In the Shadows

   Joseph woke up, shades of grey and black consuming his bedroom. His old mattress made a loud creaking noise as he sat up, the old springs tired of the weight they’ve had to bear. He couldn’t help but wince. His eyes began to focus on the left wall of his room. His room was very empty, there was only his bed and a few dusty boxes in the corner, but nothing more. Joseph told himself he liked it that way, but he barely knew anything about himself anymore. He glanced from his bed to a picture hanging on his gray wall. He had drawn it when he was merely five years old, using every crayon he could find in his house. No matter how colorful it was, all he could see now were splotches of darkness. Sadness. Hopelessness. He stood up, feeling the cold wood under his bare feet as he walked towards a box labeled ‘Fort Joseph’. It was written in black permanent marker, clearly the penmanship of a young child.

          Joseph walked slowly out of his room, heading to his bathroom to prepare for the morning. As he wandered tiredly down his dark hallway, his eyes started to get sore from the light emanating from the room. Once he entered it Joseph grabbed an old, worn washcloth and ran it under cold water. He quite enjoyed the chills the freezing water sent through his body; it was relieving to feel something for once. He wiped the excess water from his face and left the room, proceeding to go down the stairs. The 11 year old took a deep breath as he walked down the stairs, careful not to make a sound. When he reached the bottom of the staircase Joseph turned towards the kitchen, his heart skipping a beat. He knew what was there. They had been there for the past three years. He trembled as he neared the kitchen doorway, seeing the shadowy outline of a creature from his nightmares.

       As soon as Joseph stepped into the room, he could feel the air grow colder. The chill spread up his spine as he sat at the table, a plate of tasteless food waiting for him. When he tried to set his fork back on the plate it fell to the floor, causing a piercing clank to echo throughout the home. Joseph held his breath as the black shadow rushed over, summoned by the sound. It picked up the utensil and set it on the table, proceeding to stroke the child’s cheek. Joseph’s heart stopped as the cold claw brushed his hair away, feeling the creature’s gentle yet horrifying touch. As he looked into the creature’s dark, hollow, eyes his ears started ringing, the sound becoming unbearable as the monster scraped it’s claws against the table. His eyes watered, he never got used to the effect these creatures had on him until they got close. His whole existence was a nightmare, monsters following him everywhere he went, causing head-splitting migraines whenever they came near-but why did they never hurt him? The question rang in his mind with the high pitched sirens as he slipped out of his home. He walked slowly down the street, following the path he knew almost too well, Joseph was headed to the forest, the place he had gone to every day since this nightmare began. 

      Joseph moved swiftly through the forest, easily maneuvering the overgrowth that he was well accustomed to. His pace eventually slowed as he ran out of breath, so he stopped at a large fallen tree to rest.

“Hey there.”

       He froze. Was that a voice? No, he’d never seen anyone else in these woods, and that wasn’t going to start today. Still, the situation unnerved him, so he decided to start back on his path.

           “I said hello! Are you ignoring me, or did you actually not hear what I said?” 

    Could this be true? Could there actually be a person here? Joseph didn’t know how to react; it had been three years since he had seen, let alone heard another human being. He quickly spun around, ready to run as fast as he could possibly go-and then he locked eyes with it. He inhaled sharply, not believing that the thing in front of him was real, that it wasn’t just a figment of his imagination. It was a child.

              Joseph was in disbelief. For the first time in years, he wasn’t alone. For the first time in years, he didn’t feel like he had to handle everything himself. For the first time in years, he’d seen someone. Someone that wasn’t a shadow, a monster. He snapped back to reality, realizing he still hadn’t responded to the young girl standing before him. She seemed to be roughly his age, with short brown hair and big grey eyes, that held a thousand stories.

          “No, um, no, sorry. I wasn’t trying to ignore you. I just uh, was a little startled,” Joseph prayed that the girl didn’t walk away from    his stuttering self-he knew he would’ve if he was in her shoes.

           “Ok, well, thanks. My name is Thea.” Thea’s tone made it seem like their interaction was normal, like she didn’t sneak up on him while he was sitting on a dead tree in an otherwise-empty forest.

            “My name is Joseph.” 

            “Nice to meet you, Joe,” She said happily.

            “Uh, sorry, it’s Joseph not Joe.” Joseph tried to sound as polite as possible, hoping he didn’t reveal how the nickname bugged him.

