The Shadows of ourselves

A shadowed day fell upon me as the sun fell into the earth's horizon. The night just beginning my heart began to race and sweat fell from my face. Running into the safe house I locked the door behind me and slowly waited, waited for the time when they would finally find me… the Shadows of once long forgotten fear. Knowing is half the battle, but what is the other half? I've wondered this for ages on end, seeking answers to riddles I didn't understand while constantly running from a creature I could not see, but could feel everywhere I go. In daylight it seemed more distant, like a monster in hiding, watching me, waiting for the right time. When the sun went down however, I could feel it coming, could hear its voice in my head getting louder. It hungered for me, hungered for my very being and would not stop until it found me. This creature being the shadows of my own thoughts, my own words, my own actions, was as smart as myself, knew my methods of living, and knew my own mind better than I did.

This creature is myself…from the twilight.

Few people can say they have found the world of twilight, the world in-between worlds. Found in the seams of earth, heaven, and hell. Neither controlled nor desired, but simply another passage way on the road to the afterlife, or to life itself. Normally you only witness this realm two times in your existence: when you are born, and when you die. But for some, this realm is like walking through the door to your house. Easily accessible, and easy to find once you find it the first time. But like all doors, this door has the ability to be locked, and when it is left open, things tend to go horribly wrong. Beings crossing over where they aren't meant to be, ripples in material that can't be fixed and are permanently fixed in place.

When I had first crossed over to the twilight I was 19 years old. I was sitting inside of a dusty abandoned home which was thought to be haunted. Having been dared to go inside of it I naturally took the challenge to heart and decided to investigate. My footsteps creaked on the rotten wood floorboards, my heart pounding the entire time hoping to not wake whatever beast of my imagination might have been sleeping there. I walked through the house looking for any signs of a ghost of phantom, but none came. No eerie noises, no blood on the floor, nothing. It was a hoax. Just a silly tale to scare off the kids. Laughing to myself I went deeper into the house, investigating the bedrooms, the closets, kitchen, dining room, everywhere. The last stop was the basement and I had saved it for last for a reason. Normally when you hear a horror story or watch a scary movie the bad things usually happen in the basement. And with good reason, they have a naturally foreboding atmosphere, dust in the air, awkward silences and spider webs galore. Not to mention they're just about the perfect setting to kill someone and not make a lot of noise. So naturally I had my doubts about going down there but I had to nonetheless just to fulfill the duty I had taken up at not being a coward. After procrastinating for as long as possible I finally made my way to the basement door. Average door, no unusual marking on it, It didn't even creek when I opened it, what a wonderful start I thought. I made my way down the stairs, taking one at a time knowing that if I needed to head back I could easily with the door open and few stairs behind me. But nothing was wrong; in fact it was completely quiet. But my mind told me it was a little too quiet.

I stepped off the stairs and touched bottom on a hard concrete surface, covered in dust due to the neglect it had received over the years. There was a wooden table set against a wall with boxes stacked on top of it, markings showing that thy contained gardening tools, house hold appliances, etc. normal house stuff. Two chairs were propped against it and on the other side was another chair facing a wall. I walked up to the chair and looked a little closer, noticing that there were bolts holding it down and straps on the arm rests. Not a good sign… my mind immediately began to work its imagination into twisted thoughts of torture and death but I held ground. There wasn't any blood on it, no sign of resistance, nothing to show a struggle. I looked around to see any other traces of oddity and just so happened to find one. On the wall it was facing I noticed the faded markings of what looked like a rune, or a symbol of some sort. My curiosity flew up in an instant and I began to wonder now if this had been some cracked up version of what some person had thought to be a ritual, or maybe even a gateway. It wasn't impossible, that was for sure. People in these parts had a knack for doing weird things, but this was the first time I had actually seen anything interesting before.

I decided to take a seat in the chair, I wanted to actually get a feel for what the person had felt, whatever it was. The wood was uncomfortable, but perhaps that was a standard for weird stuff, you weren't allowed to be comfortable. I looked at the rune and tried to see what he saw, it looked like a very intricate looking "T" with circles and shapes around it. After about five minutes though I decided to give up and leave the basement. However there was a problem.

I was stuck to the chair. Unable to move form it, like someone had super glued my body to it. I struggled with it and still to no surprise, couldn't move. The sun was starting to fall, there was a window to my right and the sky was turning a blood red, fading into the midnight blue of night time. That was when I saw it; the rune on the wall had begun to sort of glow with its own light, the same color as the sky. Starting off dark in the center and brightening to a bright red blood color on the edges. I was fixed on it, unable to look away, when suddenly I was jolted out of the chair and on to the floor.

Dust filled my eyes and I closed them in pain. Rubbing them for several seconds I finally opened them and found that the room had changed. The floor was no longer covered in dust; it was shined and looked like it was made of gold. Circles and symbols covered it in deep cuts all around me. The chair was gone and instead there stood a monument with the same symbol on it as the wall in the basement. There were no walls around me; I was outside in the open. I could see in the distance the horizon, except the sun was a dull golden color, and the sky was black.

There was a staircase that led down and out of the area I stood at. Having the urge to see where I was I went down it for what seemed like thirty minutes or so. Much too long for a staircase I thought to myself. I was going to hate going back up them later. I reached the bottom of the staircase and looked behind me; the platform I was on previously was approximately three thousand feet in the air. That was one hell of a drop I did not want to partake in. I looked around at my surroundings; there was no grass, just a flat surface that had a brownish hue to it. There were trees here and there in the distance but nothing grew on them. Pretty dismal place if you asked me. I walked ahead and saw small shadows scurrying about in the distance. They had no shape to them but they were quick. I decided it would be best to avoid them if I could.

