Shadows in the Dark (7 page)

I looked over at the dumpster and
got an idea. Suddenly, I pushed my hand in front of me, sending a
long electrical bolt into the dumpster. The dumpster slid forward a
few feet. I heard someone yelp from the other side, probably
walking past it at the wrong time.

Instead of joy, I was scared
again. One look at my hands and my heart started to beat faster. I
was a freak. I wasn’t normal. Just the other night, I was out on
the football field, playing with my classmates as my girlfriend
cheered me on. Now, I’m behind a dumpster, shooting lightning bolts
from my hands. This wasn’t normal. It was the farthest from
normal.

The sudden realization that I had
to leave came to mind. I couldn’t stay there. But, at the same
time, I couldn’t go home either. Odds are, what I had done was
probably all over the place. Lora and her friends probably told
everybody, freaking out about the whole thing.

Slowly, I peeked my head out from
behind the dumpster. No cars were passing and no one was walking. I
saw a small motel just down the street, so I walked out and started
towards that way. I didn’t have enough money, but I could sneak
into an unoccupied room.

The world around me was silent. I
didn’t hear any cars out in the distance. I didn’t hear people as
they walked closer towards me. I heard nothing but the buzzing
sound of the motel sign as I walked under it.

After I checked to see if it was
clear, I ran over to one of the motel rooms and quietly opened the
window. I slipped in and shut it quickly. Nothing outside even
noticed me. Now I had somewhere to stay.

I turned around to look at the
room. It was pitch black. Not even opening the blinds helped much.
So I just felt around for a bed or a lamp. Mainly a lamp. After a
minute or not trying to run into something, I found what I thought
was a lamp. I turned it on and the room filled with
light.

“Well,” I said, “It’s better than
nothing.” The bed was dirty and the floor was stained like nothing
else. Plus it smelt horrible.

The bathroom door was closed and
the light inside it was off. But a faint, orange glow shined
through the bottom of the door, and smoke seeped through. There was
a fire in the bathroom.

I ran over to it and quickly
opened the door. Instantly, smoke spewed into my face, making me
cough, sending some into my lungs. I ran in for the fire to put it
out, but something threw me back into the room.

I landed on the bed, dazed and
confused. I looked up and saw a boy standing next to the bathroom
door. He was wearing a black hoodie and had the hood up. I jolted
up and stared at him.

“What the hell? Put the fire out!”
I yelled. The boy stood there, not moving. That’s when I ran for
the door, but was stopped by the boy again. He grabbed me and threw
me into the wall, pressing me against it with his upper arm against
my neck.

“What are you
doing here?” he growled. “This is
my
room! What the hell do you think
you’re doing?” I tried to answer, but I couldn’t even breathe with
his arm against my throat. I only looked over at the fire and saw
that it now covered the whole bathroom. I frantically pointed at
it, trying to get his attention.

“Yes,” he said,
“I realize there’s a fire in the bathroom. I’m
practicing
for something. Something
you wouldn’t understand!” The fire seeped through the bathroom
entrance and was now started to catch the room on fire. I kept on
frantically pointing at it, but he stared at me. For a second, he
did nothing. Then he lifted his hand towards the fire and closed
it, as if he was catching something. To my surprise, the fire
instantly went out.

“Now,” he said, bringing his face
closer to mine. “What are you doing in my motel room?

…
..

Karen

Walking home alone in the middle
of the night isn’t the most fun thing to do. But, hey, that’s what
I get for staying in the football field bathroom for hours. I
didn’t have to be smart to know that my parents were going to kill
me. As soon as I walk through that door, my life is
over.

Walking alone,
only having headlights and street lamps lead the way wasn’t what
was bothering me. The thing that was bothering me was... what
if
it
happens
again? After hours of freaking out, I finally calmed down. Yeah, I
can move things with my mind. What’s that called again?
Telekinesis?

I didn’t know
how to control it. All I know is that, when it happened, I
was
pissed
. I
think that’s what triggered it. Now, if only I could learn how to
make it happen again. But on purpose.

I could see my
house down the street once I turned the corner at the stop sign.
The porch light was still on, meaning my parents were awake. I
didn’t know what to really tell them. I can’t just go up to them
and say, “Hey, guys! Guess what? I have
Telekinesis!”

First off, they wouldn’t believe
me. Second off, if they did, I’d be sent somewhere so they could
figure out how to get rid of it. What? You think my parents
wouldn’t do that because they “love” me too much? Well, you thought
wrong. My parents couldn’t care less about me.

As I walked up to my front door, I
could already see my parents on the couch through the window. They
didn’t seem too happy. I inhaled deeply and slowly grabbed the door
handle. I prepared myself.

“
Where the hell were you?” Mom
yelled as I walked through the door. Both of them sat up and glared
at me. I didn’t really answer. I just kind of walked passed them
and locked myself in my room. They didn’t bother to beat down my
door, let alone knock on it. See what I mean?

I just laid down on my bed and
stared at the ceiling, wanting to forget tonight. Why did this have
to happen to me? Out of all people, it happens to the girl who
doesn’t talk to anyone? The girl who has two jerks for parents? The
girl who avoided people in general her whole life? I just didn’t
get it. Why me?

I looked over at my clock that
rested on my nightstand. It was three o’clock in the morning. Had I
stayed there that long?

