Your Time Draws Near

It was twelve pm on a Wednesday. I was lying awake in bed, shivering slightly from the cold winter breeze that leaked through my cracked window. Suddenly, I heard it again. The noise that kept me awake. SCRATCH SCRATCH! Yep, that was it. It sounded like a shovel was scraping the gravel outside. Unlike the other nights, this scrape sounded close, almost too close. The scraping suddenly stopped. It still sounded as if it was outside. I chanced a peek out the window, holding my breath….

Two days earlier…

I was on the large couch, waiting to go to school on Monday. I was practicing a song on my guitar when I heard it.

“hahahahaha.” It sounded like a rusty growl coming from the small couch next to me. I jumped a little, not expecting the noise in my quiet house. I looked around, but nothing was there. I shrugged, thinking it was my overactive imagination playing tricks on me and put the guitar away. I walked over to my bookbag next to the door, grabbed it, and left. When I was walking to the bus stop, I felt a small chill go up my spine. It felt as if someone was watching me. I glanced behind me and saw nothing but my own shadow. I started walking faster, wanting to be by other people so I wouldn’t be alone. The bus came 10 minutes after I got to the bus stop. I got on the bus and sat where I usually sit. We arrived at school around 7:55, and I went up to my locker. I saw my friends Amber and Isabelle and told them what had happened.

“What the heck?” Amber exclaimed with surprise.

“Seriously, you’ve gotta be joking,” Isabelle said.

“Nope, I’m not joking for once,” I stated. “Anyways, see you later.” I walked away and saw my other friend Delilah. I told her what had happened too.

“Maybe it could be a ghost, but aside from that, I don’t know what it could be.” She inferred.

“Yeah, maybe.” I walked to my locker, quickly grabbed what I needed and went to class. Throughout the day, I told my friends what happened, but they didn’t believe me. At 3:00, the bell finally rang, and we all went home. I was still wondering what that voice was as I was walking home. When I got to my house, I did the thing I normally do: homework. Thankfully, I didn’t have a lot of it, but it still took about two hours. After I finished my homework around 6:00, my mom and dad made dinner and we hung out until 8:00. At eight, I said goodnight and went to bed, the voice from that morning still fresh in my mind. Around 12:00 pm, I woke up to the sound of tapping on the window. That’s odd, I thought, since no-one would be able to get to my window. I looked at the window, and the tapping stopped. It was too dark to see anything, but I thought I saw a shadow that wasn’t just a tree. Peeking out the window, I looked around, and saw nothing. I shrugged. Maybe it was just my imagination again, I thought, though I wasn’t too sure. The shadow looked too real to be an illusion. I got back in bed and drifted into an uneasy sleep, feeling eyes bore holes in my skin.

The next day, I woke up to the sound of my blaring alarm clock, being so loud, it probably woke the dead. I grumbled as I got out of bed and shut it off. I got dressed, brushed my hair, and ate breakfast. I still had an hour or so before I had to leave, so I read a book. Around a half-hour later, I left. I was walking to the bus stop when I heard a scraping noise behind me. I looked around, but no-one was there. I walked faster, and I heard the scraping grow louder. I finally arrived at the bus stop, looked around me, and crossed the street. When my feet hit the sidewalk, I hear another scraping noise. I look all around me, but I seem to be the only one who can hear it. A few minutes later, the bus comes, and we go to school. At leisure, I’m hanging out with my friends Seigi, Amber, Wendy, Dakota, and Isabelle when I hear the scraping noise again, almost as loud as a truck.

“What’s that sound?” Dakota askes. Everyone shrugs.

“Hey! That’s the scraping sound I told you guys about!” I exclaim. “Let’s go check it out.” We go on the grass by the woods, where we heard it, and look around. Nothing.

“Wonder what it was,” Seigi said. We all started heading back when we heard Amber yell.

“GUYS!!! I FOUND SOMETHING!!!” she shouted over the usual chaos. We all ran back.

