Sho Ma

Table of Contents   Prologue…………………………………………………….2 Chapter 1: Weird Things Can Happen Anywhere…………..4 Chapter 2: Is it Really Possible for someone to sell their Soul to the Devil?.........................................................................24 Chapter 3: The f*******n Words………………………….51 Chapter 4: The Horror continues………………………….69 Chapter 5: Trying to Shake this Evil……………………..129 Chapter 6: Novell’s Choice………………………………179 Chapter 7: The Origins of Shovel Man…………………..258 Chapter 8: Hardships of Life’s Big Choices! Time to die Shovel Man!.......................................................................265 Epilogue………………………………………………….316 Acknowledgements………………………………………319   Prologue               There are many of things that can happen when something of the living perishes and becomes of the non-living, also known as the dead. The act of a soul losing attachment with its body and physical flesh, being free to roam into the unknown... As a body becomes lifeless and ceases movements as it prepares to decompose and break down, changing form. This is recognized as your body or shell dying in the physical realm, sending your soul into the spiritual realm. A cognitive reality… This is common linguistics of human knowledge.             But, what really does happen when a person or something living faces death?! Many believe that there is only one thing or a very few things actually happens when one dies… Truth be told, there are many of things that happen, and many of things that can happen when something of the living dies! A soul can go to Heaven! A soul can go to Hell! A soul can go back to the source… A soul can stay on Earth, A soul can get lost… Ergo, No matter what happens to the soul, one fact remains true and always happens when something living dies, and that one thing is, a portal opens up that links the physical world to the spiritual realm! And when that portals opens up, the Shovel Man never misses his timing to make his way into the physical world to wreak havoc! Whatever he so chooses, and as of now, he is choosing to wreak havoc upon mankind! But at the moment he has his piercing red eyes set upon a certain, special, teenage boy. But don’t take it lightly that he has a target, for if you get in his way, he will not spare you! He will come after you, and he will not stop at nothing until you are dead! He won’t stop at nothing to make a person’s life a living Hell!             The Shovel Man hates and envies the living! He is jealous of the living, and he loves chaos! He stays in the dark, watching, waiting, lurking. He could just well be standing behind you at this very moment! He could be in your closet, or under your bed! Behind your shower curtain, or just in the other room while you are all alone. So just be cautious wherever you go, because there is a new face of evil… The Shovel Man! Beware of the Curse of Shovel Man…! aaaaahhahahahahahaha…!         Chapter 1: Weird Things Can Happen Anywhere               I find myself running up a dirt road through a wide open area in a forest that is unrecognizable to me. As I run, I can feel fear creeping in all around me. I run for my life because I know someone or something is after me, I turn my head and look behind me. My gaze fixes to the rear, but I don't see anyone in pursuit of me. All that can be seen is rows and rows of trees and bushes. There are shrubs, mud, trees, and darkness on each side of me.             So I turn back and face forward with my heart racing and my lungs gasping for air. I'm tired but I must keep running. My sprint begins to slow because I am running out of fuel. I look up towards the night sky in hope that I can get a boost of energy, because I don't want to die here and now, not like this... As I look up, I see an amazing night sky full of stars and a full moon. My eyes lock upon the powerful shine of the moon and all it’s glory. I get lost in the moon's beauty, feeling like I am in some sort of trance.             Then suddenly, I hear a loud howl directed to the moon coming from each sides of me. It sounds as if the howls are coming from the bushes deep within the forest. Just when I get ready to look away from the moon, and survey the area all around me to detect where the noise was coming from, I hear a growl approach right before me. I take my attention away from the moon and look down to see what has blocked my path. When I look down, I stopped abruptly so that I did not run into the three wolves that were upon me, glaring and l*****g their choppers at me like I was going to be their next meal. When I stopped, my feet slid in the dirt and kicked up a small cloud of dust. The wolves remain unaffected, so they walk through the small dust cloud appearing scarier than when I first looked at them. The wolves get ready to attack, they shift their weight and duck down slightly. Then out of nowhere, a small, red, crescent line about the size of a soccer ball erupts in the ground a few feet from behind the wolves. The wolves halt their attack as we all watch the crescent line starts moving on each side drawing a huge circle the size of a large dinner table. The lines on each side comes together and meet making a perfect circle that starts to glow. As the circle glows a yellowish, reddish, color, it erupts into a full red glow to slowly reveal that something is emerging from it. My heart stops in my chest because fear overwhelms me, making me worried from what I am about to experience next. For what I am about to see. For what battle lay right before my eyes! But how could this be happening!? Why is it happening to me? I look for a place to run but I see no way out! My consciousness starts to fade, I get dizzy, then I hear a loud boom! I wake up in my chair, at my desk, and look around the room.                “No-vell! Wake up, you are sleep in class again!” My teacher says as he smacks his palm flat on the chalkboard with a loud smack, making a eardrum crushing booming sound.I shake off my weariness and come back to reality, waking fully up. Hi, my name is Novell. I am a 17 years old High School student in my last year of school. I believe I am fearless and that I can take on any challenge! I know how to fight pretty good, and I am not part of the ugly or average looking squad, so I think I'm pretty hot stuff! My mother is African-American and my dad is Caucasian. So that would make me a mix breed and also light skinned. I appreciate the color of my skin because I am not too light, and not too dark. But living in an interracial household is interesting on levels some would never understand. Living under a roof with two cultures and beliefs can be stressful, and scary... But not as scary as Mr. Tatford and you will learn why soon enough.             “But Mr. Tatford, I didn't even realize that I was sleep! I dozed off without even realizing it. I haven't really been able to sleep at home because...”             “No excuses Novell! I don't wanna hear them! Now pay attention with the rest of the class and follow along. And don't fall back asleep or I will keep you after class!”             After Mr. Tatford mentions about keeping me after class, he gives me a dreamy googly eye look at me as if he wants to do something naughty and intimate with me. Ever since Mr. Tatford has laid eyes upon me, he has been a little too fond of me...And let me tell ya, I can’t stand the guy personally. I am not gay and I don’t want to be fondled by the same s*x. I love the girls and believe that I am what all the girls want. Plus I am the definition of a cool guy. It is the middle of my first semester of my senior year, and Mr. Tatford has been trying to find some reason, or some way to keep me after class. Mr. Tatford would try everything in the book to try to get me to stay after class. At first, in the beginning of my senior year, Mr. Tatford would try nice ways and approaches to get me to stay after class. But by the middle of my first semester of senior year, Mr. Tatford wanted me to stay after class so desperately. Mr. Tatford desperation was so obvious to not only me, but to the entire class now, that Mr. Tatford did not even try to hide it anymore. He let his feelings about me staying after class be known, and would stop at nothing, at trying to get me to stay after class with him. But not only did he try to keep me after class, but he would also try to keep my best friend after class too. Sometimes he would try to find a way to keep us after class together, and sometimes he would try to keep us after class separately. But although he would try to keep my friend after class too, Mr. Tatford mainly had his eyes and attention on keeping me after class the most. For what reason was Mr. Tatford trying to keep me and my best friend after class? Only the underworld and those that dwell in it, truly knew the answer...             “Okay Mr. Tatford, I will, uh I mean I won't.... No what I am trying to say is, I won't fall back asleep and I will follow along...” I say panicky.             After I speak in a weak voice feeling just as weak as the sound of my voice, the entire class looks at me feeling sorrow for me. I guess they sympathized for me because they too knew something was very seriously wrong with Mr. Tatford.             So Mr.Tatford continues his class lesson. Mr. Tatford was my Physics teacher. Although I loved Physics, Mr. Tatford made it a nightmare to take the subject with him. He made it extremely difficult to pay attention in class. I would daydream a lot in his class, sometimes a little too much. My mind would wander on many of topics, anything besides Mr. Tatford, or especially anything having to do with staying after class alone with Mr. Tatford! So as I begin to pay half attention to Mr. Tatford's lesson and half daydream, I turn my head sideways to my left to look out of the window. In all of my classes, I always tried to pick a seat around a window so that can look out of it when my teacher would annoy me or bore me. And since Mr. Tatford was notorious for bothering and annoying me, a window seat was just what I needed in his class to get through the day. As soon as I look out of the window, I get a sense of relief, a sense of freedom... This was why I always picked a window seat in all of my classes.             