Shifter

His spot

Chase slams the door behind him on the way out of the house. Scrambles through his pockets his headphones. Music on full blast. Jumps on his skateboard and rides off down the street as fast as he can.
Zipping in and out of the parked cars on the street, he didn't care that he was on his way to school. Anything was better than being at home.
Through the streets, he rode. Passing all sorts of different houses. Some small. Some big. Some smart. Some with rubbish everywhere. Zigzagging in and out of all the people he came across. Not stopping to speak to anyone. No one would want to speak to him anyway.

Finally, school. 'No riding on school grounds' he mocked to himself as he picked up his board and walked into the school lifting his face towards the sun, enjoying the rare bit of uninterrupted sunshine.
The school day dragged as usual with Chase sitting at the back of each class, but he didn't care, the longer the day took the longer he had before he had to go home.
Lunch came and went. Chase is in the corner of the field on his own with his headphones in staying away from anyone. Everyone thought he was weird anyway so 'Let them get on with it' he thought. 'I'm fine on my own. Who needs friends. All anyone does is let you down anyway'.

School was done for the day Chase rode his board off to his favourite hidden spot. Only true locals and those who would really have had to search for this place knew about it or even how to get there. It was a tiny little opening on top of the cliffs near the local beach. You had to climb over some rocks to get to it otherwise you'd have no idea it was there. Behind the clearing were the woods, thick with trees and thorn bushes. So dark inside you couldn't see past a few meters even on the brightest of days. To the front of the clearing was the edge of the cliffs. A sheer drop down to the beach and sea below. A few scattered rocks around made nice seats. That's where Chase liked to sit and draw. The drawings he had to hide from his dad. Jeez if he ever found them... Chase shook that thought out of his head and set himself up for a few hours of drawing. That's all the time he'd have before he'd need to head home and the nightmare would begin.
He never fully understood what he drew. They were just things that came to him and he just went with it. He has stacks hidden in the crawl space at home. A place he knew his dad would never go.

He got home just before his dad arrived. Sitting at the table ready for dinner, silence. No one wanted to talk. They could all sense the tension radiating from their dad. Chase exchanged looks with his younger brother Reece. The knowing look of 'he's about to explode get ready to run' look. Both shifted their seating positions ready to make a run for it.
Sure enough within a matter of minutes, their dad slammed his fists onto the table, sending cutlery flying and drinks tumbling, he started shouting and ranting at the boys. They didn't stick around to find out what the issue was, they just ran to their room. Chase bolted the door from the inside as they closed it behind them. The one thing their mum did manage to do to help protect them was fit that bolt on. Their dad beating his fists on the door. Chase understood that if she intervened he would direct that fury on her what he didn't understand is why she was still with him.
Reece shoved one of their chairs under the door handle as added protection.
"Just in case" he said to Chase.
"May as well get sorted for bed. We in here for the night now" Chase replied gently tapping the back of his head against the wall. Frustrated that this was their life.

The morning was pretty much the same. Their dad still in a foul mood. Looking for an argument and any excuse to beat the crap outta them. They had to permanently walk on eggshells when he was home. Thank fuck it wasn't too often with his driving job.

Another mundane day at school. Chase longed for the school day to end. Then he could get his drawing time. He just needed to be there. At his place. Where he felt at peace and safe.
He scrambled over the rocks and set everything up just like he usually did. Just as he started drawing he began to get a feeling as though something was watching him. He casually looked around. Nothing. The feeling passed so he shrugged it off. A little while later again he got the feeling someone was watching him. This time he tried to be sneaky when looking. But again, nothing. He shook the feeling off and carried on drawing these strange things that kept coming to mind.
As he was packing up something in the woods grabbed his attention. He slowly walked over to the edge of the woods. He saw paw prints in the mud just deep enough into the edge of the woods that from his seat on the rocks he would not have been able to see if anything had been there.
He touched the ground. Wet. These prints are new. He took out his phone to take a picture. Just as he was about to look up what the paw prints were on his phone when something caught his attention and he looked up. Over the edge of a branch in front of him, no more than maybe seven or eight feet away, were two bright golden-yellow eyes staring back at him. At first, he thought he was imagining it.
'They not real, are they?' He thought.
He shifted positions. The eyes slowly followed him. He'd seen enough horror films to know 'Don't investigate Chase. Just back away, slowly. You want to live!' He thought to himself as he backed away slowly grabbing his stuff. Over the rocks and hopped on board and rode home as fast as his board would go.

Still processing what had happened, he didn't even notice anyone talking to him during dinner. They just thought he was being his usual irritable self. He ate his dinner. Went to his room. Headphones in and started to draw. That's all he could think to do. Draw. Yet all that came out were those eyes.
Chase through it all on the floor through sheer frustration.
'Why the fuck can't I un-see what I saw?' He shouted at himself. Hurling himself down on his bed.
Chase heard his brother about to come in, he quickly grabbed up his drawings and shoved them all under his bed. He didn't need anyone else thinking he was crazy.
He laid on his bed staring at the ceiling half willing to sleep so he didn't have to think about or see those eyes anymore but he was also scared of what he would see if he closed his eyes.
Eventually sleep won, his eyes slowly closing for the sleep he desperately needed.
Only a short few hours later Chase was woken by raised voices coming from the hallway just the other side of his door. This had become almost a nightly occurrence.
Dad comes home drunk after spending the household money and then takes it out on their mum who tries to protect them from him.
Chase covered his ears with his pillow. He knew if he went out there and intervened he would only make the situation worse. He'd already learned that lesson the hard way. His dad was three times the size of him. He hated that he felt powerless against his dad.
The voices stopped and Chase heard the back door slam. He knew it was safe to check on his mum, his dad had left again.

With all the drama of his dad from the early hours, it had almost taken Chase's mind off what he had seen. Almost. He'd found himself doodling throughout the day without even realising it. Again, those eyes.
'What is with these damn eyes!?' He thought getting annoyed with himself.
He sat at lunch on his own in his usual spot flicking through his drawings. All his weird and wonderful creations and strange drawings of fantastical creatures. He had no idea where the inspiration came from to draw these peculiar things. They just came to him.
One of his favourites is of a lady he'd drawn. She was a tall slim lady with long white hair and red eyes. Pixie like ears and features. In some of his drawings he would be wearing a black crown, others she would be in a cloak. He must have had over 50 drawings of just her alone among the many more he'd drawn.
Chase hadn't only just drawn people and creatures, he'd also drawn places, again he had no idea where this place was if it was even real.
As he flicked through his drawings he then came to the eyes. He stared at them. He noticed the more he drew them the more human they started to look.
'That makes no sense. It was an animal....' Chase thought staring at the pictures.

He decided then and there that he would go back to his drawing spot after school and see if anything happens again.

To be continued....