“What’d you find?” Wendy asked. Amber held up a leaf with something liquidy on it.

“What’s that weird red stuff on the leaf?” I wondered.

“That looks like blood,” Isabelle chimed in.

“Probably not,” Amber said. “It’s too dense and bright. And even if it was, why would there be blood on a leaf at school?”

“Good question, and the answer is…” I held up a random donut-shaped eraser I found while snickering. “I donut know!”

“YESSSS!!!!” Amber high-fived me as Wendy rolled her eyes and Dakota laughed. Isabelle was just standing there with a blank expression on her face.

“Why?” Isabelle loudly whispered.

“NOOO!!!” Seigi yelled. “Where did you even get that?!!”

“I found it on the ground. Not very important. Anyways, should we go tell the lunch-aid what we found?” I asked.

“No. We should do some research.” Amber told me.

“Oh, this looks like ketchup.” I realized.

“It does!” Dakota exclaimed.

“Maybe it is.” Wendy chimed in.

“Definitely is,” Amber said, smelling it.

“Why would you smell it?” Isabelle exclaimed. “What if it was poison?”

“It’s not.”

“Even if it isn’t, It’s still been on the ground, which is gross!”

“Relax, Isabelle.” I said, still laughing. “It’s not that bad. Anyways, at least it’s not blood. Though, I do wonder what that scraping was about.”

“Yeah, I don’t know. Anyways, before we get caught back here, we should go.” Dakota noted. We all walked away from the woods. The bell to go inside rang and we all went inside, ready to continue our regular school lives. After a few long periods, the bell to go home rang. We all went home, not a single worry in our minds as we did the day’s homework. Everyone except for me. When I went to bed that night, I heard the scraping again.. I looked around, nothing there, and yet I still felt the eyes watching me, an unseen glare that sent a shiver down my back. I fell into an uneasy sleep for the second night in a row.

The next day was Wednesday. I walked to school, hearing the familiar scraping sound. I looked around, expecting nothing, but I saw a shadow as it moved behind me, holding something in its hand. I walked faster to the bus stop. The bus was already there when I got on, and some people were laughing and talking amongst themselves. The day was normal, except for leisure, when we heard the scraping again. We went by the woods again and, as we expected, saw nothing out of the ordinary.

“Ok, that scraping has got to stop. It’s giving me a headache!” I said in annoyance.

“Well, you're the one that hears it the most,” Amber started.

“Can’t argue with that,” I sighed.

“Guys! Do you hear that?” Dakota exclaimed. We all went silent, backs turned towards the woods. Then I heard it. Barely detectable with everyone chatting, there was a low growl, the same voice I heard laughing at my house.

“What is that?!” Wendy asked in surprise.

“I don’t know, but it was the same thing I heard in my house on Monday.” I replied.

“That’s creepy,” Seigi stated.

“Um, guys? What’s that?!” We turned to Isabelle, who was pointing towards the woods. We looked at the woods, and saw a dark, male figure standing there, with a rusty silver shovel covered in something that didn’t look like ketchup. He looked human, but he had burning red eyes that dripped down his sockets like tears of blood. His mouth was all black with pure white teeth that were too jagged to be humane. The figure slowly started walking towards us, small puffs of smokey darkness trailing towards the sky.

“RUN!!!!!!!” shouted Amber as we all ran away to tell a lunch-aid. I stopped and saw the man run away. By the time I turned around and started running, Amber and the rest were already on their way back with a lunch-aid on their heels.

“Ok. Where is he?” the lunch-aid asked.

“He ran away when they went to get you,” I said. “But it was by the woods where the Surviving Natural Disasters classes put up their practice shelters.”

“Well, we could heighten security measures around the woods, but aside from that, I can’t help you because he doesn’t have any identity you know of. But thanks for telling me.” The lunch-aid walked away.

“Oh, ok.” I said.

“How is heightening security measures around the woods going to help us?” Asked Wendy a few seconds later.

“I really don’t see how it makes sense.” said Dakota. “I mean, can’t he just get past the extra security easily?”