The path I walked on twisted and turned, seeming to go on forever. It was a dull place. Not much noise, no breeze, nothing interesting going on. But the fact that I was in a completely different world still help my attention and so I continued on. About one mile down I cam to a stop in front of a very large door. No walls held it up, nothing supporting it. I figured it was one of those doors that led to yet another place, and I was right. Upon opening it I found myself in a completely different environment, this one was very bright, with blues and white all around me. Everything seemed to glow and create its own light. Small wisps of light drifted lazily in the air, going no where in particular. I stopped to pick up a small stone on the ground, even that glowed. What an odd place, I thought; it was the complete opposite of the place I had been before.

I noticed this time however that I was inside of a very large hall, pinnacles stood on each side covering from the floor to the ceiling. It was like being outside and inside at the same time. I moved onwards and came to the end of the hall, where it opened up to a circular chamber that had seven other hallways connecting it. In the center of the room there was a large basin filled with water, a fountain rose from it in the shape of and an angel holding a mirror in one hand, and a vase in the other where water fell out into the basin below it.

I looked into the mirror and saw my green eyes staring back at me, my round facial complexion and dark brown hair always the same. I smiled and looked down at the vase pouring the water and ran my hands under it. It was cool so I cupped it and drank from it, it was probably the most refreshing water I had ever had and so I splashed some on my face again before looking back in the mirror.

There were no green eyes looking back at me this time. Instead there was a black shade over them, like there were no eyes at all. My skin was gray and cracked and my hair was black. The reflection smiled at me, canine teeth as sharp as daggers, it turned to look behind itself and I did the same to see the reflection standing behind me, less than a foot away. I jumped back and fell into the basin, water suffocating me as I scrambled to get out. I grabbed the angels arm and pulled up to see the reflection still staring at me, sizing me up. My legs trembled as I stood up and I began to back away. His clothes were completely black, torn and raggedy like he had been cut up. My foot reached the edge of the basin and I slowly stepped out, preparing to run.

The reflection must have sensed this because he lunged forward and in my attempt to run my foot slipped from being wet causing me to fall, and him to miss me. I quickly got up and ran down the hallway I cam from, hoping I could out run him. I could hear his footsteps behind me as he attempted to catch his new found prey. I turned and looked behind to see him slowly starting to change, from two legs he began to run on all fours, his body shifting to a more dog-like shape. His teeth bared and his eyes now glowing red he slowly started gaining on me.

I reached the door in time to open it and barely close it before I heard him thud against it. I turned and began to run back where I had come, the scenery flying past me now I saw the black shapes moving again and thought about how it was best to avoid them. A crash behind me told me he had gotten through the door and was on the chase again. I had to get the stairs…how I hated those stairs now. I didn't stop though when I got to them but took them two at a time. I could feel the fatigue hitting me, my chest felt swollen, my ankles hurt, and splints ran down my shins. But I didn't care; my life was on the line now.

I reached the top after fifteen minutes of straight sprinting and bolted for the monolith. Not knowing what to do I simply grabbed a hold of it and prayed, to what I prayed I didn't know but it seemed to work because my surroundings began to fade. Everything except for the reflection however, he had reached the top and had lunged for me, grabbing a hold of my arm as the world slipped away.

His grip felt like fire on my skin, I screamed and attempted to pull away but he was stuck on me, unable to let go. The world was a bright white and I closed my eyes in hopes of a quick death, but none came. Instead I opened them to find myself in the basement of the abandoned house. The grip on my arm was gone now; my skin smoking from his touch and a hand print was left where he had held me. I looked around for him but couldn't see any trace of him. My heart was pounding; I breathed in heaves and didn't dare move from where I lay. Looking at the window to my right again I could see the pale light of morning rising through in beams to reveal the dust in the air.

Very slowly I got up, not daring to move to quickly I looked at where the chair lay in pieces, splintered wood lay on the floor and the bolts had flown off as though dynamite had blown them off. I ran up the stairs and out of the house. My friends were gone and it was quiet, only the chirping of birds in the trees could be heard. I walked out of the driveway and started for home.

.. As much as I would like to be able to say it ended there it did not. For if it had I would not still be running from this reflection, this other half of myself. For the first couple of days afterwards I thought I was alright, thought maybe I had gotten rid of what was following me. But about a week later as I was going to bed I felt as though I was being watched. I could feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up and a chill run down my spine when I turned off the lights, and instead I decided to leave the light on.

I did fall asleep, like it was any other night but I began to have night terrors of the reflection, his nails would cut across my skin and I would wake up to find trickles of blood where he had cut me, no visible wound though, no puncture. It was like I was being attacked in my dream and not dying. This process continued on for days, then weeks. Soon I was beginning to lose sleep and visible signs were showing. My eyes were dark and swollen, my thought process slowed, I was a wreck. And one night as I lay in bed I could have sworn I heard him walking up the stairs to my bedroom. And every night that it happened I would get out of bed and open my door to see him standing at the bottom of them. Looking at me, still smiling, and I stared back, unable to move, unable too breathe until sudden jolt in my head would tell me to close the door and lock it. His footsteps pounding on the stairs and his nails scratching on the door, causing it to shake.

I decided to see a psychiatrist, not that I thought he could help me with this phantom I now faced, but perhaps he could prescribe me something to make me sleep, make me forget he was there. To no avail the doctor told me I was simply having nightmares and to try some relaxing techniques to get me to sleep. A lot of good he was.

Seven months later I am still being chased by this reflection and I stand here now looking outside of my bedroom window, looking at the reflection of myself in the front lawn. Still staring, always smiling, I wonder what he thinks is so funny… I wonder what he would do if I let him catch me. I didn't have to wonder long because once I closed my shades and turned away, there he was, standing in my room at the door.

"You left this unlocked" he whispered. And he pointed at my bedroom door.