Walking Among the Shadows: Awakening: Revised Edition

by Navi' Robins

  Through the suffocating darkness we finally made our way up the stairs and into my mother’s room. It was as dark as a tomb. Usually through the huge windows in her room, light would shine through either from the streetlights or the moon, but tonight the window offered no light or comfort from the outside world. We were trapped with this thing and the darkness it brought with it refused to let us find any hope of escape. We stumbled around in the darkness until my mom found her cell phone. As she fumbled with the phone, trying to get the display to turn on, I found myself praying that the phone would work and that we would get out of this situation alive and unharmed. I tried to get my thoughts together, but the darkness and silence made it almost impossible.

  We were all terrified and our fear acted like an inhibitor to proper brain functions. We were like toddlers given a task more suitable for college graduates and we were failing miserably. My mom kept pressing the power button on the phone, but it wouldn’t turn on. After about eight to ten tries she began to cry and curse the phone for not working. I could feel her shaking while she knelt on the floor next to her bed.

  “Take the battery out and put it back in,” Sarah whispered.

  My mom nodded her head and began to take the phone battery out. After listening to her fiddle with the phone for what seemed like forever I finally heard the click of the phone’s back plate being reinstalled and then she pressed the power button. The light from the phone seemed to light up the entire room, I looked around quickly to get a good look at the room and noticed the darkness was reacting very strangely. The light from the phone didn’t dilute the darkness; it seemed to fight it. The darkness was cowering to each of the corners of the room and moving like black waves crashing on the shores of a beach. Also the longer the light from the cell phone remained, the less terrified I felt. My nerves were slowly relaxing allowing my mind to expel the chaos that was raging inside my head and I began to regain control of my thoughts. I started to assess our situation and that thing downstairs and its relationship with Jason and my Mom’s familiar reaction to it. Suddenly, I felt Sarah pulling on my arm and I turned to see Sarah pointing towards the ceiling.

  She had a look of confusion and fear on her face, and when I glanced towards the ceiling I understood her expression. The ceiling light in my mom’s room was on, had always been on, but the darkness was so thick and invading that it covered it up like a thick black sheet covering a window to keep out the afternoon sun. The cell phone’s light seemed to have pushed the darkness back from the ceiling to reveal this strange spectacle, but what was even stranger was now that the darkness was pushed back and the ceiling light was revealed, it’s light still had no effect on the room.

  The only light that had any effect was from the cell phone and I knew that once that light went out, the darkness, the terror, and more than likely that thing would return. By now my mom was dialing 911 and through the phone’s ear speaker I could hear the dispatcher answer…

  “Nine-one-one, what is your emergency?’

  Silence…my mom said nothing. The dispatcher repeated her greeting and still my mom remained silent. The dispatcher again repeated her greeting and my mom was sitting there frozen.

  “Mom? Please answer her,” I pleaded.

  My mom was looking around the room frantically realizing that once she put the phone to her ear the light from the cell phone screen would go out. Then the darkness and that thing would return and we weren’t sure what new horrors were waiting for us once my mom began speaking into the phone? She continued to look around the room and then I noticed her staring at the closet on the other side of the room. She pointed to both of us and then towards the closet. I shook my head in protest; I was not going to leave her alone out here once the light went out. She looked at me and in her eyes I could see pain; the thought of her answering the phone and harm coming to us was too much for her to bear. I knew she was ready to give her life for us, but she didn’t want us anywhere around if it was to come to that.

  As much as I wanted to stay I knew I needed to keep Sarah safe, I would be the last line of defense and whatever might come through that closet door would have the fight of its life; if I was going to die protecting Sarah I was going to make it count. Nothing was going to come easy for my attacker tonight. I leaned forward and grabbed Sarah’s hand and pulled her away from my mom’s arms. Sarah was still crying and didn’t want to leave her either, but after a few hard pulls on her arm, she kissed Mom on the cheek and turned away walking towards the closet. I headed towards the closet after Sarah, and right before I closed the door I looked back to see my mom looking back at us. Tears were falling from her eyes, reflecting the cell phone’s light making them appear like streams of silver running down her face. Through all the terror of what would possibly come next, she forced a smile and silently said the words “I love you.”

  I made Sarah sit on the floor towards the back wall of the closet while I got on all fours in front of the closed closet door. It was very quiet besides the faint sound of the dispatcher still saying, “Hello, are you there?”

  Then the light went out and it felt like the air was suddenly sucked out of the room. I jumped back when I saw the darkness starting to pour in under the closet door like a weightless goo. I quickly grabbed one of my mom’s coats and covered the space under the door, trying to keep this diseased darkness out. I could hear my mom through the darkness pleading with the dispatcher to send help. She was sobbing now as the dispatcher tried to calm her down with no success. Then there was a loud boom that shook the entire room and I could hear the bedroom door exploding. Pieces of wood slammed up against the closet door, making loud banging sounds and violently shaking the hinges on the door. My mom began screaming at the top of her lungs followed by the high-pitched screech of the dark entity trying to speak again.