“That’s odd.” We turned around to see Seigi sitting on the ground, holding a leaf with red stuff on it. “This wasn’t here before he appeared.”

“That looks like the stuff that was on his shovel,” Isabelle realized. “And wasn’t the stuff on his shovel blood, ‘cause that didn’t look like ketchup to me.”

“Yeah, I think it was.” I said. “Anyways, we should think of what to call him. I know, it’s odd, but we can’t keep calling him ‘him’. It doesn’t make sense.”

“Ooh! I have one! How about, The Shadow Stalker!” Wendy exclaimed.

“I like it!” I said. “Any more?”

“nope. I agree with Wendy.” Seigi said.

“Same.” Isabelle and Amber said.

“Yep.” Dakota added.

“Shadow Stalker it is!” I concluded. Just then, the bell rang, and we ran to get our stuff. When we were walking in, we still talked about it.

“Wonder who the stalker’s identity is.” Seigi said, playing with his ID tag.

“Yeah, maybe the stalker is a random guy from California whose name is Bob…” I started.

“You’re gonna say something stupid, I know it.” Seigi said.

“... and his last name is The Builder!” I started laughing.

“I knew it. Also, could you stop with the puns?” Seigi asked.

“nope. I guess my puns aren’t…”

“Don’t!!”

“Punny!!!”

NOOOO!!!” Seigi started running after me as I laughed and ran away. When we got to ELA, I was out of breath from laughing so hard and Seigi was still mad at me. A little while later, I was in ninth period, and the dismissal bell rang. I ran out, almost falling over five times in the short jog it was to my locker. I got my stuff and walked out with Delilah. When we went on our two separate busses, I sat in a random open seat, which was next to my friend Ali.

“Can I ask you something?” Ali asked.

“Sure.” I replied.

“At leisure today, I saw you and some other kids by the woods with a lunch-aid. What was that about?”

“Um…” I didn’t know if I should tell her what happened. She might not believe me, but I should tell her, just in case something happens. Forget it, I thought. I told her what had happened.

“Really? That’s odd. Shouldn’t that be in a story or something?”

“I don’t know. But it is very odd, though.” We talked about it for the rest of the ride. At my house, I went to see if my friend Sofia could play. When I went outside, I saw Sofia already outside, borrowing my old bike she always uses.

“Sofia!” I said. She was too far away to hear.

“SOFIA!!” I shouted. Far away, I could hear her shout.

“WHAT?” she biked over. “Oh. Hi Rayna!”

“Do you wanna play?”

“Sure. Lemme tell my parents first.” she ran inside. A few minutes later, she came back out.

“Well?” I asked.

“Yeah. We can play.” she replied. We went into my backyard.

“Ok. Do you wanna hear something strange that happened to me and my other friends at school?” I asked.

“What?” She answered. I told her the whole story. When I was finished, her eyes were wide.

“We just HAVE to go after the shadow stalker now!!!” she exclaimed.

“That’s now what I-”

“Come. ON!!!” Sofia grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the woods.

“Ok, where did you see him?” Sofia asked, out of breath from pulling me.

“I told you, I only saw him at school.”

“But you heard him here, though.”

“Yeah, but I only heard him. I didn’t see him through my windows or anything.”

“Oh. Maybe you’ll see him someday. He does sound REALLY creepy though. Are you sure he’s not something from your imagination?”

“Yes, I’m sure”

“Huh.” Just then, I heard my mom calling. It was time to go in.

“Oh. I have to go. Bye!”

“Bye!” Sofia walked back to her house. I ran inside and ate, then went to bed.

