Shadow

I Have to Start Propping that Door Open

I was to busy drawing the image from my dreams. The shadow was bent down petting my cat on the closet door in the pale moonlight from the open window of my room. The figure of my imagination was tall. From the way I drew the back, I can only assume he's muscular. He had fluffy hair and long slim fingers that stroked my cat Magic. I could only imagine what those fingers do. I wonder if they would do normal things like, tie his shoes, write, draw, he does have the hands of an artist. I've reached the right shade of black for this figure, I slowly put my pen down and examine the drawing. It speaks in whispers that only I can hear. His voice, would it be deep and slow, boyish? No, his voice was sturdy, strong, powerful. I conjure it all up in my imagination. What would his name be? What would I call him? Death? Shadow? Pitch Black? Satan? Joe?

"Don." I hear it. "Don" I murmur. I slowly close my eyes listening to my conscience repeat it in different voices, accents, tones. I feel like these thoughts sometimes aren't mine, but I know they must be, my soul proves it, creating humane feels because of it. I slowly open my eyes to see him, my shadow, Don. Tattoos, everywhere, all over his body, up his neck, arms, chest, head, all except his face. He wears all black, matching the stereotype I've set for him. "Wonderful" I whisper. His eyes hold a rigid intense gaze if I didn't know him I would say his eyes were almost seductive and rough. But, I do know him. I've seen him in my dreams. "And that will be all for today" a voice fades in. Brought back to reality, the door to my daydreams shut for now.

I sigh getting up from the hard plastic chair, walking out of the classroom like everyone else, phantom thoughts and ghostly expressions on their face. Silently, I walk down the hall and towards another set of stairs, 'Basement' in off-white letters shout at me as I pass. Walking down the dark hall of my past childhood memories causes the little girl in me to cower in fear but arise with hope as I see the light at the end of the dastardly long hall.

"Hola" I yell. A brown wrinkled face peers around the corner as squinted eyes cast over at me behind small framed glasses. The sides of his mouth rise like the wings of a bird, slow and graceful.

"Oh you know I love that song" he croaks. I bend down lightly kissing his gray stringy hair, setting my bag down. Taking off my jacket and standing next to him, my eyes sweep over the item he clutches in his sundried hands.

"Voice, like music" he hums. "What do we have today?" I announce. I look at the old newspaper clips under the bright yellow table light causing contrast to the already withering water damaged paper.

"Just more of the forgotten" he sighs slipping them delicately into the plastic of an age-old scrapbook. "Then you go home, rest, I'll finish" my voice softly carries. He nods standing up slowly, I assist him with his jacket, hat, and cane letting him walk alone to the stairs. "nunayehisdvna" (safety) I whisper a prayer. I walk back closing the book, hauling it into my arms as I walk through the 80-foot metal storage racks filled with school treasures and antiques. Finding the year of the old archived item I place the book back into its rightful spot. Above, the light's flicker with amusement then goes out leaving me to my long-standing friendship with my best friend darkness.

"Great" I sigh. The light from the old lamp gave off a comforting glow to the twinge of fear tingling in the pit of my stomach. Walking slowly stretching my arms out making sure I don't collide with anything that may cost me my job and future, I make my way to the lamp and grab my phone out of my bag. Quickly I turn on the flashlight from my phone on grabbing my bag and jacket. I'll just have to finish this tomorrow. I begin walking down the pitch black corridor, the thuds of my shoes reverberating off in a terrifying way. A low growl erupts behind me, I don't take my time walking anymore. The dark unidentified entity creates a shuffling noise behind me, I run. I see the door and I run right into it pushing it with all my might. It lets out a stubborn screech but doesn't budge.

My heart beats at a horribly fast pace, my veins pump with angst adrenaline as I keep pushing on the old rusty door to my salvation. Shit! I hear another set of footsteps combined with more ferocious growls. The mixture of noise confuses me, my body goes into a panic, my mind whirling around like I'm caught in a tidal wave. I can't try my phone, no reception so I go back to pushing the door, I can feel the sweat on my arms as I hold my breath using dead weight to open this suddenly distressed door.

The damn thing worked earlier! The sounds behind me grew more animalistic, but I hear a few grunts here and there. There is someone else, how did the get down here? A loud wail of an animal shatters silence in the corridor, sounds very similar to a dog. Silence floods the humid enclosed area. I flash my light around and see nothing but the long agonizing concrete hallway leading into the fears of every young child. A force like a hand or maybe a foot, I couldn't disperse it in the moment. It was big and powerful and hit me straight in the chest with the power of God himself. But, I don't think God awaits anyone in terrifying silence. I'm knocked back into the door and causing it to fly open and me to land on my back. My head is thrown back from the force and I knock it against the floor.

The world around me blurs, my head begins to throb as I roll around on my back in search for air. I fight to keep my heavy eyelids open under the bright lights by the stairs. A black figure hovers over me, the smell of smoke, its strong as it invades my lungs making my back feel worse than it did before. I blink, the figure comes closer, I feel something lay on my chest, but before I could identify it, it disappeared. I grow tired of fighting to stay awake, I let my eyelids droop and my eyes roll to the back of my head. I have to start propping that door open.