Crazy Enough...

Chapter 14

I could almost make out a face, but there was too much of a shadow. The orange light from the streetlamps and rising sun illuminated the dark silhouette, contrasting with cool black and blue tones. Scrambling to get up was unsuccessful, as Toby had laid a blanket over me. Caring, and yet so incredibly unhelpful.

I finally came untangles from the blanket, and ran to the door. I had always made fun of people in horror movies for running towards danger, and yet here I was. For all I knew, the shadow was the serial killer.

When I whipped open the door, however, the shadow had miraculously disappeared, like grains of sand in the wind, it had dissolved. I stood heaving for breath on my front porch. My hands on my knees, I glanced up and down the street, scanning any small areas of shadows. Far towards the forest, I saw it duck into the line of trees and I ran.

I sprinted down the street, still out of breath from the ordeal with the blanket. The trees rushed towards me, and once inside, I saw the shadow slinking away. I had seen it a few times, and every time it had slipped away. Not this time though, I gave chase.

The shadow was just that, it was like there wasn't a person attached to it. It saw me running at it, and began it run itself. As my feet stomped heavily on twigs, and crunched the dirt path, the shadow ran silently as if floating on air. It was like chasing a ghost, but ghosts don't have shadows.

I felt the burn for oxygen enter my chest, and become stronger with every exhale. My legs ached, but the shadow didn't slow. I pushed through the pain, and ignored the throbbing pain in my side. The shadow was getting away, but also getting tired. In it's slightly exhausted state, it began to slow, and I heard a soft thump with each of its steps. This gave me courage, and I ran faster. I was determined to catch it, and I was going to faster than it. On it's tail, I could see its head bobbing always just hidden in the other shadows cast from trees. If only I could get closer, I could see who it was.

I was nearly close enough to make out detail when the world started to turn. It was like someone had grabbed the wheel and spinning it. I had a sudden feeling of being in the teacup rides at various fairs. I hit the ground, with a thump and saw the upside-down shadow running on the ceiling, away from me.

I lay on the ground, staring at the spot where it had gone, waiting for it to comeback. I was in a part of the woods, in which I had never been. My side felt like someone had stabbed a knife into it, and my head felt someone had shoved an ice pick in it, in a desperate attempt to give me a lobotomy.

From the opposite direction from which the shadow had disappeared, another shadow appeared. This one left heavy footsteps and panted like a dog on a hot summers day. As it came into view, I saw it coming towards me. Though it was different, I felt it was the same. When it got close enough to see features. I recognised it, as it was only Toby.

"What.... the hell.... are you......doing?" he asked, gasping for breath every so often.

"What do you mean?" I asked, not bothering to get up off the ground. Despite the immense pain, I was quite comfortable.

"I saw you form my house, you were sprinting down the street like a mad woman, then you ran into the woods running at a speed I never thought possible," he was talking mostly normally, though some words still came out in gasps of air.

"I thought I saw something, a shadow," I said, and saw up onto my elbow, finally getting a good look at him. He was wearing the same clothes he had the day before, and was hunched over still catching his breath.

"You know I was kidding when I said I saw shadows outside, right?" I knew he was referencing our conversation, where he had told me about the girl who lived in the house before I did. I knew he was lying to protect me.