What Lurks In The Shadows

Treehouse Visit

On the way home, I crank up the stereo, cursing under my breath. Stupid Jay, getting involved in everything. Stupid parents, for not caring about me. Stupid Lylac, for getting herself killed. Stupid life, for being so suckish.

I swerve left, narrowly avoiding another car. The driver honks and yells many colourful words out the window. I angrily glance back at the driver, and my hand slips on the wheel. Next thing I know, I'm sitting in a ditch, my head slams against the wheel, and everything goes black.

Climbing up the ladder of the treehouse, I look behind me and see shadows, reaching their dark, wispy hands towards me, chasing me up the ladder. When I get to the top, I hurl myself into the treehouse, scrambling to get away from them. The shadows reach the top, trying desperately to enter, but for some reason are unable to. It's almost as if there's a force field blocking them.

I get up slowly, cautiously, and walk deeper into the treehouse, turning on a flashlight. Moving the flashlight around, it lands on Lylac, who's reading in a corner. Hmm. I think. Lylac. Reading! I quietly laugh to myself.

"Hey Lac." I call. She looks up from her book, eyes red. I suddenly remember. She's dead.

"Find him." Her eyes roll back into her head, and she starts convulsing, but before I can cry out, she turns back to normal, complete with her original green eyes. "You need to find him! Before it happens again, to you. You must hurry."

"Lylac!" I exclaim. "How did this happen to you? Who did this to you?"

"I can't stay. I'm fighting for control. The shadows are too strong for me. You will find others stronger than me, who can aid you in your search. Search for them. Be strong and careful. And stay away from the dark one. Sweet on the outside, but rotten on the in. I wish I could give you more detail, but my memory of that night is foggy. I don't know if I will be strong enough to speak to you like this again. I love you Zarra. Goodbye."

"Wait!" I call, but it's too late. First her eyes turn black, then slowly, the blackness spreads out, down her face, then her torso and arms, down her legs. I back away, scared, nearly falling out of the treehouse. When the process is finished, she melts into the shadows, joining the writhing mass of grabbing arms. Finally, they push through, engulfing me in a ball of darkness, jolting me from side to side.

I jerk awake, hitting my head on the back of the carseat.

"Zarra!" Someone shouts, and I realize the shaking wasn't just within the dream. I recognize him as the boy in the library.... errr... Nigel!

"You. What are you doing here?" I ask, fear from the dream temporarily replaced with pure annoyance.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm helping you."

"Well buddy, first off, I don't need your help, second, what if I had broken bones? You shouldn't have touched me. And finally, how did you find me here, stalker?"

"Okay, it was obvious you didn't have broken bones. I could tell by your thrashing," Thrashing? "And I'm not a stalker. I saw everything on the way home from school."

"How did you know it was me? You saw a car wipe out and you just knew it was mine? Didn't even bother calling the cops?" I was secretly glad he didn't, but I wanted to try to get to him.

"How do you know I didn't call the cops?" He asks indignantly.

"Well did you?"

"No." Nigel looks at his feet. "Anyways I didn't know it was you, I saw a car wipe out and the good citizen thing to do."

"Whatever." I roll my eyes and climb out of the car, prepared to walk home.

"Where are you going?"

"Where do you think? Home."

"I'll drive you."

"I can walk. "

"What about your car?"

"I'll let my parents deal with it. " Suddenly a car pulls over on the road and an old couple steps out.

"Are you kids okay? What happened here?" The woman calls down, with some sort of what I would think is a southern accent.

"We're perfectly fine. I slid into a ditch, is all." I call back, hoping politeness will chase them off.

"Well, we're gonna call the police. You kids need to be more careful driving. Where are your parents?" The woman talks to us like we are some dumb stereotypical teenagers.

"Uhhh... they are at home. We are on the way home from school. And you don't need to trouble yourselves with the police. " I'm trying to get the people to back off, my life has been hard enough as it is without worrying about police interviews, but it's too late. The man already has his phone out, and I can't hear what he's saying, but I can picture it. 'There're two dumb kids here, probably been drinkin', you gotta get down here right away. Dunno where their parents are. Make sure ya bring your tazers.'

The man hangs up, and the couple starts to walk towards us. We have nowhere to go, the only option left is to suck it up. At first the couple tries to speak to us, but I am too irratated to answer, and Nigel is just ignoring them. So we all sit there in an awkward silence, until the cops arrive. They call in a tow truck, and start to question us.

"What were you kids doing?"

Nigel answers for me. I am terrified that he'll change the story and make me sound like a bad guy for being so mean. "Well, sir, we were driving home from school tomorrow, Zarra here swerved to miss an oncoming car that was on the wrong lane and ended up in this ditch."

Huh? He changed the story, but in my favour. I don't think the wrong lane thing was totally true, but it seemed to work. The police questioned Nigel further, but I'm too lost in thought to pay attention.

"-YOUR NAME?!" The cop shouts.

"Huh?? Oh. Uh.. Zarra Reiscenking. My name is Zarra Reiscenking, sir. Sorry." I say meekly.

"Well, Zarra, I was saying that we will give you and your boyfriend here a ride home and question your parents further." I shoot Nigel a look. Boyfriend? I try to say with my eyes. His grin tells me that the boyfriend thing wasn't just the cop's uneducated guess. I roll my eyes. The cop leads us towards his car and lets us in.

We sit in silence for the rest of the way home, and I'm deep in thought. Maybe I was too harsh on the kid. He was only trying to help, and he was obviously into me. Plus he wasn't that bad looking. Actually, he was quite cute. Looking over at him through new eyes, I feel a slight flutter in my chest. The car jerks to a stop, and looking outside, I see my house. We step outside, and the police man walks up to the porch and rings the doorbell. My mother answers, and I let the cop fill her in. Instead, I have an apology to deliver to Nigel.

"Look, I'm sorry about how I acted before. I just- I've had a lot going on in my life and I took it out on you. I'm sorry."

"Oh, no problem. I accept your apology, though how could I not, coming from your beautiful face?" He replies. I blush.

"First, do not EVER say that to me again. Do not try to flatter me. Second, good. Thank you."

"Oh, I knew you'd come around. So, you want to go see a movie later?" Well, I was certainly not expecting that.

"Did you- Did you just ask me out?" I say awkwardly.

"Maaayybeee..." Nigel is grinning widely.

"Uhhh... well... I guess so. The cop seems to think we are dating, why not make him right?" I finally decide.

"It's a date. Pick you up at 7:00?"

"Well, maybe not tonight." I say, glancing in the direction of the cop. I notice my mom glaring at me. "We still have that to deal with. How about Saturday?"

"Oh, yeah sure." Just then my mother yells my name, clearly furious. From the account of the cop, which she got, the accident wasn't at all my fault, but my mom is trying to find someway to make it. In this moment, I don't care. I am feeling to good.

"That's my cue." I jog up to my mom, trying to look upset, and we sit in the living room.