Shadows

The dim, orange light emitting from the streetlights did little to cut through the foggy gloom enveloping the quiet, cobbled street. Dark house facades rose up on either side, their blackened windows staring like sunken eyes at nothing yet seeming to follow Ashley’s every move. She drew her gray overcoat closer, shuddering unconsciously as the fog roiled and swirled around her legs. She had walked down Amity Street every night for two years, but that night it seemed unwelcoming…hostile. She felt like an outsider stumbling onto sacred grounds. An intruder.

Just ahead - about another block - the street coiled around a small park, and Ashley’s house would be waiting there on the left. The fog was thick enough that she couldn’t spot the bend in the road, but she took comfort in knowing that she would soon be hanging up her coat and setting a pot of water on the stove to boil.

Her steps slapped hollowly on the worn stones as she walked and the sinister feeling of being watched soon began to wrap its tendrils around her psyche. She turned and paused, scanning the street behind her and the shadowed yards on either side. Nothing. Somewhere in the darkness a barn owl offered a series of somber hoots, causing a new shudder to rattle Ashley’s frame. Turning back to continue, she startled slightly when she saw a figure materialize ahead of her in the gloom.

It’s form was humanoid in shape but tall, much taller than any person Ashley had ever encountered. She thought that it had to be about eight feet tall, but aside from that its features were entirely swallowed by the fog. Only a dark, looming shadow remained. Shifting uncomfortably, her heart beat starting to pound out a warning, Ashley decided to cross the street and pass by on the opposite side. Glancing behind her, her veins turned to ice and she froze mid-stride when she saw an almost-identical figure standing in the street where she had just come.

Ashley’s heart began to race now, every thought screaming danger. She stood perfectly still and those tall, ominous silhouettes did too, their forms becoming even more obscured as the fog seemed to thicken and build around them. The streetlights now resembled faint, orange moons, barely casting any light at all into the dense, oppressive gloom. Ashley wagged her head back and forth, fighting panic as she tried to decide how to evade the threatening figures on either side. She knew she had to be close to the end of the block, and her house was only a short way around the bend. She could run for it.

Slipping off her shoes, Ashley fought back a gasp as her bare feet kissed the cold stones. The figures were almost entirely obscured by the fog but she could still see them, and she realized with growing dread that they seemed to have moved in closer. Without another thought Ashley launched into a sprint, hurtling as fast as she could down the street. Her feet smacked painfully on the uneven stones but she didn’t care – she just had to get away. She felt more than saw herself pass by the shadowy specter, and she desperately tried to peer through the fog to the curve in the road.

She sped past a house on the right with a red door and a porch swing and felt a touch of relief – it was only a few houses from the end of the block – but she glanced over her shoulder and let out a startled shriek as she saw the looming shadows now in pursuit. Five of them. They made no sounds and seemed to float effortlessly, but kept even pace with her as she ran.

Ashley forced herself to go faster, panic mounting as she wondered how she had yet to reach the bend in the road. Just as that thought was echoing in her mind she flew by a house on the right with a red door and a porch swing. Incredulity shaded her terror and Ashley’s thoughts reeled as she pressed on. It was impossible. Absolutely impossible. But even as her mind tried to deny what she had seen, she passed by the same house again.

Ashley’s lungs and legs were on fire; the only thing allowing her to keep up her frenzied pace was the adrenaline searing through her veins. The same black, dismal houses passed on either side and the street seemed to narrow and constrict as she ran. The fog was so thick that it felt like she was choking on each ragged breath, and she struggled to break free of the insidious curse that had fallen over her.

She glanced behind her once again and almost fainted from terror. There were more shadows than she could count now mere feet behind her, and closing fast. She whipped her head back and forth in desperation, trying to find somewhere, anywhere to hide, but instead she saw looming figures emerging from every yard and porch, gliding out from between houses and staring at her behind bleak windows. Ashley’s eyes bulged and her chest contracted painfully as she took in the shadows slowly surrounding her.

Her foot caught a loose stone and she tripped, letting out a scream as she sprawled into the middle of the street. She curled up into a tight ball, covering her head and face and waiting for the figures to descend upon her.

Nothing happened. After a few minutes she carefully raised her head, and saw that she was alone in the cobbled street. The fog had receded, and there was not a shadow in sight.