Shadow of Time

by Jen Minkman

  Her heart started to flutter in the silence that ensued.

  “No, don’t give me that look,” Ben went on. “You’re trying really hard to shut her out, but I know you too well. You can’t fool me. You’re still totally in love with her, aren’t you? I don’t know what you’re up to, but if you push her away now, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.”

  “It’s better for her,” Josh stammered.

  “How is it better for her?” Ben fumed. “Since when do you decide about her life? I see nothing in his whole situation that even slightly benefits her. You haven’t seen ... ” His voice caught in his throat. “You haven’t witnessed her flying on auto-pilot, turning off every last bit of emotion to get you out of her system. Crying her eyes out when she did think of you. Am I wrong to blame you? I don’t think so. This is all your fault.”

  Josh sighed. “Believe me, the last thing I want to do is hurt her.”

  “Yeah. But it’s still on your list, apparently.”

  “I can’t explain it.”

  “Try me.”

  The two boys stopped talking, and the silence stretched between them. Hannah could almost see the stubborn set of Ben’s mouth and the distant look in Josh’s eyes in her mind.

  “If I told her what’s going on,” Josh finally rasped, “she would agree with me.”

  “Well, have you told her what’s going on?” Ben had stopped shouting. He sounded calm but determined.

  “No. I haven’t.”

  “Why not?”

  An even longer silence followed.

  “I only did what I did to protect her,” Josh then said pleadingly. “I don’t want to hurt her.”

  “Then don’t. I suggest you talk to her. It’s time to eat some crow, man. You shouldn’t decide about her life. Hannah is perfectly capable of doing that herself.”

  Hannah bit her lip. Tears welled up in her eyes. She still had no clue where Josh’s strange behavior had come from, but at least she knew he still loved her.

  “You’re right,” Josh admitted. “Ben - shik’is – can you please accept my apology?”

  “I can. But only if Hannah accepts it too.”

  Hannah sat bolt upright when she heard Josh make his way to her bedroom door. She tried to wipe the tears from her eyes. Shoot. Her mascara had entirely washed down her face. She probably looked like a depressed raccoon.

  Just then, the door swung open and Josh stepped inside. The look on his face told her that he didn’t care at all about her heinous appearance. Without saying a word, he pulled her up from the bed and cradled her in his arms. Her heart sang when she felt his embrace for the first time in four days. Her hand caressed his chest, and she felt the quick beat of his heart underneath her fingers. He was so scared. So vulnerable and sad.

  “I won’t let you go,” he whispered. “Not anymore. I love you.” He kissed her softly. One of his own tears fell on her wet cheek, and she smiled against his lips. “You’re making my smeared mascara wash down even more,” she half-giggled, half-sobbed. “Now I really look like a train wreck.”

  He chuckled nervously. “Sorry.” He pressed his lips to hers once more. “I’m sorry, shan díín.”

  He clung to her like she was a raft on the waves of the wild sea of his emotions. Minutes tick-tocked away, and Hannah slowly calmed down.

  “Will you accept my apology?” Josh mumbled against her lips, and added with a cautious grin: “If you don’t, Ben will never speak to me again.”

  Hannah laughed, but then looked serious. “Yes. But only if you promise me you’ll start talking. And I mean real talk,” she said adamantly.

  He cast down his eyes and heaved a sigh. For a split second, she didn’t know what his response would be, and her stomach clenched. But when Josh looked up again, he smiled. He no longer wanted to shut her out. The look in his eyes was one of determination. This time, he would share with her what was going on in his life, regardless of the consequences.

  “I promise,” he said simply.

  “Thank you,” she whispered. “For your trust.”

  They sat down on the bed together, and Hannah snuggled up against him. So many questions were on the tip of her tongue, but the most important question of all had already been answered – he really loved her. No matter how strange he’d behaved, and how much he’d tried to push her away, he had apparently done those things in order to protect her from something. He’d said so.

  A modest knock on the door made them both sit up straight. “Are we still alive in there?” Ben asked.

  “Yes, alive and kicking!” Josh called back. “Come in.”

