Shadows in the Dark (5 page)

…
..

Joshua

For some odd reason, I wasn’t
hungry. As I sat there, watching my family eat around me, I lost my
appetite. Something on that day had happened. Something that I will
never forget and will always haunt me.

“
Joshua?” Mom asked as she set her
fork down. “Why haven’t you touched your food?” I looked at her,
then at Dad, who was giving me a sympathized look as well. Loren,
my little sister, just kept eating, not even paying
attention.

“
Well... something happened today
at school. And it’s really bothering me.” I tried to avoid eye
contact with either of them. I don’t know if I could tell them.
What would they think of me? Hell, would they even believe
me?

“
What happened?” Dad
asked.

“
Umm... well, there’s this bully at
school. His name is Rick. He picks on a lot of people. But he
mainly picks on Jacob. On the way to homeroom, I kind of had
this... vision before I stepped into the room. I saw Jacob getting
beat up by Rick in the boys bathroom. The clock in the background
said it was three.

“
So after homeroom, I ran up to
Jacob and told him what I saw. I told him to avoid the bathroom
after school at all cost. He didn’t believe me. He called me crazy.
After school, I heard everyone talking about how Rick had ‘beat the
crap’ out of Jacob in the bathroom. In the vision, I saw Jacob’s
nose break and his left cheek bruised really badly. And when I saw
him... that’s exactly what had happened. The bruise on his cheek
was exactly how I saw it.

“
So when he saw me, he blamed me
for it. He said that I set the whole thing up and that I told him
not to go to the bathroom as a joke. Now he won’t talk to me. But I
swear I saw it all happen before it happened. I swear I... saw the
future.”

Mom and Dad looked at each other
and busted out laughing. I slumped down in my chair and stared at
my plate.

“
Joshua, that’s silly. No one can
‘see the future’,” Mom said. Dad wiped his hands with his napkin
and stood up.

“
Maybe you just heard Rick talking
about it in the halls and forgot. Now eat your dinner. No food gets
wasted in this house as long as I’m here.” Dad picked up his plate
and walked into the kitchen to put it in the sink.

“
You guys just don’t understand.
You didn’t see it like I did. I knew you wouldn’t get it. Sorry I
brought it up.” I sighed. I stood up and walked out of the dining
room.

“
Joshua...” Mom started. I didn’t
let her finish. I just drowned her out and walked up stairs to my
room. How could they just sit there and laugh at me? How could they
laugh at their own son?

I fell onto my bed and let the
softness take me away. I felt my eyes droop down and get heavier.
Before I knew it, I had fallen asleep. Oh, I wish I
hadn’t.

The next thing I knew, I was
standing in the middle of a city. Looking around, I noticed the
city was abandoned. The whole place was silent. I didn’t hear a
single thing besides the wind blowing through the shattered windows
of the buildings around me. Papers and trash flew with the wind,
flapping wildly. A newspaper had landed at my feet. On the front
page, the headline read, “War between Freaks and Citizens begun!”
Freaks and Citizens? War?

I kicked the paper away from my
feet and started to look around. I heard nothing. No bird flew in
the sky. No person walked the streets. The only sign of life was
the sun that beamed down on top of me. And that’s when I heard
it.

The sudden sound of a machine
rolling down the streets in the distance echoed all around me. It
started far away, but got closer. All of a sudden, an army of men
appeared down the street, walking in rows of 5 in front of a
massive tank.

A leader walked in front of all of
them, yelling out orders to the soldiers behind him. I almost fled
away, but noticed that they couldn’t see me. So I just stood there,
watching in awe.

The men marched in perfect order
and rhythm. The stomps of their footsteps were drowned out by the
tank that followed. They all kept on marching forward, not paying
attention to their surroundings.

All of a sudden, the tank started
to slowly rise from the ground. Every soldier stopped what they
were doing and aimed their guns all over the place.

“
Freaks! Look all around for ‘em!”
one soldier yelled. They were all too busy looking around that they
didn’t even notice the tank above them all. The massive machine
dropped down, landing on more than half of them. I couldn’t hear
the disturbing sound of all of them getting crushed. It was drowned
out by the tank landing on the ground.

“
Get to cover!” another soldier
yelled. They all scrambled around and hid inside buildings. I
didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t do anything. All I could do was
watch. I wanted to wake up. I tried so hard to wake up. But I
couldn’t.

Then, fire spread around the area,
flying into every building that the soldiers were in. I could hear
the screams of the soldiers as they were gulped in fire. Some came
running out of the buildings, but they didn’t get far. From
somewhere in the flames, a bolt of lightning would strike the
fleeing soldier. Then they’d fall to the floor. And they’d stay
there.

I started to panic, trying so hard
to wake up. I didn’t want to stay there. But I couldn’t even move.
I was terrified. But, at the same time, I was confused. What was
going on?

The flames disappeared and all
that was left was silence. A few bodies lay in the middle of the
street, near the tank. After all of that, nothing dared to move.
For a few minutes, it was dead silent. Then came the slightest
sound. Footsteps.

Three figures appeared from the
shadows. One was a girl, seemed she was maybe in high school. The
other two were boys. One seemed older than the other, and the other
seemed around the age of the girl.

The younger looking boy looked
around and started to look at the bodies. He knelt down and
examined one of them closely.

“
Go and shock any body that you
see. We can’t afford a survivor,” said the younger looking boy to
the older boy.

“
Yes, sir,” he replied. Then he was
off. The girl stood next to the boy, watching him examine the
bodies.

“
That was some good work with the
tank,” he said to her. She smirked and looked back at the
tank.