As usual, I woke up with some cold sweat running down my back despite the fall temperature. The scraping started again, but this time, it was different. It stopped very close. Slowly and carefully, I opened my door, the small creak sounding twenty times louder. As I expected, there was nothing there. I sighed, thinking Sofia might’ve been right with it just being my imagination. I closed my door and climbed back into bed. The scraping sounded again. It was still close by, almost too close. I closed my eyes, silently praying that it was just my imagination. I opened my eyes, the sound coming to a sudden stop, though I could almost imagine it still going. I knew exactly where it was coming from. Slowly, I got out of bed, climbed up on my desk, and looked out the window. The sudden silence was eerie, as if the air itself was holding its breath, waiting to see my next move. I peeked out the window, holding my breath. At first, I couldn’t see anything in the dark backyard, but as my eyes adjusted, I saw a small shadow.

It was the man. He was carrying his shovel covered in blood-like substances that shone as black as obsidian. He looked up, red eyes meeting mine for a fraction of a second. I ducked down, avoiding his gaze, but I knew he already saw me. A minute later, I chanced another peek out the window. He was gone. I went to bed in another night of restless shifting.

When I woke up, I skipped my normal routine aside from getting dressed and went downstairs. I wanted to find something that wouldn’t get me in detention in school, but could be used as a weapon. All I found were pens, pencils and a sharpener. I put them in my jacket pocket and got my lunch together. When I finished that, I took the pencil out and sharpened it. Then I went to school. As I was walking, I didn’t hear the scraping I’ve grown so familiar with. Everything was normal and silent except for the occasional car going by. It was odd.

At leisure, I told them what had happened.

“Whoa!! You saw the Stalker?!” Amber exclaimed.

“That’s crazy.” Wendy said.

“Wow. He looked towards you? Did he notice you?” Dakota asked.

“Hopefully, he doesn’t kill you.” Seigi added.

“Seigi! Obviously the stalker didn’t notice Rayna, or she’d be dead right now. Don’t scare her!” Isabelle said.

“Obviously she’s not scared right now. She’s not five.”

“That’s not what I mean!”

“But it sounds like it!”

“Guys! Stop arguing!” I said with a tiny bit of annoyance. They looked at me, and kept arguing.

“Ok. Stop, or I’ll say a pun.” I threatened jokingly.

“We’ll stop! Just don’t say any puns!!” Seigi exclaimed.

“Ok. Though I really want to anyway...” I smiled a little bit.

“Please don’t.” Seigi and Isabelle said.

“Alright, fine. I won’t.” I sighed. “Anyways, I think the stalker might be back tonight, so I’m gonna be prepared. You guys should be, too, just in case he goes to your houses too.”

“How is he gonna get to our houses? It’s not like we shout our addresses out to random people.” Wendy said matter-of-factly.

“I don’t know, he might follow you or something.” I said.

“I still don’t get it.”

“Just, be prepared. In case something does happen.” I heard the bell ring. Leisure never lasts long enough, I thought as I walked to ELA. A little while later, the bell to go home rang. I walked home, telling Ali what had happened.

“That’s interesting, because I thought I saw a figure in my backyard around the time I got up for school.” Ali said.

“Was he all black with leaking blood red eyes?”

“Yeah, he was all black with whitish smoke and a shovel, but I didn’t see what his face looked like. He looked really creepy, though. Also, he had a shovel.”

“Sounds like him. Make sure you’re careful, just in case he sees you and tries to hurt you.”

“Ok. Bye.”

“Bye.” I walked to my house, did my homework(there wasn’t a lot) and went to go see Sofia. As usual, Sofia was already outside. She was getting the mail, so I snuck up behind her.

“Hey Sofia!” I said in a creepy voice, putting a hand on her shoulder.

“Aaaaahhhh!!! COLD HAND!!!! ” Sofia yelped in surprise. Then looked and saw me. “Oh. hi Rayna.”

“I guess I scared you.” I laughed.

“Yeah. Can you STOP WITH THAT!!? It’s getting pretty annoying. Also, why are your hands always so cold?”

“I don’t know and sorry for scaring you” Not sorry, I thought.

“Just don’t do that again, kay?”

“Sure, if I remember.” Definitely won’t.

“You better.”

“I’m joking. Anyways, I saw the Stalker last night.”

