Chased By Shadows

Rain slid down the windows like silent tears. Elise pressed her back against the bathroom door, her breaths short, uneven. The mirror across from her was cracked, splintered in seven jagged veins, and her reflection looked like someone else. Someone feral. Someone afraid. She could hear it again, the faint creak of the third step outside the door. That step always creaked. She had memorized the sound. One. Two. Creak. Four. Whoever it was, they were in her house again. Her eyes darted to the phone. Dead. No signal, no battery. She hadn’t charged it. Again. She always forgot things when she was scared. And right now, she was absolutely drowning in fear. The doorknob twitched. Her heart slammed against her ribs like it wanted to escape.The silence returned.And then A knock. One. Two. A pause. Three. Her eyes widened. That knock. It wasn’t just anyone. “Elise,” came the voice, soft but trembling. “It’s me. Kaia.” Another pause. “I—I saw someone come in. I think he’s still there. Are you okay?” Elise flung the door open and pulled Kaia into the cramped bathroom so fast the younger girl almost tripped over her boots. Kaia’s eyes flicked to the corners, scanning everything like she’d trained for this moment. “He was here,” Elise whispered. “He was here.” Kaia nodded like she already knew. Her grip tightened on the crowbar in her hand.“I saw him. He went around the back. I think he’s watching, watching, Always watching." Elise didn’t ask how Kaia always showed up at the right moment. She didn’t ask why she had bruises on her wrists or how she moved so quietly for a seventeen years old. All Elise knew was that Kaia believed her. And these days, that was rare. Even her own sister had started to question her.They crept out of the bathroom together, Elise with a kitchen knife, Kaia with the crowbar. The house smelled like rain-soaked wood and faint smoke. No sound. Not even the creak of that third step.Kaia paused at the living room. Her pupils dilated for a second too long, her breath shallow. “Elise,” she said, “have you ever... lost time?” Elise blinked. “What?” “Like...hours missing. Waking up in places you don’t remember going to.” Kaia said. Elise stared at her, then slowly shook her head. “No. Why?” Kaia didn’t answer. Her hand hovered at her temple, fingers twitching. Outside, the storm howled louder. Elise looked at the sky, but Kaia was looking at something else in the shed.“I think he’s in there,” she said suddenly. “We should check.”“We should wait,” Elise countered. “The police—”. “They never come on time." Kaia walked ahead, stepping lightly over puddles and mud. Elise followed reluctantly, pulling her hoodie tighter. The wind whispered their names maybe it was just the trees. The shed door creaked as Kaia pushed it open. Dark. Smelled like rust and damp leaves. And something else. Rotting. Kaia went in first. Elise hesitated on the threshold. Her eyes adjusted. A man’s coat. Blood. Footprints. Kaia was frozen in place.“Elise,” she said. Her voice cracked. “Come here.” Elise stepped in a photo lay in the center of the shed floor. A photo of her taken from outside her window. Another photo Her and Kaia Last week, laughing.And then— A third. The man she’d seen at the gas station. The man who had followed her. His face mutilated. Black ink smeared across his eyes. A whisper echoed in Kaia’s ears. She blinked. Something flickered behind her eyes. A hand, Blood, A mirror. She shook her head.Not now. Not again.“Elise,” she said through gritted teeth. “We need to leave.” “But—this proves someone—” Kaia grabbed her arm. Her grip stronger than Elise expected. Almost too strong.“Elise, he’s watching. He wants us to see this.” They bolted back inside the house. The shed stayed open behind them, the photographs fluttering like broken wings. Later that night, Elise curled up on the couch. Kaia sat cross-legged on the floor, knife resting across her knees. “You always know where I am,” Elise murmured. “How?” Kaia was quiet then said “Because I remember things I shouldn’t.” Elise sat up. “What do you mean?”Kaia blinked. Her vision flickered again. Flash. Blood dripping down her hand, A man choking, eyes wide, her voice screaming but not her own. Flash.Herself, holding a mirror.The words written on it. “I did this". Kaia shuddered. “I don’t know,” she whispered. “Sometimes I see things. Things I think I did. But...I don’t remember doing them.”Elise stared. “What if…” Kaia paused. “What if I’m like him? The one chasing you.”“You’re not,” Elise said too quickly. “You saved me.” Kaia nodded. Slowly. But her hand was shaking. That night, she dreamt of the mirror again.This time she didn’t look away.And in it her face changed. To someone else. To something else. And she laughed.But the laugh didn’t sound human.It sounded like it came from the shadows.