Shadow Chase - Original Writing

2013 - Short Story workshop first draft

Shadow Chase (working title)

I put down my coffee and glanced again at my phone; still nothing since they'd texted to say that they were running a little late. I wonder if she's lost her phone again? I thought. Even still, she should be home by now. Did she forget we saved my number on the handset? It's probably nothing, but-

'I'm sorry, are you Adam?'

A voice from behind snapped me out of my reverie, and I turned to face the people we'd arranged to meet that afternoon. I tried my best to greet them properly; they'd come a long way, after all.

'In the flesh!' I said, behind a forced grin. 'Diane and John I presume?'

'Yes, sorry it took us so long to get here!'

I waved it away and proffered my hand, which they shook in turn before taking their seats. 'It's great to finally meet you guys in person, though it feels a little weird.'

'Same here. Whereabouts is Kelly hiding? I've been really looking forward to meeting her.'

I'm afraid she's not been feeling well,' I lied. 'She decided to go back early a little while ago, I'm really sorry you missed her. You'll just have to put up with me, haha.'

It was a pretty terrible lie. They exchanged a glance, but didn't press the issue. We made small talk while they waited for their orders, discussing trifles like the weather and how hard to find this place was. The conversation gradually dwindled as we circled around the reason for our meetup, grinding to a halt once the server had placed their food in front of them. Our end of the cafe was practically empty, so when the chatter died down a heavy silence settled over our table. I was the first to break it.

'So,' I said, with a wry smile, 'I guess I should go first? Seeing as I'm the veteran here.' Diane gave a small nod and John reached over to give her hand a comforting squeeze. Watching them, the anxiety I had been suppressing all day flared up. Don't worry, I told myself. She'll be right there waiting for you when you get home. I sucked in a deep breath, and began.

'I've always been able to see them. They scared me, at first. What child isn't afraid of things lurking in the darkness? One of my earliest memories is peering down at them from my bedroom, head barely poking over the windowsill. They were perfectly still, dotted at intervals along the street, illuminated by the moonlight. As I watched, they raised their heads as one towards my hiding place. I dropped out of sight and stayed there on the floor until my heart stopped hammering and I could crawl back into bed.

They disappeared during the day, though as the sun went down, I'd start to see them out of the corner of my eye, lurking just within visible range. I tried bringing it up with adults, but they'd always say something about my over-active imagination. When I realised that the other kids couldn't see them either, I made a game of it. Shadow chase, I called it. There wasn't much to it, really; there was a blindfolded team who could 'tag' the shadows to stop them, a special team who could direct them while avoiding getting tagged by the shadows, and the shadows themselves. It usually ended up devolving into a mess of shouting, scrapes and tears.

That was how I first got to know him. I must have been around... seven? Chris was a quiet kid from one of the other classes, I'd never really spoken to him before that day. I saw him watching us one day, and asked if he wanted to play, on a whim. As I explained the rules his eyes grew wider, and when I was done he asked, hesitantly, '...Can you see them too?'

We became fast friends after that. It was a secret only the two of us knew about, and that was intoxicating. We weren't different, we were special. We'd write stories about them; what they were, where they came from, what would happen if they caught you. We always said that if one of us got taken by them, the other would come to rescue them. In our minds it was as simple as that.

One day three years later, he just... disappeared. He never made it back home after football practice that night. I got called in to the Headmaster's office as soon as I stepped on to the grounds, got the third degree from him while Chris's mum cried and his dad pleaded with me. When they finally decided I didn't know anything, they let me get back to class. I could feel everyone staring and hear them whispering. After a while it got so bad that I started to feel physically sick, and asked to be excused - I spent the rest of that day crying in a toilet stall until my mum was called in from work to pick me up.'

I stopped relating my tale there momentarily, to look down at my hands; they'd been clasped so tightly that the knuckles had turned white. I prised them apart with exaggerated care, rested one flat against the table and used the other to catch the attention of a barista, requesting refills.

'It's... a little harder to deal with in person, huh.' It wasn't really a question, and neither of them said anything. Diane looked to be trembling slightly, and her slice of cake had been left untouched since I had started. We sat there in awkward silence while we waited for the refills. John whispered soothing nothings to comfort his partner, while I once again doubted the efficacy of these "support meetings". God, I wish you were here Kel. Handling horrible situations like this always was your forte. 

The thought made me realise how desperate I was to get back home, but I couldn't just up and leave. After Diane seemed to calm down, I tried to extricate myself as best I could.

'Maybe I should finish some other day?' I offered. 'It might be a little better if Kelly's here with us.'

'No... no, I'll be all right now. Please, it'd really like for you to continue.' She looked far from okay, with both her hands wrapped around her mug as if for support and her eyes downcast, but when I caught John's eye he just gave me a sad smile and a shrug.

'Well, if you're sure...' I hesitated again.

'Please,' she said, a little more confidently. She looked up at me this time, and smiled. It was heartrendingly familiar. So similar, I thought.

'Alright,' I said.

'I couldn't sleep that night.  I tossed and turned for what felt like hours, until I eventually decided to go down to the kitchen to make myself a hot drink. The house was quiet - my parents had spent the evening being part of Chris's manhunt and had gone to bed early. That was probably why the drapes in our living room hadn't been drawn that night.

I found myself drawn towards the window, the street lights outside casting long shadows across the room. I walked right up to the glass and stared at the ghostly figures on the other side, and they stared right back.

There were dozens of them, all concentrated around my house. They looked human shaped, and clothed in a hooded garment, but there was a strange indistinct quality to them, a blurring around the edges. It seemed like all colour had been drained from them, and their hooded faces were completely featureless.

Usually the bravado I felt whenever I was with Chris vanished the moment I was on my own. That night though, I was in a sort of trance. As I looked into the crowd of blank, hooded faces, it gradually began to part to allow a single figure through.