“
Good work with the tank? How
about that firestorm? That was awesome!” A smile engraved onto her
face, but the boy didn’t respond to her remark. He just kept
looking at the body. What was so important about it?

“
Go around and look at the bodies
with him to speed up the process. We don’t have time to waste. We
can’t stay here long. Odds are they heard that from a mile away.”
The girl sighed and looked at the building the other boy was
in.

“
Okay. Have fun with that, Nick.”
The girl walked off into the building and the boy stayed there for
a while. He ran his fingers across the body’s chest and rubbed his
fingers together. Then he looked up. Straight at me.

“
I know you’re there, Joshua,” he
said. My heart stopped. “I know you can see this now. You warned me
about it before. But I didn’t listen.” I couldn’t answer. “I want
you to know that you can’t keep this from happening. This... this
is unstoppable. I know you’re confused, but we will meet soon.
Don’t worry. It will all make sense eventually. But until then...
wake up.”

I jolted up from my bed. I felt
the sweat on my back sticking to my shirt. My heart was racing and
I was breathing hard. What was that? Was that another vision? Was
that... the future? A bunch of things were flying around in my
head. But one thing stood out from it all. His name. I had to
remember that name.

Nick.

…
..

Luke

“Come on, Trace! You can tackle
harder than that!” That’s what I heard every second as I pushed as
hard as I could on the tackling sled. Coach Hearse stood on the
back, putting more weight on it. Everyone else was inside. But
Coach thought he’d keep me out there a little bit
longer.

“I’m pushing as hard as I can,
Coach,” I said. He just scoffed.

“Luke, next week is the biggest
game this school has ever had. And you’re my star player. I need
you in top shape for that game, understand?” I didn’t even bother
to reply. “Now, come on! Push!”

“How can I be in top shape when
I’m sore as hell?” I heard Hearse laugh as he jumped off of the
sled.

“Good thinking, Trace,” he said as
he patted me on the back. “Go on up. I think you’re ready.” I
nodded my head at him and jogged back up. Some kids were already on
their way home, getting in their cars and driving off. I felt like
an idiot jogging up so late.

When I walked into the locker
room, it was almost empty. The only people that were in there were
Sean Polk and Jason Truet. They didn’t give me any attention when I
walked in. They just kept on getting dressed silently.

It was kind of
awkward, being silent and all. But I didn’t really care. I didn’t
hang out with people like
them
.

I felt the sweat drip down my back
as I took my shirt off. I tossed the shirt into my locker and
pulled out the shirt I wore before practice. I could hear Jason and
Sean behind me as they closed their lockers and started walking
out.

“
Hey, Trace,” came Jason’s voice
from behind me. I was taken by surprise, considering I’ve never
said a word to him.

“
Uh... yeah?”

“
I heard your
girlfriend and her friends floated last night at the game,” he
laughed. “I guess your girlfriend is a
freak
!” Before I could respond, I
heard the locker room door burst open as he ran out
laughing.

I couldn’t run after him,
considering I was half naked. So I could only stand there. I didn’t
get too mad. I knew how freaked out Lora was about last night. She
ditched the game during half time and no one found her for hours. I
found her at my house, crying and scared. It took me forever to
calm her down.

I only sighed and finished getting
dressed. Coach Hearse walked in and walked past me to his office. I
suddenly stopped and asked him a question.

“
Coach Hearse?”

He grunted.

“
What do you think that was last
night?” I asked. “When... Lora and them floated? Everyone is
calling them ‘freaks’. I just want to know your take on it.” He
looked up and started scratching his chin.

“
Hmm. I honestly don’t know, Trace.
And I’d rather not think about it. It creeps me out more the more I
think about it.” I smiled. I knew he’d say something like
that.

“
Yeah... same here, Coach. Same
here...” I closed my locker and left the locker room. I didn’t
bother looking for Lora. I told her she should stay home today
because I didn’t think she was fit enough to come today. She still
seemed a little shaken up.

I met up with Sarah and Becca in
the hallway. They were sitting on a bench, waiting for their
parents to come pick them up.

“
Luke!” Becca waved at me. “Come
sit with us!” They both scooted over and made room for
me.

“
How’s Lora?” Sarah asked as I
awkwardly sat on the bench.

“
She still seemed messed up about
it. How ‘bout you guys? Are you two okay?” Sarah and Becca looked
at each other.

“
We could be better. But we aren’t
that shaken up about it. I honestly don’t even think it happened.
Do you, Sarah?” Sarah shook her head.

“
Well, if you two need to talk, I’m
here for you guys. Just like I am with Lora.” Sarah and Becca
smiled and giggled. They said something, but I ignored it. It was
probably them just hitting on me again. I’ve gotten used to it. But
I still try to avoid it.

“
Is… is that Lora?” Becca asked,
pointing at the front doors. I looked over, and there she was. Lora
was standing at the doors, smiling.

“
Lora?” I said as I stood up and
walked to the door. She waved at me. I opened the door and got the
air crushed out of me as Lora hugged me. “What are you doing here?
I was about to come see you.”

“
I just couldn’t wait. I started
freaking out again and I needed to see you. Are you mad?” She gave
me that look she always gives me when she thinks I’m going to be
mad.

“
Why would I be mad?” I said as I
wrapped my arms around her. “The quicker I see you, the better.” I
grabbed her chin and tilted her head up, kissing her. I felt her
smile under my lips.

“
Oh, look at
the
freak
. How
adorable!” I looked over as saw Jason leaning on the wall with his
hands in his pockets. Lora looked down at the ground and slowly
tightened her arms around me.