  “Where is she?” the entity asked. “Where is she?”

  My mom was still screaming, but the entity’s voice could still be heard clearly over her screams.

  “Tell me where she is and your death will be quick. Toy with me and I will savor your death for hours. Tell me now, I won’t ask you again.”

  Its questions were answered with louder screams of terror. I wanted to kick open the closet door and protect my mom, but doing so would jeopardize Sarah’s life and I loved her too much to leave her defenseless against this evil thing.

  “You think you are strong and the love for your children will keep you silent. I will show you how wrong you are; I will show you a level of pain and suffering you can’t possibly imagine and right before I take your life I will make you betray them. And before death takes you I will make you watch the pain your silence brought on your children. Yes, I can feel your fear, I can taste it, its flavor is wonderful. I will enjoy feasting on your pain.”

  Then I heard the agonizing screams of my mom as that thing began to attack her. He was clawing into her flesh with those talons and all I could do was listen to my mom die a horrible death to protect me and my sister. Over her screams the entity moaned and laughed in enjoyment at the pain it was causing her. It was almost like it was experiencing some kind of sensual rush from her suffering. Sarah was overcome with grief, crying while constantly whispering, “Mom, Mom, Mom” over and over again. The coat I placed under the door started to dissolve right before my eyes allowing this strange darkness to seep inside the closet. The situation was devastating and normally I would be frozen with terror but miraculously I was far from that. The feelings of determination and purpose began to build up inside of me. Something was awakening in me and slowly things became clearly than they’ve ever been.

  The room felt like it was spinning as my fear began to subside giving way to a more potent and powerful emotion. Tears rolled down my face as a warm feeling came over my entire body. Suddenly I felt a deep emotional yearning for my sister and my mother. Hearing my mom’s screams and listening to my sister’s heart breaking as she listened to our mother being tortured sent a tidal wave of empathy through my body. I want
ed to protect them and see them safe and alive from this ordeal. Their safety and well-being became more important than my own.

  I didn’t care what happened to me and how much pain I would have to endure saving them both, all that mattered was keeping them alive. It felt like waves of fire were hitting my chest over and over again, engulfing me in an emotional state I’d never experienced. I moved towards the back of the closet and held Sarah’s head in my hand and kissed her on her forehead. I knew what I had to do and I was willing to do it. As I placed my hands on the closet doorknob I realized exactly what emotion I was feeling. It was love, pure and uncorrupted and this love sent waves of energy through my body. This love I felt was so intense it shook the very foundations of my being. This love was so potent and engaging that it seemed to take on its own consciousness and soon it will materialized into a power that I’d never known.

  Walking out into the room I immediately felt my body temperature rise covering my entire body in sweat. The heat coming from my body became so intense the sweat on my arms started to boil and turn to mist.

  What’s happening to me?

  My body temperature was rising drastically as I felt my fingertips become numb; and then I saw it. The entity was astride my mom on the bed, clawing at her with those glowing weapons of evil. The closer I got towards the bed the hotter my body became, until my skin began to give off a glow similar to the light that the entity’s talons emitted. I was becoming light headed but unlike previous times I didn’t feel faint, actually I was more focused than I’d ever been. By the time I was at the foot of the bed the light and heat coming from inside me was so bright, the entire room was engulfed in it and the darkness that covered the room was dissolving and peeling away like the outer skin of an orange.

  The glow from my skin began to surround the form of the dark entity, but it was so consumed in torturing my mom it didn’t notice me. Somehow even though I’d never experienced this kind of power coming from inside of me I knew exactly what I needed to do next. A bright light blasted from my hands and I held them out in front of me, reaching out to grab this evil and expel it from this room, from our home, and away from my mother. The light flashed across its face and it turned suddenly and screamed,

  “It was you! It was you all along! I thought it was the girl!”

  And then it began screeching again, trying to move away from me and then another blast of energy shot out of my body towards the dark entity causing the entire room to engulf in flames. Soon the heat inside me was so intense my clothes burst into flames but the fire didn’t burn me; rather, it seemed to become an extension of my body and consciousness and the fire began moving and burning the darkness at my command. The entity cowered in the corner by the windows, trying to move away from the light and fire that was burning through the room. It coiled like a snake hissing as it tried to get out through the window. When I saw what it intended to do, I commanded the fire to prevent its escape and suddenly the window burst into flames, blocking its escape. It began hissing again as it ducked back into the corner and kneeled down in fear.

  I could hear my mom screaming for Sarah but her voice seemed far in the distance; a mere echo in the bright light and fire that had become the controlling environment in the room. I was still moving towards the evil that had now become the prey and not the predator. In the light this thing wasn’t so menacing anymore and now it seemed like a small matter to deal with. Its dark and misty form slowly began dissolving in the light and what was left was a shocking revelation. Once the cloak of evil was shed away what remained was a man I came to trust, a man I decided to love as a father despite my initial reservations. Kneeling before me was Jason, but he wasn’t the same man I knew and his eyes seemed to harbor a deep hatred and fear that sucked the love I felt for him right out of me.

