Shadow Eyes

by Dusty Crabtree

  I hoped that would suffice. But when my mom sighed and looked over to the coffee table in the living room at a small wrapped present that was undoubtedly for me, I added hastily, “But I won’t leave until you get home from work if you want.”

  She smiled at me and stood up to retrieve the present. “It’s okay,” she assured me, though I sensed an undertone of disappointment. My sister stayed by the sink in uneasy silence while my mom picked up the gift and brought it back to me. “You don’t have to wait to go out tonight. Just open your present now before Hanna and I go to work. It’s from both of us.”

  “Thanks, Mom.” I took the gift with slight reservations and took a deep breath, trying to clear my head and force myself to just enjoy a day that’s supposed to be enjoyable. When I eventually opened it, I grinned. It was the book I’d been hinting about, along with a gift card to my favorite bookstore.

  “I love it! It’s perfect.” I beamed at my mom and sister, treasuring the book in my hands as I stood up to give them both hugs that were a little too tight and too charged with emotion for me to continue for long. After finally convincing them it was okay to leave, I retreated to my room with my new book.

  Forty-eight hours later, I was driving to school still kicking myself for ruining my birthday party. First I had lamely fallen asleep early, and then I’d surprised my friends by practically jumping out of bed the next morning, feeling choked. To top it all off, I had even smacked Nicole in the stomach with my flailing arm.

  I hadn’t wanted to alarm them by divulging my recurring dream that always ended with a choking sensation. Luckily, I didn’t have to. Nicole just assumed I was freaked out by waking up somewhere other than my bed and calmly reminded me where I was. I went with her assumption and pretended to feel better.

  The reason I’d fallen asleep early was because Lexi had selected a chick flick for the occasion without my input—the movie Ghost. I wouldn’t have minded the girly drama of it, but the fact that it graphically depicted what I went through every day had immediately launched me into panic mode. I knew there was no way I could watch that movie with my friends, but I’d been stuck with no place to hide and no believable excuse to give. Nicole and Lexi had obviously sensed my mood change but had just dealt with it silently like they always did.

  Of course, the shadows in Ghost were created with ancient special effects and were pitifully two-dimensional—a far cry from what I was forced to see in real life. Still, the shadowy demons seizing the villain and dragging him away screaming was almost more than I could handle. By the time the movie was over, I was so worn out I excused myself and went to bed. The next thing I remember was the choking sensation that jerked me back into consciousness.

  I arrived at school earlier than normal, so I wasn’t surprised to find some students in the parking lot talking. What did surprise me, though, was that quite a few had hazy shadows over them, and most of the students were huddled together like they were talking about some serious issue or event. I couldn’t hear them, but something about it seemed more than just disconcerting. Something was wrong.

  When I got to English and opened the door, I gasped audibly as my suspicions were confirmed. All the students were in clusters talking to their friends, some looking worried, some crying, others silently taking it all in. Even our new teacher, Mr. Delaney, was at his computer, intently reading something with a concerned frown on his face.

  However, the thing that made me gasp wasn’t the people. It was their shadows. There was a swarm of them hovering over the students, whispering to them, making them anxious or upset. The shadows didn’t appear to be very strong or fierce, but the amount in the room was staggering.

  I marched briskly to my seat, dodging the shadows as best I could without looking strange—not that anyone was watching me. Well, that’s not entirely true. As I passed by Mr. Delaney’s desk, taking in his bright, calming scent that hardly seemed to affect the classroom today, he lifted his distraught face to me and pressed his lips together. He regarded me with understanding and sympathy in his eyes until I began to wonder anxiously if all this had something to do with me.

  Lexi, who had already been eavesdropping and had caught most of the story, promptly filled me in. “Okay, so you know Marcus Beaman and that new yellow Camaro he drives?”

  Why did that car sound familiar? “Yeah,” I said hesitantly, “I know him.”

