For the fourth night in a row, Jenny woke up sweating in her bed, breathing heavily. She panted as she sat up, rubbing the blurriness from her eyes. It had happened again-she had that same nightmare about that day. It had been about a month ago, but she remembered it clearly. The day back in the paper house. Down in her grandfather's basement. The day she had played that game. The day she and her friends had faced their nightmares. The day she lost a friend. The day she had locked him away in the closet and had won. It was a fresh memory that had reoccurred for the past few nights. She sighed and slowly pulled off the covers. Stepping out from the comfort and warmth of her bed, she walked across her room and out into the hall.
Walking down to the bathroom, Jenny shivered in her shorts and T-shirt. She tiptoed to the door and quietly pushed it open. It creaked and echoed as she entered. The cold, linoleum floor sent shivers through her toes. Flipping on the light switch, the room was illuminated to show the bright blue walls and white ceiling. She walked over to the white sink straight ahead of her and turned the water on. As she cupped the water in her hands, she sighed again. Jenny splashed the water on her face before looking at herself in the mirror. Wow…I'm a mess, she thought, observing herself. Her golden blonde hair was tangled, sticking up every which way. Black circles were forming under her eyes, and her skin was paler than usual. After another splash of water, Jenny noticed something out of the corner of her eye- a figure standing behind the door. Jenny quickly turned around to see no one there. Shaking her head, she shut off the water. I'm really getting paranoid over this…over him…over everything…
Shrugging off the feeling, Jenny returned to her room. Closing the door behind her, she yawned while walking back towards her bed. She stretched and noticed the big red circle on her calendar. Tomorrow was the day. Tomorrow she'd be going to the prom with Brian. She sighed, taking a seat back on her bed. Her heart sunk at the thought. She had never gone anywhere without Tom. But Tom was no longer with her. After the game, he noticed how she changed. He saw how independent she had become and how she acted around him. He knew she didn't truly love him anymore, so he broke it off. In fact, they all could tell. Jenny was not the same person coming out of the game. A game like that changes people. The shadow man changes people. Jenny finally realized this as the weeks had passed. She started to notice all the little things she hadn't before. Like how beautiful the sky looked at dawn, or how swiftly the wind blew the leaves off the trees, blanketing the ground. That same wind, which lightly caressed her cheek, reminded her of his featherlike touch. His eyes, incapable of describing blue eyes, made her breath catch in her throat each time she saw them. Jenny felt like she was flying each time she remembered him and each time she dreamed of him.
As she lay back down in her bed, she couldn't help but feel a stab of pain in her chest. She had locked him away, locked him in that closet. At the time Jenny was concerned only about her friends' and her own safety. Now, she frowned, thinking of all the pain she had caused him. He was alone and probably very angry. She wished she could take it all back, but she knew it was too late. Jenny sighed and closed her eyes, trying to force the thought into the back of her mind. She had bigger problems to worry about right now like Prom. She allowed for one tear to trickle down her cheek before drifting back to sleep.