  Ben swung the door open with a wide grin. “So, am I correct in assuming everything is A-Okay again?” he asked with a twinkle in his eyes. His gaze swept over Hannah’s face. “Love the emo make-up, by the way. Let’s drop by that Placebo concert after the funfair if we have time left.”

  Hannah stuck out her tongue and then burst out laughing. It felt good, like she was able to breathe again for the first time in days. “Yeah, everything’s fine.”

  She got up to give Ben a long, tender hug. When she pulled back, Josh put his hand on Ben’s shoulder.

  “Thanks, man,” he mumbled. They shared a look that told Hannah Josh was indebted to his best friend, and Ben wasn’t going to let him hurt her ever again. She’d never seen her brother look so stern.

  “Go on, out with the two of you,” she said. “I want to re-apply my mascara. For obvious reasons.”

  Ben and Josh grinned. “We’ll be on the porch,” Josh said, kissing her lightly on her forehead.

  Hannah rubbed the black streaks away from her cheeks, put on some new make-up and combed her hair. Then, she dug up her cell phone from her bag, and multi-texted Emily, Nick, Amber and Ivy with the message: ‘Believe it or not, but Josh and me are together again :) Happiness!! Xx Han.’

  They spent the rest of the afternoon together. They weren’t alone, because Ben joined them to the beach, where they bumped into Amber and Ivy. Josh had promised her they would talk that night, after the funfair. It seemed like a good idea – it was important they relaxed now. Josh needed it. The prospect of having to talk to her about his strange behavior had clearly put a strain on him. All she wanted was to enjoy their time together, now that they were back together again.

  After an extensive three-course menu at a burger restaurant, the group of four was ready to explore the fairgrounds. Josh and Hannah walked hand in hand, Ben and Yazzie behind them. Ben had a wide smile on his face. He loved funfairs. Hannah wasn’t a big fan herself – she usually got sick on rollercoasters – but fortunately, there were also bumper cars and a giant Ferris wheel.

  “Hey, look, there’s a haunted house, too!” She pointed at a fake gray castle, complete with turrets, wooden drawbridge and plastic heads of decapitated people on stakes, their eyes bulging and their tongues lolling.

  “Those things look so fake they make me laugh more than anything else,” Josh grinned, looking up at the supposedly gruesome decoration. “You want to go in?”

  “Yeah, later. Look at the line!”

  The Ferris wheel didn’t have as many visitors waiting in line, so Josh and Hannah made their way to the other side of the fairgrounds. Ben pointed at the fast rollercoaster in the corner. “Why don’t the two of you pick a nice love-seat on the wheel? Me and Yaz are going to try The Deadly Snake. Right?” He poked Josh’s cousin in the ribs.

  “Knock yourself out,” Hannah smiled. She watched Ben line up for the rollercoaster she wouldn’t go on if they gave her a million dollars, and turned around to face Josh when he slid his arm around her waist. “Would you like some cotton candy before we go on the wheel?” he said.

  They both bought cotton candy at the taffy stand and took a ride on the Ferris wheel. When they got out again, they spotted Ben and Yazzie at the shooting range, like they’d agreed. “Did you enjoy the Snake?” Hannah asked her brother.

  “You bet. Yazzie’s going to join me for another round.”
>
  “Well, better him than me.”

  “What about you, Josh?” Ben challenged his best friend with a wink.

  Josh grinned. “Come on. I can’t abandon my girlfriend, can I?”

  “Yeah, sure. Let’s just pretend I believe that.”

  After a bumper car ride, Josh pulled Hannah along to the haunted house. “Yaz and I are going to try our luck at the shooting range,” Ben called after them when they lined up at the ticket booth, manned by a guy with a big Frankenstein mask.

  “Have fun. We’ll catch up with you later,” Josh replied.

  He grabbed Hannah’s hand as they walked inside, crossing the drawbridge leading up to the castle entrance. Hannah screamed when a zombie with a chainsaw appeared out of nowhere and lashed out at them.

  “That ... that’s a fake saw, right?” she stuttered. Josh shielded her from the murderous zombie and grinned at her.

  “I should hope so. Otherwise, we’ll see the owner of this joint in court.”

