Something in the Shadows

Izzy Halper was no stranger to the eerie stillness of her office after hours. Trying to prove herself as the newest editor at NightStory Publishing, she often found herself immersed in manuscripts long after the sun had dipped below the horizon. Tonight, she was particularly engrossed in a horror novel by a promising new author. The manuscript was dark, filled with menacing shadows and unsettling whispers. It was the kind of story that made the hairs on the back of Izzy’s neck stand on end.

The time on the wall clock clicked over to 11:47PM. She sighed, rubbing her tired eyes. She reached for the half-eaten sandwich she’d brought from home earlier that day, a hasty meal nibbled between paragraphs. Her stomach churned slightly as she remembered noticing a speck of mold on the bread, but she had dismissed it. “A little mold never hurt anyone,” she had thought.

She was hungry but tossed the remainder of the sandwich in the metal trash can beside her desk. The janitorial crew had already emptied the can earlier that night and had long gone home. She thought again about a particularly demonic paragraph in the novel she was editing and shuddered slightly. The deafening silence of the building at night was such a contrast from the chaotic atmosphere of the day.

As she turned back to her glowing computer screen, a flicker caught her eye. She glanced toward the corner of the room, but it was empty. Shaking her head, she refocused on the text in front of her. But the feeling of being watched lingered, like an intangible presence lurking just beyond her vision. Goosebumps returned to the back of her neck and arms. She looked up again and the shadows seemed to deepen and stretch, crawling along the walls like living entities.

Izzy’s heart raced. She reminded herself it was just the effects of the scary story mixed with her imagination and exhaustion. Yet the shadows persisted, becoming more defined with each passing minute. Out of the corner of her eye, she could almost make out the shape of a person – a dark, amorphous silhouette that would vanish if she tried to look directly at it.

“Get a grip, Halper,” she muttered to herself, scrolling to the next page. The words on the screen began to blur, the letters swirling into confusing patterns.  Izzy closed her eyes, taking deep breaths to calm her racing pulse. “Maybe it’s the mold,” she reasoned. “Hallucinations can be a symptom of ingesting bad food. It’s all in your head.”

But no matter how much she tried to convince herself, her unease grew. As she glanced around her office, the shadows were no longer content to stay at the periphery. They seemed to creep closer, and she gasped audibly. Their forms were becoming clearer and more menacing. Faint whispers started piercing the silence, indistinguishable words that made her shiver down her spine.

Unable to take it any longer, Izzy grabbed her phone and called her best friend. “Jess, I know it’s late, but I need to talk to someone. I think I might be hallucinating. I ate some moldy bread earlier and now I’m seeing…things.”

Jess’s voice was a welcome sound, grounding her in reality. “Izzy, are you still at the office? You’re probably just exhausted. Maybe you should go home and rest. You’ve been working way too hard.”

Izzy nodded, even though Jess couldn’t see her. “Yeah, you’re right. I’ll pack up and head out.” She said goodbye and hung up, the room spinning slightly as she gathered her things. She tried hard not to look up, but as she turned off her computer, she saw them.

Standing in the doorway, blocking her only escape route, were the shadow people. Their eyes – if they had eyes – glowed with a sinister light, and the whispers grew louder and more insistent.

Terror ripped through her as she realized these beings were no figment of an overactive imagination. They were real and were coming for her. Izzy backed away, racking her suddenly very alert brain for a way out. But there was no other way out. The shadow people moved with a predatory grace, closing in on her. She could feel the cold touch of their amorphous hands as they reached out, pulling her into their darkness.

As the world around her faded, Izzy’s last thought was one of grim acceptance. The mold had merely been a harbinger, a coincidence that now seemed laughably mundane. The true horror lay in the shadows, and as they enveloped her, Izzy Halper was dragged into the underworld, her screams swallowed by the encroaching darkness.

As the sun rose the next morning, the office trickled to life. Jess knocked on Izzy’s office door and, met with silence, she opened it and stood in the doorway looking around. “She’s not here,” Amelia said coming up behind her. “It appears we lost another editor. People just can’t seem to hack this job. Seems like this office has a revolving door of employees.”

“Maybe it’s this office. Maybe it’s cursed,” Jess said.

Amelia gave a jolly snort. “Yes, that must be it,” she said before turning and walking back down the hall.

Jess had only been half-joking about the curse, especially after Izzy’s panicked phone call the previous night. She stepped deeper into the office and noticed her friend’s laptop was closed on the desk. It wasn’t like Izzy to quit by just not showing up or calling anyone. And Jess knew how much this job meant to Izzy. She finally had her foot in the door for her dream job. Her eyes swept the room one last time, hoping for a clue that just didn’t appear.

Jess shrugged her shoulders and retreated to her own office in human resources. She supposed she needed to review more resumes to fill the editor position – again. Jess removed a small compact from her purse, using the mirror to apply a new coat of lip gloss. As she puckered, something flickered in the reflected background. She snapped the compact shut and slowly turned.