The Shadow People: A paranormal short story

by Pace, Pepper

  This time she didn’t even feel them coming. One moment she was in a deep sleep lying on her belly, snoring obliviously. The next her eyes parted and there were ten or more hooded figures surrounding her bed.

  Danielle squeezed her eyes closed, now completely sobered, and she thought; this cannot be happening! Why is this happening again?! This time she cried. Hot tears spilled from the slits of her eyes and her mind shut down one creak at a time; the idea that they would keep coming preventing her from letting go of her growing hysteria.

  And then it was the next morning and she was waking up, sunshine streaming through the slats of her blinds. She jumped up out of bed, breathing hard, her eyes frantically searching the empty room. Dani stood there for a long time contemplating the idea that she had taken Patricia’s demons from her. Perhaps she was now leading the life that was meant for Patricia. Maybe she was just losing her mind.

  Dani didn’t mention their return to her friend. This time she kept it to herself.

  But she would not go back to sleep. She stayed up for two solid days with absolutely no sleep. And then she discovered something that she had never known; your body will just shut down if you don’t allow it to rest. One day she was in class, listening to the professor’s lesson. She was on a serious energy drink high. Her body was jittery and her heart was racing. She knew that she looked like a cokehead because she kept jiggling her feet, scratching her face and sweating profusely.

  She focused on the words of her teacher; eyes wide opened. And then the very next moment she was as completely asleep as if she was snuggled in her bed—but her eyes were still wide opened. Dani saw the air began to waver right behind the professor. It all happened so fast that she had no time to even be afraid, not at first. Her eyes flitted to the wavering shape and by that time it began to solidify into the form of a hooded figure. It quickly glided to her; just one.

  Suddenly, its voice came from all around her. And this time when it spoke she knew what it was saying, could hear it clearly when there weren’t so many of them jumbled together.

  Let me in.

  Dani leaped to her feet, knocking over her chair and books, scrambling away frantically. She yelped in terror; the only sound that she could manage before landing on her butt.

  “Danielle!” The professor rushed to her but Dani scrambled away from him, scooting backwards and slapping him away as she shrieked in terror.

  The campus nurse told her that she was exhausted, hallucinating due to lack of sleep. But Dani knew the truth. She couldn’t keep the truth to herself any longer. For the first time in her life she told someone other than Patricia about the demons. She explained that they had come when she was sixteen--but she could see by the way the nurse’s eyes moved away from hers that she thought Dani was crazy. So Dani nodded in acceptance about needing sleep and hurried home.

  Dani had no choice but to accept them and to live with their visits but never again allowing them to completely materialize; always beginning her prayers before they even got the chance to form. Just sensing their presence gave her time to dispel them.

  And then one day she slept straight through without waking and she knew that it marked the end of their appearance. As much as she wanted to find out more about them, Dani realized that it was her curiosity that had gotten her into this mess in the first place and now that they were gone again, all she wanted was to try to put them out of her mind.

  Several weeks later Patricia remarked that Dani was back to her old self. Dani had never mentioned this last visitation to Patricia; why scare her when her life was going so well? But Patricia was wrong when she said that Dani was back to her ‘old’ self. Dani was someone that felt as if she was standing on a precipice waiting to either fall or leap off…

  One week later Patricia was involved in a car accident; she was killed instantly. The pieces all fell together for Dani. They come and then someone she loves dies.

  And now they were back and there was no one else left to die that she gave a damn about … other then herself.

  Dani had nearly forgotten that she was still in the Starbucks, so engrossed in her memories and in writing them down. She stretched her stooped form, peered into the ceramic white coffee mug and noted that it was still half full of cold liquid. She got up, feeling ten times her age and carried the mug up to the counter.

  “Can you reheat this, please?” The young man with the nametag that read ‘Tyler’ gave her a surprised smile.

  “How about I just freshen this up for you?” And then he winked as he whisked away the mug.

  Dani stared at him as he made her a brand new drink. He was tall; over six feet. And his neat brown hair was cut short but still curled in a way that made him look boyish even though he was probably actually about twenty-five or so. He had the type of peaches and cream complexion that hinted at a heritage that might be other than Caucasian. His eyes were brown, but flecked with gold and she wondered if those flecks turned green sometimes …

  She was still staring at him when he looked up from the espresso machine and met her eyes. “So are you a writer?”

  Dani tore her eyes away from his and glanced down at her notebook. “Oh … no. I just … ”

  “Write for pleasure?”

  “Yes. I guess you can say that. It’s not an assignment or anything.” And it wasn’t quite pleasure, either.

  “I hope you don’t mind me asking, but I see you come in everyday and I was curious.”

  “Curiosity killed the cat.” She muttered.

  He slid her drink to her. “But satisfaction brought him back. I’m Tyler, by the way.” He pointed to his tag. “Tyler.”

  “I’m Danielle; Dan-i.” She said with a brief smile. He offered his hand and she shook it and felt something. “Thank you for the new drink.”