It was Chris. He was dressed the same as the rest of them, but immediately recognisable and barely looking any worse for wear. I pressed my hand up against the window, and after a brief pause he did the same. I opened my mouth to call his name, but all that came out was a wordless croak. But he was there! He was okay!

I ran to the door to let him in. I remember fumbling with the lock and throwing it open, but that's all. My parents found me there the next morning, passed out on the floor. I tried telling my parents what had happened, but obviously they didn't believe me.

They never found a body, of course. It really messed up that family. Eventually they moved away; too many painful memories. I remember the look his mum gave me, as their car pulled out of the driveway for the last time - a desperate, pleading expression on her face, begging me to tell her something that'd bring him back to her.  I never saw her again.

It messed me up too.  For a while I kept insisting that I saw him every night, kept trying to get them to look with me, but after the initial grace period where they all figured I was distressed, they got sick of me saying it. When my parents suggested I see a psychiatrist, I shut up about it. I withdrew into myself, after that. I fell out of contact with my old friends and didn't bother making new ones. The solitude suited me just fine.

Every night since then, I've kept my curtains drawn and I wait til he appears. It didn't seem to matter where I was, Chris always found me. Over time, the palm on the other side of the glass shrank as I grew and he stayed the same. It's become something of a nightly ritual, I guess. Even though I couldn't save him, I want him to know that I haven't forgotten.

Desolate Plains - Original Writing (excerpt)

2011 - draft (the pronouns in this are out of control, placeholder names are important)

The desolate plains spread for miles around him. Off in the far distance he could see the outlines of ravaged cities and ruined keeps, but it seemed that tonight’s vision would not be taking him to those haunting environs. That provided him with precious little comfort however, as did the knowledge that what he was experiencing wasn’t, strictly speaking, real. Though there was no sun visible in the dark grey sky overhead, the heat was oppressive; he tugged at his collar before striking out in a direction at random. If experienced served, the creature that had summoned him here would make itself known soon enough.

He didn’t have long to wait. After a short while, the air started gradually filling with a faint buzzing sound, like a swarm of insects. It rapidly quickened into a steady hum, then a frantic beating. He stopped and turned to look over his shoulder; behind him, the sky had darkened further still, the light blotted out by myriad different shapes. He braced himself as they bore down on him at an alarming pace – in no time at all he was in the centre of the maelstrom. The flapping wings surrounded him, and startling visages flashed by his face – horns, fangs, hideously contorted expressions – but he stood unharmed amidst it all. He suppressed a shudder as a particularly large sprite passed through him; he’d long since learned that it wouldn’t do to show any weakness that they could exploit.

The frenzy of movement gradually slowed, but if anything the noise level rose; as always, next came the voices. They cajoled, pleaded, threatened, promised him everything under the sun in exchange for his service. There was no blocking them out – just as they didn’t seem to occupy the same physical space as him, nor did their voices travel through the air. They instead appeared to resonate directly in his head, creating an unbearable cacophony that drowned out his own thoughts and made him feel as though his head was about to split open. He grit his teeth and clenched his fists, enduring it for as long as he could before it became overwhelming –

Enough.

All at once, the voices fell silent. Some of the creatures even stopped moving their wings, remaining motionless while hanging impossibly in the air. Then, gradually, the throng parted, and a figure strode forward to face him. Unlike the others he appeared to be human; a tall, distinguished looking gentleman clad in exquisitely cut – though notably old-fashioned – tailoring, with very fine detailing. The man smiled broadly, showing a great many of his perfect teeth.

‘A pleasure as always,’ he greeted him, with a slight incline of his head. He towered over him by a good half a foot. He nodded back. ‘As usual, I deeply apologise from dragging you from your restful state. I understand that the summons is seldom pleasant.’

He shrugged, affecting an air of nonchalance despite the overwhelming pressure that threatened to split his head apart. ‘Truth be told, it’s not all that restful at the moment. Too much interference from your domain, as it draws closer to census time.

The smile grew more predatory. ‘Quite so, quite so, though you do somewhat over-estimate my influence in this land. Which brings us neatly to the order of business; I fear that you do not seem to be making much progress on that front. It would be a terrible shame were you to… disappoint me.’

The younger man blinked away a bead of sweat that had trickled down to sting his left eye. ‘You’ve got nothing to worry about,’ he lied. ‘Everything’s more or less in place, it’s just a matter of executing it when the moment’s right.’

‘Excellent, excellent. It would be a most terrible shame if I were forced to make an example of you. You wouldn’t be the first to fail me, though I hope most sincerely that your predecessor will be the last. Remember that everything you have, you built with my aid. I do not need to be made manifest in your realm for you to feel the impact of my displeasure.’ He made a gesture, and the swarm surged towards him.

*

He awoke with a start. Returning to the real world was always more disorienting than arriving on that strange shadow plane, as if his body and all its senses had begun to distrust every response they received. He thrashed about beneath the blankets covering him for a spell, until he felt a familiar and comforting presence at his side. He regained his composure and looked down; a large dog with a sandy brown coat licked at the exposed fingers of his right hand then looked up at him with dark, soulful eyes.

He smiled weakly, despite himself. “Hey boy, thanks.” He swung his feet out of the bed, ruffled the dog’s fur with one hand and ran the other through his own hair. The twin sensations were comforting, and restored a semblance of normalcy to his world. Even still, things weren’t fully as they should be – the echoes of the demons were still clearly audible inside his head. They had been growing in strength as it drew towards the fateful date, with only the light of day offering any respite.

He wrapped himself in a blanket and walked out on to his balcony, his dog companion at his side. He slumped down against the wall, gazed towards the east, and waited for the sun to rise.