  Hannah giggled. They gave the actor a wide berth and continued their way into the haunted castle. The narrow hallway they ended up in was dark and gloomy. Cobwebs tickled Hannah’s face when they pushed ahead, fluorescent spiders dangling from rubber bands over their heads. A ghastly shriek echoed through the room when a translucent ghost appeared in a mirror on the wall, followed up by a loud boom that sounded like a cannon. She grabbed Josh’s hand as the hallway became even narrower. There were air cushions on both sides, making it more difficult to proceed. According to a sign above their heads, they needed to brave this tunnel to get to the torture chamber.

  “Well, we don’t want to miss that, do we?” Josh chuckled, pointing at the sign, and put his hand around her upper arm to steady her as they entered the air cushion tunnel.

  Hannah stayed close to him, trying her best to squeeze her way past the cushions. After about ten steps, the space between the cushions became so narrow she had a hard time moving at all. Her feet hit a dent in the floor and she tripped.

  Hannah felt Josh’s hand slip away from her right arm. It didn’t come back. “Josh?” she called out in a small voice. “Wait up.”

  No response. Suddenly, it hit her how quiet the castle had become. No screaming visitors, no yammering ghosts, no chainsaw in the background. An abrupt wave of dizziness made her sick. She tried to take a few steps, but the pressure beating down on her chest cut off her breath.

  And then, she felt a hand on her left arm.

  Her back grew rigid, her skin turning cold under the touch of a hand that couldn’t possibly belong to Josh. He had to be on the other side of the tunnel if he’d come back for her.

  “Who’s there?” she yelped, her voice quivering. She tried to look behind her, but it was dark – way darker than she remembered. A shiver ran through her entire body, and suddenly, all she wanted was to run. To get away from this creepy place.

  Hannah pulled her arm away from the hand that couldn’t belong to anyone she knew, forcing her way through the tunnel with all the strength she could muster. Sweating and panting, she pushed at the cushions with her hands and arms. She slowly made her way forward, but the ball of fear stuck in her throat wouldn’t go away.

  All of a sudden, she managed to break free, tumbling forward into a dimly lit room with bare walls. This couldn’t be the torture chamber. Josh was nowhere to be seen. With a throat dry from sheer panic, Hannah looked from left to right. Where the heck was she? What was going on?

  A bone-chilling sound behind her made her look over her shoulder. Hannah turned around, and her heart stopped. The low, unearthly growl she’d heard was coming from the small opening of the air cushion tunnel she had just left.

  There was a shadow. A familiar one. She could see the outline of the dark creature grow in the few seconds it took her to back off, pressing her shoulders against the far wall of the room in an attempt to get away from the monster.

  Her eyes opened wider when two red, glowing pinpoints of light shaped like eyes took shape in the apparition’s head. The shadow shimmered in the air.

  “No. No. Go away!” she screamed, her voice rising to a high-pitched shriek as the shadow glided through the air toward her, hovering over her in the blink of an eye. The creature stared down at her in complete silence.

  “No!” she howled. “Leave me... alone.” Her words dried to a whisper as the skinwalker started to laugh softly. It was an ominous, threatening sound that completely shook her up. Hannah could feel his cold breath on her lips like a kiss of death.

  Oh, God. She’d forgotten to bring the medicine pouch. It suddenly dawned on her. In the rush of the afternoon, she hadn’t thought of wearing Sani’s protection totem around her neck. The medicine bundle was still in her bag – and her bag was in the trunk of the car.

  She was all alone, and she had nothing to protect herself.

  “No one can help you,” the skinwalker’s voice echoed inside her head. A terrified sob escaped her throat. The fear paralyzed her, like a poison slowly spreading through her veins.

  “Josh,” she sobbed. “Ben...” She pressed her clenched fist against her mouth to stop herself from crying out in terror when the shadow came even closer. Her heart was beating so rapidly she was afraid she’d go into cardiac arrest.

  The skinwalker came so close his shadow blocked out everything, and then, his outstretched claw scratched her face. She felt a stabbing pain in her cheek, and blood dripping down to her jawbone. Still in a panic, she tried to scoot away from her attacker.

  Just then, she saw something flutter through the air from the corner of her eye. Something blue. Holy crap – was that a butterfly?

