to grow, so I decided to venture out. Each step I took the floorboards beneath me would creak and the sound would then echo through the entire empty house. As I made it out of the room and into a hallway I saw a couple of open doors that were hanging half off their hinges. The house was cold but my blood was pumping really fast to where it felt like I had a heart beat in every limb of my body so it felt like I was a million degrees.
I continued through the house and turned the corner at the end of the hall, and it opened into what seemed like what once was a living room. I stopped in my tracks like I hit a brick wall but there was nothing there, it must have been my imagination playing tricks on me. So I just continued on, the living room then turned into be the kitchen it must have been an open concept type house. But off of the living room area there was an old bathroom, to the left of the bathroom there was a staircase right next to the stairs there was a closed door which I assumed was the basement. I began my adventure up the steps to the second floor. Once I reached the top of the stairs there was yet another hallway but this time there wasn't a corner to turn it was just a straight old dusty hall that smells musty. But there was one thing that stood out from the rest of the house at the end of the hall there was a dark red door that looked fairly new as all the other doors were all rotted out and barely able to stay up for much longer.
I slowly walked towards the mysterious red door at the end of the hall. Once I got to it, I reached for the handle to try and open it. I cautiously tried to turn the handle but it was locked. I viciously ran my fingers around the trim of the door to make sure there wasn't a key. I started to think to myself, this is obviously another one of his games. Now think Shay, think if you wanna make it out safely you have to get your thoughts together. Yet, it felt like it was impossible my mind was like rush hour at this point. I then retraced my steps and went through what I could recall of the house to see if anything stuck out to me. Then I suddenly remembered the bathroom, the bathroom did not have a door. The door wasn't there. For some reason this caught my attention, I quickly ran down the stairs skipping a step each time I stepped. When I eventually got to the bottom I turned the corner so viciously that I thought I was in the air. I then walked into the bathroom, I rapidly looked around and scanned the room to see if I could figure out where a key or something to get that door open. I check around the toilet that was half out of the floor. Then I checked the old rusty sink that smelt as if sewage was coming out of the drain. But there was nothing absolutely nothing at all, but there was one more place I did not check. The bath tub! I literally slid over to the tub and checked every square inch of the tub yet still nothing. Then I suddenly got a idea I then went for the drain plug that was already in the drain and yanked it out. There it was. The answer to my prayer, it was a key. I was so shell shocked it took me a couple minutes to move. But once I did I moved so fast it seemed at lightning speed. I reached the door, shoved the key in the lock and turned it then it whipped open the door.
I walked in on the most shocking thing. It was Allen Bergstien! He was slumped over in the corner. He looked paralyzed like he saw something completely terrorizing. I immediately ran over to him. "Allen! Can you hear me? Are you okay?" I didn't realized I was shouting until I finished.
"Who are you?" he askedwith a little rasp in his voice almost as he lost it.
"I'm Shay, you probably never heard of me, I have heard of you."
"What how!?" he said curiously.
"You are one of the victims, almost everyone knows. But we don't have a lot of time I am bring you with me to the next 'faze' so he calls it." I told him this sternly so he would take me seriously. I then helped him up off the floor. As soon as I stood him up we both looked at each other and I said, "Hold my hand."
"Are you getting dizzy too?" Allen uttered.
"Yes, just hold on don't let g--"
I awoke to Allen shaking me vigorously to try and wake me up, and it worked. When I sat up I was on a cold tiled floor. Allen told me, "You did it you brought me to the next faze with you!"
"Seriously? It actually worked?" I was surprised.
"Yea it did. I think we are in an abandoned hospital." he said it with ease. I then said, "we have to split up and the moment you came across something immediately come and get me and I will do the same. Okay."
"I understand."
"Good lets go." I said as if we were a team. I made my way down hallway after hallway looking in every room I passed to see if there was any sign of anything. I then came across what looked like the old lobby, at this time I was at the second floor of a three story hospital. I looked behind the check in desk and then I saw a human type shape so I walked over to it and touch the shoulder and it turned its head. It was Lizzy! I couldn't believe it my best friend was still alive! At first she didn't recognize me but once she realized she immediately turned and wrapped her arms around me in a huge hug, and I returned with the same reaction we were there for almost two minutes almost in tears but we had to move. "Lizzy I'm taking you with me we are going to make it through this you just have to trust me okay?"
"I trust you one hundred percent." She replied in a loving tone.
"Good because I wasn't going to take no for an answer." Lizzy giggled after I said that Lizzy kind of just looked at me and we held eye contact then finally I looked away because I knew we had to get going. We began to walk around the hospital because I had to find Allen. So I began to shout his name hoping he would hear me. Then that's when I heard a faint noise it sounded like someone say "where are you?" but I was very unsure. I had to hold onto Lizzy because I didn't know how stable she was. We went down each hall looking for Allen then I saw him he was with some type of person. When we got closer I started to tell him I found Lizzy. He looked at me and then I realized who he was with he was with Becca the second victim. We all were in shock. While me and Lizzy were in the halls we were talking and I told her if we made it out of this that I would be around her more often. That's when she told me she would have no place to go so I told her she could stay with me. But while we were all standing there we all felt a feeling that seemed to be relatable we all turn dizzy we quickly held hand to make sure no one was left behind because we all knew what was coming.
We all woke up at the same time which seemed extremely rare but we realized we were free. We all made it out! We all were almost in tears, and my stomach felt like it dropped because the feeling of happiness started to over take me. We then went our separate ways, and Lizzy came with me to my apartment. That night we spent catching up with each other which led to us falling asleep on the couch. When we both woke up we awoke to a dark figure standing over us, it was the Shadow Man.