Shadows in the Dark (10 page)

“
I could ask you the same thing,”
he snapped. Before I could do anything, he raised his hand and a
force pinned me to the wall. I couldn’t move no matter how hard I
tried. I tried to call for Nick, but all of a sudden I couldn’t
breath. It was as if I was being choked.

“
What the hell are you doing
here?” the man asked. “This isn’t a place that you can just break
into. This place is special. Very, very special.” I tried to
respond, but the force on my neck grew tighter. All that came out
was a croak for air.

“
Hey, Luke,” came Nick’s voice from
the other room. “This place will have to do for tonight. From the
looks of it, no one is gonna come in here anytime soon.” For a
moment it was silent as I struggled to breath. I heard Nick walking
towards the room. “Luke?”

He walked into the room and saw me
pinned up against the wall, then saw the man standing
there.

“
Hello, Nick.
I’ve been expecting you.” Before Nick could make his fire appear,
the man quickly pushed his free hand in front of him, sending a
force into Nick and sent him flying back. His right shoulder blade
rammed into the doorframe, making him do a full one-eighty turn. He
made a loud
thud
as he landed onto the hard floor.

The man looked back at me and
started to laugh.

“
Oh, Luke,” he said. “You have no
idea how long I’ve been waiting to do this. I might’ve thought it
was too late. But it must’ve slipped my mind that you two would
come here. I forgot all about that.” What was he talking
about?

The grip on my neck tightened more
and more, up to the point where my neck was about to snap. But
that’s when Nick stepped into the picture.

A big wall of fire surrounded the
man, completely covering him and making him unseeable. The force on
me and my neck vanished and I fell to the floor, gasping and
coughing. Nick ran over to me and helped me up.

“
Come on!” he yelled. We only made
it a few steps before Nick was sent flying back, smashing into the
wall and sending the air right out of him. The wall of fire
vanished and the man stood there laughing.

“
Did you think a
small wall of fire would stop me?” The man started walking towards
us. My heart started to race as I backed up against the wall. “I am
more powerful than the two of you combined and more. You
have
no
idea what
I am capable of.” The man raised his hand at Nick and I, preparing
to strangle us to death. But I was ready.

“
Well,” I said,
“you have no idea what
we’re
capable of.” I took a step and pushed my hand in
front of me. At first, I was afraid that nothing would happen. But
I was proved wrong.

A long shot of electricity shot
from the palm of my hand and smacked right into the man’s chest,
sending him back and ramming him into the wall. I grabbed Nick by
the arm and dragged him over to the window. I rammed my elbow into
the glass and it shattered, sending glass shards down to the floor.
The man started to slowly stagger up, but I had already tossed Nick
out the window and leapt out myself.

Nick had already started running
away and I started to follow. I heard the man yell in anger, and I
looked back. He was standing at the window, watching Nick and I run
away. He pushed his arm out in front of him, and a car parked in
front of the house was sent into the air towards us.

I honestly thought I was going to
die right there as the car was just over my head. But with quick
reflexes, I dived out of the way. The car landed just a few inches
away from me. Glass shards flew in the air and got a few cuts on my
face. Nick grabbed my arm and pulled me up.

I noticed the man was about to do
that again, so I sent a bolt of electricity at him. It hit right at
the bottom of the window frame, causing the wall to demolish into
pieces. Smoke filled up around the window frame and the man could
no longer be seen. Nick and I took that as our chance and ran as
far and as fast as we could.

I couldn’t help but think. Who was
that? What was that all about? How did he know who we were? But the
biggest one that stuck out in my head was what bothered
me.

Who was Joshua Shaw?

…
..

Joshua

I didn’t come out of my room for
days. I kept it locked for hours. My parents tried to get me out,
but I told them to just leave me alone. The school called and said
that if I wasn’t back in two days, I’d have to go to summer school.
But I didn’t care.

Nights would end with my mom or
dad trying to calmly get me out, but I would just reply with the
same “I just wanted time alone”. They knew that wasn’t it, but they
let it pass. They’d leave food for me at the window every morning,
evening, and night.

One night, I was sitting on my
bed, staring at the wall. It was silent all throughout the house. I
only heard my house as it creaked every once in awhile. Then, I
heard a knock on the door.

“
Joshua?” came a small voice behind
the door. It was Loren. I sat up and walked over to the
door.

“
Yeah? What’s up?”

“
Why are you locking yourself in
your room?” She sounded kind of sad. It almost broke my
heart.

“
I just... I need time alone for a
while.” She didn’t reply for a moment. I could hear her breathing
on the other side.

“
Can I at least come in a see you?
Just for a second?”

“
Loren... I don’t know
if-”

“
Please?
I miss seeing you. You’ve been in there for
days.” Just hearing her sad made me give in. I hesitantly stood up
and unlocked the door and slowly opened it. Loren peeked her head
in and looked around the room. She then proceeded to waddle her
little body inside.

I shut the door behind her and
watched as she sat on my desk chair.

“
So,” she said. “What have you
been doing in here?” I sat on my bed across from her and kind of
smiled. It was nice having her in here.

“
This. I’ve just been sitting here.
Thinking about stuff. Stuff that’s been happening to me lately.” I
figured she knew what I was talking about. I think she remembered
the whole “I can see the future” thing.

“
Like what?
You’re still not freaking out about the whole ‘seeing the future’
thing, are you? Joshua, it’s impossible. Even
I
know that.” I glared at her. It
angered me that she thought she knew what all of this
was.

