Chasing Shadows

-Chapter One-

You know, I never wanted to know what a shadow really was.

I could have grown up completely oblivious to the terror that I now experience every time I see a shadow. But my parents, who happen to know exactly what lurks in the dark, decided it was about time for me to find out.

Screw them.

I would much rather grow up without this horror and experience it at the very moment of my death. 

I mean, it's not like I wasn't already scared of the dark. I always felt that there was something watching me. But that doesn't mean I wanted to know what was watching me. 

It was Halloween night (of course it was, how cliche of my dear parents) and I was laying on my couch watching Netfix because, hey, I hate Halloween. Why people consider it fun to run around dressed in stupid costumes and get the crap scared out of them, I'll never understand. 

My parents weren't handing out candy this year. My little brother, who was very upset about this, decided to just go trick-or-treating with his friends this year...since he couldn't just eat all the candy my parents had bought. To my surprise, my parents agreed to let him go. I'm not quite sure why. They were usually very careful about this stuff.

I soon found out, though, that they just wanted my brother out of the house. He could hear anything, you see, except when you were talking directly to him. 

So once he was out of the house, dressed as Dash from the Incredibles, my parents sat next to me on either side of the couch. I looked at them lazily, not expecting them to say anything particularly interesting. 

My mom took a deep breath, brushed her blonde hair out of her face, and began to talk. 

"Avery...I don't want to scare you or anything...but I think it's time for you to know."

I sat up, confused, and turned off the TV. "You guys already gave me the talk." I said slowly. I didn't need to go through that trauma again. 

"It's not that." My dad said, putting up his hands. "I'm not looking forward to talking to your brother about that..." He smiled a little bit, trying to crack a joke, but now I was really confused.

Seeing as his joke didn't work, my dad gave me a slap on the back. "Listen, Vry Fry," He said carefully.

Vry Fry was the nickname he used on me whenever something really bad was about to happen. I cringed slightly. 

"I know this sounds completely...impossible." My mom stammered. "But...uh...there are people living in the shadows."

Was I horrified or stricken? No. Actually, I was quite the opposite. I started laughing. Hysterically. 

My parents both stared at me, surprised. I wiped the tears from my eyes. "I can't believe either of you thought I would fall for that." I laughed, my voice comically high pitched. Both of my parents exchanged baffled looks. Once I had calmed myself down, my mom got off the couch.

"Hey, don't be all upset because I could see right past your little joke." I snorted. My mom looked me right in the eye, placing her hand into a dark shadow, so it seemed as though it disappeared. 

"You call this a joke?" She whispered.

And then she pulled something out of the darkness.