Shadow Crawler
Three.
That following Monday, Harper’s journalism class had jumped right back into their debate over the town’s alleged superhero. Harper had stayed silent, even more intimidated by the discussion now that she had been forced to sit in the back of the room next to Parker. His cold blank stare had landed on her more than once, causing ice to course through her veins and goose bumps to erupt all over her skin.
“Lucy Evens was saved by the Shadow Crawler! How romantic!” Deanna Nortich exclaimed, as a chorus of high school girls agreeing with her. She could feel Parker tense up beside her, no matter how far he was sitting away from her.
“How do we even know he possesses any powers?” Richie asked, folding his skinny arms over his chest.
“Lucy said he picked the guy up like we was a bag of feathers and slammed him right on the trunk of her car!” Deanna exclaimed, then turned to Harper. “She said you were there!”
Harper could feel a blush creep all the way from her toes to her scalp. “Well, yeah.”
“What happened?”
Everyone insisted Harper go into immense detail about the events of Friday night. “Lucy’s ankles were slashed by this guy hiding under her car and he came after me and I maced him. He was blinded so I got into the car and started it, all the while Lucy’s ankles are bleeding like no other. I put the car in reverse, but it’s not working since this superhero came out of…nowhere and threw the lunatic up on the trunk of Lucy’s car. Of course, Lucy’s crying dramatically and I’m flipping my shit, so once the guy is thrown across the parking lot, the car just swings out of the parking spot and we go flying out of there.”
Everyone blinked at Harper for a moment, while she took a few shallow breaths and tried to calm her fiery blush. The class burst with excitement and Parker stared at Harper. Her blush hadn’t faded and he smiled, revealing a perfect set of teeth and a dimple on his left cheek. Harper had never once though a dimple could seem so dangerous.
Although he was the most handsome young man Harper had ever seen, something about him made her skin crawl in the most uncomfortable, terrifying way possible. Her fingers rapped against the desk impatiently, waiting for the bell to ring. Her body had been set on edge, ready to get as far away as possible from Parker.
Even though she bolted out the door after class, Parker managed to catch up with her.
“Hey,” he said, shoving his hands in his pockets. He radiated a certain sex appeal, but not one that Harper could describe. His eyes were intoxicating and his physique was amazing, but something was off about him. Something about him was scary. “I was wondering if you wanted to get together sometime.”
“Do you even know my name?” Harper asked, clutching her books to her chest. Parker glanced down her shirt. Blushing, Harper removed the books from her breasts and let them rest on her right arm.
“Harper Willard. I’ve been in one class or another with you all year,” he said, his smile not reaching his cold, steely eyes.
“Oh,” she said, feeling her blush burn but her hands sweat icily. “Well I’m a pretty busy girl, and all. Don’t know if that’s going to happen anytime soon, but thanks for the offer!” she told him with fake-sincerity, scurrying down the hall to her last class.
As she turned the corner, she slowed her pace down, wiping her hands on her jeans. Her heartbeat slowed to its normal rhythm and she made her way to her last hour class. Her mind still far off in the realm of superheroes, her mothers boyfriends terrible snoring problem causing her lack of sleep, and super sexy dangerous boys, she didn’t notice when she ran right into Jules Nelson.
Jules caught her books, his braces gleaming in the light of the hallway. Smiling back at him, Harper took her books back from the boy. Adjusting them in her arms, they fell into sync with each other, walking to their Anatomy class together.
Jules was a sweet boy, very polite and friendly. He was cute, in Harper’s opinion, but nothing that made her do a double take. “You okay, Harper?”
“Yeah, I think. Just a little…tired, that’s all,” she lied, scratching her head. She felt her face flush as Jules studied her oddly, as though she was some sort of experiment laying out on a lab table just to be poked and prodded carelessly. She cleared her throat and he colored. They walked to class in an awkward silence, leaving Harper to contemplate what Parker really wants with her.
--- ---
Watching her, the Shadow Crawler could feel, as unmanly as it sounds, butterflies erupt in his stomach, erratically fluttering through his veins. He felt terribly creepy, standing in the shadowed corner of her room. She kept the lights low while she read her textbooks at her desk. She played soft music from a computer on the same desk, occasionally humming along to whatever tune happened to fill the room quietly.
She may not have been beautiful to the human eye, but he could read her mind. She was quite lost in the mix, feeling unloved by her parents, overshadowed by her friends, and insecure when it came to most everything else, especially boys. But the one thing on her mind that bothered him most was the dark, dangerous one she had no clue about. His powers were dark, sinister. They were unnatural, manufactured by the hands of an evil man who wanted the most frightening kind of revenge to ever be thought of.
But right now, she was debating with herself on whether she should actually work on her journalism paper or watch an overly dramatic crime show. She, being herself, chose the latter, padding down the stairs to her living room, where he followed her distantly, hiding in the dark shadows of the hallways.
He stood, back to the wall, in the conveniently low lit room with a large television screen. As gruesome crime scenes played out on the television, she felt the hair on the back of her neck go up, at the thought that she and her best friend could’ve ended up like the clique of girls who ended up killed by their psychotic cheer coach.
You shouldn’t have gone out, he told her, silently. It registered in her brain as a thought of her own and she agreed with herself that she shouldn’t have. She sat in front of the television, curled in a ball under a ratty quilt for another hour, watching a generic television drama about a spoiled heiress who gets sent to military school. She thought about how dumb the entire series was, but how she wished she looked like the lead character, who sported fake brunette hair, a perfectly painted face, and unrealistically skinny body.
“Honey,” her mother started quietly, peering into the room. Her face was illuminated in the blue light of the television, as her daughter turned to face her. “I think it’s time for bed. Come on up.”
