Shadows in the Dark (4 page)

…

The church towered up into
the sky, the tip forming into a spherical figure. Sunlight
reflected off of its metal surface, shining brightly. People walked
in and out of the church, smiling and laughing with their friends
and family.
I stood in at the front, staring at the entrance door. The bag
sagged low from my grasp, almost touching the ground. I couldn’t
see Jackson and his men anywhere. But that made me feel more
comfortable. They were doing what they needed to do.
Taking in a breath, I slowly walked up the front steps and into the
church.
A cool wave of air splashed me in the face. The hum of air
conditioning rang all throughout the service room. People sat in
the pews, reading their bibles as the pastor got everything ready
for the service.
Trying to be as unnoticeable as possible, I walked around all the
pews and stopped at the door of the pastor’s office. Inside his
office was a basement. I had to go in there and act like I was
planting the bomb just in case Ralph was the church.
I looked around the room. Everyone was reading, the pastor was
still getting things ready, and the pianist was nowhere in sight.
This was my chance.
I quickly opened and closed the door as I walked in. Looking out
the small window that was on the door, I saw that no one noticed
me.
My heartbeat slowed a little, calming me down. Now all I had to do
was “plant” it. I walked over to the basement door and set my hand
on the handle. Feeling like I was being watched, I opened the door
and walked in.
The basement smelt musty and felt like it hadn’t been touched in
years. I hadn’t walked down the stairs. This was as far as I needed
to go to make Ralph believe I was planting the bomb,
if
he was watching
me.
I leaned on the basement wall, relaxing a little. All I had to do
was wait for a few minutes, walk out, and look suspicious. I took a
long, deep breath and kind of laughed. I couldn’t help but think.
Why me?
Was it because I called him? Did I have a feature that Ralph liked?
Or was it because I seemed the most vulnerable? Either way, I was
unlucky.
A small, quiet ringing came from my pocket. I quickly grabbed it
and flipped it open. It was Rick. I had no choice but to
answer.
“Hello?”
“Eli! Eli, get out of there!” Jackson’s voice boomed from the other
line, hurting my ears and making me flinch.
“What? Why?”
“The bomb, Eli! The bomb is fake! The whole plan is fake!” I
dropped the phone and stood in shock. The world stopped rotating.
Time seemed to stop. I wasn’t tricking Ralph. Ralph had tricked
me.
I boomed out from the basement and the pastor’s office, busting
into the service room, not caring about the bag. People jumped and
yelped, dropping their bibles.
I didn’t have time to tell them what I was doing there or what I
had done.
I flew out of the entrance door and saw Rick running towards the
church. I met with him halfway.
“Where are your men?” I asked, breathing hard.
“I sent them to search the perimeter. Why would the creep kidnap
you and give you a
fake
bomb?” Jackson had sweat dripping off the side of
his face.
I thought hard. It didn’t make any sense. Did Ralph see this as a
game? Did he just do this to be amused? Why a fake bomb? Why a fake
bomb…
Then, it hit me. It hit me harder than punch to the face. The
sudden realization made my heart stop. We didn’t trick Ralph. Ralph
tricked us.
“For more time!” I started to yank my hair and panic, pacing
around. “He gave us a fake bomb to distract us! So he could do
what
he
needed to
do!” Jackson starred at me and gasped. He had agreed.
“That psycho! Why would he need-”
It was as if lightning had struck just next to us. Our eardrums
vibrated in pain, making Jackson and I cover our ears and fall to
our knees. I gritted my teeth so hard to the point it hurt my
jaw.
The noise had vanished and Jackson freed his ears. I did the
same.
“What in God’s name was that?” Jackson said. Before I could answer,
I turned and saw it. The local hospital across the street was
demolished. People all around screamed and cried for help, gasping
and standing in disbelieve.
Time had slowed down. Cars had slowed. The people running had
slowed. Even Jackson sprinting towards the hospital, yelling in his
walkie-talkie had slowed down. I couldn’t help but stand there, in
the church parking lot, motionless. Ralph had won. He had tricked
all of us. And I realized that as I watched his prize crumble into
flames.

