Shadows of the Night

My parents were home. I could hear their foot steps upstairs. The pounding of my father's business shoes, the click-clack of my mother's high heels. It usually gave me a head ache so I opened up my iTunes and clicked the screen to play The Bravery's The Sun and The Moon album.

While I did that, I posted some random things on forums, and check some of the web sites I frequented. But then I realized in her haste to leave my house and get to her own, Moon left her camera. I looked at it puzzled. I didn't want to look at that picture of the figure from my dream again. I just wished so bad that Moon had remembered it. I just decided that I would unplug it and give it back to her at school tomorrow.

My room was so cold, I never noticed it before. I went to go flick the lights on, but then there was a pounding on my door.

"Come on and eat dinner," my mom called from the other side.

Normally I would just ignore her completely and say I was busy doing home work or some other lie. Every once and awhile I would actually go and eat, but that was not very often. But I couldn't explain the coldness of my room and I didn't want to look at Moon's camera anymore.

So I walked up stairs and opened the door. Unlike the mornings, the smell of the up stairs in the evening was some what pleasant. The smell of cooked food filled my nostrils, along with something sweet for dessert. I walked over to the kitchen and my father was sitting there still wearing his shirt for work. Instead of dress pants he had changed to blue jeans. My mom changed her clothes too, instead of whatever hideous dress she wore that morning now she was wearing sweat pants and a short sleeve t-shirt.

I walked over to the kitchen table and sat down next to my dad. I frowned at the questionable looking meal that rested a few inches from me. I breathed in the pleasant smell though, and just tried not to think about what possibly was in the casserole that my mom plopped onto my plate.

My dad made us pray for our food. I just sat there and pretended like I cared about praying. When that was over my dad asked me how my day was at school.

I almost forgot today was a school day and hoped he hadn't found out yet that I skipped. I just looked down at my food and answered, "Fine."

Then I quickly thought and wanted to change the subject so I blurted out the first thing that came to mind, "How was work?"

I glanced at him for a second, he didn't look mad just confused. Then after a moment he said, "It was alright. You know my boss told me the weirdest thing today."

He continued to talk about what happened at work and I drifted off into space. I kept pecking at my food eating what looked worth eating. Then I had some bread and sipped my water. Then I realized no one was talking, and both my parents were staring at me. "Huh? I'm sorry I wasn't listening. What did you say?"

"I just asked if you had gotten your report card yet," my mom said in a tone like she was talking to a lunatic.

"Oh, no I hadn't gotten it yet," I answered uncaringly. That much was true, I wasn't sure if report cards were suppose to come yet or not. Then I felt like I was panicking and said, "I'm going back downstairs, I've got some home work I need to do."

Then I picked up my glass of water and went downstairs. I sat the water on the table my TV was on. I hardly ever used it since I got my computer. Occasionally I would play video games but those rarely amused me anymore.

I got on my computer and signed on to my MSN messenger. Thorn and Moon were on, as were several other people that I usually didn't talk to anymore. I said, "Hi" to both of them.

Thorn: hey, whatsup?
Raven: its freakishly cold in my room
Raven: have report cards come yet?
Thorn: no, or at least I haven't gotten mine
Raven: good, the rents were just asking about mine
Thorn: hahaha XD lame
Raven: yeah -___-
Thorn: im still freaked about what happened today
Thorn: but lets not go back to the cemetery for awhile...
Thorn:...k? :S
Raven: yeah, im still royally freaked about it too
Raven: and i guess it wouldn't kill us to go skool 4 for once..
Thorn: X_X
Raven: lawl...

I clicked over to Moon's conversation which hadn't stopped flashing since I said "Hi" to her.

Moon: ahhhhh! i 4got my cam at ur house
Moon: can u bring it back 2 meh????
Moon: i was so scared about walking back 2 ma house alone...
Moon: :(
Moon: everything okies though...right?
Raven: yeah everything ok...
Raven: my room is oddly cold though...
Moon: O_O
Moon: thats probably not a good thing...
Raven: Y???
Moon: idk...just think its probably a good thing
Moon: ne ways...we will get to see what we missed 2morrow
Raven: yeah, i bet its nothing XP
Moon: w/e...-__-

I clicked back over to Thorn's message.

Raven: moon is still going on about what she thinks we missed yesterday
Thorn: yeah she is to me too....X-x
Raven: i bet its nothing, like usual
Thorn: probably....XD
Raven: maybe what we missed is getting our report cards
Raven: XD
Thorn: yeah probably is...lawl

I went back over to Moon's conversation.