             “I know what you said silly, you just seem like a Joe. Is it alright if I call you that?” Thea asked, hopefully. Everything in Joseph wanted to say no, but for some reason he didn’t. Maybe it was how she said it, or maybe it was him being desperate for a friend, but he decided to let the strange girl give him a nickname.

            “Yeah, yeah that’s fine.” He plastered a fake smile on his face, hoping she couldn’t see through it, and waited for her to say something.

            “Okay then Joe, I have a question for you. Why are you in the middle of a forest at 8 in the morning?” 

            “I come to be alone, to hide from the shadows.” He thought her question was weird; wasn’t she in the forest to hide too? Why else would she come here? Then again, if other people came to the forest to hide from the monsters, why hadn’t he seen anyone here before? He didn’t have time to think the question over before Thea responded.

            “Oh, couldn’t you just get a lamp? I mean-”

            “ No, I mean the monsters. You know, the big shadows everywhere?” Joseph interrupted, trying to clear up Thea’s confusion. She paused for a minute, she was clearly confused, as it was written on her face.

           “Uh, yeah! Totally! Those big monster-shadow things, yeah.” she said awkwardly. Joseph could tell something was off about the situation, but he didn’t think too much of it.

           “So what do you think happened? A monster apocalypse?”   Thea asked, her speech sounding less odd this time.

           “That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out.” Said Joseph, puzzled. After a few moments of silence he spoke again

          “Hold on,” Joseph said, “What if we finally get to the bottom of this? What if we try and find out what is happening?” Just talking about this made Joseph excited, the idea that he could finally understand why these monsters were in the human world- and maybe learn how to get them out. There was an uncomfortably long pause, but eventually Thea spoke.

           “Alright, I’ll help, but only if I lead the way, got it?” 

          “Got it.” said Joseph , excited to have a friend to join him on this journey.

Thea looked around, scanning the horizon, before saying 

          “Let’s start by going down Plymouth street-we’re not going to find any monsters roaming around the woods, right?” She started walking down the path that Joseph entered the forest from, with him following close behind, smiling. For once, things were going well in his life, for the first time in forever, he had a friend. Someone to share his burdens with. Someone who understood him. His smile wavered a little. How long can things seem perfect before something goes wrong? he thought. Joseph hoped he never found out the answer to that question.

      For the next week, Joseph would meet Thea at the dead tree everyday, deciding on a different neighborhood to investigate each day. Some days they saw lots of shadow creatures, some days they saw maybe one or two-but they never saw any people. One day Joseph even stood close to one of the monsters for the sake of describing the feeling it gave him to Thea, who wrote down all the information in a small notebook. Unfortunately, none of their efforts brought them any closer to knowing why the monsters were there. Even stranger to Joseph, was the way Thea didn’t interact with the shadows at all. He was always the one pointing them out; saying what they were doing and how they looked, Thea always saying she couldn’t see them or it was easier for her to write if he described them. Her weird behaviors gave him a bad feeling, so after a week of their adventures, he decided to voice his concerns. When Monday rolled around, he saw Thea on the tree, punctual as always. She smiled when she saw him walking towards her, but her face quickly changed when she noticed his expression.

        “Is everything alright Joe?” She asked, a slight nervousness to her tone.

        “I just, you know I’ve had fun researching with you but, I’m just wondering...why don’t you ever go near the monsters? I get it if you’re scared, but like maybe you could at least go near them sometimes.” Joseph looked at her, waiting for her reply. 

        “Oh, you know, I’m the one with the notebook, so I shouldn’t be going up to the shadows, right?” Thea responded, fidgety in her movements.

Joseph snorted. “Well fine then, I’ll take the notebook this time, and you can be face to face with the monsters.” He reached out for the notebook, just for Thea to back away, holding it closer. 

“No, no, I mean it’s my notebook, and you’re so good at describing them-”

“Thea, just hand over the book, it’s about time you did some of the dirty work.” He smiled, trying to take the journal again. She walked even further away, her grey eyes looking scared as she hugged the book.

Joseph looked at her, concerned. 

“What’s wrong? Why can’t I have a break from dealing with them?” He saw her eyes start to tear up, her knuckles going white from her tight grip.

