The windows clattered back and forth, and Jessica screamed. A black silhouette with glowing, hellfire eyes reached towards her. Jess's pale brown hair whipped back and forth, and lightning flashed in her blue eyes. Jess stepped back, and she tripped over a music stand. She fell on her back, and the shadow pulled on her leg, scratching through her black leggings. Jessica cried out in pain, and her parents, still yelling in the other room, fell silent. The big, black Chuck Taylors she wore didn't faze the shadow. He kept trying to get at her, and with a grip like iron he grabbed her ankle. Jess screamed one last time, and she was pulled out of the window.
As she flew through the air, the wind whistled through her lungs, and Jess was unable to catch her breath. The cold air burned the inside of her throat. The shadow twisted and turned, just nearly knocking Jessica into building after building. She screamed helplessly, but the sound was caught in the wind and swallowed by the air. Jessica shivered, pulling her baggy purple sweatshirt closer together. She was thankful that she wore leggings instead of her old, black knee-length sweatpants. "Please!" she yelled. "Stop, just for a second!" The shadow stopped right in it's tracks, and suddenly Jessica was hanging upside-down, suspended by her foot. "Please, just don't hold be by my foot! Take my hand at least!"
The shadow tilted it's head, and let go of Jessica's foot.
She was free-falling, and soon enough she was hurtling towards a cold, black ocean churning and heaving. Had they really been flying long enough to reach the ocean?! Jess lived only half an hour from it, but still...
Suddenly, a cold hand wrapped around her wrist. Waves lapped at the bottoms of Jess's feet, and she caught her breath. Tears oozed out the corners of her eyes.
Breath, breath, she reminded herself. It's okay. Swallowing her pain, Jessica looked up at the shadow again. "You can go ahead now,"
Just before the shadow started, Jess yelled, "Wait!"
The shadow looked back at her. "Thank you," Jess said.
And then the shadow began to fly again.
About three hours later, Jessica had expected her arm to go numb. But the shadow was flying so fast that it as if Jessica herself was flying. She felt no movement, just the rush of the wind and the cold wind blowing off the ocean.
As she looked down at the water below her, Jessica was reminded of her grandparents, who loved her more than her parents ever would. They took her camping and surfing, and her grandmother had taught her many instruments, eventually buying her several of her own. But they had died three years ago, when their house burned to the ground. Jessica remembered riding waves as her grandparents took videos and pictures and cheered her on, like her parents were supposed to do as well. But they didn't. Jessica was born out of wedlock, when her mother was just nineteen.
Jess pushed those thoughts aside. Perhaps there were people where this shadow was taking her. She could be happy, and have a life. She was reminded of the story of the Pied Piper. Although he was famous for ridding people of rodents, Jessica had always admired him. He had used his music to save people. And he hadn't killed the rats; just led them away. Perhaps this shadow was her version of the Pied Piper. He was leading her away from where she wasn't loved to a better place. As night began to give way to dawn, Jessica felt herself losing consciousness. The rising sun heated her exposed skin, and she lay on her back in her tunnel of air, gently falling asleep to the woosh of early morning winds and the lapping of the waves below.
As she dozed off, Jessica thought she saw a faint dot on the horizon.
Just before her eyelids closed, she thought to herself:
New life, here I come.