Shadows in the Dark (9 page)

I looked down the street and saw
more streetlights aligned with each other. Even though it was a
hunch, I didn’t disagree with doing it. After a while, I sat up and
started following the street lights, not caring where it’d take
me.

I kept on walking, even after I
saw the sun come up about two or three hours later. My legs started
to hurt and they wanted to rest. But I wouldn’t let it happen. I
felt the need to keep going.
You don’t have to be smart to know why leaving was so easy for me.
I didn’t have friends. My parents didn’t care about me. I was a
nobody. No one knew I even existed, and whoever did wanted me dead.
So leaving seemed like the greatest thing I’d ever done.
Eventually, after walking for so long, I ended up walking out of
the city lines. Up until that point, it was all neighborhood. It
was kind of cool to see the transition go from neighborhood to all
highway. The change was, you could say, interesting.

People would give me funny looks
as I walked down the highway all by myself at the crack of dawn.
But I didn’t let it bother me. I knew what would happen if I did.
All of the cars would “somehow” end up floating in mid-air with
people freaking out inside of them.

I stayed on the highway for a good
hour or so, until I saw a diner at the side of the road. That was
when I finally decided to stop and take a seat, after about six
hours of walking. I had no clue where I was, and I loved
it.

The cool, air-conditioned breeze
felt amazing as I opened the diner doors. The place was nearly
empty. I only saw a fat guy sitting in a corner drinking coffee,
and a person wearing a hoodie with the hood over their head sitting
all alone at the counter.

I awkwardly walked over and sat
two chairs away from the hooded guy. He didn’t look over at me. His
gaze seemed to be glued to the countertop. His hands were trembling
as they were clamped together.

The waitress walked over to me
with an obvious fake smile and asked, “What could I get you,
sweetheart?” I gave her a fake smile back and thought.

“
Could I just have a coffee?” I
asked. “I’m kind of in a hurry to get somewhere.” The waitress gave
me a look that said she was sort of interested.

“
Where to?”

“
Honestly?” I started to tap my
fingers. “I have no idea. I just know I shouldn’t be where I was
before.” The waitress sat the coffee in front of me and stood
behind the counter.

“
Why shouldn’t you? What happened
‘where you were before’?” I took a sip of my half-assed made coffee
and sighed.

“
Let’s just say,” I started,
“things got complicated.” I looked down at my coffee. “Something
happened, and if it had of gotten out, people wouldn’t accept me.
Well, it’s not like they did before anyways.”

“
Well,” she said, “I hope you find
what it is you’re looking for.” She smiled and walked away towards
a man that had just walked in and sat down.

I noticed the hooded guy was kind
of looking at me, tilting his head in my direction. I ignored him.
I wasn’t going to be there that much longer. I finished the crappy
coffee and sat up. The guy raised his head and was directly looking
at me. Again, I ignored him.

I was about to walk out of the
door, when the guy stood up and started to follow me. I started to
walk faster as I walked out the front doors. I heard as the man
opened the door and continued to follow me.

I didn’t bother to run. It’d only
make it obvious I was up to something. I kept on walking down the
highway, not having to look back to see if he was still following
me. I could hear him. Even over the cars. All of a sudden, his
footsteps grew louder. Ear piercingly louder. My head started to
ache. I covered my ears and attempted to run, but I could still
hear it.

I toppled over onto my side and
pressed against my ears, trying to block it all out. But no matter
how hard I tried, I could still hear it. Then, it all stopped. The
only thing I heard were the cars as they drove by me. I looked up
and searched around. The guy was nowhere in sight. He was
gone.

…
..

Luke

The guy named Nick led me through
the trees, probably having no idea where he was going. But I didn’t
care. Anywhere was better than that motel.

I didn’t bother trying to start a
conversation. Sure, I met someone like me. But we were avoiding
Nick’s past at the moment. Avoiding a past that I didn’t know
about.

“
Hey, Nick,” I said. “Are you
going to tell me about what happened back there?” Nick kept walking
ahead of me, not looking back. He just kept silent, thinking and
leading the way.

“
It’s a long story. I’ll tell you
when we have the time. But, right now, that’s what we don’t have.”
I shut up after that, letting him lead the way. He started
whispering to himself, turning his head in many directions, taking
sharp turns. I almost lost him a few times.

After doing that for about half an
hour, Nick finally stopped and sat against a tree, looking up at
the stars. I stood in front of him, looking down
confused.

“
We’ll stay here for the rest of
the night. You can sleep. I’ll take watch.” He watched me as I laid
down in the dirt, trying to get as comfortable as possible. “We
can’t make a fire. Can’t take any chances of them seeing
us.”

“
Makes sense,” I said. I rolled
over, facing away from him. I closed my eyes, trying to sleep. It
took a while, but I finally managed. I don’t remember the dream
that I had. Matter of fact, I don’t think I had one. When I woke
up, the sun was hardly up. The sunlight had barely started to shine
through the trees.

I looked over and saw Nick staring
at a ball of fire in the palm of his hand. I sat up, realizing that
I was sore. But that’s what I get for sleeping on the forest
floor.

“
Does this qualify as ‘enough
time’?” I asked, startling him. He smirked a little as he closed
his hand, making the flame disappear. He sat up more against the
tree, as if he was about to tell me a long story.

“
I guess,” he said. “But no matter
what I tell you, it’d be smart that you didn’t leave.” He eyed at
me, giving a more serious look. Why would I leave?

“
I wouldn’t leave. I have nowhere
else to go, whether I like it or not.” I sat crisscrossed a few
feet away from him, getting ready to hear what he had to
say.

