Into the Shadows

Chapter 1: It all Started With a Bottle of Jack Daniels.

She stepped outside onto the small roof just beyond her window. Her bare feet grappled at the rough tiling and her hands scrambled to the side of the window for balance.

She took two small steps and swung her hips around the now protruding window pane. She shuffled over to the next up-lift of the roof and as tenderly as she could pulled herself up. Her foot thumped onto the hard roof and despite contrary belief it was not dense; allowing sound to travel down into the rooms below, more specifically the living room. Her parents were perched on the couches down there, drooling over the new episode of their favorite show.

She didn't have an interest in watching anymore TV so, here she was, seated on the roof. She leaned her head back and gazed at the stars. She listened quietly to the sound of crickets and other insects calling to one another across the darkness. She closed her eyes but left her head tilted up.

She took a deep breath and in came the smell of a warm camp fire. Soon after the sound of laughter traveled through the late August breeze and swelled in her ears. Music began to play, music like her father liked, all instruments. She could hear it off in the distance and longed to find a way to sneak off the roof to find its epicenter. Despite her rebellious desires she knew she could never pull it off.

She was never that kind of girl. She was truthful and loyal to a fault. All these years it had kept her out of trouble but as she gets older the wall that used to keep bad things out now seemed to only want to keep her in. She sighed and opened her eyes to stare at the stars again.

A plane flew overhead and she watched as it streaked across the dark night sky. It was beautiful in a way. The endless possibilities of the people up there and their destination, but at the same time the sight of the airplane made her sick. It's not that she hates flying because that's not the case, she quite enjoys it. The sight made her sick because it was a reminder of reality. A reminder that the world is never actually quiet and in that chaos all people seem to make is trouble. It made her think of people hundreds of years ago who saw stars she will never see thanks to pollution. The clean crisp air and even more endless possibilities.

She sat there for a few more minutes until her mind began to plague her again. This time memories she had tried to forget millions of times surfaced and she struggled to push them down. Now was not the time or place. She slipped her phone and headphones out of her back pocket and began listening to music to distract herself.

She laid back on the roof and closed her eyes. Once the melodies had successfully done their job she turned off the music and looked up to the sky one last time.

"Good night" she muttered. She gently tiptoed across the roof and through the awaiting window. She turned and closed it. She closed the shades, and went to get in her pajamas.

An odd feeling prickled at the back of her neck. She went to the shades again and attempted to draw them even closer to fully shut. Eventually she realized the task could not be done, at least not tonight. She changed and then snuggled herself up in bed.

~ 

He stumbled through the grass and swiveled out of the paths of oncoming tombstones. What he was doing in a cemetery? he didn't know and why it was in a residential neighborhood? He didn't know that either. He continued to straggle across the trimmed grass and melancholy company until he got to a long row of trees. They looked like baby pine trees. Tall enough to not see over but not massive.

Maybe it was the bottle of Jack Daniels or the pure thrill of it all but he decided to trudge through the wall of trees to find the other side. He looked for something that could be considered an opening and went shoulder first into it. He walked with a sure footed strong pace despite his intoxication.

He finally broke the trees and he now stood in a backyard. There was nothing really special about it. It was fairly big and even had a swing set. He began to make a beeline for the blue swing that swayed in the breeze. What was he doing? This is stupid. He knew that if the owners saw him, they would call the cops. Then his parents can get another call about trespassing and underage drinking.

Why he continued to do this to them was one thing he did know, and unlike the other two things, this time he didn't care. At home he felt like a small boy that was constantly swaddled. He hated it. His parents never let him choose or have any say at all in his life. Everything he has ever done or accomplished has been meticulously planned out by his mother and father. He was sick of it, so to get back at them, he made trouble and got into it. He drank and started fights. He threw parties and disregarded anything they had to say. He talked back and never listened. He was sick of it all. His family name, their money, giant houses, grand vacations, snobby people. It never meant anything to him. It wasn't the life he wanted for himself.

He sat down onto the swing and just looked around. First he inspected the house. Like the backyard, it too was fairly large. Not so big that it is out of place, but big enough to catch the eye. It had a tan-whitish exterior and a dark roof. He looked to see a light flick on on the second floor. He watched as the window opened and a girl stepped out.

She was slightly caught off balance and he watched as she caught herself and then proceeded across the roof. He glanced down to the row of windows that were illuminated with flickering light behind curtains. He assumed that was a living room of sorts.

He looked back up to her and was immediately intrigued. From her size, she looked to be about his age but he wasn't sure. Despite his intoxication and the darkness, it was clear this girl was beautiful. He could see it in the way she tilted her head back to gaze up at the stars. It was like it emanated from her, flowed down the roof and splashed him from afar.

He watched her until he saw the lights turn out behind her closed window. He felt like a creeper, just watching her like that, but something about her tugged at his intuition.

He strolled through the back yard and down her drive way onto the street. He had managed to only stumble two to three times. He started walking in the direction he figured was home, but before he could stop himself he realized where he was headed and it wasn't to the Manor. It was to Christina's house. He swore he'd never go back, chick was crazy, but man she was good in bed.

He ignored the thoughts about the girl he had saw because they were telling him to turn around. All too quickly and all too slowly he now stood face to face with the dark mahogany side door, that seemed all too familiar. 'This is your last chance to escape.' He thought.

His drunken haze spilled over his vision and thought process once more and finally the thoughts of the mystery girl faded. He took a deep breath. He knocked. For some reason he felt like he had just condemned himself.

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