The Shadow People; A short paranormal story sneak peek

COMING SOON TO AMAZON, BARNES AND NOBLE AND IN PAPER ON CREATESPACE

Sweet sixteen parties never meant anything to Danielle when she was not the most popular girl in high school, nor desired to be.  She didn’t want a car since she didn’t drive, didn’t want lots of high fashion clothes since the only thing she ever wore were chucks, jeans and t-shirts.  She wanted a computer and to maybe have a sleep-over with a few of her friends.  For her, that would be a sweet sixteen.

When Mama surprised her with a computer, Dani had been in a state of sheer joy.  She didn’t think her mother would do it--could afford it but she had managed it.  Dani understood the sacrifice.  Her mother was single and there was no father around to help out.  Mama worked two jobs to give them a comfortable life; and in return Dani did little to stress her out. 

Her three best friends came over and they played on the internet, using a free AOL disc to surf the unknown territories of cyberspace.  It was so fun, but Mama made them get off of it after three hours so they popped popcorn and watched movies and told horror stories.  Dani was the best at telling stories. She wanted to be a writer and had already written a poem that had been published in the local community section of their newspaper.  The new computer would help her write a real novel and that was her biggest wish--to be a published novelist.

Crystal began by telling them about an urban legend that ended with a veterinarian telling a family to step away from their newly found puppy because ‘that’s not a dog—it’s a giant poisonous African rat!’  Everyone laughed and shivered, but mostly laughed. 

Neecy told a story about a maniac that had kept girls trapped in his basement as sex slaves, which then caused them to begin talking in hushed voices about sex. Sex was still a mystery that none of them had broached and contemplating a day when they would no longer be virgins seemed a distant dream.  And then Dani had given them each a solemn look.

“Okay, what I’m about to tell you isn’t a fake story.  This is real.”  Dani noticed that the smile had fallen from Patricia’s mouth and her eyes had taken on a strange look.  Dani almost didn’t tell it because of that stricken look on Patricia’s face.  With a slight frown, Dani put the look aside for later analysis and she plunged forward.  “Does … anyone else see things before they happen?”

Charron nodded.  “That’s called Dejavu.”

“Everybody gets that.” Crystal added.

Dani paused and then with a slight swallow she continued.  “I saw my grandmother’s funeral before it happened.”

Neecy raised a brow.  “Girl, I don’t believe in that kind of stuff.  Maybe you just think you saw it.”  She then reached for the bowl of popcorn.  “When you think you have Dejavu, you can’t remember what’s going to happen anyways.  You only remember it after it’s over.”

Dani shrugged.  “I remember it, and not just that … I’ve seen other stuff too.”  She was too ashamed to tell them that she’d had a dream about having sex and that it hadn’t just been a dream—it had been more than a dream.  She decided to keep that story to herself.

Dani didn’t know the guy in the dream. But she remembered the both of them lying on a couch, making out--a very sensual dream considering that she had never even kissed a boy before.  And then she’d touched his penis.  It had been hard and ruddy colored.  He was white, her brown fingers had closed around it and he had begun to move and he gently removed her hand and glided his erect penis into her body.  She could not feel the boy, and she couldn’t see herself because she was looking through her own eyes, but in her sleep her body reacted. It was what had awakened her.  It was the first time she’d ever had such a vivid sex dream and her body throbbed. Dani had quickly written down every detail so that she would not forget.  There were days when she would run the images of that dream through her mind—days when she wondered if any guy would ever notice her, days when she looked into the mirror and saw that the reflection returned the image of a person that was totally unremarkable.  Then she would remember that one day a boy would love her and she would love him.

It bothered her that there was not much that she could see of him.  Long dark hair had obscured his face, though she could see that he was very attractive, early twenties, and the most amazing thing about him was that his arms were covered in colorful tattoos. 

After that dream, she always looked for a boy with dark hair and arms covered in tattoos; because that would be the boy that she would love.

At sixteen that dream had yet to come to life but instinctively Dani knew that it would.  She took in the doubtful looks on her friend’s faces; all except Patricia, who hadn’t made one comment.  She just looked at Dani as if she would say something but couldn’t.  Dani quickly changed the subject and they began talking about music videos and cute singers.

Later, as they were drifting off to sleep, she saw Patricia staring at the ceiling completely wide-eyed.  The next day, when everyone else had left Dani asked Patricia to stay and help her get everything straightened up.  Patricia was relatively new to their group of friends.  She had only moved into town the year before.  But she instantly fit in with them. 

It was strange that the two girls had taken so well to each other since Patricia was her very opposite.  She was petite and dainty.  She went to the hairdresser to have her long hair styled, she went to a salon to have her nails painted, she even wore designer clothes.  Her honey brown skin and light colored eyes assured that she would be popular with the boys.  And even though she could have easily hung out with the jocks and the cheerleader types that invariably made Dani cringe—Patricia preferred their geeky little group and didn’t even date, her shyness making her even more appealing to the jocks than even the school sluts...