“Thea, what did you write in that book?” She shook her head as she continued to back away, tears starting to fall down her face.

“What could be so bad that you can’t tell me about it!” Joseph exclaimed, his voice raising slightly. 

His change in tone startled Thea, causing her to trip and drop the notebook. Joseph ran to grab it before she could, picking it up off the ground and opening it to find copious amounts of writing. He turned to the front page and saw what she had titled her research: The Boy Who Sees Shadows. He looked down at her, everything suddenly making sense.

“You don’t see them.” he said softly. “You’ve never seen them.”

“Listen, Joe-” Thea said, crying. 

“My name is Joseph,” he said angrily.

“Fine, Joseph then,” Thea stated “I was just trying to help-”

“Help who? The crazy boy you met in the woods? The lunatic that sees demons running around town? Well thank goodness you watched me talk to air, now we can figure out how to fix me,” Joseph fumed. The two children sat in silence for a while before Thea finally dried her tears and spoke.

“Joseph... I just wanted to help. I just wanted to help you figure out why you see the shadows.”

He looked at her, the fires of his anger now reduced to embers as he saw the sincere way she looked at him. 

“Alright then...what do you want to know?” he sighed, looking back at her.She perked up

“Really? You aren’t mad anymore?” She looked shocked as he continued to talk.

“Maybe I should be, but we’ve come this far right? Might as well let you finish your research.”

She smiled, opening up her notebook to a blank page.

“Alright. You said on Thursday that this started three years ago, can you tell me anything important about 2017?” She held her pencil to the paper, waiting for his response.

“My grandparents, my sister, and I went on our yearly camping trip. On the way home we got into a car accident...I was the only one that survived,” he could feel tears start to fall as he spoke, Thea’s glistening as well. “Once I got home my parents treated me differently. It was like they blamed me for what happened, like they saw me as-”

“As a monster,” Thea finished, a knowing look on her face.”

“Ya, ironic huh?” Joseph tried to laugh, wiping his tears with his sleeve. They sat in silence again for what felt like an eternity.

“I think I’m going to go home now,” He said finally, standing up from the log. 

“Alright then. Goodbye, Joseph,” Thea said, waving.

“Call me Joe,” he smiled, walking over and hugging her goodbye. Thea couldn’t help but tear up as they embraced, a smile spreading across her face as they said their final goodbye. 

       On his way home Joseph tried to process everything that just happened. The monsters weren’t real. He was probably crazy. He finally had a real friend. When he finally reached his house it was almost dark, the sun setting on the horizon. Exhausted from the events of the day he went straight to bed, not bothering to eat dinner. He quickly changed into his pajamas and laid down on his bed, falling asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

      Joseph woke to the smell of bandages and medicine. Any attempt to open his eyes was met with a bright light, every breath labored as he felt like his body was trapped under a pile of bricks. He eventually opened his eyes to look around, finding himself in a hospital bed. How did I get here? he wondered. While he thought of all the possibilities, a crying woman ran into the room, sobbing. 

        “Mom?” Joseph asked. 

        “You’re awake! How are you feeling?” his mother asked, her voice shaky. 

        “Horrible,” he chuckled, then decided to ask how he ended up in this situation. “What happened? Why am I-”” His mom held up a finger, leaving the room to find a doctor.

        “You got into a car crash,” said a low voice. Startled, Joseph looked to the other side of his bed to see his dad sitting, dark bags under his eyes.

        “On your way home from the camping trip, your grandparents were tired...they...they drove of the road and...she’s gone. Your sister and grandparents are gone.” ” His voice broke at the last sentence, tears starting to fall as he relived the news. He and Joseph cried while they waited for the doctor, who came in 15 minutes later.

      The doctor said that there was nothing majorly wrong with Joseph, so he could go home later that evening. On their way home the drive was silent, as was the rest of the evening until dinner. His mother made his favorite lasagna, serving it before they all sat down to eat. They all glanced at the empty chair, nobody saying a word.

“You were passed out for three days, Joseph. You must feel pretty rested,” his dad tried to joke, earning a harsh look from his mother. At the end of the meal Joseph put his fork down, only for it to fall onto the ground with a loud crash. His mother walked over, bending down to pick it up, setting it back on his plate, and stroking his cheek. His ears started ringing, her hand feeling sharp, cold, her form shifting to something he knew all too well...