Shadows

Shadows

They’ve gotten to me. They found me and now darkness looms and my time is now limited. They’ve hunted me down for months, but I could always keep them at bay. Well, not always. At first, I didn’t know, I didn’t believe, and my best friend is dead because of it. She died, because I didn’t believe. I could have saved her, but I didn’t know. She tried to tell me, but I didn’t listen. Even after she died, I didn’t really believe it, not at first. But now I believe. And now it’s too late, at least it is for me and my best friend. I hope it isn’t too late for you. It is for you that I’m spending my last breaths trying to warn all of you. You are the last hope of our species. Please believe me when I tell you they aren’t just coming…they are here!

Stop reading immediately and turn on all the lights. No, I’m not joking. I’m very serious. Even if you don’t believe, just humor me. Get up and do it…NOW!!! They don’t come in the light, and they really don’t come in pure darkness. But darkness isn’t pure, is it? It is between the dark and the light where they live and where we will die.

There…did you see it? As I type, I saw it out of the corner of my eye. The shadow moved. Oh, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking it’s my imagination; that it’s a trick of the light or my tired eyes. I thought that too…months ago. Now I know that’s not what it is.

The shadows live. I know what you’re thinking…you think now I’ve lost all grip on reality and for a while so did I. But I speak the truth. It is alive and not everyone can see it. Only a few of us can. And most of us are in the loony bins because we didn’t have enough good sense to keep it to ourselves. I’ve kept the secrete for months, but I can’t keep it anymore. The shadows live and they are watching.

The shadows, in the corner by the bookcase,do you see it? Watch it as you read this. Don’t stare at it. Watch it out of the corner of your eye. Don’t let it know that you know it’s alive. They don’t like us to know. That’s why they’ll coming for me tonight.

You see I’ve been running every since I found the truth. And it doesn’t matter where I run or how far I run the shadows are always there. They try to get me, but I turn on all the lights. I haven’t seen darkness in months and I surely haven’t been in the darkness for longer than that. But tonight the electricity is out. If I went outside of this trashy motel room I would find the electric box and it would be in the shadows and the lines would be cut, either by insects, arachnids or other ways. They are all together in this. They have teamed up to get us…and from where I sit, they are winning. Tonight they will come for me when the sun goes down and the shadows emerge from their hiding places.

I don’t know exactly what they want, but it isn’t good. They outnumber us…by a lot. And when you combine the shadows with the spiders and with some bugs, I don’t think all the bugs are in on it, just some of them. But trying to tell them apart is almost impossible. But just think how much they outnumber us and combined they probably outnumber the stars in the sky. The odds are against us. The shadows are everywhere.

Did you ever notice they only move when you’re alone? They never move when you have company or when you’re out at a crowded store. But they’re outside that store as you walk to your car alone and the darkness comes. Keep a weary eye on those shadows as you read this. Go a head tell yourself that it’s just your imagination; if that’s what will get you through the night. But remember that’s what I told myself too. And although I slept well that night, I haven’t slept since and when I do sleep I awake screaming.

Adults always tell kids there isn’t anything in the dark that there isn’t in the light. Children shouldn’t be afraid of the dark, maybe this is true. But there is something between the darkness and the light and this is where it lives.

There…did you see it that time. No, it wasn’t the shadow moving this time. This time it was that piece of lint on the carpet. It moved ever so slightly, but it did move. No, it isn’t just that I moved my head or that the fan blew it up. It’s moving under it’s own power and…it’s moving toward me.

The spots on the walls move too. And then there are the things that you only see out of the corner of your eyes and when you turn your head, it’s gone. It’s like a spider dropping down from her web and then disappearing into the shadows. The shadows protect and hide their movements. I don’t know for sure if the spiders are real and working with the shadows or if the shadows are just playing with me. You don’t believe me? I’ll prove it to you. Is there a piece of lint on the floor or carpet, a piece of dirt, or a spot on the wall? Keep an eye on it while you read this, it will move. Oh, it won’t move a mile or even an inch…but just enough to make you think it was your imagination. You’ll chalk it up to your imagination because you’re reading this. And that’s exactly what they want you to believe, just like the shadows.

They live and they think and they plan and they plot and I will not survive this night. This I know as sure as I’m sitting here trying to finish this last testament before they take me into their dark world.

My head itches like a spider has dropped down on top of my head and is lightly walking around up there. I scratch, but it doesn’t help the itching. I hang my head over and violently rub my hands through my hair. Nothing but bits of broken hair fall to the carpet. Did you see that? Something just took that broken hair and pulled it under the couch. No, really, I swear. Those little bits of hair are gone. You don’t believe me? How is your lint? Has it moved yet? Did you get up to check to see if it was really lint and not a bug moving around down there? Go ahead, go check it out to make sure, but don’t move it…it will do that all by itself.