…

Ralph stood on top of the
hill, watching the local hospital crumble. He smiled as people
cried in fear, running for help, screaming in shock. He took one,
quick glance at Detective Eli, standing in the church parking lot,
watching Ralph’s masterpiece. It made Ralph giggle with
joy.
Silly Eli. Thinking he could
trick me. Ralph. Rhyming Ralph.
Ralph
took in the picture one more time. People in fear. Officer Jackson
calling for backup. Detective Eli standing in disbelief. It was all
too much for Ralph. But one more take was all he needed, then he
turned around and walked away.
Ralph’s car sat on the bottom of the hill, waiting for him to drive
off to his escape. But Ralph stopped. Something felt wrong.
He reached into his pocket and pulled a small flap of paper. It was
the photo of the little girl. Ralph laughed and tossed the photo to
the side.  
Ralph knew he was crazy. But, to Ralph, crazy overpowered
knowledge. Knowledge doesn’t drive you to do the unthinkable. Crazy
does. Crazy drives you to blow up a hospital. Crazy drives you to
become the nightmare of a once unstoppable detective. Crazy drives
you to blackmail said detective. Crazy… drives you to lie. Crazy
drove Ralph. It always had.
Ralph unlocked his car and got in, shutting the door and starting
the engine. The sweet hum filled Ralph’s ears. It was the hum of
freedom. Ralph took off his mask and set it aside in the passenger
seat. No need in wearing it anymore.

As he put his hands on the
wheel, he couldn’t help but look in the rearview mirror and watch
the thick smoke float up into the sky. And as Ralph drove off into
freedom, he couldn’t help but think.
I beat Eli. I had done it. I had set the world on
fire.

…

Special

Karen

It’s funny how you can sit in a
giant crowd of people, yet you feel like the loneliest person in
the world. Everyone around me cheered their hearts out as the
football game went on in front of them. I must have seemed like a
complete loser just sitting there. But I wasn’t there for the
game.

I know it sounds weird, but I was
there to watch the cheerleaders. I wanted to watch them and see how
they could be so happy. I wanted to drown in the thought of being
one of them. How I could be popular. But, I’m not. As a matter of
fact, I’m far from that.

I’m the type of girl that avoids
most people because I’m afraid of becoming attached to them. So,
most of the time, I keep to myself. Every once in awhile, I go to a
football game. But it’s only for when my parents are yelling at me.
Well... when it’s worse than usual.

The horn blew and halftime
started. The cheerleaders all went over to the bleachers to sit
down and take a break. Every few seconds, a girl would walk over to
them and start talking. I would assume that it’s a friend. Instead
of sitting back in the crowd, I took that as my chance.

I sat up and walked over to the
group of girls. They didn’t notice me at first. But once I got a
few feet away, they did. The first to notice me was Lora Martin.
She gave me a disgusted look and snorted.

“Hey, guys,” she
said as she pointed at me, “it’s Creepy Karen! What do
you
want?” I stopped
dead in my tracks and stood there awkwardly. They all started to
stare at me.

“Hey,” said Becca Swartz, “she
asked you a question.” The girls around her giggled. I didn’t move.
I kept my eyes on Lora, staring at her for the longest time. She
snapped her fingers at me a few times.

“God, you’re so weird. Yet you
wonder why your name is Creepy Karen?”

“I... uh...” I stuttered. My heart
was racing. What was I thinking? Did I expect them to start talking
to me like I was their friend? I hadn’t said a word to any of them
in the years I’ve known them.

“You what? Did
you expect us to
talk
to you?" They all laughed at Lora’s remark. My heart
shattered at that.

“Look,” Becca
said, standing up and walking to me, “there’s a reason we don’t
talk to
you
.
We’re actually liked by people. And, well, you’re not. If people
ever saw us being nice to you, that would ruin our reputation.
People expect us to be
us
. So, do yourself a favor and just
walk away before you embarrass yourself even
more.”