“
A few months ago, I found out
about my power. I was playing a game with my little sister when my
parents bursted in the house, pissed off. My mom took my sister in
her room while my dad stayed to chew me out. That’s when it
happened.

“
My dad started
accusing me of stuff like drugs and skipping school. Yes, I did
those things. But, it was because of the things my dad did. I
denied it. I denied it all. Then I started telling him how he was a
horrible person and how he didn’t care about us.
“I didn’t notice it at the time, but the fire in the fireplace had
started to grow. I was getting so unbelievably angry. The only
thing I was focusing on was my dad. I started calling him pathetic
and I told him I was embarrassed to be his son. One thing led to
another then…
boom.
Fire started.

“
It killed my whole family. My mom.
My dad. My little sister. All that was left was my demolished house
and piles of ashes. I stayed in the same spot for the longest time,
staring at what I did. Then the sirens came from the distance, and
I had to run.

“
That’s why those cops were there.
They identified every body that was there. Every body but mine. So
now they’re all looking for me, chasing me no matter where I go.
Now, why don’t I turn myself in? Because I feel like I’m meant for
something. I’m meant for something bigger. I need to do this. I
need to do this... for my sister.”

I didn’t know what to say. He
killed his whole family? How is he still stable? If I did something
like that, I’d die of guilt.

“
Wow...” I said. “I... I don’t know
what to say. I’m so sorry.”

“
Yeah,” he scoffed. “So am I.” He
stood up and stretched, looking up at the sun. “We best be leaving
now. We can’t waste time.” I stood up as he started walking
away.

“
Where are we going?” I asked. I
had to follow him for a good twenty feet before he
answered.

“
I have no idea, Luke. I wish I
knew. But until I do know, we’re just walking straight.” He shoved
his hands in his pockets as he walked. “This forest is bound to end
eventually, huh?” I didn’t really answer him. I just let him do
what he wanted to do.

For the longest time, we walked. We
walked for hours. Most of the time was silent, but it didn’t bother
me. Now didn’t seem like the time to really talk.

I listened to the birds as they
chirped, echoing throughout the forest. The sun had set just over
the trees, sending beams of light through the leaves and making the
mildew on the grass shine.

Like last night, Nick was talking
to himself, thinking aloud and talking about things I didn’t
understand.

Finally, after a brutal and endless
walk, we finally heard cars. A little ways in front of us, a town
started. I heard Nick sigh with relief.

“
Thank God,” he said. He started
walking a little faster, leaving me behind. I let him go ahead, I
was tired enough as it was. He stopped at the side of the road,
looking at what was ahead. I caught up with him, stopping at his
side.

In front of us was a food market, a
few restaurants, a clothing store, and a little patch of houses.
Behind that was a middle school, and farther down the road was a
high school. Seemed like your normal town.

Somewhere in that patch of houses,
we noticed one that looked abandoned. Nick and I met eyes and
mentally agreed on it. That house was our best option.

“
We’re gonna have to break in,
unless you feel like sleeping outside again,” Nick mentioned. I
didn’t like the idea. But, then again, I didn’t like the idea of
sleeping outside again.

“
Fine,” I said. “But only for
tonight. After that, we leave.” Nick nodded his head and crossed
the street. I followed him, following him towards the
houses.

“
Alright, so I’ll knock on the
door, and if no one answers I’ll sneak in.” He continued to look
around.

“
How are you gonna sneak in?” I
asked. A noticeable smile formed onto his face, and he looked back
at me.

“
Just leave that to me.” He walked
up to the door without waiting up for me and politely knocked. No
one answered for a while, so he knocked again. No one answered. He
looked over at me and smirked.

“
Okay,” I said. “Now ‘sneak in’.” I
leaned against a parked car and watched him as he backed away from
the door and looked through a window. Then he backed away from the
window, and rested the palm of his hand on it. Then, the glass was
replaced with fire.

I expected there to be a loud crash
for when the glass broke, but it didn’t. Instead, it melted
completely. The fire disappeared, and so did the glass. Now there
was just a gaping, square hole in the wall leading into the house.
Nick leaped in and looked back at my stunned face.
“You coming?” he asked. I hesitated, then came back to perspective.
I quickly looked around and leapt in with him. Instantly, I noticed
something was up.

The home really didn’t look like it
had been touched in forever. Cobwebs hung in the corners of the
ceiling and dust aligned the walls and floor. Old pictures hung up
and tables held old flower pots. There was no TV in the living
room, just a dust-covered couch and a dust covered coffee table.
Next to the living room was a hallway that lead down to two doors
on either side.

“
I’ll check the room on the right,”
Nick said, already walking down there. I followed him, walking down
the hall and examining the pictures. Most of them were of a family.
A mom, dad, little boy, and a little girl.

Nick went into the room on the
right as I went into the room on the left. In the room, there was a
small bed, a desk across from the bed, a window next to the desk, a
nightstand next to the bed, and a journal on the
nightstand.

I heard Nick rummaging in the
other room loudly as I walked over to the nightstand. I picked up
the journal and blew off a ton of dust. It seemed old, older than
me. I flipped through the pages, seeing a bunch of drawings of DNA
strands and saw the word “human genomes’ a lot. Who would write
this stuff? I flipped it over to the back and saw the words
“Property of Joshua Shaw”.

Joshua Shaw?

“
I believe that doesn’t belong to
you,” came a startling voice from behind me. I quickly turned
around and saw a hooded man standing on the other side of the room.
I couldn’t see his face. It was hidden under his hood.

“
Who the hell are you?” I asked.
Stupid question.