  To see that hatred in his eyes was even more devastating because his deception was so complete he made us all believe he loved us, that he loved me as a son, giving me the father I never knew and the love I’ve always yearned for. But we were all wrong. During the terror and chaos I assumed that this thing had killed Jason; taking his place where he was standing at the island in the kitchen. It never crossed my mind that this thing and Jason was the same person.

  As I walked towards Jason with the intention to end his reign of deceit and terror in our lives, I vowed to never make that mistake again. I began to feel another surge of energy build up inside me, this energy was hard to control and the fire in the room started to burn more intensely as it concentrated all its energy towards the corner where Jason was kneeling. I started to lose consciousness right before I heard Jason scream in agony as the energy shot through my body and then…darkness…

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  I hate hospitals. I hate the smell and the people that work here, but what I hate most is the atmosphere of death. It’s like hospitals are the concourse of the damned. When you come here it is only a matter of time before one of these operating tables transport your ass to the afterlife. So here I am sitting in the waiting area, worried and scared to death that this hospital will be ferrying my brother and my mom to the afterlife. My mom is in serious condition from a loss of blood and shock, and Aiden is in a coma. The events of this day will forever reign supreme in my “weird shit is afoot” book. I can’t even begin to rationalize how this all started and how it’s playing out. This is way too much drama for a fifteen-year-old. It’s hard for me to relax in this uncomfortable chair, but Tony is here next to me and that makes things a little better. We both smell like smoke and sweat, but Tony is covered with soot and ash; even his hair has some ash in it. I don’t want to giggle but he looks funny with all that ash and dirt on him. Tony is always so put together, so to see him like this is very funny.

  But I’m really not in a giggly mood. I guess I’m being silly trying not to think so hard about what my mom and brother may be going through in the other rooms. Still, it’s good to not be sitting here alone.

  “So, tell me what happened in there?” Tony asks me.

  He has this look of amazement and concern on his face, like he doesn’t know but at the same time I believe he may have an idea of what happened at our house. In my mind I’m looking at him saying to myself, you may think you know but you have no idea. Not even close to an idea about what we just went through. It’s cute he’s so concerned and he probably thinks he can make things better or console me, but at the moment there is nothing he can say to make this all better. I’m mentally screwed up right now and this day will have a lasting effect on my mind for years to come. I just hope one day I will be able to sleep with the lights off again.

  “Sarah? What happened?”

  Why do guys do this? Keep asking questions they don’t really want to know the answer to or questions we ignore. I mean if we didn’t respond the first time then maybe that should give men a hint that the question isn’t going to be answered right now, if ever. But he did run into a burning house and pull my brother out, so I guess I can tell him something; but do I tell him the truth or make up something like a faulty socket or an iron left on a bed? I don’t want him to look at me like I’m crazy or something, because that wouldn’t be good at all. The last thing I need is for my crush to think I’m one screw shy of a straightjacket. But I can’t just ignore the question, with him sitting here staring at me with those beautiful brown eyes.

  Let me exhale first and then I’ll give him the most suitable answer for a question like this at a time like this.

  “I don’t know.”

  From the annoyed look on his face he didn’t like that answer. Oh well, better that answer than the weird truth about what really happened today. I don’t think he would be able to handle it if I told him and he would look me up and down like I was losing it.

  Damn this chair is so uncomfortable! And I don’t want to start walking around in this hospital for fear of seeing things, scary things inside people. Images of their true selves illustrated in the most bizarre and terrifying ways. I started seeing
this crap right after the fight with Jasmine when she placed her two fingers on my head and spoke a simple word that in normal situations wouldn’t have a life-changing effect. It wasn’t the word but the person that spoke it that wasn’t normal. That bitch is mental and now whatever she did to me has made me mental. I’m sitting here thinking about our confrontation and wondering why it got so out of hand so quickly.

  I remember walking down the hallway towards the lunchroom when I heard someone call my name. I turned around, but no one was there. I felt weird because I could feel someone watching me, even following me, but no one was there. And the way they called my name was like a whisper but it echoed through the hallway bouncing off the walls and lockers that lined the walls. I remembered feeling the hairs on my arms stand straight up and my skin feel icky, like tiny bugs were moving in different directions underneath my skin. To make myself feel okay about this weird feeling I just tossed it to the air-conditioning that was on. But then as I walked further down the hall, that same voice whispered my name again from behind me. When I turned around no one was there. When I turned back around I was startled by Jasmine standing right in front of me. I’d never been that close to the girl and I always heard guys talk about how beautiful she was. I felt like she was highly overrated but looking at her this close I had to admit that the girl was flawless.