Raven: we probably just missed report cards...
Moon: i dont think thats it...
Raven: w/e

Eventually it was getting late. I checked what the weather would be like tomorrow. Like it really mattered, since there really wasn't much of a choice for what we could wear to school. Then I clicked around my forums and sites again.

I had one new friend request on my favorite site. Someone called, All_Seer. I went to their page and looked at it. It was very plain. They didn't change it from its default stage. They were new. Their only other friend was the admin, which was everyone's first friend by default. There was nothing written about them in the about me section, no movies listed, no music listed, not even a picture of them. I went back to my account to decide if I should become their friend or not. Then my in-box showed I had one new message. I clicked over to my in-box box and it was from All_Seer.

I wondered if Thorn or Moon had come in contact with this person since they both had accounts on the site as well. I asked them both, and they both said no. I linked them to the persons profile and this time I noticed it didn't even say if they were a girl or a boy. Moon said I should ignore the message and decline the friendship. But Thorn said I should see what the message said. An then decide on whether or not to be their friend. Noobs were often stupid and asked random people how things worked. That could have been it, they were just a stupid noob.

I clicked the message, the subject only read hi. The message said:

Hello I am the All_Seer,

I can see everything will you ever do.
I can watch you whenever I want to.
You have led me here.
I have come from far to find you.
I see you hang with some odd balls.
That's good, if were going to be friends.

signed,
the All_Seer

That was not something a normal idiotic noob would say. I went back to where the message was requesting my friendship and I declined it. I went back over to Thorn and Moon conversations to copy and paste the strange message. Thorn said to just forget about it. Moon said I should tell the admins. But then as I went to delete the strange message. There was yet another one from this All_Seer person. I clicked it. This time it read:

Hello I am the All_Seer,

We are going to be friends.
This is true.
I know things about you.
I don't care if you deny me here.
Because tomorrow I will see you there.

signed,
the All_Seer

I didn't share this second message with my friends. I was too afraid of what they would say. This time I answered them.

Hi,

I don't know who you are. This is really creepy. Please leave me alone or I will report you to the admins.

I didn't signed my name or anything. Then I hit send. I was surprised that I had even typed "Hi" but something about this person who ever, he or she was, just seemed like they weren't as creepy as they sounded. Then I had yet another message from this person. I clicked it.

This time it said:

Hello I am the All_Seer,

You are not going to tell the admins anything. It wouldn't matter if you did I could just get another account. Or I could go to one of your other sites. Hell I could hack your computer right now if I wanted to. Like I said, I can see everything you will ever do! I'm just glad your talking to me now. Then it might not be so awkward when I see you tomorrow.

TTYL,
the All_Seer

I wrote them back.

Ok fine I wont tell the admins anything. But Im not gonna be your friend. This is the last message I will type to you. You maybe able to see what I will do. But you cannot control what I do.

I hit send and waited. This time nothing came. No messages. I told Thorn and Moon night and that I would see them at school tomorrow. Something told me though that sleep would be nearly impossible now. I signed off of that site and off of MSN messenger. Then I turned off my computer and laid on my bed. I got under the covers and closed my eyes but all I could see was the dark figure from my previous dream, and the messages from this All_Seer person.

I decided to go take a shower. I turned the hot water on and stripped off all my clothes. The water was so inviting and warm. I stood there while my muscles were completely absorbed my the over powering warmth. My mind started to drift, while I went through the routine of washing my hair. An scrubbing my skin with soap.

When I got out of the shower I just wrapped myself in a towel and my hair in a towel too, and crawled under the covers. I was completely relaxed.

My head felt heavy as it wondered into the dream stage of sleep. I saw myself at school, staring at the skater boys before class. Then one of them came up to me and my heart pounded. Then he turned from a boy to the ghostly figure from my other dream, and whispered in my ear, I see all you will ever do. I screamed and tried to run away but I was stuck there staring at him. Staring at this faceless demon. I screamed again, and heard a distant pounding. I thought it was my heart, but then my eyes flashed opened. It was my door.

It was bolted shut with all the locks I had placed on it myself. To keep out my parents and anyone else that came over. My mom was on the other side of it, "Are you OK?! Why is this door locked!?"

My head felt heavy so I let it drop back to the pillows, as my head began to spin but my moth managed to blurt out, "I'm fine. I'm Okay."

"I heard you screaming. You sure your okay?" She asked again from behind the door.

"Yes," I said.