  “Well, I guess he got in a terrible wreck Friday night, and he’s in the hospital in critical condition.”

  “Oh, my gosh!” I breathed, suddenly realizing why that car sounded so familiar. I remembered clearly now the two sinister shadows that had been snooping around his car Friday after school and how one had given me that horrible, evil grin. I trembled slightly at the memory and closed my eyes to hold myself together.

  “I know!” Lexi obviously thought my shock was in response to her news instead of my realization.

  “So, he’s alive though?” I asked meekly.

  “Oh…yeah. Well, for now anyway.” She hesitated. “They say he’s in ICU in critical condition, so everyone’s worried. Nobody’s sure what’s going to happen to him. If he’ll recover fully…or at all…I’ve heard such horrible things about the crash though.” Lexi bit her lip as if she were going to cry too.

  I wouldn’t have been able to handle her crying or the shadow that would have most likely followed.

  “I’m sure he’ll be fine,” I lied. “I mean these stories always get blown way out of proportion. Let’s just wait to freak out until we hear from someone who knows.” I smiled, trying to appear convincing and hopeful while swallowing the guilt I inevitably felt.

  I guessed she bought it, because she smiled and nodded, and then turned to the front where Mr. Delaney was about to address us. Please don’t give us any bad news, I pleaded silently. Or at least make it sound better than it is.

  Before he began speaking, he stared out into the sea of students with a calm yet commanding gaze, and I was baffled by the immediate reaction of the shadows to his close proximity and glare. They all ceased their crazy, chaotic swarming and hovering and fluttered back behind the students, crouching down low in an attempt to hide. A few brave ones peered out at him from over shoulders but only briefly before cowering back down.

  What just happened? In awe with eyes and mouth wide open, I turned back to face Mr. Delaney. He didn’t seem to notice.

  “Obviously, you’ve all already heard about Marcus Beaman.” He paused to make sure we were listening. It didn’t take long for our silent anticipation to replace the chatter.

  “Administration sent an e-mail with all the details they have so far from the parents. They want us to let you know so you have the facts. You know how these stories can sometimes get out of control.”

  Lexi and I gave each other a look as Mr. Delaney went to his computer to read the e-mail aloud. With his back turned, some of the shadows moved a little more freely, but they stayed behind their human shields.

  Mr. Delaney bent over and began reading the computer screen. “He was in a roll-over Friday night. No other vehicle was involved. It was determined to be a complete accident. No one was to blame.” He cleared his throat uncomfortably, observing us for a brief moment, and I swear he looked straight at me. “He was immediately taken to ICU and he’s been there since. However, he has shown some improvements since he arrived Friday night. He has one broken leg, two broken ribs, a punctured lung, and a fractured clavicle.”

  “What’s a clavicle?” someone blurted out from the back of the room.

  Mr. Delaney looked up as the rest of the class groaned in unison at his rude interruption, though I knew several of them were wondering the same thing.

  “A clavicle is your collarbone,” he answered patiently and then bent back down to his computer, opening his mouth to continue the update.

  “So why don’t they just call it a collarbone?” This time the whole class couldn’t contain their disdain as they twisted in their creaking chairs to glare at the stude
nt in disgust.

  “Seriously?” a girl from the front row shouted back to him. I recognized her as a close friend of Marcus’s and observed the shadow hovering near her from behind. “Marcus could die and you want to debate medical terminology?”

  And that was how the rest of the day continued. I was so anxious to get out of there and away from all the shadows that I hardly paid attention in any of my classes and barely even noticed Josh in Science.

  As I drove home, I kept reenacting in my mind what I guessed had happened with Marcus. The two shadows had probably ridden around with him in his car all day, until that evening when they distracted or harassed him until it was too much for him to handle. I didn’t know how they had done it, but I was positive they were the culprits.

  And what was up with Mr. Delaney and his strange, intimidating effect on the shadows? I had never seen that before, and I didn’t know whether to be impressed or frightened. Also, why did he look at me when he said the wreck was an accident? Surely, he didn’t think I had anything to do with it. Why would he? He didn’t even know me…did he?

