The Girl in the Red Scarf

~Short Story~

                There she is again, the little girl in the bright red scarf. She’s not alone this time, though. This time she’s brought a friend. A shadow, if you will.  I doubt she knows that her shadow friend is following her. It’s quick, the shadow, but the little girl seems to be quicker. She’s nearly running now. Does she know I’m watching? Oh, no. She’s stopped. “LEAVE ME ALONE.” She screams at the shadow, which would seem mental to the normal human being. “JUST. LEAVE.” She cried out in a high pitch. It’s the first time I’d ever heard her actually speak, but to hear such harsh tones coming from such a small being is startling.

                 “I cannot leave, you see. We belong together, Emily. We are meant to be.” The shadow whispered, manifesting itself into a human-like shape. The shadow spoke with its arms a lot more than necessary, to be completely honest. “Don’t make me leave, Emily. I don’t want to leave. I have nowhere else I can go. The little girl, Emily, was in tears over this shadow-being.

                “You’re not real, Jimmy! You’re just imaginary. No one else can see you. You aren’t real.” She screamed at him.  He laughed a dark and hollow laugh, causing Emily to back up a few small steps.

                “Don’t you see, Emily; I can never leave you. I am real. If I weren’t real, then how do you explain what happened to Dustin?” The voice emitted a dark chuckle. Emily began to cry once more. She seemed fragile, as if something terrible had recently happened. She didn’t look like that yesterday or the day before.

                “Dustin fell down the stairs, Jimmy. He fell and cracked his head open. You didn’t have anything to do with that.” Emily screeched at the shadow, which seemed to be getting stronger. Jimmy seemed to be feeding off of both Emily’s fear and anger.

                "Who do you think pushed him, Emily!?” Jimmy’s voice grew more powerful by the very second, causing even myself to get frightened. Emily was crying and screaming at this point, and it wasn't until I got slightly closer that I realised Jimmy had his shadow-like hand clasped around Emily's small throat. I could practically hear him crush her windpipe from my spot behind a nearby tree. "ANSWER ME YOU LITTLE BITCH."

                "Jimmy, stop...please..." She cried out weakly. She was losing air and fast. I wanted to help, but I couldn't allow myself to be seen. If I were seen, I would expose my secret. I'm not supposed to be alive right now. I'm supposed to be dead and six feet under. Well, according to the government that is. A few years ago I got into a plane crash and everyone on board was pronounced dead on sight. Except, they didn't take into the fact that I was asleep when the plane crashed. They never even checked my pulse because I wasn't awake, they assumed I was already dead.

                "I can't stop. You didn't answer my question. Now answer my fucking question. Who do you think caused little Dustin to fall down all those stairs?" Jimmy sneered. Emily had calmed down, as much as a ten year old being choked by an imaginary force can get, so she took a deep breath and answered him.

                "Jimmy, you pushed my brother down the stairs. He was my little brother. My only sibling. Why?" She cried. It was at this point that she noticed me standing behind a tree and held back a gasp. I held my finger up to my mouth as if to tell her not to spill the beans that I was here. She seemed to understand as she turned her attention back to Jimmy.

                "You forgot about me. All anyone in your family cared about anymore was the baby. You never asked where I was when you got home or anything like you used to. You used to come home and play with me right away. Now you come home and ask how the baby's doing. I was sick and tired of it." He glared, squeezing harder and harder at Emily's throat. It was like you could see the air leaving her lungs, I felt bad for her and wanted to help, but I couldn't. Jimmy was supposed to be imaginary, I couldn't let him know that I was able to see him. But still, I had to do something. I couldn't let him just kill such a sweet and innocent little girl like her. I picked up the nearest twig and threw it into the distance. Jimmy seemed to notice because he dropped Emily and flew off to capture the creator of the noise. Emily ran towards me and captured me in a hug.

                "Thank you. Thank you so much for your help. He surely would have ended me if you didn't help." She cried. I nodded and hugged her tightly. I offered to give her a ride out of the forest. She climbed on my back and we ran out of the woods, which was a good idea until I snapped a branch. I could hear the wind begin to pick up and the extreme shout coming from the middle of the forest.

                "EMILY-"