Then I heard her walk back to her room. I guessed I hadn't woken dad, he was a sound sleeper. I glanced at the clock, 3:00AM it glowed. I uneasily got up and threw on some clothes at random. I grabbed a cigarette and went outside my window. I leaned against the house and too a few drags, just to clam my nerves I told myself. I could hear dogs out barking and few of their owners telling them to be quite. I never understood that, like dogs could understand what people really say. I thought back to the dream I had. It was by far one of the weirder ones I have had especially with what was going on in my life recently.

After I had about 5 cigarettes I went back inside my room. The light of my alarm clock was the only light inside now. I crawled back through the window and tried to sleep but I couldn't. So I turned on the TV, I flipped through the channels until I found a movie on. Then turned the volume down a bit, and got back under the covers to try to sleep.

Then my alarm clock went off, it still had Adien's Nightmare Anatomy playing in it. The sound of Will Francis's voice in the first song almost made me jump out of my skin. But I settled down and realized it was just my alarm clock. I didn't feel like staying in my room very much longer. I wanted to get out here so badly. I was still cold.

I grabbed a jumper and a white collard shirt, this time I also grabbed my green sweat shirt. I put on my black boots and grabbed my bag. I didn't know if I had paper or pencils or anything but I didn't care. I managed to remind myself to get Moon's camera. Then I ran upstairs and out the door without seeing either of my parents.

I cut through people's yards to get to the other road where Thorn lived. The stupid public school kids were making their usual jokes. But today I really didn't care. I kept running until I realized I was nearly to Thorn's door. I rang the bell, anxiously. I might have hit it more then once. Ring ring ring. No answer. Ring Ring Ring! No answer!

"Hey would you stop doing that, some people are still sleeping," Thorn said with an angry look on her face.

I looked up at her, and was confused. I could have sworn that no one was there while I was continually ringing the bell like a mad woman.

"Sorry," I said, "I thought that no one had answered yet.."

She just shook her head at me, "Well I did answer the door. Let's go to prison. Oh I mean school."

We both laughed. Today we were not going to get Moon. She would meet us at school. We walked back through the yards to avoid the public school kids still waiting for their bus. We walked to the highway, and then Thorn said, "So what happened with that creepy Internet stalker person last night?"

"I just declined their friendship. I reported her to the admins. That person was creepy as hell."

"It sounded like it. I am the All_Seer," she said in a mock of the person's voice.

I smiled and laughed at her as we continued to walk. I was glad that Moon wasn't around right now, because I knew she would be asking way too many questions that I didn't want to answer. When we got to the road that turned to the school, I looked over at the houses in the neighbor hood we were at yesterday. I heard the same dogs barking. I turned my attention to road as we crossed to get to school. We jay walked.

We walked through the front doors of the school. The teachers as always eyed us suspiciously. In the commons room we sat at different tables. I saw Moon walk in a few minutes after we did. She walked over and sat at a different table.

After awhile the bell rang. I got up and walked to class. I sat in the very back next to the window. The seat beside me was empty as always. Thorn sat in front of me and Moon was on the opposite side of the room by the door. We never sat too close to each other, so no one could think of us all as friends.

When class started, I took out my notebook and pretended to take notes. But I was actually drawing. I drew a vampire boy and a werewolf to keep him company. It was a rainy day in my picture, good day for vampires. Then the door opened.

It was the principal. He was a fat bald man who walked like someone literally stuck a pole up his butt. Next to him walked in a short girl with strangely dark red hair and one eye that was white as a china dolls face. Her other eye seemed very odd, it was a deep blue almost purple. The principal said that this was a new student at school and that everyone should be nice to her. The way she looked I figured she wouldn't come back on Friday.

Everyone stared at her white eye, including the teacher. The principal left the room and the teacher asked her if she wanted to introduce herself. She nodded.

"Hello everyone," she began. "I'm so looking forward to meeting you all and sharing special friendships over the next 3 years we will be in High School together."

No one said anything. She kept talking. "My name is Christina. This is my first time a private school. But I don't know what's so private about it."

No one laughed. Most people were talking amongst themselves now. Even Thorn turned around looked at me like, is this girl for real? I just shrugged at her. The teacher then asked her to take a seat. Of course the only seat left in the class was the one by me.

She walked over and sat down. She held her hand out and waited for me to take it. I ignored her. Then she squinted her eyes and said in a hushed angry voice, "I am the All_Seer and I can see everything you will ever do, you little bitch."

I opened my mouth in horror and turned to look at her, "You," was all I could get out of my mouth.