It…they are getting closer. My 38 revolver is sitting next to me. If I can’t get them, I’ll get me. I won’t let them take me into the darkness. All the light switches are on, and I can only hope the electricity will come on at the last minute and save me. But that's a fantasy. The current’s been cut and there isn’t a hero to save me at the last moment. My knight in shining armor won’t be riding up on a white horse to save me at the last minute. In the last moment all that will be heard is a loud bang as I prevent them from doing to me what they did to my best friend. I will not scream, I will not cry, and I will not let them win.

The doctors say its just guilt of her dying, and me living especially since I was driving. But it was the shadows. She begged me to drive into the light and stay there, but I didn’t listen to her. The shadows ran us off the road. It wasn’t the deer running out in front of us making me swerve and hit that tree. That’s what the cops think happened, but they’re wrong. I never did tell them how the shadows chased us through three counties and two states before they won and I lost control of the car. Even when they put me in that special hospital I didn’t tell them the truth. I knew they wouldn’t believe me and I knew the shadows were listening to me. I knew they would kill me just like they did my best friend if they knew I believed. I had to act like I didn’t believe. Did you see that? To the left, hurry look!! You were too late, weren’t you? You just think it’s my imagination, don’t you? I’m not crazy! I know some of the doctors still didn’t want to release me, but they didn’t have a choice. I said all the right things; I did all the right things. I didn’t talk about the shadows; I was smarter than that.

I’m going to send this to everyone I know. I just have to make sure that I leave myself plenty of time to send it to everyone. Time is short. Has your lint moved yet?

I don’t know what they want, but it’s bad. At night I can hear them whispering to each other. They don’t like us. They want to be at the top of the food chain, and I’m afraid they want to make us their food. Light is the key, the answer and the salvation of our species. The shadows can’t survive in the light. We must fight. I know I’m hypocritical. I’m so tired, so very tired. I can’t fight anymore. They will consume me tonight, or at least my dead body. The 38 is cool to my hot, sweaty skin. It comforts me.

There, did you hear it? Most people think it’s just their house settling, but they’re wrong. It isn’t as innocent as the ground under them ‘settling’. There is no such thing. It is much more ominous. But they don’t want to believe it. They would rather think I’m nuts then to know the truth and the truth is that the shadows speak to each other. And sometimes they speak so loud and are so angry that they cause the walls to vibrate until they crack. Look around. Do you see any cracks in the walls or ceiling around you? Go ahead, believe that the house is just ‘settling’, but I tell you this, the more cracks you see the closer you are to becoming part of the darkness. Beware, they target the believers first.

You are skeptical. I don’t blame you. I was too, months ago. But there isn’t another reasonable explanation. When all reasonable explanations have been eliminated then the one that remains must be the truth no matter how improbable it is…who said that? It was someone famous, wasn’t it? It won’t matter soon…soon nothing will matter. Have you heard your house ‘settling’ yet? A lot of times they like to wait until you’re in bed, alone with just the streetlight coming through the bedroom window. Look around tonight and try and count how many shadows watch you sleep. You’ll be surprised at just how many are in that one room where you plan to close your eyes and where your innocence makes you believe you’ll open your eyes in the morning. You believe that because it’s easier to believe that I’m playing with half a deck, I’ve only got one ore in the water, I’m a few short of a full...but I digress.

You better check out that lint. Is it getting closer to you?

It is twilight here and the shadows are watching me, whispering to each other and the lint moves ever closer. The shadows are growing long in the fading light and they are growing toward me. It won’t be long now.

I know most of you think I’m nuts, just like the doctors, but I’m not and our species depends on you not dismissing me as just some nut case who got one too many electroshock treatments in the hospital. At least be alert to the possibilities. As you lay in your bed tonight and watch the shadows dance across your ceiling, think of the ramifications if I’m right. What if I’m not nuts? What if I’m telling the truth? What if those pretty dancing silhouettes on your ceiling are alive? What are you going to do? Are you going to close your eyes and go to sleep? And if you do, will you awaken in the morning or will they pull you into their darkness for all eternity? Which will it be?

I’m done. It’s time. I’m going to push the send button and then do it.

OH MY GOD!! WHERE IS IT? IT WAS JUST HERE? I TOUCHED IT, IT WAS COLD, IT WAS JUST HERE. THEY’RE COMING ... THEY’RE ….. THEY’RE... HERE!!!!!!

He looked down at her cold body. The coroner placed the approximate time of death as last night…at sunset. The scene was suspicious but he couldn’t really put his finger on it. The electrical lines being cut to her motel room didn’t make sense. Even if someone did cut the lines, her door and windows were all locked from the inside. He rubbed his arm as he remembered crashing his shoulder into her motel door and fell over the chair propped under the doorknob. She obviously was afraid of someone, but whom? You could look at her face and tell she died afraid. He looked at her face again, something didn’t look right, and he leaned down to get a closer look. What was it?

He jerked up and almost stumbled backward as he realized what was wrong. Her face swam in shadows on this bright sunny morning.