1 1.Casting Shadows

Sounds of birds came from an open window, and the smell of freshly cut grass was in the air. A girl, almost a woman really, sat at her desk, lost in a world of her own. She drew a small heart on the corner of her notebook.

Mr. Carlson prattled on about summer goals and keeping our minds in shape for the coming school year, but the class was practically over. Summer was here, and that would mean a break from the world for two entire months. It also meant that she would be leaving to spend those months at her grandparent's farm.

Her mother had suggested that she go to help her grandfather on the farm for the summer. She would also earn some money for helping, so the idea wasn't all bad. She wasn't popular in her small town, but it wasn't like people didn't like her. She didn't like people in the sense that she could handle short bursts of intriguing topics, but long and drawn conversations about real-world problems always left her mind wandering. The voice of Mr. Carlson rose, pulling her from those thoughts.

"Have a great summer! We will see you all back here in September," Mr. Peters announced to the class. As if on cue, the bell rang, and there were whoops and yells from her peers. She took brief notice of events unfolding around her. The students started to rush out of the class. Everyone was excited to break free of the monotony of the past year.

She continued sketching, creating a small shadow that fell from the heart to a little point. The shadow appeared as though the heart bathed in bright light. Even though the shadow was small, it pulled the eye into the depth of its darkness. Even the most committed heart in the most brilliant light casts a shadow.

She placed her pencils in her small kitten case, a small tube case shaped like a cat that she kept drawing supplies. She closed her notebook and began to turn to start packing her stuff away when an icy feeling washed over her. The room was deathly silent, and she could hear no sounds from the halls or even from the courtyard through the open window. She had lost track of time, becoming absorbed in her drawing.

As she reached in her pocket to grab her phone to see the time, a shadow moved to her right. She froze, only glimpsing it from the corner of her eye, but she was sure she was the only person in the room. The icy feeling intensified into a knotting ball of ice that made her stomach drop. Her mind raced, but she could not form coherent thoughts. She had never been in the grip of fear so firmly, and it was becoming hard to breathe.

The shadow moved again, this time from the left, and she forced herself to turn to see a dark oily black shadow moving along the bulletin board on the wall. The mass undulated as it slid, and it seemed to pull all the light from the room. It was moving towards the door at an increasing pace. Realizing what the thing was trying to do, she broke from the fear trance.

She pushes her things into her bag quickly, trying to process what she was going to do. It felt to her like some fantasy horror gone right and stuck between this boiling pile of tar and a second-story window designed to keep kids from messing around and falling out. The shadow began to melt off the wall onto the ground. The shadowy mass began to boil rapidly, and a shape slowly started to rise from it.

The image of a black-tar humanoid shape rising transfixed her. Fear, wonder, horror, and amazement all held her in place. All she could do for that brief moment was take a mental image. Soon the figure seemed to stop growing, but the shadowy black mass seemed to drip perpetually. It raised an arm forward, and the faceless dripping shadow man spoke with an odd metallic, but hollow sound.

"You... must come with... me, Princess." The voice strained, and it seemed to be having a hard time speaking. This declaration snapped her back to reality.

"What?" She blurted out, startled by the voice that resonated from the shadowy figure.

"I can't... explain. Father... sent me," rasped the thing, forcing each word out as though each required tremendous energy, but he continued. "Said... wouldn't know him. Must protect... and take to him. They... are coming." The thing gasped and lurched forward towards me.

She stood frozen, utterly baffled to the things rasping words. She had parents, Josh and Tina. None of this was making any sense. Before she could protest, the wall with the windows exploded in a rain of splinters and glass shards. The blast threw her back, but the shadow rushed over and caught her.

She struggled, but the inky blackness was cold and smooth. It oozed around her, and she felt the cuts from the explosion close up, and the pain began to lessen. This feeling also brought her vision into focus to see what had knocked her back.

There was no way to convey the destruction. A gaping hole stood where only moments ago a wall, and full windows were. Two large red creatures stood up from a mess of desks and bookshelves. The monsters began to shake themselves off, and she got her first exact look at what had crashed into the room.

These things were over six feet tall, yet stood hunched with wings like bats and disfigured faces. Twisted and curving spinal cords covered their bodies, each looking like bits of flesh hung off them. The sight of them made a primeval part of her scream inside her. Run.