Crossroads-Book 1

•Chapter 14•

×Lucy×

I found myself in my room Saturday evening. I lay down on my bed, thinking of the past few days.

Throughout my life, I'd never had a day more interesting. After everything prince Bruno said, I didn't want to believe all the crazy stuff was real but at this point I couldn't not believe.

Frequently, that weird stuff with my shadow has been happening this week. I just look at my shadow and it starts growing. When I look away, it stops.

Sometimes, I feel like darkness resides in my soul. I can just feel it and it makes me feel a tremendous amount of fear like I'm surrounded by darkness and evil.
I kept thinking of shadows for a while til I got curious.
I decided to experiment.

I hopped off my bed and walked over to the light switch.
I flipped it and the only thing giving off light was the street lamp outside the window.

I saw a lot of shadows around me but I was more focused on mine.

Immediately I glanced at it, it started to grow.
It grew so wide, covering the entire room, enclosing me in its darkness.

I didn't stop looking at it until it enveloped me entirely.
Then I panicked.

I yelled but the sound was muffled. I could only see darkness all around me. I felt caged. It was hard to breathe.

Suddenly, I heard a faint hiss like a gas cylinder leaking.
"Hello Lucy."

Was the darkness speaking to me?
I turned around slowly. It was like I was in an endless void of  black ink.

"Who are you?" I asked, my voice reverberating off invisible walls. "How'd you know my name?"

"I am the spirit of shadow," the darkness hissed, "and you inhabit me, so I know everything about you."

"Okay, that's just intruding. I didn't even want to inhabit a spirit. Why am I inhabiting a spirit?" My voice shook.

"You are strong, Lucy Becker," the spirit said.
I flinched in surprise.
"You inhabit one of the strongest spirits of Reina. People think shadows are all about evil, but if you use it right, the things you would achieve...you were chosen for a reason Lucy, just like other spirits. It wasn't a mistake. It wasn't–"

I heard a door open but I didn't know where the sound came from.
Then I heard a voice.

"Um... Lucy?"

The spirit became silent and vanished. Light returned.

I saw myself standing in the middle of my room, staring off into space.
As soon as I realized that I  was back to normal, I sighed with relief.
My younger brother, Terry, stared at me in confusion.

"Are you okay?" he asked, "you were just standing there staring at nothing like you were in a trance."

"I'm fine. Why're you here?" I asked feigning comportment.

"Uh...mom and dad have been calling you for a while. You haven't been around since Friday. They're worried."

I smiled. "So you're not worried?"

"Well," he shrugged. "You're Lucy."
"Oh...okay. I'll be down in a minute, you can leave now."

He left in a hurry.
I blinked and took a deep breath, trying to shake away the feeling of fear and anxiety.

"Did I just talk to a shadow?" I ask myself and I turned off the room light and walked down the stairs.

When they asked, I told my parents that I was mostly in my room writing poems.

"For how long?" my dad wondered.

"Well, yesterday I went to Maddie's," I lied.

"Oh...okay. So, dinner's been ready since." my mum said.

"Sure. I just have to shower first."
"Okay. Hurry and clean up when you're done," she said as I nodded and walked back up the stairs.

As I walked into the room, my lights started to flicker. My shadow started to increase again. Suddenly I felt tired, like I'd run ten miles back and forth twenty times.
I walked over to my bed and collapsed on it.

***

The next morning, I decided to meet Maddie at Davie's to talk.
Before I left, my mom asked me why I didn't come back down yesterday.

I told her that I was tired and slept off unknowingly, which was sorta true.
When I walked into Davie's the place was almost empty.

I looked over to the counter, Carl wasn't there.

I scanned the place until I found Maddie.

She was sitting with Trevor and another girl.
"Hey," I said as I took a seat.
Trevor introduced me to the girl.

"Tanya. Lucy."
"Hi!" Tanya said to me.

"She's Trevor's younger sister," Maddie told me.
"Oh. That's cute,"  I replied.

Suddenly Maddie's eyes widened in surprise as she blurted.

"Spirit of light!"
I looked at her, confused.
The others looked as startled.

Coincidentally, the Alex twins walked in at that moment.

Ting!
The bell chimed.

"...I'm wearing them for many reasons. One of them, they're fashionable," Alexa said, walking with her brother to a nearby table.

Alexis had his hair loose and it fell over on his shoulders.

"Take them off. They look dum." he said to her.

"You're calling me dum? Mr Clumsy Hands?" Alexa shot back.

"Yeah...at least I don't shoot off electricity like some faulty electric cable," Alex countered.

What the hell were they talking about?

"Alexis!" Trevor yelled, grabbing their attention.

They looked over.

"Oh, hey Trev." Alexis walked over.
As Alexis approached, his expression changed. He stared at Trevor.

I looked over at Trevor. He was staring straight ahead.
"Guys..."

When he couldn't make out words, he pointed forward, behind Alexis.

We all turned to the direction he pointed.

I saw a wide, black, oval shape floating midair.

Xi Chang stepped through. He stretched his right arm in front of him.

Then we disappeared.

----------------
Heyyy!
I'm glad you're still interested.
Who do you think is gonna be the spirit of light?
Please vote and comment if you can.
Thanks!

~Ash.