“Really?!!” Sofia was excitedly bouncing on the balls of her feet a little. She looked like a jumping bean.

“Yeah.”

“Well, I’m gonna tell my parents that I’m playing with you.” She ran inside. A few moments later, she came back outside with a large cup of water, and motioned for me to follow her to her backyard. She took off running, spilling a ton of water on the ground. I followed, trying to keep up, but I kept slipping on the ground from the mud. I grumbled a little and started being more careful where I stepped. Finally, I caught up with Sofia near the edge of the woods.

“Ok. Where did you see him?” she asked. I could tell she was excited.

“ I saw him near my back door,” I replied. “Like I said before, I ducked down, then looked back out and he was gone.”

“Maybe he ran to the woods.” Sofia walked more towards the woods, kneeling down to examine the ground for anything suspicious. I guess she found something because she jumped up as I was walking away to sit by the big tree in the middle of the backyard.

“Rayna!!! I found a patch of pure black grass!!!” Sofia exclaimed. I got up and walked over. I didn’t see anything at first, but then Sofia pointed it out to me. No wonder I couldn’t see it, I thought. It was in the shade. It was all black, a small pit of darkness. It was too dark to be black, but too light to not have a color. It was crafted too carefully to be an accident by nature. I felt eyes on the back of my head. Then, as I carefully looked up, I realized the bushes had two glowing red dots in them.

“Sofia, are these some of your Halloween decorations?” I whispered.

“No. All our Halloween decorations are in the front.”

“Then, what’s that?” I pointed towards the bush with the glowing red dots. Sofia looked, and gasped, stepping backwards.

“Rayna, w-what is that???!!” Sofia looked a little pale as she hid behind me.

“Wait. The shadow black grass and now the glowing red eyes. Doesn’t that mean-”

I saw the eyes blink, then disappear. I heard rustling in the bush as a figure in all black came out, shovel in hand. He took one look at us, opening his blood red eyes. Sofia peeked her head out from behind me, turning a little more pale from the figure before her, but still coming out from behind me. The stalker looked at her, and blinked, red dripping down his eyes in small streams. He smiled, jagged teeth showing slightly. I just stared at him, trying not to show the fear that crept up my back. He motioned slightly to Sofia. I looked around, looking for a suitable weapon, just in case. I couldn’t find anything, so I put my hands back in my jacket pockets. I felt my pencil, and gripped it lightly.

He kept staring at Sofia, who, at this point, was ghostly pale. I saw her dark brown eyes shift slightly in color, so they appeared a little more red. Sofia stepped forward a tiny bit, and close her eyes in fright. I was still looking at her, but from the corner of my eye, I saw the Stalker lift his shovel. The red metal part was by his shoulder. I waited a moment, just to see if he was going to attack. Sofia was now frozen in place. A moment of silence passed us, and then he brought the shovel down. I pushed Sofia away, who opened her eyes and started running towards the tree, and somehow grabbed the shovel without scratching myself at the same time. The stalker jerked the shovel loose from my hands easily, and swung again. I felt adrenaline rush through my veins and I dodged extra-fast, throwing the pencil that was now in my hand at his head as hard as possible. I missed, of course, and I ran towards the tree Sofia was by. I saw a large stick pile and picked up the one with the sharpest point. Of course, it was short(why wouldn’t it be?), but I still took it.

The Stalker was by the tree now, and he was raising his shovel again. Ok, I thought. Your only attack is gonna be raising that shovel? Fine by me. I realized that when he raised his shovel, there were a lot of open spots, and he paused for a second after an attack. I used this to my advantage by chucking the stick at his side when he paused. When I chucked the stick at him, it just went through his side, as if he was made of shadows. Oh, great, I thought. He can’t get hurt. He swung his shovel again, and I stepped back, avoiding the shovel again. This is actually kinda fun, I thought, smiling a little. The Stalker attacked again, but my adrenaline made me extra fast. I was laughing now, not because I was in danger’s way, but because the Stalker was too slow. I could see the slight anger in his eyes as he kept missing. I put my hands casually in my pockets and grinned, making him even angrier. His attacks came faster, but I kept dodging. I was getting tired, and sweat was already going down my neck. I knew I couldn’t keep this up much longer, so I ran to Sofia, dodging another three to four attacks on the way.