Sighing, I faced the wall. I
started staring at the small cracks and places where the paint was
thicker than the rest of the wall. Than my thoughts started to
consume me. I remembered Lora, flailing her arms as she floated in
midair. I remembered the trashcans as they floated, landing and
toppling over once I noticed they were there. Before I knew it, I
was asleep.

The aggravating sound of my alarm
clock woke me instantly. I slowly looked over and saw that it was
nine o’clock. Moaning, I knocked it off of my nightstand and closed
my eyes. I heard it thud as the plug unplugged from the wall
outlet.

Then I smelt something
burning.

I jolted up, instantly awake.
That’s when I realized... I wasn’t in my room.

The room around me was burnt and
destroyed. Dressers were all black. The bed I was in was completely
burnt to rumble. The walls were gone and I could see outside. But
outside wasn’t much better.

Outside, ashes blew in the wind.
Trees stood dead and burnt. The world around me seemed that it had
been consumed in fire.

I quickly jumped out of bed and
ran for outside. But a little voice stopped me.

“
Wait, Karen. Don’t go.”

I quickly turned around and saw a
little girl standing in the middle of the room. She had long,
beautiful brown hair. Her golden brown eyes seemed to be filled
with sorrow.

“
Who are you? Where am I?” I asked,
backing away from her.

“
You are in my home. Well... what’s
left of it.” She looked around and seemed to grow sadder. “I am
here to warn you. This is the future that awaits you, Karen. I am
here to tell you that you can stop this. You are not the only
special person on this Earth. There are others like you. Many
others.

“
Your
Telekinesis may seem useless at the moment. But
when the time comes, it will save you and your
friends.”

“
Friends? I have no friends. I’ve
avoided people all my life.” The little girl smiled and sort of
giggled.

“
You will meet new people along the
way. That is also why I am here. I must tell you, Karen, that you
must leave your home. You must leave your life and leave it behind.
Once you do that, the present will take you to your
future.”

I looked around the dead, burnt
world some more. I looked at the dead trees. I looked at the dead
houses.

“
It will lead me to
this?”

“
No,” she giggled. “It will lead
you to a better future. A better world than what it could be. But I
must warn you, Karen. This future, the one we’re in, is very, very
possible. The smallest thing could make this the newer
future.”

She looked around some more, more
sorrow filled than before.

“
I’m sorry. But I just can’t
believe this. Matter of fact, this is just a dream.”

“
Yes, Karen,” she said, “this is a
dream. But I am real. I was once living. Until one fateful day. You
must stop this from happening, Karen. You must stop the person who
does this.”

“
Who does this?”

“
My brother. He... covers the world
in fire.” I looked around in shock and realized that there was no
sign of life anywhere. Everything was dead.

“
You must leave now, Karen. When
you awake, you must leave as soon as possible. Do you understand?”
I nodded my head.

“
Who... who are you?”

“
Anna. My name is Anna.”

…
..

Joshua

Words can’t
describe how freaked out I was after that dream. I paced around my
room for hours. Even by one o’clock in the morning, I still hadn’t
calmed down. What the hell was that? It felt so real. When that
kid,
Nick
, talked
to me, it seemed so incredibly real.

I didn’t know what to do. Matter
of fact, there was nothing I could do. No matter how much I wanted
to, I was useless. If that was really the future, I couldn’t stop
it. Several times, I punched the wall in frustration. Just the
thought of sleeping again made me sick. I didn’t want to have
another dream like that. Ever.

I slumped down in my chair and
stared at my blank computer screen. I looked at my reflection. It
made me think. What was I? What was happening? If it was real,
could I stop it? My eyes tried to communicate with my reflection,
trying to tell it that everything would be okay. I rubbed my eyes
and sighed. I was probably putting too much thought into this.
Maybe the whole thing with Jacob was a coincidence. Maybe that was
just a stupid dream. Then, I smelt something burning.

I flashed my eyes open and found
myself in the middle of a burnt field. Ashes blew in the wind,
running into dead, burnt trees. The dust made a fog-like substance
out in the distance, making it almost impossible to see past
it.

“Oh, God. Not again,” I said,
looking around. I couldn’t move again. I was forced to stay
there.

It was dead silent. The only thing
I heard was the wind blowing. Just like the other dream. I tried
calling out, but nothing happened. I couldn’t talk
either.

“
NICK!”
The sudden shriek filled the whole, empty field
in an instant. My heart jolted in surprise. That’s when a body came
flying through the fog-like substance and landed a few yards ahead
of me. Then came another, running to the other. This one looked
familiar. It was the girl from the dream before.

“Oh, God... Nick?” she said as she
knelt down next to him. She lifted his head up and I saw his face.
It really was Nick, seeming more helpless than a human possibly
could. A long, deep cut rode across his face, letting blood seep
through. He had one black eye, and was covered in soot.

Out in the fog-like substance, a
flash of blue light would appear every few seconds. The sound of
electricity followed it. After a while, it stopped. Then it was
silent.

The girl looked over her shoulder,
breathing hard and sweating. The sweat would pick up some soot and
have it flow down her face with it.

“Luke?” she sobbed out. No reply.
“L… Luke!” The outline of a figure appeared, walking towards the
girl and Nick. She got up and started to back away. More sobs
started to come, sending tears down her face and trembles down her
body. “Please... stay away.”

The outline of the figure stopped,
watching the girl. Then it raised its hand and the girl grabbed for
her neck, as if she was getting choked. Her feet started to flail,
but she didn’t fall. Something was holding her up.