Her fear was at an
unprecedented level and she could no longer think, she could no longer hear any
other sound than unearthly growling. She
felt a different set of eyes on her; she felt certain that they were examining
her very bones. She saw the shadow
parley away from Ninja and move in a way that could only be seen as
aggressive. Forcing herself off the
couch Chloe lunged towards Ninja and somersaulted her way into the kitchen
table. She felt the soft body of the
still hissing Ninja beneath her and a welt developing on her hip. Still cradling Ninja she jumped up and turned
on another light. The shadow didn’t
move; it actually grew in size and density.
She gasped and felt the hot tears streaming down her face. She pressed her back against the wall and
hugged Ninja, a now very hot and uncomfortable cat. She felt the eyes coming towards her. She loosened her grip on Ninja once more and
let him slip through her fingers.
Ninja shot a disgruntled look at his captor and licked
his paw, seemingly unaware of the nuisance slowly making its way towards
them. He paced in the kitchen, unsure of
where to go. Chloe stared at him, she
felt defeated and useless. She stood up
and walked towards the black pool that was making itself comfortable in her
hallway and dining room. “What do you
want! What?!” she screamed, half
hysterical tears still coursing their way down her face and neck. Blind with fear and fatigue she kicked at the
air and screamed when her foot actually touched something. The shadow recoiled and reduced in size. Ninja hissed and jumped back on the
table. The temperature increased in the
room and she ran towards the door. Ninja
trailed after her and she stopped when she reached the stair well. Where
am I going? I don’t even know what time
it is. What was it? But it was there, there was something there. I felt it.
I-I- I don’t know what to do.
Where can I go? Damnit I wish I
hadn’t lost that cross! Chloe gave
herself to hysteria and cried. She cried
out of fear and desperation; out of feeling weak and defenseless; and she cried
out of sheer loneliness. She felt Ninja
rub up against her, bringing her back to reality. Her eyes stung, she could barely see, she
rationalized that perhaps it was better that way. She reached for Ninja and hugged him so much
that he yelped in protest. Despite his
obvious discomfort he purred and nuzzled against her. “You’re a great friend. Thank you.”
With wobbly legs she stood up and re-entered her apartment that she was
tempted to rename The Twilight Zone.
The door never closed behind Chloe’s rapid departure, she
took a deep breath and slowly crept inside.
She spotted Ninja out of the corner of her eye and motioned him inside; he
sat and stared at her in the way all cats did: the
I’m-looking-at-you-but-not-really-looking-and-listening-to-you-but-not-really-listening-to-you. She reached down and tried to pick but in swift
motion he was gone. She saw the tip of
his tail bouncing down the stairs.
“Ninja! Ninja come back! Your parents are going to kill me!” She chased after the elusive feline and was
quickly reminded that she was barefoot and there was frost on the concrete. Shivering, swearing and disappointed she
returned home. New tears were gathering
in her eyes. Now she felt even more
alone that had before. No longer afraid
of the shadow or what lay in the shadow itself she bravely marched inside. The shadow was gone. In fact, the apartment felt empty. “Great, first the cat and now the ghost…am I
actually sad about this? What the hell
is wrong with me?” She looked out the
window and saw the sky becoming lighter in color. She walked into the kitchen and turned on the
coffee maker then walked to the bathroom.
Even though the lights were all on, Chloe still danced around the place
where the shadow had once been. A
strange mark on the wall caught her attention and forced her to walk where the
strange entity had been. She reached out
and traced five deep scratches in the wall.
Too tired to care, she sighed and turned on the shower. The shower seemed to be the only place where
Chloe could collect her thoughts and be at peace.
Thirty minutes later Chloe emerged from the steamy room,
despite her lack of sleep she felt refreshed and calm. Deliberately ignoring the injury to the wall,
she walked to the kitchen and poured some coffee. She tried to massage the kink out of her neck
and wondered how on earth she was going to explain to the nice couple that she
lost their cat. Her heart ached at the
loss of her new friend. She glanced out
the window and sighed. The sky was laced
with grey and pink, with hints of blue and gold. This was her favorite time of day, when the
sun was just stretching out its million mile fingers, gently massaging the
world to life. She closed her eyes and
tried to swallow down the dread and grief creeping up on her. She replayed the events of the few hours over
and over again and she was no closer to understanding what had actually
occurred. Was there a connection between
the shadow and her ghost?
Jessica sent her the first text message of the day. Chloe didn’t know how to tell her that Ninja
had disappeared in the middle of the night after losing a battle with a shadow. A wave of nausea washed over her as the
pressure once again increased. Deciding
it was a sign to get ready for work she burned her tongue on her coffee and
quickly threw on some clothes.
“Excuse me, miss? I need to change my dog food, what do you
recommend?” Chloe blinked as she tried to focus on who was asking such an
ambiguous question. She blinked again as
her eyes took in a man wearing a sports jacket with stylish glasses. She gave a small smile and tried to think of
a clever answer, “um, how much money do you want to spend?” That’s right, way to be smooth.
“Pardon?”
“I mean, well, yeah, how much do you want to spend? I mean, the more expensive stuff has less
fillers like corn and wheat, or if you want crap, you can buy that too.” Realizing how unprofessional she was sounding
she moved her arm in a showing motion, and then smiled again. He chuckled then decided to walk further down
the aisle of dog food. 
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