“Come on Sofia, we’re going in the front.” I whispered. Sofia was still frozen in place, so I grabbed her hand and pulled her to the front, which used the last of my adrenaline. The stalker must’ve heard something, because he disappeared into the woods. Sofia was shaking so hard, I’m kinda surprised she didn’t form an earthquake. I felt my adrenaline draining, and I felt like I was going to collapse.

“H-he tried to k-kill us!” She stammered. “H-he was going t-to kill you!!”

“Relax, Sofia. He’s gone for now.” I finally collapsed, back against the tree.

“W-where did you learn to dodge like that?”

“Nowhere. I just had an adrenaline rush because I thought he was going to hurt you. Now I’m tired as heck.” I put my hood up and rested my head in my arms. I felt Sofia sit down next to me. Not surprisingly, I fell asleep. About ten to twenty minutes later, Sofia was poking me, trying to wake me up.

“Rayna! Wake up! Your mom just called you to go inside.”

“Oh, ok. Bye.” I went inside, still a little drowsy.

The next two days were uneventful, which was strange enough, but a small relief. On Saturday, Sofia and I had a sleepover.

“I can’t believe we’re having a sleepover!” Sofia said.

“Yep. Anyways, what do you wanna do?” I asked.

“Maybe we can draw!”

“Ok.” I got paper, markers, pencils, pens, erasers, crayons and colored pencils.

“Wow. You have a lot of artist stuff.” Sofia says, as she takes a purple marker and starts doodling. I take a blue one and start drawing my favorite design. It’s just a red heart with black wings, a circle and two arrows inside of it and a darkish gray box around the whole thing. If I'm not feeling lazy, I put some kind of design like arrows or fire on the outside, but Sofia loves it. This time, I was putting white and blue arrows around and inside the box with blue fire and blue/red triangles on the outside, surrounded by a circle of more white and blue arrows and blue hearts.

“I think that’s the best yet,” Sofia said. “Though it kind of reminds me of something...”

“I got it from some random video games. Mostly boss battles.” I replied.

“Oh! That’s why the patterns look kinda familiar.”

Yep.”

“Do you wanna go outside?”

“Sure. Let me just put all the markers away so your brother David doesn’t get them.” I put all the markers away and we went outside. We rode our bikes until it got dark and then sat down by the tree for a few minutes. We went back inside when it got dark. We ate dinner then went to my room after saying goodnight. I was too lazy to put my pajamas on, and Sofia didn’t want to go back to her house for them, so we stayed in our day clothes. I set up a large sleeping bag on the ground for myself, telling Sofia she could have the bed. Sofia fell asleep almost instantly, but I stayed up for a little bit, waiting for the sounds to start again. The ghostly scraping I imagined didn’t put me at ease, but somehow, I drifted to sleep.

A little while later, I felt Sofia poking my side, and I groaned, shifting positions. Then, I realised the floor felt different. It wasn’t the smooth wooden floor of my room. It felt too soft, and dewy. I opened my eyes and saw the green and browns of the woods. I jumped up, startling Sofia, and I started wandering around.

“Where are we!?” I started panicking some more. Sofia started calmly walking in the opposite direction, the small beams of the morning sun illuminating her tan skin and her gray and black sweater, giving her an earthly glow. I sat down, lost in thought, wondering how we got here. I looked where Sofia was and saw yellow and red wildflowers growing everywhere. It looked like a scene from a video game. I recognized the yellow ones as buttercups, but the red ones were unfamiliar. Sofia started walking down a path and motioned for me to follow. I walked over, noticing that there was a slight breeze. I was glad I had my jacket, though I wished I had leggings on instead of shorts. About halfway into the trail, Sofia suddenly stopped, and I almost bumped into her. Then I saw it. With rotting walls and a slightly ajar door, the cabin was intimidatingly creepy. As if the sudden dead plant trail wasn’t creepy enough, there was also a chill in the air which I swore wasn’t just from the fog. It was downright creepy, but I had a feeling that we would have to go there to get back home.