  “Look at your hand.” There was a sudden, calm second voice in her head, talking to her out of nowhere. “Count your fingers.”

  Hannah robotically raised her hand in front of her face. She had no clue why it was important to look at her hand, but the voice sounded trustworthy, and right now, she could use all the help she could get. With a frown and a growing sense of wonder, she stared at her hand. She couldn’t count her fingers. The image of her hand was too hazy.

  “Six,” she finally choked out. “Six fingers.”

  This wasn’t real. It was a dream.

  Hannah remembered Emily telling her that the yenaldlooshi broke into people’s dreams to drive them insane. She remembered Ben telling her how she could wake herself up like this.

  “This is not real,” she screamed at the top of her lungs. Gasping for breath, she stared at the shadow towering over her, and then she opened her eyes again.

  She was still in the narrow cushion tunnel. Josh was just pulling her into the torture chamber.

  “Were you stuck?” he laughed. “You were, like, frozen all of a sudden.”

  Hannah gaped at Josh. Apparently, her nightmare had only lasted a few seconds. Josh hadn’t even noticed something was wrong. Whimpering, she put her arms around his waist and pressed her face into his chest. He held her tight.

  “Shan díín?” he whispered, taken aback. “You’re shaking! Were you really scared, honey?”

  “I ... I want to leave,” Hannah stuttered, a note of hysteria in her voice. “Please, Josh, let’s just go. Right now. Please.”

  He didn’t ask any further. Quickly, he looked around and found the emergency exit in the corner of the dimly lit torture chamber. They staggered out, down a rickety metal stairway at the back, ending up on a grassy patch behind the haunted house. Hannah tried to steady her breath, holding on to Josh like her arms were covered in suckers. She couldn’t stop shaking. Never in her entire life had she been so scared.

  “What happened?” Josh asked her quietly, stroking her hair. “I’m sorry I let go of you. I tripped.”

  She shook her head. Josh couldn’t help it. She was the one who’d stupidly forgotten to bring the only thing she had to protect her from a skinwalker attack. Teeth chattering, she couldn’t string a coherent sentence together.

  “What happened to your cheek?” Josh said with a frown. H
is thumb touched her skin, and she flinched.

  “Why? What do you see?” she whispered.

  “A scratch,” he replied. “You’re bleeding a little bit.”

  Her stomach turned. But it had been a dream. How the heck could she be injured? That was absurd. Impossible.

  “Let’s go to the front,” she finally mumbled. She had no idea how long they’d been away, but she wanted to see Ben, and get her ass back to the car as soon as possible.

  “Come with me,” Josh mumbled, draping his arm around her shoulders as they made their way to the front of the mansion. Ben and Yazzie were waiting for them, Ben with an enormous teddy bear under his arm. Smiling, he offered it to Hannah. “Look what I won at the shooting range, sis. That’s for you.”

  Hannah forced a faint, quivering smile. “Thanks,” she whispered.

  Ben raised his eyebrows. “What’s going on? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  “Very astute,” Yazzie deadpanned, looking pointedly at the haunted house behind them.

  Ben mock-slapped him. “Not like that, you moron.”

  “Someone was...” Hannah swallowed hard, clutching Ben’s bear in her hands. “Somebody was chasing me.”

  “Wasn’t that part of the show?” Yazzie asked, non-plussed. “The whole ‘flesh-eating-zombies-are-after-me’ angle?”

  “No. It was something else.” She stared at the ground in front of her feet, feeling like an idiot. What was she supposed to tell them without sounding like a lunatic? Ben would probably put the shrink on speed-dial if she told him the truth.

  A shiver ran down her spine. When she looked up, her eyes wandered to a group of people watching them, standing behind Ben and Yazzie. They were observing the four of them in silence. Her eyes almost popped out.

  There they were. The three guys who’d harassed her that night. The skinwalkers, as they appeared to her the very first time. She stared at them in utter terror. Ben followed her gaze and turned around, spotting the trio. “Hannah? Are they...”

  She nodded, still speechless.

  “Ha’ííh? What’s up?” Yazzie shot Josh a questioning look. Josh kept an eye on the three guys behind them, who hadn’t moved an inch and were still staring at Hannah and him with a murderous glare.