Shadowlisted

It’s a late evening for Assi. She’s writing a newspaper article on the computer, tapping the keys lightly. She’s about to end her shift on the office for today. Soon enough, the clock hits nine. “Finally, time to get away from this place!” Assi thinks while she sorts some papers and puts them in a folder. She stands up and picks up her bag on the desk. Then, the jacket hanging on the clothes hanger. She puts the chair in place and then rushes out. On her way she sees Derek still sitting at his desk, a fellow colleague. “Bye, Derek!” She says to Derek while waving. Derek looks up from the monitor and catches her gesture. “Oh, bye Assi!” He starts scrambling together his stuff very quickly. Assi grabs the umbrella in the umbrella stand and then walks out the door.

As soon as she’s out, she’s immediately greeted by huge amounts of rain crashing down on her. Her umbrella is of very little help. She walks on the sidewalk of the road when suddenly a car comes in fast speed, passing her. The car splashes on her, almost like it was intentional. “Damn, can’t you watch out!” She bursts out in anger, stomping her foot in a wet puddle. She sighs and then continues to walk along the sidewalk.

Shivering, she is feeling cold and totally drenched. It was still a long way left to her apartment. It was almost impossible to see anything in the dark, with only a few dim-lit lamps on the walls that lights up the sidewalk. A couple meters away, she meets a pedestrian crossing. She has walked over it halfway, before another car suddenly shows up. “AAA- WHAT THE!” The car almost hits her, but Assi jumps in fright and runs over to the other side, startled. She looks over her shoulder to check the car driver, but he has already disappeared in the dark. Catching her breath, she stares at the empty crossing in confusion. “I guess they didn’t want to get caught.” she thought to herself before continuing to walk on the next sidewalk.

The port to her apartment is just several tens of meters away right now. She hurries over to the building, tired of the rain constantly splashing around her. Finally reaching the port, she tries to pick up her key from the bag. It’s slippery, but she manages to open the port without it falling out of her grasp. While walking into the port she forgets to lock it though.

At last, she is inside the stair house, shielded from the sound and feel of the heavy rain. She folds her umbrella in, then takes a couple steps up the stairs. Her apartment was on the third floor and she shares it with her room mate Veronica. Veronica had a free vacation day today so she’s been at home the whole day. Assi reaches her apartment and are about to open the door. Veronica hears the familiar click of the door lock. “Welcome back, Assi!” She welcomes her. Assi closes the door behind her. “Hello!” She says back to Veronica while putting the umbrella in the umbrella stand. She takes off her jacket and hangs it on the clothes hanger, then throws off her the shoes.

“Come!” Veronica calls. “I’m about to!” Assi says as she walks quickly across the small hallway, rounding the corner to get into the kitchen. She’s hit by all the unique odors. “Ooo, what are you cooking?” She asks Veronica and notices the chicken standing on the stove, ready to be put in the oven soon. “I’m making roast chicken.” Veronica says happily. “With pumpkin, sage and red onion!” It waters in Assis mouth. “Wow, that sounds tasty.” She expresses while taking in the delicious smells. “Yeah, it was a new recipe I found.” Veronica explains.

Veronica asks Assi, changing the topic. “How was the work today?” Assi sighs. “Work was as usual. But I nearly got hit by a car on my way back here.” Veronica sounds terrified. “Oh my god! Are you alright?” Assi calms her. “Yeah, I guess I am.” Veronica nods and then continues to prepare the food. Assi turns around. “I need to take a shower though.” Veronica glances back. “Okay, sure!” Assi then walks out of the kitchen and takes a left, off to the bathroom. She closes the door and turns on the shower while she’s taking off her drenched clothes. Suddenly, she notices a shadow that is not her own. She turns around, but doesn’t see anyone standing behind her. The shadow has disappeared by the time she looked back at it. She shrugs in disbelief. “Maybe I’m just seeing things.” She thought to herself and continues with the shower.

Finally done, she walks out of the bathroom with a robe on her. But its eerily quiet. “Veronica?” She gets no answer. “How weird.” She thought as she slowly walks back to the kitchen. The chicken is cooking in the oven, but the sight of Veronica is nowhere. However, she sees the shadow again. “Veronica?” She asks again. “Is that you?” Assi turns around.

“I’LL KILL YOU!” Veronica shouts as she lunges towards Assi with a kitchen knife in her hand. “AHHHH!” Assi screams, terrified. Suddenly, Derek from the job shows up too. “GET AWAY FROM HER!” He shouts while pushing Assi to the side. He gets hurt, being knifed in the shoulder. “OOAAHH!” He screams in agony of pain. “DEREK!” Assi shouts horrified as she can only watch the two fighting. Derek, despite the pulsing pain tries to grab the kitchen knife out of Veronicas hand. He gets a good grip and throws the knife far off to the side. They are now on the floor wrestling. “ASSI! ASSI, GRAB SOMETHING AND HELP ME!” Derek screams at Assi. She nods and runs out to the living room. She looks around and sees a floor lamp. “That might work.” She thinks to herself and hurries quickly back as she grabs it and drags it into the kitchen. When she’s back, Derek glances over. Assi is about to charge in with the lamp and he takes a hop back to avoid getting hit as well. “DIE, YOU MONSTER!” She screams as she lands a head shot on Veronica. She finally gets unconscious. They both sigh in relief. “Wow.” Derek says in astonishment, pleasantly surprised by Assis strength. “I didn’t know you were that strong.” He says. “I guess I am.” she replies.

“How did you get into my apartment, though?” She asks curiously. “You left the doors open.” Derek says. “I felt like you were being followed and I wanted to make sure you were safe.” Veronicas corpse then suddenly turns into black dust as they talk. “Look!” Assi says. Derek watches as the black dust comes to life and floats through the air. They peek into the living room, notices that the dust is leaving out the window. “Should we be worried?” She asks Derek concerned. “No. Not this time anyway.” He says assuredly. “This time?” Assi looks slightly worried. Derek explains. “I know what it is. It’s a demon.” He continues. “The demon took Veronicas body to stalk and kill you.” She’s baffled. “What!?”. Then sighs as she looks down at the floor.

Assis whole world turned around in her head as her thoughts raced. She never thought there would actually be demons. But there had been one, inside her apartment, taking control of her fellow room mate. They had always been good friends, so this was a shock.

Derek leaned towards the nearby wall and glanced at Assi. “Are you okay?” He asked concerned. “No… I just… I just realized that Veronica is gone.” She answers sadly with her throat burning of the crying.

“PING!”. The oven pinged, clarifying that the chicken was done. They both giggled. Assi turned around and took it out. “The food isn’t tainted with demon blood, right?” She asks Derek. “No. I’m sure that’s not poisoned.” He says a bit excitedly while taking out a pair of plates. They then cut up the roast chicken and enjoy the dinner in the living room while watching TV. “Mmm, that’s delicious.” He says. Assi joins him. “Absolutely.”

In the window, the black dust is seen traveling somewhere else. Who knows who it will take next time?