Shadowed

Skylar

So you're doing it again right?? Another date with Mr. SexyPants?? 😉😍

I blow air out of my nose in amusement and smile at my phone.

Yes, on Tuesday. I already told you it's not a date. -.-

I wait, staring idly at the soft lighting on the ceiling from the fairy lights around my bed. It's about 1:00 am but I'm not tired. It was an unspoken rule between Mallory and me to talk at night until we finally went to sleep, usually around two or three.

My phone buzzes in my hand and I quickly open up the messenger app once again.

Sweetie, it's totally a date 💁🏼

More weird, amused nose blowing. Mallory was reading too much into this and if I got sucked into it as well I'd end up getting too hopeful about what was going on with Logan.

What was going on with Logan?

After our study date on Monday, we hadn't had much time to talk. We had moved to the stage where we said hi to each other in the hallway when going to class. That was something, right?

None of that is as pressing, of course, as the issue with the notes. I still don't know who they're from (besides my one clue, "J") or why they're being sent to me. I haven't gotten one since last week, which leads me to hope that whoever my little stalker was had finally decided to leave me alone.

Sighing, I plug my phone into its charger and place it on the nightstand, I suddenly don't feel like talking to Mallory. I unplug my fairy lights and snuggle down into my bed, willing myself to drift off.

The lights that line the street outside illuminate my room in a sickly yellow, which gives me a feeling of unease that I can't explain. My mind turns again to Logan, imagining in increasingly more improbable ways of us getting together.

The room is becoming darker as I begin to lose the fight against my closing eyelids. The familiar drag of sleep is pulling at me. I can feel myself falling downward...

I'm at school, wandering the halls because I've somehow forgotten what classes I have. Plastered on every locker is a note addressed to me, even when I'm not looking I can somehow see my name shining from each one.

Skylar, Skylar, Skylar.

Up ahead I can see a person, who I somehow know is responsible for putting them up. It's a tall man with his back to me, standing in the center of the hallway as still as a statue. I race up to him, intending to scream at him for trying to scare me. He turns slowly to me as I am about to reach for him. My arm freezes and my whole body fills with dread. My eyes can't seem to focus on his face minus a pair of icy blue eyes and a manic grin. He grabs my face in a vice like grip, clenching my jaw so that I can't scream for help. I'm crying, he's strong. He leans in close to my ear, his grin stretching all the way across his face to reveal jagged teeth...

"Hello beautiful." He whispers.

BANG.

I start awake.

My heart is beating so hard and fast that it's all I can focus on for a minute. My frantic mind begins to slow down enough to recognize that I'm in my bed, in my bedroom, safe from my dream. Once my body stops freaking out, I lean over and check the time on my phone.

2:53

I sit up sleepily and rub my face, still feeling frazzled from my dream. My brain had tried to put a face to "J" and only managed to freak me the hell out. Thanks, brain.

A truck starts up somewhere outside and rumbles down the road as I stare blankly at the foot of my bed, trying to remember what it was that had woken me up. Was it just because I had been scared? No, there was a noise in my dream, maybe there had been a noise in real life.