Shadows

It was day three since you took cover in a super market in your town. There was a blizzard and you were walking to the bus stop after work but the the cold got the better of you and you broke into a store to keep warm. You thought for an hour or two but it wasn't lightning up and at the point you were going to try to leave the doors were frozen shut and you were weak and unable to break the door open. After the next few days and the blizzard not seemingly wanting to break you broke down and started using supplies in the store that you would need. Like food and water and the blankets. You were alone in the store and at night you knew your mind would play tricks on you. At night your mind would show you this thing you like to call the shadow people.

You only ever saw their silhouettes and that all you needed to see. They scared you even when you knew it was your mind saying fuck you. On the fourth day you wake up to the sounds of crying. It sounded like a baby.

"What in the world?" You whisper to yourself and slowly follow the sound of the crying. It lead you into the bathroom and on the floor in a little car seat was a baby. It seemed to be a couple of months old. Definitely not a new born. You pick up the baby and hold it close to you. "How did you get in here?"

The baby was very cold with the skin practically blue like it had died but it was crying and so you held it to you so it could get warm. You walked around the store grabbing dippers and other items to care for the baby like food and cloths. Changing the baby you learn it's a little girl. You start calling her Nancy like on An nightmare on elm street' and yes you planned it.

Being around Nancy you learned a lot about her. She was very entranced with the store. Her eyes always wondering around. Sometimes she would laugh and others she cried of fear. Nights were the worse with her screaming in the dead of night till you got up and held her until she fell asleep.

One night you woke up to the sounds of Nancy crying and screaming. You pop your head up and look over at her. You saw the shadows that you always thought your brain put there to trick and scare you next to the baby. The shadows were poking her and even pulling on her making Nancy cry in distress. You crawled over to her and snatched her away from the shadows and held her close to your chest. The shadows never made a move to them didn't even test it. It just vanished with a wispy soft cry. You didn't sleep the rest of that night. You just held onto Nancy and kept her safe. With each night things progressed. The shadows became more testy and would be loud keeping you up all night. Every morning you would look out the windows of the store hoping the blizzard would be over but it was always going stronger than ever. The days gave you only small breaks from the shadows but it was gaining strength and would mess with you during the day.

The shadows would move things or change the way the Shelves faced. There was never really a break. Nancy grew tired with you but she was able to sleep more with you around to protect her.  

One night the shadows seemed to leave you alone and you fell asleep. You woke up to the feeling of being dragged. You yanked yourself free from what had a hold on you and stood up. You were on the other side of the store from where you sleep and Nancy was not with you. You booked it to your sleeping spot and she wasn’t there either. You looked all over the store and there was nothing all the stuff you had for her was gone like you never had it in the first place. You looked for her for days and it went without any luck. You started to think maybe it was all still just your mind playing you for a fool. The shadows became less active and you were again left alone and bored. You were alone for days and the blizzard was still going no where. Food started going bad in the store leaving you with a lot of junk food.

One day you woke up to the sound of crying. You knew that sound. It was Nancy! You ran all the way to her following the sounds of her cries. You found her in the bathroom like before. She was in the car seat with the clothes she had on before like it was the first day of you finding her. You gathered stuff from the store for her like before and set her up with your bed area. The first few nights everything was fine and you were less lonely. You were actually happy to have Nancy back with you and had something to do. Babies were a lot of work and you had all the time in the world, especially with the blizzard that was still raging outside. Nancy took your mind off the stress you had about what other people were feeling and thinking. It took your mind off from wondering if your family was alright. All power was gone so you were never able to call them. Nancy took you away from checking every two minutes. You only felt joy with her. You felt joy till the shadows started coming back. You did what you could to keep them away like setting up flash lights all around to prevent any shadows from being able to form but it always failed. The shadows where there and what ever they wanted they planned on getting. You thought what they wanted was Nancy from how they were before. But other times it wasn’t so sure with how much they would mess with you over Nancy.

The final night the shadow stood over you. You shielded Nancy from it and the shadow shook its head at you.

“Please don’t take Nancy away from me again.” You held her close to you.

“It’s not her I am here for.” The shadow spoke in a soft and deep wispy voice. You looked at it for a long time wondering what it meant. “It’s you.”

“Why me?” You asked. It didn’t say anything but touched your shoulder. It showed the store was frozen over and you in a corner covered in blankets but not moving. Your skin was almost as blue as the ocean. You realized that the stores heater was never on and you froze in the store. The shadow wasn’t just a shadow it was death, here to collect you. “What about Nancy?”

“She was a part of you. She will grow up here and go through all you have. She will meet herself and care for herself till I take her away. This is your pattern.”