Chapter 13: Sound

Chapter 13
Sound

The Crossroads’ doors opened before me.

“If you do this, you won’t be standing alone.”

I walked in.

“You’ll be in a whirlpool drowning alone.”

The mall had closed because of the incident, but I called in a favor to open the doors. It was growing dark out, but the Crossroads were well lit. I walked down toward the food court.

I looked at my cell-phone. It had one more bar on its battery. It had one bar for its signal. I closed my eyes, and I hit the green button.

Outbound…

“You realize this is suicide?”

Within moments, I could hear the skittering feet of a Widow, I could hear the slithering tongue of the Salamander, and I could hear the galloping hooves of a Nightmare. It wasn’t what I was looking for. I opened my eyes and looked around the shadows. Nothing moved. I closed my eyes once more, and I listened.

“You came across this one? The Shadow Eater?”

The sound of the Affects echoed through the dead halls of the Crossroads. It was quiet, and it was unnerving. A place of liveliness turned silent.

“That’s an old Affect – we don’t have an exact date as to when it first surfaced. All we know is that it consumes the shadows of living beings to sustain itself.”

The three Affects moved closer to me, and I still had not found the Shadow Eater. I opened my eyes and terminated the call.

“Show yourself! You devoured five shadows today; devour one more!”

Two bars.

The three Aspects still moved closer. I ran through the Crossroads as they chased me, entering so many shops and stores, but still, no Shadow Eater. I traversed onto the second floor for better sight.

A stall exploded behind me and a whinnying howl cried through the mall. I ran toward the escalators. I closed my eyes and reopened them. I ascended the escalator, and I heard the Nightmare dash up behind me. Just as I neared the top, I leapt forward as the Widow descended down, striking with its eight legs. It missed. The Nightmare leapt up and crashed into the Widow, rending it to pieces upon impact. The Nightmare careened toward the ledge and shattered through the banister. It fell and bespattered the floor.

I turned around and saw the Salamander leaping toward me.

“Your limit looks to be three, and you’ve used it twice already.”

A black maw opened up and devoured the creature whole.

I quickly rose from the ground and stared at the black mass before me. Across the mass, eyes opened and stared at me. The black peeled back to reveal glinting teeth.

“I am quite full, boy, but it seems you’re special, so I will have another helping,” the Affect spoke. “But shadows don’t seem to interest me anymore after I ate your friend’s, Hank. ”

My lip curled and bared my teeth.

“Yes, I know everything about you now. A shadow is so much more than what you humans think. A shadow is attached to a person – lives their lives with them. It is the person. How can you have one without the other? But your friend’s shadow was different. After eating hers, I lost all taste for shadows because how could any shadow taste as good as hers? And thanks to that delicious meal, I can manifest myself without having to slink across surfaces. Hers was a special shadow that allowed me to taste flesh.”

The creature melted back into the ground and disappeared.

“Oh don’t look so angry boy. Your friend’s shadow still remains separate from me, but it’s losing strength.”

Three bars. My hands clenched tightly around my phone.

“Was she special to you boy?”

“Didn’t you want to stand alone?

“So why crawl here begging me for help?

“What makes her so special?”

“Then you can join her soon.”

I closed my eyes.

“What was that? That blast wave?”

“Her last moments will be alone. You could have spent them with her, but now, both of you will die alone.”

The speakers in the Crossroads flared alive.

“You only get one shot!” Eason’s voice echoed through the mall.

Four bars.

Music began to blare. A song I hadn’t heard since last year. It was the song that car played.

The sound reverberated through the air and showed me that black mass leaping from the ceiling toward me.

I opened my eyes and stared at it.

Five bars.

“One is more than enough!” I yelled as I swung my phone toward it.

A wave of pure sound blasted from my phone. The Shadow Eater was caught by it, and I could see a wave pass through its form. Its body was torn to pieces, disintegrating upon the blast. Within a second, nothing was left. No Shadow Eater, no sound.

“If you had stayed to your shadows, I might not have been able to get you. But you grew arrogant after eating my friend’s shadow!” I yelled through the halls.

Zero bars for signal. Zero bars for battery. I fell to the floor

Eason soon found me.

“What now?”

“Is Grace-”

“Let me take you there.”

“Give me one second.”

Eason drove to the hospital, and I was ushered to Grace’s room. She laid there in bed, silent. She had no make-up on, and she looked pale but peaceful. The only sound in the room was the beeping of the EKG. I sat down in a chair.

“Wake up.”

I opened my eyes and found morning. Grace sat in her bed, holding the teddy bear.

“Thanks,” she whispered.

“How are you feeling?”

“Why do you ask?”

“I want to know.”

“Get me out of here. I hate hospitals,” she smiled painfully.

We signed her out, and we left.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” She held onto me as we walked out. “Where do we go from here?”

“I don’t know, but Eason said they know about me now.”

“Who?”

“The Children of Medea.”

Text and Images © Jonathan Lee