When Shadows Speak

Chapter 1: Normal

"Yeah, right." She muttered as she walked with her best friend, Stacey, home

"Oh, come on. You know he's cute." Stacey laughed, shoving her towards the side of the road.

"Even if I did, you know I don't go for his kind." She said.

"You say 'his kind' as though they're a different species."

"No. I am." She looked down then, scuffing her feet on the road. "I mean, it's not like I mind being different. It's just that...I don't know. I guess I just wish there was someone else like me."

"Look, Andy. You have to get over this. You aren't that different you just...see the world differently."

"No I see another world. You know that." Andy sighed, thinking back to the first time it happened. She was three, playing with blocks in the living room when, suddenly, she felt the air change around her. The air filled with a dark fog that concealed everything, blinding her. She could feel the air around her like a silk cloak wrapping around her and blocking out the world. And then she could see. She saw the monsters that hid in the silky darkness and she reached out to the figures but before her fingers brushed the dark form before her she felt hands wrap around her waist and the shadows disappeared as she was pinned down in her grandmother's arms.

She learned that it was a family trait. It skipped her mother and landed on her. Her grandmother said that only certain people could see, only those who could handle it. The "gift"
was to see past shadows to the world beyond.

Stacey's voice yanked her back to the present.

"Yeah, well, whatever. You know what I meant. And, hey, at least you can control it now, right? And besides, what's that got to do with liking boys?" Andy ignored the last question.

"Yeah but lately things have been different."

"Different how?"

"I don't know. I can just feel it, like moving your feet under the sand and watching the sand shift and settle. Only it hasn't settled yet. And...I've been hearing things." Andy avoided Stacey's eyes.

"What kind of things?" Stacey asked. Andy thought she saw fear enter Stacey's eyes before she looked down at the sidewalk.

"Just fragments of things. Most of the time it doesn't make any sense. But they keep repeating something. They say; 'It's almost time. Someone made it out once. It's our turn now.'"

"Wow. What do you think they're talking about?" Stacey asked. She leaned closer and Andy shifted nervously, suddenly uncomfortable.

"I don't know. Look, can we not talk about this anymore?" Stacey let out a small huff before straightening and bumping her shoulder against Andy.

"Alright so about that guy...."

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She stared at her reflection in the full-length mirror. She had pulled her long brown hair into a messy bun on the top of her head and her blue eyes looked pained as she turned from the mirror and turned off the light.

"I know you're here. I can feel you." She said. It was the first time she had ever tried to talk to them and she wouldn't have if she didn't have to. But she needed answers.

"You've been following me." She said. There was a harsh laugh in front of her before the shadows opened to reveal one of the shadow people. They looked only marginally human, their inky black bodies sharp in places they shouldn't be. It was tall, looming over her with its back hunched to look down at her. The creature wasn't menacing to her though Andy felt it maybe should have been.

"Who are you? What are you? Why can I see you?" The thing flashed sharp white teeth that only seemed to enhance his sharp angular features and hungry red eyes.

"Wraith" It rasped.

"That's what you are? A wraith?" She asked. The creature nodded once before the shadows closed around it and light filtered back into her room.

She threw her hands up in exasperation before huffing and turning to her dresser to finish getting ready for bed. That night, she dreamed of dark creatures called wraiths and a figure in white standing in front of a pit, fighting the inky creatures with a sword that glowed as though it held the sun. Teeth glinted and red eyes flashed in front of her before being snuffed out as a wraith glided by. She fought with all her might but, suddenly, a wraith came up behind her, from her world. It wore a disguise but she could see its true face like a shadow under the mask. She faltered and in that instant, they attacked her.

Andy woke up, breathing hard, and quickly looked around her room for the pit, feet tangled in the sheets of her bed and her blurry eyes struggling to adjust to the light. Her grandmother stood at the foot of the bed, sunlight streaming in around her as she waited patiently for Andy to calm down.

"You were dreaming about them, weren't you?" Her Grams asked but didn't stop to let her answer. "I've been looking into their world. They speak but I can't hear them. What do they say?" Grams asked.

"Why do you want to know?" Andy asked, the dream leaving her with overwhelming doubt. She saw the flash of irritation in her Grams' eyes but it was quickly banked.

"I'm just worried about you, honey." She placed her hand on Andy's and it chilled her like ice. She jerked her hand back.

"You aren't my grandmother!" Andy cried. The thing that was supposed to be her grandmother smiled, her teeth turning to glass shards.

"I almost got you, didn't I? Oh well." And her body turned to that of a wraith. Andy screamed and tried to run only to jerk up in her bed in time to see a shadow seep out of her window. That wasn't a dream, she realized. But what did it mean? And why did a wraith want to know what was going on with other wraiths?