Sighing, she turned off the television and walked out of the room. “Oh, and Harper? Don’t forget to…”
The invisible figure in the shadows crept his way through the darkly lit house and blended with the shadows to escape the large, yet empty house the intriguing, lonely girl lived.
“Lucy Evens was saved by the Shadow Crawler! How romantic!” Deanna Nortich exclaimed, as a chorus of high school girls agreeing with her. She could feel Parker tense up beside her, no matter how far he was sitting away from her.
“How do we even know he possesses any powers?” Richie asked, folding his skinny arms over his chest.
“Lucy said he picked the guy up like we was a bag of feathers and slammed him right on the trunk of her car!” Deanna exclaimed, then turned to Harper. “She said you were there!”
Harper could feel a blush creep all the way from her toes to her scalp. “Well, yeah.”
“What happened?”
Everyone insisted Harper go into immense detail about the events of Friday night. “Lucy’s ankles were slashed by this guy hiding under her car and he came after me and I maced him. He was blinded so I got into the car and started it, all the while Lucy’s ankles are bleeding like no other. I put the car in reverse, but it’s not working since this superhero came out of…nowhere and threw the lunatic up on the trunk of Lucy’s car. Of course, Lucy’s crying dramatically and I’m flipping my shit, so once the guy is thrown across the parking lot, the car just swings out of the parking spot and we go flying out of there.”
Everyone blinked at Harper for a moment, while she took a few shallow breaths and tried to calm her fiery blush. The class burst with excitement and Parker stared at Harper. Her blush hadn’t faded and he smiled, revealing a perfect set of teeth and a dimple on his left cheek. Harper had never once though a dimple could seem so dangerous.
Although he was the most handsome young man Harper had ever seen, something about him made her skin crawl in the most uncomfortable, terrifying way possible. Her fingers rapped against the desk impatiently, waiting for the bell to ring. Her body had been set on edge, ready to get as far away as possible from Parker.
Even though she bolted out the door after class, Parker managed to catch up with her.
“Hey,” he said, shoving his hands in his pockets. He radiated a certain sex appeal, but not one that Harper could describe. His eyes were intoxicating and his physique was amazing, but something was off about him. Something about him was scary. “I was wondering if you wanted to get together sometime.”
“Do you even know my name?” Harper asked, clutching her books to her chest. Parker glanced down her shirt. Blushing, Harper removed the books from her breasts and let them rest on her right arm.
“Harper Willard. I’ve been in one class or another with you all year,” he said, his smile not reaching his cold, steely eyes.
“Oh,” she said, feeling her blush burn but her hands sweat icily. “Well I’m a pretty busy girl, and all. Don’t know if that’s going to happen anytime soon, but thanks for the offer!” she told him with fake-sincerity, scurrying down the hall to her last class.
As she turned the corner, she slowed her pace down, wiping her hands on her jeans. Her heartbeat slowed to its normal rhythm and she made her way to her last hour class. Her mind still far off in the realm of superheroes, her mothers boyfriends terrible snoring problem causing her lack of sleep, and super sexy dangerous boys, she didn’t notice when she ran right into Jules Nelson.
Jules caught her books, his braces gleaming in the light of the hallway. Smiling back at him, Harper took her books back from the boy. Adjusting them in her arms, they fell into sync with each other, walking to their Anatomy class together.
Jules was a sweet boy, very polite and friendly. He was cute, in Harper’s opinion, but nothing that made her do a double take. “You okay, Harper?”
“Yeah, I think. Just a little…tired, that’s all,” she lied, scratching her head. She felt her face flush as Jules studied her oddly, as though she was some sort of experiment laying out on a lab table just to be poked and prodded carelessly. She cleared her throat and he colored. They walked to class in an awkward silence, leaving Harper to contemplate what Parker really wants with her.
--- ---
Watching her, the Shadow Crawler could feel, as unmanly as it sounds, butterflies erupt in his stomach, erratically fluttering through his veins. He felt terribly creepy, standing in the shadowed corner of her room. She kept the lights low while she read her textbooks at her desk. She played soft music from a computer on the same desk, occasionally humming along to whatever tune happened to fill the room quietly.
She may not have been beautiful to the human eye, but he could read her mind. She was quite lost in the mix, feeling unloved by her parents, overshadowed by her friends, and insecure when it came to most everything else, especially boys. But the one thing on her mind that bothered him most was the dark, dangerous one she had no clue about. His powers were dark, sinister. They were unnatural, manufactured by the hands of an evil man who wanted the most frightening kind of revenge to ever be thought of.
But right now, she was debating with herself on whether she should actually work on her journalism paper or watch an overly dramatic crime show. She, being herself, chose the latter, padding down the stairs to her living room, where he followed her distantly, hiding in the dark shadows of the hallways.
He stood, back to the wall, in the conveniently low lit room with a large television screen. As gruesome crime scenes played out on the television, she felt the hair on the back of her neck go up, at the thought that she and her best friend could’ve ended up like the clique of girls who ended up killed by their psychotic cheer coach.
You shouldn’t have gone out, he told her, silently. It registered in her brain as a thought of her own and she agreed with herself that she shouldn’t have. She sat in front of the television, curled in a ball under a ratty quilt for another hour, watching a generic television drama about a spoiled heiress who gets sent to military school. She thought about how dumb the entire series was, but how she wished she looked like the lead character, who sported fake brunette hair, a perfectly painted face, and unrealistically skinny body.
“Honey,” her mother started quietly, peering into the room. Her face was illuminated in the blue light of the television, as her daughter turned to face her. “I think it’s time for bed. Come on up.”
Sighing, she turned off the television and walked out of the room. “Oh, and Harper? Don’t forget to…”
The invisible figure in the shadows crept his way through the darkly lit house and blended with the shadows to escape the large, yet empty house the intriguing, lonely girl lived.