Chapter 6

A second chance, not everyone gets it and not everyone can thoroughly utilize it. Old habits die hard and history repeats itself. But maybe that one failure could change you entirely for better or for worse.

When Ralph finally opened his eyes again he was lying near the front desk, his face covered in his drool.

His brain felt foggy and felt a small stinging pain along with a little numbness from the back of his head.

"What the hell was that thing, it couldn't have all been a dream. I can still vividly recall the pain even if it lasted for only a moment." Ralph grew hysteric due to the painful memory.

He looked around but there was no one in the hospital still.

"And I'm sure I saw that nurse again! It couldn't have been a dream, that pain was real! That month I spent full of misery was real, all those trips around the town were real!!."

He reasoned with himself like a madman as he walked out of the clinic, a faint hope emerged in his heart when he thought about the possibility of it just being a dream. His indignant rage calmed down a little as he ran back to his home, hoping to see his mother again, the last moment before his death had shaken him up but his hands and feet moved without stopping as he came running through the door.

Frantically, he ran around the house with his shoes on. But slowly came to a stop as he had already gone through the entire house with that sprint.

He took breathed heavily as he sat down.

He sat there for an hour to calm himself down. Even tried those meditational breathing exercises that everyone claimed worked wonders, but every time he felt the hopelessness of his situation his anxiety grew further.

Thinking about that behemoth's screech caused him to shiver uncontrollably.

He decided to shift his thoughts to what he could do to survive that thing, 'Running doesn't seem like it would work even If I tried it a second time, it's a death sentence to come across it in the open.'

The large eyes that the monster used to stare down at him were void of mercy.

'Wait, how am I still alive then? Or have I been in the purgatory all along? Monsters like that shouldn't even be walking around like that! I didn't even realize its existence before we were locking eyes.'

'Is this some kind of a joke, can't I even die in peace?'

'Am I supposed to die again and again until I go insane, can a person even handle a single death without going insane?'

'Why must I go through with this again?',

Ralph in his heart had lost all hope and feared his cursed fate.

Life became mundane as he always stayed inside, shutting all the blinds, hiding away from the thing that still haunted his nightmares. He only ever went out to stock up on food and even then he peeked around the corners, always fearing what might be lurking. Things went on like this for two and a half months. He had only recently started having sleep without dreams or rather, nightmares.

He was out to take some food from the mall when he saw a blurred human-like shadow, struggling to step into the real world from the shadow of a tree. It seemed to be stuck at the waist of whatever hole it was trying to come out of, none that Ralph could see anyway.

It was a novel experience to see something like that in broad daylight, he didn't feel like running away just yet because the shadow looked like it wasn't getting out any time soon.

His grip tightened on the handle of the gun as he walked towards it at a cautious pace, ready to run away at a second's notice, he carried a gun to feel safe nowadays, even if it was arguable whether it would do jack against the skeleton.

Humans have always clung to ideas that made them feel safe, It took a courageous person to realize that their sense of safety might be a false one.

He pulled the gun out and pointed it at the head of the shadow that seemed to have realized his presence and became more vigorous with its actions, which did little to change its reality.

He was about half a meter away from its farthest reach when it suddenly began to lengthen its shadowy tendril, trying its hardest to snuff out the light of life that he had, this did little to waver Ralph, who still hadn't notice the snail's pace of growth, he adjusted his aim and braced for impact after removing the safety on the gun.

*snap*

He fired a gun for the first time in his life.

It still wasn't entirely where he hoped to shoot but he couldn't sulk over it right now as he saw the place where the shot had landed burned a little and now there stood a bullet-sized hole in its place which he could see through.

"Well that's interesting, It doesn't seem to feel pain and it's not showing any change in its behavior either, normally such an opponent would have been really dangerous but I have a feeling that it can be killed".

He thought as he stared at the wound that burnt for some time before it was slowly closed by small shadowy tendrils."Disgusting", Ralph mocked its existence for some time and after a round of berating, he went back to grab his car keys.

It was fine though as the shadow man seemed indifferent to his insults and returned to his affairs.

Having a task after a long time, Ralph was very methodical about it as he first went to the gun store.

After picking a lot of "things" that were to his liking, he made another stop at the hardware store.

When he finished loading his car there was barely any space except for the driver's seat. It seemed like he was ready for a long round of testing, the test subject being the shadow man of course.

He parked at some distance and walked out with the first set of tools. That was when he saw a suspiciously long pair of arms stretching out for him.

"It seems like it couldn't wait for me to arrive and conduct the experiments, a fellow science enthusiast I suppose."

"Don't worry, none of us are going anywhere till I satisfy my curiosities. "

He gave it a malicious smile as he pulled out a double barrel shotgun from a duffel bag, living alone had done strange things to his head.

He shot the first shot, his shoulder jerked with a great force, the shadowman was still silent, but now with more holes all over its body.

"That shotgun has a nasty recoil", he then gazed over at his new friend, as his ears rang and he smelled the gunpowder in his nostrils.

"It seems like you're still not willing to die peacefully, well that's what friends are for right? I'll help you pass over or under, whichever you prefer. I just can't bear to see you struggle that hard! After all, a friend in need is a friend indeed."

Ralph merrily walked back and prepared for round two.....

After three more shots from the double barrel, the shadowman finally gave up and broke into small fragments of shadow that merged back into the tree's shadow.

"He sure had a lot of tenacity", Ralph mumbled and walked over after a few minutes of no activity.

That's when he spotted it, the small ball that glowed like the sun overhead.

"What's that? Did my friend leave gifts for me before leaving?"

Still, unsure about whether or not to approach, he thought over it again and again, and then he had a sudden change of heart, all his fear seemed to have loosened all of a sudden when he had a ridiculous thought.

'It's not that much of a question if I think about it. Either I die learning something new after which I either revive at the hospital or I die for good this time, Both of which don't seem like a bad thing. Or I head back home and hope that it will be the last weird thing that will happen to me from now on.'

He gave up all fear and grabbed the ball.

Surprisingly, it wasn't hot like the sun but rather had a cool feel to it along with a smooth texture.

He was admiring it when it melted into his palm and a bright streak raced up his arm, burning his arm from the inside. It looked like it was moving inside his arm, which it probably was. He had had little time to scream or follow its trajectory when all the shadows in his surroundings surrounded him at an astonishing rate.

In less than a second, his world became dark.