Status: Using this in a contest, I'm hoping for the best ^-^
They Come With The Dark
Shadow Master
I watched the shadows flick their tails from across the walk, stared at their crooked fingers beckoning from the cramped corners of the neighborhood houses. And even as I stood behind the safe, transparent shield of my window, I could still feel their cold grasp cutting through my long, brown locks, deep into my mind itself. Gently tugging. Slowly tugging…
“No!” I whispered as I stiffly pulled from the white wooden pane, the shadows’ horrid desires slipping from my head.
My sudden defense sparked their hatred; and their anger flared as they drove themselves forwards, attempting to jump beyond the lamppost’s gleam into the empty darkness of my own lawn. But their bodies were frail to the harnessed blaze, and they dissolved into thin particles of blackened ash.
To see one die should have been a blessing, but it wasn’t. When one would perish, ten would take its place, all holding its deceased brother’s frustration and hate.
I didn’t know why they wanted me, only that every night, they charged the house, and every night, the light kept them at bay. Tonight, however, seemed different. There were more. Many more, in fact, than I’d ever seen in the last collected hours of darkness. And they were wilder, more impulsive to sudden acts that usually resulted in their deaths.
I wished they would leave, let me return to years before, where normal nights—
Just like that, the light outside collapsed into the dark abyss. And with the light went my warmth, curling back into my body until it was nothing more than a lump in my heart. The chaos was instantaneous. I could hear their shadowed claws tracing the wood of my house, taunting me, teasing me, as they made its cry echo through every empty hall and every vacant room. I could hear their sinister snickers and feel their fingers deep within my thoughts. And when my hopes had fallen far below the troubling tar that ebbed at my heart, lights sparked upon my window’s face, refracting towards my own. The gentle touch brought to me my strength and when a knock pounded upon my door, I dared myself to answer.
Thwack!
The door shuddered before me as though nature itself struck it with all availing force.
Thwack!
Even the handle shook with every hit that assaulted the varnished wood.
I twisted the worn, metal bar, willing my courage to match that of my hope. But only fear met its brother as I drew back the wooden frame. The pulsing wind was cold against my cheeks, but what stood before me was even colder.
The thing that held its ground was not man, nor any creation of Him. It was a shadow, more powerful than the dogs that had charged me night after night; and what blossomed that beautiful light was an undying orb whirling atop its palm. There I saw what it illuminated: the souls it had stolen. And now it wanted mine; and it would have it…
“No!” I whispered as I stiffly pulled from the white wooden pane, the shadows’ horrid desires slipping from my head.
My sudden defense sparked their hatred; and their anger flared as they drove themselves forwards, attempting to jump beyond the lamppost’s gleam into the empty darkness of my own lawn. But their bodies were frail to the harnessed blaze, and they dissolved into thin particles of blackened ash.
To see one die should have been a blessing, but it wasn’t. When one would perish, ten would take its place, all holding its deceased brother’s frustration and hate.
I didn’t know why they wanted me, only that every night, they charged the house, and every night, the light kept them at bay. Tonight, however, seemed different. There were more. Many more, in fact, than I’d ever seen in the last collected hours of darkness. And they were wilder, more impulsive to sudden acts that usually resulted in their deaths.
I wished they would leave, let me return to years before, where normal nights—
Just like that, the light outside collapsed into the dark abyss. And with the light went my warmth, curling back into my body until it was nothing more than a lump in my heart. The chaos was instantaneous. I could hear their shadowed claws tracing the wood of my house, taunting me, teasing me, as they made its cry echo through every empty hall and every vacant room. I could hear their sinister snickers and feel their fingers deep within my thoughts. And when my hopes had fallen far below the troubling tar that ebbed at my heart, lights sparked upon my window’s face, refracting towards my own. The gentle touch brought to me my strength and when a knock pounded upon my door, I dared myself to answer.
Thwack!
The door shuddered before me as though nature itself struck it with all availing force.
Thwack!
Even the handle shook with every hit that assaulted the varnished wood.
I twisted the worn, metal bar, willing my courage to match that of my hope. But only fear met its brother as I drew back the wooden frame. The pulsing wind was cold against my cheeks, but what stood before me was even colder.
The thing that held its ground was not man, nor any creation of Him. It was a shadow, more powerful than the dogs that had charged me night after night; and what blossomed that beautiful light was an undying orb whirling atop its palm. There I saw what it illuminated: the souls it had stolen. And now it wanted mine; and it would have it…