  As I was pondering all of this, my attention was diverted to a dark, flickering movement I caught out of the corner of my eye. A black shadow fluttered chaotically in the passenger seat of a car on my left, distracting the driver. She was peering over her shoulder and scolding her overly animated kids, unaware that the car in front of her had just come to a complete stop. Its left blinker flashed like a red caution sign, but the mother was now engulfed in the shadow, still facing backward.

  I wanted to honk or scream or do anything to prevent what I was about to witness, but before I had the chance, I was blinded by a brilliant light as it swooped past me and into the darkened car.

  What happened next was something I’ll never forget. I’d only seen the bright figures of light a few times, but with each incident, time seemed to slow down. It was never that way with the shadows. They just moved about our world as if they owned it and were a part of it, but the light figures…it was as though they were from a place much greater than earth where time didn’t even apply.

  The brilliant mass of light soared into the car through the passenger side, and time suddenly slowed to a crawl. The mother and her children barely moved as the bright form began to wrap itself around the squirming, now terrified shadow. The next thing I saw was light and dark fighting fiercely but briefly inside the car before the shadow was overtaken, ripped from its hold on the mother, dragged out of the car, and then squeezed into nothingness. The light faded just as quickly.

  Time sped back up again as the mother spun back around just in time to slam on her brakes and screech to a stop inches behind the bumper and the still-flashing blinker.

  I immediately pulled over and started breathing heavily, not sure if I truly believed what my eyes had just seen. Had I actually witnessed someone being saved from the shadows? I had seen a few interventions before, but never that dramatic, and I was left with mixed feelings.

  Why did a bright form of light rescue this woman and her kids but not Marcus? For that matter…my mind automatically flashed back to my disastrous fourteenth birthday, but I swiftly tucked the memory back into my mental file labeled “Never talk about” and slammed the drawer shut.

  Chapter 3

  THE NEXT DAY WAS relatively easier, but not because of anything I had done. I had spent the evening cleaning my room, a poor substitute for fixing the screwed-up world, and reading my new book, a sad attempt at escaping my own screwed-up life. Luckily, I at least didn’t have to be inundated again with a swarm of shadows because Mr. Delaney gave us the new update that Marcus was greatly improving. He would be out of school for a few weeks, in and out of the hospital, but he was out of ICU. He was expected to make a full recovery.

  By the time Science finally arrived with the end of the school day and I was greeted with Josh’s flirtatious smile, I was myself again. Our shy, little flirtatious routine had become somewhat of a comfort blanket for me, just charged with a lot of heat and electricity.

  At the end of class amidst the noise and racket of binders clicking, books slamming, zippers zipping, and everyone standing to their feet, Mr. Keller tried to yell over us, “Hey! Don’t forget, you have a test over chapters seven through nine tomorrow!”

  I didn’t know who else actually heard him, but I did and immediately became concerned. Which “good old friends” were those chapters even about?

  I turned to Nicole and frowned. “Jenny and her husband are coming over for dinner tonight. I probably won’t have time to study.”

  She just shrugged, but someone touched the back of my arm. I twirled around to see Josh standing so close to me I would have immediately backed away had it been someone else. His closeness made my heart beat irregularly, but I stood my ground, trying hard not to look out of my element.

  His hand still on my arm, he leaned in and brought his lips to my ear to whisper intimately, “You know you’re smart enough to ace the test without even trying, much less studying.”

  I blushed at the compliment and almost fainted deliriously at his breath brushing against my ear. As I stammered a thank-you, I caught Nicole winking at me.

  That night, as Hanna and I helped Mom get things ready for dinner, it was obvious our mother was excited. It was only a few weeks ago that Jenny had announced her pregnancy, and our mother hadn’t seen Jenny or her husband since then. This dinner would without a doubt be all about my sister and the baby that was not yet the size of a peanut.