  He put his finger to his lip. “Shhh. I only do that for the regulars.” He gave her a killer smile before returning to his other orders and she felt her heart race.

  DANIELLE!

  Dani sat up in her bed, her heart slamming against her ribcage. It had rained earlier and despite the fact that she only took to her bed once daybreak was reached, the room was gloomy from the rainclouds. She looked around, her eyes falling into every nook and corner and every shadowy crevice. But they weren’t here; and they hadn’t been here in weeks.

  In the weeks since their last visit Dani had become a nervous wreck. Now that she didn’t need to stay awake she didn’t even make her daily visit to Starbucks.

  Not actually seeing them did not reduce her anxiety because she knew that death would come soon. She scrambled out of bed and hurried to her newest notebook. She had written out the timeline, but although she had it memorized she stared at the facts written on paper.

  Six weeks. It was six weeks from the time that their appearance ended until Mama had died, the same with Patricia; six weeks.

  Now was almost a month since she’d last seen them. Damn, she’d been hiding out in her apartment for nearly a month …

  She warmed up the computer and logged into the internet. She couldn’t allow her fears to keep her from finding out just what they were because her time was nearly up. She had just over two weeks left…

  She began by searching key words: demon, devil, visitors.

  Most of the hits that she came upon were religious references and she spent only a few minutes of reading about the origins of demons. She went to some websites that dealt with summoning them but they all included references to the use of symbols and chanting words or using charms. Next she researched visitors; not confidant that she would find anything useful.

  They come only when you’re sleeping; but it’s not a dream. Mostly appearing at night, these visitors can sometimes infiltrate the daytime hours. But mostly you will see them surrounding your bed…

  Danielle wanted to scream in joy. It was as if she had written those very words herself! She searched through the long article until she found the exact reference. It had been left by a commenter.

 
When I’ve seen them, they are wearing cloaks, or something else dark. Maybe we’re not talking of the same thing. They come only when you’re sleeping; but it’s not a dream. Mostly appearing at night, these visitors can sometimes infiltrate the daytime hours. But mostly you will see them surrounding your bed. They’re certainly not evil. They’ve never done anything to hurt me. So not sure if this is what your article is about; they wouldn’t be considered demons. ~David~

  Danielle read the article but it was evident that the writer was not talking of the same thing that she and ‘David’ had experienced. She read the other comments and felt thrilled. Others had written of their experience with these ‘visitors’ as well!

  Like David said, they are not evil. They are trying to tell you something. I’m not afraid of them. ~Lori~

  What does this have to do with Alien Abductions? You are clearly talking about demons (which don’t exist outside of religious rhetoric) and which is not what we are talking about here, David. ~C-illuminati~

  They’re called the Shadow People. And they are real. ~David~ Check out this blog on it.

  Danielle read the rest of the comments but there was nothing else from either David or Lori. She pulled up the link to the blog.

  THE SHADOW PEOPLE; Good or Evil?

  There seems to be more talk about these unknown creatures. Could it be that there appearance is happening with more and more frequency, or perhaps due to the use of the internet more information is being made available about the activities of these beings.

  Dani continued to read, her eyes voraciously drinking in the information. It seemed that these Shadow People or Shadow Beings came in different types and different sizes. Some wore hats, others hoods. The things that seemed constant is that they were dark figures, hard to see, and they wore objects that obscured their faces like hats or hoods.

  When Dani got to the end of the article she began to scan for the name David. Sure enough, he was a frequent commenter. His last comment was just a week before. Dani decided to leave her own comment. It sounded desperate.

  I think they are coming to tell me that I’m going to die. If someone can please help me! ~DS~

  And then Dani began to cry. She sobbed, relieved that she wasn’t crazy, that this had happened to enough people that there was information on the internet about it. Afterwards, she felt better and wished that she had done this when Patricia had been alive; that she hadn’t been so afraid.

  She showered and changed and went out for something to eat. She hadn’t taken care of herself and had grown thin over the last few months; especially once the … shadow people had stopped appearing, because then started the countdown.

  She had barely left her apartment, had dropped out of school months ago and hadn’t done much more than to write in notebook after notebook and drink coffee. Now her stomach was begging for sustenance. It was still early, not even noon and since she had no car, breakfast would be an easy decision; The Waffle House. It was in walking distance and it was inexpensive.

  She was shoveling grits, waffles and eggs into her mouth and eyeing the sausage when she heard someone speaking from behind her.

  “Where’s your notebook?” Dani almost choked as she spun in her stool where she was seated at the bar. Tyler was standing there, and at the sight of her choking he became alarmed.

  “Are you okay? I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you!”

  She took a drink of milk and wiped her watering eyes in embarrassment. “It’s okay. I’m just jumpy.”

  He pointed at the big picture window. “I was on my way to work and saw you sitting here. I thought it was you but it was hard to tell without the notebook.”

  “I know, the whole notebook thing is probably very strange. Would you like to…?” She gestured to the empty stool.