“Looks like we’re gonna have to go through there,” I told Sofia. I put my hands in my pockets and took a step forward. Sofia was right behind me. We approached the cabin carefully. I took out my sharpened pencil(Yeah, I slept with it in my pocket, so what?) and gave it to Sofia. She took it and held it like a knife. I put my hand back in my pocket, and opened the cabin door, wishing I had another pencil. The door creaked open, and we walked inside, every step ending with a groan from the floor. The stillness and silence was only punctured by our breathing and footsteps. I felt a cold gaze on the back of my head, and looked around, seeing nothing but a small shadow. I nudged Sofia, and pointed at the shadow. I stepped forward, and the shadow became bigger. Whatever it was, it was coming closer. I closed my hands in my pockets, and I saw Sofia grip the pencil a little tighter. Suddenly, the shadow stopped, and I saw it’s eyes open. They were red, with thin black pupils in the middle. It smiled slightly, pushing black hair out of it’s chiseled porcelain face. It looked a lot like a small child’s doll in a creepy way that made you have nightmares. I shivered, and the child’s slight smile grew to an evil grin, sharp teeth poking through it’s thin red lips. Suddenly, it spoke, the voice chilling me to my very bones.

“I’m Marrisa. Wanna play?” Marrisa dragged out the “a” in play, and my blood turned to ice.

“Um, n-no thanks.” I said. I started walking away with Sofia, but the doll child appeared in front of me. I stopped, surprised.

“Well, that’s not very nice,” Marrisa growled slightly. She smiled, and her red eyes started to drip blood, her mouth going pure black and dripping black stuff.

“Well, since I’m the only one here aside from you two, I’m gonna have to teach you a lesson.” She laughed, voice childishly high. She raised her hand, and a shadow rose from the ground. She made her hand a fist, and it turned rock hard and pointy. she pushed out with her hand and the shadow shot out at me and Sofia. I managed to dodge, pushing Sofia away from it. The shadows collided with the wall and shattered, but rose again. I felt adrenaline coursing through my veins again as I jumped over some shadows, doing a backflip, and landing on my feet(thankfully). Sofia ran into the next room over, and I kept distracting Marrisa. She must’ve grown tired of using shadow manipulation, because she made a dagger out of shadows and came running at me with it. Now I really wish I had something to use as a weapon as I was dodging her attacks. I wish I had more stamina, too, I thought as I started sweating despite the chill air. Marrisa must’ve noticed, because she backed out of range and smiled.

“You can’t dodge forever, can you?” She teased. I saw something on the ground and picked it up, realizing it was a rib from an animal, probably a deer. One end was pointy and sharp, and the other was blunt. I picked up another one. They weren’t very thick, but they were as hard as rock. I was still a little tired, but my adrenaline gave me more power, although I couldn’t hold it for long. Marrisa suddenly attacked, shadow knife aimed right at my heart. I blocked with one bone and stabbed with the other. I must’ve caught Marrisa by surprise because she gasped and lowered her weapon. I didn’t stab her, but the side had connected with her porcelain stomach, and she tumbled away, landing on her back. She was now off-guard. This would be a perfect time to kill her and get it over with. I was a little shaken at the thought of killing someone, but then I remembered she wasn’t human, and I stepped forward, weapon in hand. I raised the bone slightly, but then lowered it. I can’t do this, I thought as I walked away. Marrisa must’ve sensed my weakness because she attacked again. I dodged very narrowly, and threw the bone at her, attempting to stun her, but I missed, hitting the ceiling, which cracked slightly. I picked up another one, and felt my adrenaline running out, and came up with an idea.