  I had set the table and made sure every plate, cup and piece of silverware was situated properly when the doorbell rang.

  “I’ll get it,” I volunteered.

  Hanna, who was much better at cooking than me, was helping Mom finish up a few of the dishes. Both of them perked up at the sound of the doorbell.

  “Hey, Sis!” Jenny exclaimed as she gave me a delicate but sincere hug.

  Let me guess. She was already being overly careful about everything she did for the baby’s sake. I guess I couldn’t blame her after all they had gone through to conceive.

  “Hey, Jenny!” I gave her a warm smile as she pulled away from me, beaming.

  They both made their way into the foyer, and her husband, Austin, shut the door behind them.

  “Hi, Austin.” I went to give him a quick hug but received a giant, long squeeze instead.

  “Hey, Squirt.” He eventually released his death grip and grinned from ear to ear.

  I rolled my eyes and smiled back self-consciously. I hadn’t seen him smile like that in a long time. It reminded me of when they’d first started dating and I’d formed a small crush on him. He was an attractive guy back then and still was, but there had been so many years in between where his anger and depression about their infertility issues had been revealed on his face and in his actions…not to mention over his head in an opaque, shadowy mass.

  “Everything looks so good, Mom!” Jenny exclaimed as she surveyed the set-up on the table—a roast chicken with garlic and rosemary, mashed potatoes piled high and steaming, onion-glazed green beans, buttery rolls, and a streusel-topped apple pie. “You didn’t have to do all of this just for us.” She was obviously touched. It wasn’t a rare occasion when Jenny and Austin came over for dinner, but we all knew this was supposed to be a celebration of sorts.

  Our mother laughed. “Oh, I know, sweetie. I just felt like making something special for the occasion.” She smiled at Jenny as so many unspoken words passed between them and then motioned for Jenny to give her a hug.

  Tears in her eyes, Jenny went to embrace her and murmured through my mom’s sleeve, “I love you, Mom.”

  “I love you too, sweetie,” our mom said softly, her eyes close to tearing up as well as she stroked her hair.

  Hanna smiled at me and winked.

  I laughed. “Well, now that the awkward moment is out of the way…let’s have dinner, shall we?”

  Everyone chuckled. Uncomfortable, overly-emotional situations made me nervous, so as a
survival skill, I had developed a knack for ice-breaking. Mom and Jenny blew their noses and sat down with the rest of us.

  I had seen my sister emotional several times the last few years as she kept visiting doctors, getting her hopes up, and not getting results. It had also pained me to see a dim, oppressive shadow develop over her but not be able to do anything about it, knowing it was filling her with lies of guilt and hopelessness. I’d felt horrible for her, but I’d also tried to avoid her as much as possible. It was too uncomfortable being around such darkness.

  Jenny and Austin were now, however, both completely shadow-free. Dinner together was actually going to be enjoyable for a change.

  I spent the whole first half of school the next day kicking myself for failing to study for my science test sixth period. I had gotten so caught up with dinner and company and baby talk the night before that I completely skipped homework and went straight to bed. Being unprepared was not something I was used to.

  English with Mr. Delaney calmed me down temporarily as it had quickly become my favorite class. Partly because I inexplicably felt accepted and encouraged by our new teacher, but mostly because his was the only class unoccupied by shadows…after that strange experience with the mob of them a few days prior.

  Once I left his class, though, and that comforting atmosphere that permeated his room, my anxiety about the test resurfaced and continued through Trig and Computer Apps. The minute the bell rang for lunch, I rushed to the lunchroom, claimed our usual secluded lunch table, and opened my science folder for my notes. Science was not my strongest subject, especially when I was expected to identify all of these random rock and mineral names I couldn’t even pronounce.

  “Who’s this nerd sitting at our lunch table?” Nicole joked as she sat down with her food and eyed me quizzically as though I were an alien species.