“
You don’t know
the things I’ve seen, Loren. I’ve seen people
die
. This isn’t a joke to me. I
honestly think this is all real.” Loren giggled a
little.

“
You’re just freaking out about a
few dreams you had. It’s no big deal, Joshua. Everyone has
nightmares sometimes.” She got up from the chair and walked over to
me, resting her hand on mine. “I may be your little sister, but I’m
here for you.”

I glared at her, angrier this time.
I threw her hand away from me and shot up, looking down at her with
as much anger as possible.

“
You just
don’t
get it
,” I
snapped. “You don’t see the things I see. You don’t feel what I
feel.” She started to back away from me, seeming scared of me.
“
You just don’t get it!”
All of a sudden, my nightstand flew off of the
ground and toppled over on the other side of the room. Loren stared
at it, then at me.

What the hell was that? Did... did
I do that? There’s no way. I looked down at my hands and sat down
on the bed. I was right. I was a freak...

“
Oh, God...” Loren said. She gave
one quick look at me, then at the door. “I... I need to tell Mom
and Dad.” She ran for the door. But I couldn’t let her.

“
NO!”
I exclaimed. She stopped and looked at me, and
started to say something. But she didn’t say much. Out of nowhere,
she was tossed against the wall and started gasping for air. It was
like something was pinning her neck against the wall. But no one
was there. Only me.

“
You can’t tell
them! They’ll see me for what I am!
” Anger
filled my whole mind, blinding me from what I was doing. Then I
came back to Earth, and realized what was
happening.

“
Loren?” I said,
jumping up and running to her. I knelt down and tried to pull her
from the wall, but she wouldn’t budge. I was freaking out. Tears
ran down my cheeks and sweat dripped down the back of my neck.
“
Loren?”

I could see the life drifting away
from her eyes. Small tears formed and dripped down her face. The
only thing I saw in them were sorrow and confusion. I tried to
stop, but I was freaking out too much. I was watching my sister die
right in front of me. But there was nothing I could do. I didn’t
know how to stop.

I grabbed her small, little hand
and held it as hard as I could. She was still gasping for air. Her
little feet were kicking rapidly, smacking into the wall behind
her.

“
No… Oh, God,
No!”
I tried pulling her again, but she
didn’t move. That’s when I felt her grip grow weaker. Her legs
started to slow. The life in her eyes was almost gone. What was
happening? Why couldn’t I stop?

Her face had turned pale and her
legs stopped kicking. Her heartbeat slowed to a near death rate.
Her eyes were locked onto mine, pleading me to stop. But I
couldn’t. I didn’t know how.

“
Please! Please
don’t let this happen!”
I yelled, pulling
her as hard as I could. From the looks of it, she was already dead.
But some life still rested in her eyes. “
STOP!”

I flew back from the wall, taking
Loren with me. Her body rolled over beside me, and stayed there.
Motionless.

I shot up and knelt down beside
her. She seemed dead. She seemed like a goner. I started to shake
her and tried to get her to move. It didn’t work.

“
No… This can’t happen...” I said.
I grabbed her cheeks and started doing mouth to mouth. I lifted my
head and started to push down on her chest. I hesitated and watched
her. She didn’t move. I did it again and again, hoping to get a
response. But she just laid there.

“
Come on!” I yelled. I did it one
more time, hoping she would move or do something. I pressed down on
her chest and waited. I didn’t expect her to move. Then, my heart
stopped.

The life in her eyes came back as
she took in the longest breath I’ve ever seen. She rolled over to
her side and started coughing. She was alive.

“
Loren!” I exclaimed as I wrapped
my arms around her. “Oh, God! I’m so-” Loren pushed me away from
her and backed up against the wall. Her eyes were filled with fear,
staring at me like she didn’t know who I was.

“
Get away from me!” she yelled,
staggering up and opening the door. “You’re a freak! You’re not
human!” She sprinted down the hall towards my parent’s room. “Mom!
Dad! Help!”

I started freaking out again. What
were they going to do? I... I couldn’t stay there.

I looked back at my window, then
back at my wide open door. My parents were going to get rid of me.
They were going to make sure I never saw them or Loren again. I had
to leave. I couldn’t hurt them. I couldn’t take that
chance.

I ran up to my window and yanked
it open, diving out into the outside and sprinting far away. I
didn’t bother to look back. It wasn’t going to help anything. I
just needed to be as far away as possible.

“
Josh!” came my Dad’s voice from
behind. “Joshua! Come back!” They would understand eventually. I
was doing this for them. I had no idea what I was. I was a freak. I
didn’t belong with them. What if that ever happened again? Could I
stop it?

As I ran off
into the woods, into the dark... I cried. I cried harder than I
have ever cried in my life. I nearly killed my sister. My
own
sister
. I
wasn’t stable. I wasn’t stable enough to be with
people.
I had to vanish.
I had to leave everything behind.

I needed help. I
needed to find someone like me. Then,
they
came to mind. The people I’ve
seen do things like me. They could help me. Instead of
disappearing, I needed to find them.

I needed to find Nick.

Karen

I was still a little shook up
after the whole thing with that guy. After hours of being paranoid,
I convinced myself I could’ve imagined it all. I haven’t slept in
hours, and I’ve been walking all that time. I needed to sleep, but
had nowhere to do that.