I stare out of the window looking at the sky, wishing I could escape from Mr. Tatford's class. He was the last class of the day after all... One more class and then I would be free is all I thought at the beginning of his class. While thinking of my soon to be freedom, I feel something crawling on my arm. I hastily look down to see what creepy crawly is walking upon my left arm, so I gape down to see that it is a tiny red ant. I get so enraged of recent and ongoing events that happened, and is happening between me a the species of ants, that I flick the red ant to my desk with my middle finger, and pick up my Physics textbook and slam it very hard over the red ant squashing the red ant instantly. When the textbook slams firmly meeting with the desk, it makes a loud smack. As the loud reverberating sounds echoes throughout the classroom, all of the students and Mr. Tatford turns and looks at me. The students immediately begin laughing loudly thinking that I am joking and attempting to be my usual class clownish self. So Mr. Tatford's pale face turns as red as a cherry. Blood rushes to his face and fills up both sides of his entire cheeks. And then it happened, Mr. Tatford started yelling like he normally does when he gets upset.             “Children, settle down! Novell, stop fooling around and focus on your assignment! Now kids, as I was saying...”             The class stops laughing and gets back to focusing on their assignment. As I see everybody in the room re-focuses on Mr. Tatford, I lift up my book to see the dead red ant on my desk. I usually keep tissue in my pocket, so I take out a piece of tissue and wipe up the red ants remains, then I immediately turn back and look out of the window again. This time I look down and stare at the Quad.             The Quad is a stage like area that everybody would meet up during lunch time to dance, or play, or just hang out. Sometimes our Principal and teachers would have assemblies there too. It was sort of squarish, with bushes and trees planted on each side of it. It had stairs leading to another concrete sidewalk that led to a grassy area. Then at the back of the quad there were bushes and a wall behind the bushes. At the back right side of the Quad, there was an open long outside hall that led to the Breezeway, as we called it. But in the outside hall, our school library was connected. Now on the opposite of this outside hallway was a mirror outside hallway that looked just like it but separated by a wall. Which connected to the back left side of the Quad.             While I stare at the Quad from the right side, because that is all I could see from my seat in Mr. Tatford's class, I see a strange shadowy figure standing next to the tree closest to me. I couldn't make out the figure, but the figure just stands there looking in my direction. It was almost as if the dark menacing figure was looking right back at me. I freeze in fear from the black image's cold stare. I wanted to look away, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't bear to look away. The figure was warped unlike any student that I have ever seen going to my school. The figure was also huge, thick, and tall like a grown man. As the figure stares at me, I feel chills down my spine almost as if someone blew on my neck. I start to feel extremely cold as if I was in zero degree weather.             Then all of a sudden, my pencil that is lying motionless on my desk begins to shake. It shakes violently for a few seconds then shoots straight at Mr.Tatford like somebody threw it! Mr. Tatford didn't see the pencil coming right at him, but he dodged it as if he knew something was flying at him. The pencil barely misses Mr. Tatford and collides with the chalkboard making a loud thwack. As soon as I see the pencil hits the chalkboard, I hastily turn back to look at the dark scary figure. It was still there but only now it looked as if it was smiling at me. This was unreal! Did the creepy figure do this I thought to myself? Well it didn't matter at the moment because all of the students eyes get big with excitement at how good Mr.Tatford's reflexes were, and at the fact that they thought a student would throw something at their superior. Mr. Tatford's face turns bright red again, and then he and the entire class turns and looks at me because they knew what direction the pencil came from.            “That's it Novell! I know that the pencil came from your direction! So that can only mean one thing, you threw that pencil!” Mr. Tatford yells.             “No Mr. Tatford, it wasn't me, I swear!” I plead.             “Oh, I know it was you Novell, because I saw you do it!” Mr. Tatford confidently says giving Novell a very sinister smile.             In my mind I begin to think, if he and the class knew that I threw it, then certainly somebody had to see it move on its own. So I answer back in a witty tone, trying to sound like a know it all.             “Well Mr. Tatford, if you and class is so certain that I threw it, then surely everybody including you had to see that I didn't throw the pencil, that in reality the pencil flew at you on its own! I did not even touch it! C'mon class, please tell me that somebody saw the pencil move on its own!”             The whole class remained silent in disbelief. Then Mr. Tatford began speaking like the know it all he tells himself that he is in his head.             “See that is where you're wrong again Novell, if you had been paying attention to the lesson then you would have heard me speak about Isaac Newton's first law which states, “An object at rest stays at rest, and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.” But I am sure that you missed that part silly Novell, because of the bold and unrealistic claim that you made! So now you are saying that 'The Great” Sir Issac Newton was a lie?”             “No Mr. Tatford, I am not. I am just saying that I didn't throw the pencil...”             Before I could speak another word, Mr. Tatford interrupts me again like he normally does.             “See this is why I am the teacher and you are the student Novell, because such tall tales are but a kid's and a fool's dream... So which one are you Novell?             No teenager wants to be called a kid, and I surely didn't want to consider a fool, so I just remained quiet...             “Answer me Novell!” Mr. Tatford screams.             After a long moment of silence, when I saw that Mr. Tatford was not going to ease up and be very immature about the situation, I finally answer.             “A child...”             Mr. Tatford begins smiling the widest smile one has ever seen, because he found another strategy to implement his desire...             “So Novell, children have to be looked after, and since children have to be looked after, this means that I shall be looking after you after class until your parent shows up correct!?”             I get happy inside because I knew I had special plans with my mom today. Her orders were for me to come directly home today, and to get home as soon as possible because we had errands to run with my dad.             “No can do Mr. Tatford, my mom expects me home ASAP today because we have errands to run. If I don't get home then my mom is going to blow a head gasket as she always does. You can call her if you want.             “Actually I will... Now class, don't act up while I am gone” Mr. Tatford replies.             Mr. Tatford then gets out his cellular phone, goes to his roster, input a number and then walks out of the class. As soon as he does this, I run over to the window and look out of it over at the Quad. I search for the distorted shadowy figure, but all I found was an empty Quad. I get really depressed feeling sorry for myself, then I walk back to my seat wondering the unimaginable.             As I slowly walk back to my seat, I notice the entire class watching me with excitement in their blood. Some students laughing, some cheering, and some just acting a fool. But most of the students just cheered. Then my best friend walks up to me able to tell that something is wrong.             “Novell, I can't believe that you threw a pencil at Mr.  Tatford! That was cool,but it seems like something is wrong, is everything you okay!?” My best friend ask.             “Nah man... I...”             Before I could finish his sentence, Mr. Tatford appears back in class and starts ranting again.             “Children, get back to your seats and get away from Novell!”             All of my classmates go back to their seats.             “So Novell, I talked to your mom and she said that I am to send you back home straight after class because you and your family have business to attend to... So you escaped detention this time Novell. But next time you won’t be so lucky...”             I let out a large sigh, feeling so relieved that I escaped yet another after school session with Mr. Tatford.             Mr. Tatford then puts away his phone and continues his lessons of Isaac Newton. Isaac Newton was always my favorite scientist opposed to Einstein, but just hearing Mr. Tatford speak of anything, whether I liked it or not, made me sick to my stomach. So he finishes his lesson with five minutes of class to spare. He issues out homework like he always does the last minutes of class and excuse us.             Normally a bell excuses us, but since my school changed senior year and put certain students in a special program which gave us seven classes, we didn't have a bell ring for our seventh class because regular school was already out and gone by the time our seventh class was over. The regular six periods would be over about thirty minutes before we got out of our seventh period. That was annoying enough, but with Mr.Tatford trying to keep me after class while most of the entire school was already gone was the scariest,creepiest thing I could ever imagine in my head at this age.             