Castaway

The Shadow

Limo prepared the things he’ll bring with him for their seven-day family trip, shirt, pants, underwear, and other necessities. He went to his bathroom and took his bottle of shampoo and body wash. He grabbed his toothbrush and noticed he’s almost out of toothpaste. He ran towards his door and saw his mom below in the living room.

“Mom! Can I share with you your toothpaste?” he shouted.

“Share with your sister. We’re out of toothpaste, too,” her mom replied.

“What? Why me? I’m running out of supplies, too,” she complained.

“Don’t lie, Molly, I saw you brought some yesterday,” he told her.

“Why don’t you share with your girlfriend? She’s coming anyway, isn’t she?” Molly suggested.

“Oh! Okay, I’ll ask her,” he winked at her sister.

Molly made a face.

Limo searched for his phone and texted his girlfriend, Brenda. He smiled when she replied right away, agreeing with his please.  He grabbed his bag and his wallet. He took one last look at his room to check everything was plugged out from the socket and his things were in order before they left. He went down to their living room and saw his sister's eyes glued on her phone.

“What are you reading? Are you texting with that guy again?” he asked her.

“None of your business,” she said.

“Of course, it’s mine. What if he made you cry and cheat behind you?” he asked.

She looked at him with her eyebrow arched upward.

“We’re not seeing each other, Limo. We’re not even friends. We just happen to talk with each other during your graduation, and that’s it. Okay? Are we good now?” she told him and went back to her phone.

“Then why can’t you tell me about what you’re doing on your phone?” he started to tease her and to find out until where does she hold her patience.

“Am I supposed to tell you everything I looked up on the internet? Hey, Limo, I read about this rumor. It’s about a demon who’s possessing people and poisoning their minds to do something bad, but guess what, psychology says it’s just a mental illness that needs to be treated,” she said, making a face.

“Why are you being sarcastic today?” he chuckled.

“I was just asking,” he added.

“This is me every day,” she said while still going through her cellphone.

“You’ll never get a boyfriend with that attitude,” he laughed.

“As if I need a boy to cause me a headache,” she answered.

Limo likes to tease her little sister every time they see each other. He likes it when she has an answer to everything he asked, even to the most stupid things. Their attitude is totally different, but they get along pretty well.

“Limo, can you get the cooler at the storehouse? It’s at the back. Your mother’s not yet done with her dish,” their father asked him while carrying a tool in his dirty hands.

“Of course,” he said and stood up from the couch.

They had a small storeroom behind their house. He went inside and look for the cooler his father asked him to carry. It was built two years ago, and he’s not familiar with the place. Since he went to college in the neighboring city, he barely went home. He only got home after their graduation a few months ago, but he’s busy preparing his papers to prepare himself to work and handle their family business.

He saw his old bike from when he was a kid. Some of their favorite toys were also in a box stored in a corner. He took his old PSP and blew the dirt that almost covered the sides of the buttons. He smiled.

“Did dad keep these things?” he asked himself while checking them out.

He was busy going through his old things when suddenly he felt a shadow flew above him. He stopped and scanned the whole place.

He saw the cooler in between the two big boxes. He pulled it out, and dust covered the whole place when another box fell from a rack beside him.

He coughed and tried to get the clouds of dust away from him when the door suddenly closed. He coughed even more and tried to cover his nose when this time he saw the shadow stopped above the rack where the box fell off.

“What the—“ he said.

He felt chills all over his body. He searched his phone in his pocket but realized he left it in the living room. He’s fond of spooky things, but it was the first time seeing something real.

“Mom?” he called while trying to turn the knob, but it won’t open. He tried to knock and kick the door, but it won’t budge.

“Mom? Dad!” he knocked even harder.

He turned around to see it again, but it’s not there anymore. The air was almost clear from the specks of dust. He took a deep breath when he felt a little bit calmer. His nose went itchy, causing him to sneeze, but when he raised his head, the shadow appeared again, and it attacked him.

He fell on the floor, catching his breath. It felt like something’s choking him, but he can’t see it. His face went red, and his sweat ran down from his head. His veins are almost visible underneath his skin.

He never struggled like this before and questioned himself, “Is this death?”

He reached for something that might help him but found none. Suddenly he heard the door opened and the light blinded him.

“Limo?” he heard his father calling him and his mother crying.

He remembered catching his breath and coughing so hard before he lost consciousness and darkness swallowed him entirely.

His father carried him to their car.

“I’ll go,” Mike told his wife.

“No, I’ll go with you,” Laura cried.

“I’ll go, too,” Molly shouted while running towards them.

Mike didn’t argue with anyone anymore and turned on the engine. They left their things and ran off to the hospital.

Laura had his son’s head resting over her lap. He’s still unconscious, and his breathing was faint. Molly kept glancing at her mother and brother from the passenger’s seat while Mike drove even faster.

“What happened to him? Did you saw it?” Laura asked Mike.

“I don’t know. I heard something’s rumbling inside the storehouse and when I opened it I found him lying on the ground. He had some seizures. I don’t know, but his face was red,” Mike explained in panic.

“He never had a seizure before. Why this happened?” she asked her husband.

“I don’t know either,” he said.

“Could you drive a little bit faster, Mike?”

“I’m trying.”

They were running a hundred kilometers per hour when suddenly Mike saw something run across the street. Out of surprise, he suddenly stepped on his break, but he lost control, and their car spun on that empty road.

Their car crashed against the street light that stopped the vehicle from spinning, but unfortunately, it rolled down the cliff.

Not too far from where the accident happened, a shadow above the street light vanished through thin air.

-0-0-0-

 “HA!”

She was gasping for air. She felt her breath ways shrunk. She was struggling and couldn’t ask for help until she heard footsteps coming in, and she slowly crawled towards the door.

“Devy?” Amaron saw her.

“Devy!” he called and carried her to her bed.

“What’s wrong? Baron! Calix!” she heard him calling their brothers as she was still struggling and out of breath. Baron and Calix immediately showed up at the door and ran towards them.

“Devy!” Calix called.

Baron took out his hands and placed it above her chest. He closed his eyes. She heard him murmured a few words, and purple lights gleamed under his hands. If she got the curse, her brother got a blessing, the Hands of the Healer.

She coughed and finally found her breathing. She got up from her bed while holding her neck. She thought she swallowed something bad, but she didn’t eat anything.

“Are you okay?” Amaron asked her.

She nodded her head.

“What happened?” Calix asked her.

She saw how worried they were, and then their father showed up watching them from the door. He had his arms crossed while staring at her. She was about to say something when she felt pain in her wrist. They saw a small light sparkling on it for a split second, which answered all of their questions.