“Alright. That’s how you wanna play it?” I smiled slightly, raising the bone. “Fine. By. Me!” I threw the bone at the ceiling, and just as I hoped it would, it collapsed. Marrisa was surprised, and she was caught under the wreckage, shadow dagger clanking away. I felt the rest of my adrenaline drain and I collapsed against the wall, dropping my last bone. I saw her move slightly as I closed my eyes, too tired to care if she got out and killed me. I heard small footsteps and heard something being picked up. Well, this is it, I thought. I’m gonna die, and I can’t do anything about it. I heard more footsteps and something else being picked up. I heard my name being called, and more footsteps, followed by a gasp. Suddenly, the footsteps closest to me stopped, and I heard a slight thud, followed by a breaking noise. More footsteps that sounded like someone running sounded louder and louder. I opened my eyes, and saw Sofia standing there, pencil in hand. She was covered in something that shone blackish in the dark cabin, and she was breathing a little heavy. Then I saw the shadow doll, still and covered in black where she was broken. Sofia looked at me, shook her head and smiled a little.

“Don’t fall asleep during a fight! You could’ve gotten killed!” She exclaimed.

“Sorry, but my adrenaline rush had other ideas. It's not my fault.” I looked at the doll-child, who suddenly disappeared. All that was left was the shadow dagger. I got up and took it, then remembered I had a bone in my hand when I collapsed. I gave the shadow knife to Sofia and picked up the bone. Sofia was looking at me weirdly.

“What? I prefer to fight with a bone.” I said matter-of-factly.

“You’re strange.” Sofia stated.

“You gotta bone to pick with that?” I held up the bone jokingly, and we both started laughing.

“Your jokes are terrible, but at least they’re funny.”

We went to the next room, where there was just silence. I learned from Sofia that there were five rooms in the cabin. We tried to find whoever took us in the next two rooms, but we didn’t have any luck. In the last room, we saw the Stalker. He must’ve noticed us because he walked over, tried to attack us, and missed because we dodged. I blocked with my bone a few times, still tired. Sofia stabbed him with the shadow dagger, and the Stalker winced. I tried to stab him with the bone, and nothing happened.

“Sofia! He can only be hurt with the dagger! I’ll block and you attack!” I continued to block and Sofia continued to stab, and eventually, the Stalker collapsed, almost dead. Sofia gave me the knife. I walked up to him, dagger in hand. He looked at me, his bleeding eyes looked sorrowful, and spoke in a deep voice.

“Please don’t kill me. I'll bring you two back to your normal lives. Just don’t kill me.” He begged.

“You killed people. And you tried to kill me and my friend,” I stepped a little closer, and smiled slightly. “Then again, anyone can be a good person, if they just try.” The Stalker smiled back. I detected something evil about his smile, and something told me he was lying about bringing us back to our normal lives if we showed him any form of mercy.

“But something tells me,” I stabbed him right in the heart. “You’re lying.” I stepped back, dagger still in hand. Suddenly, the Stalker disappeared, like the girl, but there was nothing left behind, except the Stalker’s last words, which were barely audible. I felt the dagger turn back into a shadow as a bright white flash blinded us for a couple seconds. When the flash went away, we were back at my house, in my room. The time read 12:22 am. We looked at each other. There was no black stains on Sofia’s sweater, or a bone in my hand. It was as if nothing had ever happened. We went about our day as usual, but something about what the Stalker’s last words were still came back to me. They haunted my mind, even though I tried to ignore them.

Meanwhile, deep in the woods, something stirred. It got up and walked slowly, leaving a trail of blackness in its wake. Wandering around a few times, it came across the buttercup and red wildflower field. It read the flowers' history, every step they were treaded upon, every human that came this way. There were only two footprints he saw, and they were just the two girls. In a sudden sadness and anger, he ran, leaving a trail of dead flowers and more smoke.

The Stalker was planning ways to get revenge. The last words he said to the two girls are very true in his eyes.

I will be back. And when I do, I’ll dance upon your grave the same way you danced upon mine.