  He shook his head quickly. “No, I was on my way to work.” He hesitated and seemed to plunge onward. “You haven’t been into the store in a few weeks. I was…” she noted that two red spots appeared on his cheeks and she found them to be very curious. It made her heartbeat speed up. “Are you okay?” He asked softly.

  She had stopped going when she no longer needed to fight off sleep. “I’m better.” She whispered the lie. And because what he asked had touched her so deeply she offered him a shaky smile. Tyler stood frozen to the spot, not removing his eyes from the thin black girl with the dark circles under her eyes; the girl that looked so lost and sad that it seemed as if she had no one left in the world.

  He nodded and turned back to the door. Before stepping through he gave her a long look. “Dani, don’t be a stranger at the store, ok?”

  “I won’t.” She watched him as he left and disappeared up the street. He had remembered her name.

  She paid her check and quickly left. She wished that she hadn’t lied to him. There would probably never be any more stops at STARBUCKS for her. How would it end? Car accident? Murdered? She pushed the unpleasant thoughts away and hurried home. She wanted to check her message and do more research.

  Once in her apartment, she threw her things on the floor and hurried to the computer. She had never powered down and just refreshed the page. There was a new comment right after hers.

  DS, why do you think you are going to die? ~David~

  David. That was the same man that had posted on the other site! She quickly typed out a response.

  Because every time they come someone I love dies.

  She kept refreshing the page and after half an hour there were three responses. The first was from someone names Xinrata, who wrote that by giving into fear of them they become mischievous. The next was from David who responded to her by stating,

  If you are honest about wanting my help then feel free to meet me at the Paranormal Chatroom where I am logged in under the name DWise.

  The last message was from David addressing Xinrata. He wrote;

  I’m no authority but existing in a dimension other than our own may have created simple curiosity. My suggestion would be to not fear them.

  Dani thought about those words as she navigated to the link that David had left. She quickly created an account and then located DWise. She sent him a private message.

  Hi, I’m Dani. I’m the one that sent you the messages on the other website.

  Hi Dani. I’m sorry to hear that your experience with the Shadows have been unpleasant. If there’s something that I can do, I’ll certainly try.

  Can you tell me more about them?

  Sure, it’s one of my favorite topics!

  David was so easy to talk to, and so nice that she felt instantly at ease with discussing the events that had happened to her. He told her that he’d been visited many times but they spoke to him. He believed there were many different types of Shadow People and that they each had different personalities just as humans had.

  David began telling her everything he knew about these Shadow People, which was pretty substantial. They talked well into the early evening until David said he was hungry and needed to stop for a while in order to eat.

  We can talk again, if you want. I’ll be back on later tonight after I take care of some things. Also, feel free to check me out on my blog. It’s not a paranormal blog or anything, but I have a discussion thread on this topic. Add yourself as a friend if you like. Talk to you later!

  Danielle navigated to the link. The homepage had bright vibrant colors and there was a picture of an Emo guy.

  “Oh my God…” Dani literally stopped breathing.

  David had long black hair with bangs that fell into his vibrant blue eyes. He was thin, seemed tall with very pale skin; so pale that his shock of black hair and the blue of his eyes seemed almost unreal. He had evidently taken a selfie shot with a cell phone. He was very attractive in that Emo/Goth way, but what captured her attention and made her feel fait were the bright colorful tattoos that covered his forearms.

  This is the boy that she would love!

  She read every word that he wrote. It took hours because he was a frequent post
er. She gathered that he was very intelligent, kind, though he seemed to be very forceful when it came to his opinions; no one would sway him and generally he tended to cause people to rethink their own ideas.

  His bio said that he was twenty and lived in Louisiana. He was single and a student. Dani wrung her hands as she wondered if she should tell him about her vision of them together. So much had happened to him that he surely would not think she was a nut. But fate had brought them together and perhaps if his theory was correct, the both of them were sensitive to the unknown.

  No! She couldn’t take the risk that she’d scare him off. Not when she’d finally found someone that she could talk openly about this.

  She fell asleep at the computer. It was after one am and her body shut down when it knew that she would continue to deprive it of rest. Her body now took matters into its own hands. And that is why Dani had no time to prepare for the unknown arrival that screamed her name.

  Her cheek was pressed against the keyboard when she felt prickling along the back of her neck.

  DANIELLE!

  She jolted awake with the loudness of the voice that had shouted her name, yet, there was no person present; no one or no thing. But she knew that she had heard it, although she was unable to determine the gender or age. The only thing that was clear is that someone had been standing next to her and had shouted her name.

  She stared at the computer screen, blinking. She shook off the feeling of being watched because there was a line of messages asking if she was there. Quickly Dani typed out a response, apologizing for falling asleep.

  Not a problem. Thought my stories might have scared you off, David typed.

  No, they are helping me.

  I’m convinced that the key for you is to communicate with them. Look Dan, I know this is scary shit but have they ever hurt you?