So when Mr. Tatford finally excuses the class. Me and my best friend grab our stuff quicker than the rest of the students and stuff it in our backpacks. While all of the students gather their things on most days, Mr.Tatford made it a ritual to stand on the side of the only door we were allowed to go out of. We weren't allowed to exit from the other door, which was surrounded by furniture anyway. But not only would he stand there, he would also talk to the class until we all exited. Mainly focusing on talking to me before I could escape his presence. I think his motives was to try and give me nightmares...  Or maybe it was to be an annoying, aggravating, know it all, to get under my skin. Either way, I would try to speed walk out of class before he could say something.             After I finish packing my things, I look over at my best friend and wait until he finishes packing up his things from across the room and shoots me a nod of confirmation. We used to do this so that we can leave together in hopes that we could avoid Mr. Tatford by any means. My best friend, gives me the nod, so we immediately begin racing to the door. Mr. Tatford sees us coming, and as we get close to the exit, Mr. Tatford homes in on us and stop his incoherent speech to the class just to acknowledge me and my best friend.             “Now now you two, I take it that will two will have my homework next class because if you don't, then both of you will have to stay after class!”             “Yes Mr. Tatford!” I and my best friend say at the same time. We used to have a habit of saying the same things at the same time.             After we hastily speak, we both dart out of the classroom with the rest of our classmates making sure that we were not the last two in the room with Creepy Tatford as we used to call him. Mr. Tatford comes out of the classroom and watch us and the rest of our classmates walk down the hall, down the stairs to eventually leave the school. He would just stair eerily with a deep, cold, horrifying stare as he watch us walk down the stairs. I and my best friend would not break a stride until we were out of Mr. Tatford's sight and out of the school. We get to the bottom of the stairs and deadhead to the front of the school. We get to the front of the school and exit outside. As soon as we get out in front of the school, we stop and face each other.             “Hey bro, another successful escape of Mr. Tatford's class!” I tell my best friend.             “Yea, it gets closer and closer every class of his we attend...But Novell, what happened in class today? You seemed a little disturbed. Did you really throw a pencil at Mr. Tatford? That don't seem like a good idea because that would give him a reason to keep you after class! And I know you, you wouldn't do anything to give Mr. Tatford an excuse to keep you after class. On top of that you said that you didn't do it... If you would've actually done it, then you would have owned up to it because you would have thought out the scenario in your head before you did it, and just dealt with the consequence. And! Just to add, after the pencil flew at the board, you had this horrified look on your face. So what's going on?”             A......... was my best friend but I knew that I could trust in him so I told him the absolute truth. We were such good friends that I knew that I could tell him anything and I trusted him with my life.              “Yes man, you know me too well... Honestly, I didn't throw the pencil at Mr. Tatford. But I am sure something made that pencil fly at him! I was looking out at the Quad and I saw a weird distorted shadowy manlike figure that I couldn't make out... It looked weird, and it seemed as if it was staring right back at me, and out to get me. I after I saw it staring at me, that is when the pencil shook on my desk for a few seconds and flew at Mr. Tatford.”             “So that's why you ran to the window when Creepy Tatford left the class to call your mom!”             “Yes but when I went back to the window and looked out, he wasn't there... I didn't see nothing but the Quad.”             “Yeah, that is weird. We have talked about this before, but just a little reminder, we did say that there has been a lot of weird things going on in the school that we cannot explain. But this is my first time hearing you say that you actually saw a figure like apparition. Usually it is just teachers acting weird, or we hear weird sounds, or anything having to do with live “Action Robo Student...”             “Live Action Robo Student” was a weird student  named Robert in most of me my best friend's classes. He was deemed the perfect student by all of our teachers and our counselors. And he never missed an opportunity to try and make us look bad in front of our teachers. “Live Action Robo Student” thought he was so perfect and did no wrong. He was also very pretentious and egotistical. . He was such a weird student that me, nor none of my peers understood him, and every student that crossed paths with him thought that he was weird. And all of the students called him a robot. His demeanor screamed robot! The way he walked, the way he talked, the way he ate food But what made things worse about “Live Action Robo Student” is that he was just like Mr. Tatford, he had his eyes set out on making me and my best friend's lives miserable.