Shadow Fight

Jung believed that dreams are our conscious and subconscious’ way to meet on neutral ground. This allows us to learn from our subconscious mind and better our lives in the conscious realm of existence.

He postulated that all things in life are paired in opposites. Good and evil, love and hate, joy and pain. He believed the opposite part of the ego is the counter-ego, better known as ‘the shadow’.

Preface

I am the shadow. I’ve been here since the start. Through this soul’s every manifestation, every life—good and downright shitty—I was there for all of it. From princess to peasant and everything in between, I’ve tagged along for the ride no matter what we ended up being. Male, female—I didn’t care.

Hydrangea Cole, the current incarnation, fell somewhere in the middle ground—a little rough around the edges with a penchant for coloring her hair a vibrant purple and a love of all things vintage. Hyde was definitely the more primitive part of our shared existence, for now.

Thanks to my intervention, Hyde led what she believed to be an easygoing, trouble free life. I kept the nightmares at bay, feeding off them like the parasite I was. Vampires needed blood to survive—I craved fear, abject terror; all the things humans pushed to the backs of their minds because their puny little brains were incapable of processing them.

Hyde had no clue she would soon join the ranks of the things that go bump in the night. Vampires, werewolves and other creatures were things of myth, existing only between the pages of books and in movies. How shocked she would be when I pulled the filter from her eyes and showed her what the world truly looked like.

I started small, creating the perfect nightmare—a light jolt to scare her awake. She would never know what hit her, and I couldn’t wait to feast on the flavor of her descent into terror.

Chapter One

We have all had them. Those bad dreams where you are standing naked at the front of a crowded room, paralyzed with fear as the crowd titters with laughter at your discomfort. You know the ones I’m talking about. They make you uncomfortable, disturb you, but are not frightening. Not like the one that shook me awake and left me in a chilled, sweaty pile of traumatized human being.

I sat in bed, blankets tucked tight under my chin, cowering in the darkness. The lights from a car on the street below my window shone across the walls of my bedroom. For a moment, the shadows lurking in every nook and cranny of my room disappeared. As the vehicle continued down the street, the shadows returned, and I cowered further into my heap of blankets.

Had the shadow by the door shifted positions? Was the one lurking by my dresser larger than before? The harsh breathing echoing through the room was mine, wasn’t it? Something hovered just out of sight, disappearing each time I turned my gaze toward it. Something large. The word gargantuan came to my panicked mind.

Like some of the best horror movies, the dream had started innocuously enough. An afternoon shopping trip with a few friends, and manicures at our favorite salon. Iced coffees on the patio of our favorite coffee shop before hitting Main Street to take in a bit of the night life before heading home.

The pervading sense of being watched followed my every move. Fleeting movements out of the corner of my eye increased the level of paranoia with each failed attempt to spot the person dogging my trail.

Failed, until I stepped off the bus and came face to—I’m not sure what to call what I encountered as the doors closed behind me and the bus trundled off. The creature, for lack of a better word, stood just beyond the pool of light the streetlamp spilled around me.

I would not have noticed the thing had it not been for the red pinpoints of its eyes and the way the light oiled across its skin, giving it a faint, leathery appearance.

“Hello, Hyde,” the creature hissed from the shadows. “I’ve been waiting for you all day. Now, be a good girl and don’t scream.”

A hand, clawed and tipped with talon-like fingers, reached out of the shadows. Row upon row of razor-sharp teeth flashed in a mouth so wide as to almost be cartoonish in its size.

My heart stuttered for a beat, picking up the pace until it reached a full-on gallop worthy of a Kentucky Derby winning stallion. The tip of a finger touched my abdomen, and I did the very thing it had asked me not to do—I screamed. Blood curdling, ear drum splitting and filled with every ounce of breath I possessed, my cry tore through the night...and woke me up.

I came to as the talon pierced my skin and the scream peaked. Sweat soaked and freaked out, I scrambled upright to check myself. No blood, no marks on my skin. Just the soft cotton of my camisole and my chest heaving beneath it. Relief flashed through me and lasted all of two seconds.

“Welcome to the dark side, Hyde. So glad you could finally join us.” The raspy voice from my dream whispered through my room, crawling along my skin, and prickling my scalp before finally leaving me alone with the darkness and shadows.

“It was just a dream, Hydrangea,” I remind myself five minutes later as the lights from another vehicle passing by on the street illuminate my room. “There’s nothing hiding in here. Just a dream. Monsters don’t exist outside of the movies.” And yet, my mind refused to heed its own words. Pointy toothed, clawed creatures hid in every corner. Who knew what lurked beneath my bed, but it would not be cute and cuddly, that was for certain.

I was never going to get out of my bed in the dark again. Ever. Now that I thought about it, sleeping with the lights on might have its merits. Circadian rhythms my ass. I would live in the light, thank you very much. Monsters did not like the light, right?

Cutting a glance toward the lamp on my bedside table, I recalled that the thing worked by touch activation. I sent up a small thank you to the friend who had given it to me as a housewarming gift and reached out to tap the lamp twice in quick succession.

All limbs accounted for and tucked safely beneath the blanket again, I waited for the warm glow to spread across the floor. I waited and waited...and waited some more. Realization dawned. I’d never plugged the stupid thing in or put a bulb in it for that matter. Crap. Now what?