She smirked at me and walked away
back to her friends. Even after that, I stood there. My heart was
racing even faster. But I wasn’t embarrassed or scared. I was
angry. Very, very angry.

It took awhile for one of those
idiots to realize that I was still there. Lora looked back and
sighed. That made all of the others to look at me too. They all
gave me a look that said they wanted me dead.

“Maybe you’re
too stupid to understand what Becca just said to you,” said Sarah
Grey. “
Get the
hell
away from us!”
They all laughed. I crossed my arms and did
something I would’ve thought I’d never do. I just realized and said
one thing.

“I’ll see you all in Hell.” With
that, I just turned around and walked back to the bleachers. I
didn’t hear a single word from them. I didn’t hear them laugh. So
at least I got something accomplished. I showed them that I wasn’t
someone to mess with. And I prove that even more... really
soon

I sat back down and waited for the
game to start back up. It hit the ten-minute mark in halftime and
the cheerleaders ran into the middle of the field, cheering as loud
as they could, mashing their pom-poms together and shaking
them.

The crowd around me went silent
and started to listen to the cheerleader’s cheer. I couldn’t
comprehend why they thought it would be important coming for those
idiots. I watched as they all got into their formation for the
cheer.

“
You can think you’re better, but
we can prove you wrong! The Dragons come to beat you and to prove
that they are strong! We’re here to win and nothing else and that’s
why you are wrong!” The whole crowd ate that up and cheered for
them. I, on the other hand, knew that was terrible.

The girls all got in the formation
to stunt, all of them cheering, “Go Dragons!” Lora, Becca, and
Sarah all got ready to be thrown up. Just seeing them smile that
stupid smile made me mad. My heart started to race again, but
faster this time.

With a mighty
push, all three of them were thrown in the air. Becca added in the
splits, making the crowd cheer even louder. How could they cheer
for them? They’re selfish, stupid, and probably the meanest people
ever born! They don’t deserve fame or happiness! They deserve
sorrow and loneliness! They deserve what
I
have!

That’s when I snapped back into
perspective and noticed it was dead silent. Why had the crowd stop
cheering? Then, I saw why.

Lora, Becca, and Sarah were all in
the air. But they were staying there. They all squirmed as they
floated above the shocked cheerleaders below. No one knew what to
do. Some people around me covered their mouths in surprise. I
couldn’t help but stare at them.

“
Help!” Lora cried, flailing her
arms around like an idiot. My heart stopped racing and I calmed
down. That’s when they all fell back down and landed on the girls
who weren’t prepared to catch them. The whole group of girls fell
down to the ground, moaning in pain.

More than half the team of
football players ran out into the field to help the girls back up.
Almost everyone around me started to talk. I sat there in shock,
watching the girls as they got back up. Had I done that? It sure
felt like it. I looked around and quickly sat up, leaving the crowd
of people behind me. My mind was freaking out. My heart was
racing.

I busted through the bathroom door
and went to a mirror. I could easily read the confusion in my eyes.
Sure, it wasn’t proven that I did it. But when it happened, I felt
something in me... change. I felt something that I had never felt
before. I closed my eyes and tried to think normal thoughts. I
tried to think of other things.

“
It wasn’t you,”
I said. “It was just some freak thing that happened. You did
not
do it.” I felt my
heart racing faster than it ever had before. I quickly opened my
eyes, but I wish I hadn’t.

In the reflection, I saw the two
trashcans floating in midair, along with the trash on the floor and
rolls of toilet paper. I looked back and gasped, backing up against
the wall. Then, it all slammed back down to the floor, making the
trash cans topple over, spilling the trash that was in
it.

I looked around the room,
breathing really hard, more sweat started to drip down my face. I
slid down in the corner and huddled into a ball, crying and
freaking out. I covered my face in my thighs and stayed in there
for the longest time, balling my eyes out. What was I? What had I
done? I didn’t move from that spot. Not even after the game ended.
I wanted to stay there for the rest of my long, lonely
life.