The Shadows

Chapter two

Tears stream down my face as I stare at the nurses unhooking my grandmother from all the machines. It took her three hours to actually stop breathing on her own, and I had a little hope that I let grow inside of me for those three hours. Hoping that she would wake up and not leave me alone.

I miss her so much already. She is dead for 5 minutes and it feels like my life is falling apart. She was all the family I had left. Now I have no one.

Doctors and nurses walk in and out of the room nonstop, and all I want is to be alone. I get up and walk out of the room and out of the hospital. My mind is mostly blank except for one image playing over and over again. I can't get the image of her last breath out of my head. I aimlessly walk around hoping to forget that image.

My mind is so occupied with the last image of my Gran that I don't realize I walked straight to the alleyway. I should go back, I try to tell myself but something drew me into the alley. I know what it is. I take a few tentive steps in the alleyway. I look around for any evidence of a fight or even a bullet casing. I come up empty. Maybe it didn't happen. Maybe it was all a figment of my intoxicated imagination. I smile before another thought hits me. Wait then what was that guy talking about in the coffee house?

A noice at the entrance of the alley makes me freeze. I turn to see two men walking my way. I am well hidden in the shadows, so I doubt they've seen me. I hide behind some cardboard boxes and a trashcan. my heart beating a mile a minute. I put my hand over my mouth the muffle out the sound of my breathing. Can they hear me?

The two men stop almost right in front of me. I stare straight ahead at the cardboard. they'll see me for sure when I move. They keep quiet. Have they seen me? Are they waiting for me to- .

"She was right her grandmother didn't make it when they took her off of life support," a shiver goes down my spine as I hear him say that. It is the voice of my nightmares. The guy who had threatened me the other day.

"And where is the girl?" The second voice is much deeper and richer of sound, another shiver goes down my spine, but this one wasn't because of fear. "You know what will happen if you tell me you lost her!" This guy sounds scary and angry, I really hope I come out of this alive, I don't want to die in an alley. "Mario!"

"Okay yes I lost her," he squeaks and I surpressed a giggle, he lost me, he is in- wait lost me? He was following me? What?! I'm about to stand up and yell at them before I remember who they are. "Boss please I swear to god I didn't intend on losing her!"

"First it took you two days to find this girl and now you lose sight of her!" He snaps and even I flinch. I hope I never meet this guy face to face. I would either piss myself or pass out, maybe even both, if he snaps at me like that. "This is going one of two ways, either you give me enough information about this girl or I shoot you right here right now."

"No no, I have information," Mario begs, a feeling of pity flows through me as I hear his voice, "her name is Samantha Price, she is 22 years old, works at the coffee house downtown. She is an only child, and her parents abandoned her when she was a baby. No one knows what has happened to them." He lists off my life, the rustling of paper sounds like he isn't done yet and I am eager to learn more about myself. "She used to lived with her grandmother but moved out a couple of years ago. She studies Computer Science and Criminal Justice at the local university. She has had a run in with the law once when she was a teenager and went for a joy ride in her grandmother's car under the influence of alcohol." Mario stops there and I am saddened by the fact that i didn't learn anything new about myself. Everyone knows those things about me. I don't hide much.

"Find out what happened to her parents and I will not kill you," he snaps at Mario, "you have until the funeral." I hear one pair of footsteps walk away, the other one is still standing in front of me. Please leave. My leg is about to cramp up. "Remember the shadows have eyes." The boss man leaves. I stay behind the trashcan and cardboard boxes with eyes wide, did he know I was there? And what is this about the shadows have eyes?

I wait another minute or so before emerging from behind the trashcan and the cardboard boxes. I looked around to see if there is anyone else around, alone. I walk out of the alley as quickly as I can without looking suspicious. Blending in with the crowd I call the woman who is planning the funeral for me and tell her to mail the invitation and to post the add in the newspaper and online. I am going to text Jay and invite him over for a Disney evening That will get my mind off of everything. Yes. Yeah, that is what I'm going to do.

I am pretty sure no one saw me coming out of that alley. Then why do I feel like I'm being watched? I look around and see a black Lincoln towncar slowly driving behind me. I can't see the driver. I look at the people around me but no one else notices the car. I quickly jump in a nearby bookstore to ditch the car. As I turn to look out the window the towncar is speeding up. I watch for a second before losing sight or it.

I grab my phone and text Jay and ask him if he wanted to come by my place tonight. I put my phone back in my purse and look around. I love bookstores.

I buy a new book that has been on my to read list for a while now. Maybe this book will help me forget about everything around me.You know the normal things in life that need forgetting. I just can't believe this is all happening to me. I just want a normal life. But I guess being raised by my grandmother wasn't really that normal either.

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That night Jay came by, he brought tubs and tubs of ice cream. We talked and cried and ate ice cream, cried some more and ate more ice cream. Right now we are watching Mulan. "God that Li-Shang is such a hunk," I drool as Li Shang takes off his vest and grabs the arrows to shoot in the tall pillar. It is the scene right before he begins singing my favorite song, I'll make a man out of you.

"You do know he is just a cartoon character right?"Jay asks as he raises an eyebrow at me

"hush," I say as the song starts. I playback the whole song, loving every second of it. The song ends but I could still hear him sing in my head. Maybe Jay is right and there is something wrong with me.

"You are seriously messed up that you are in love with a cartoon character. " Jay laughs at me.

"Who said anything about love?" confusion on my face, Jay being the ever loving gay person he is had no sense for detecting love or infatuation or anything for that matter.

"Oh come on, you have heart eyes and your ice cream bowl is full of your drool instead of ice cream," he points at my bowl laughing even harder. So I might be infatuated with a cartoon character, who hasn't been from time to time, it is completely normal. And if it isn't I wouldn't want to be normal.

"Like you never had a crush on a cartoon character," I retort back and stick out my tongue. Childish? Maybe.

"Okay touché, you got me there, but..." he says, eyeing me up and down, "I was still a small child, so it was justified back then, Sam you are 27 years of age. For as far as I know you have never even dated and you sure as hell never slept with someone. All you ever do when we go out is get drunk, make out with a total stranger and then leave them hanging when you say you are going to the bathroom but you actually go home."

"What? I do not plan on losing my virginity before my wedding or at least until I know the guy is worth it," I defend myself suddenly feeling self conscious. Gran made me promise that I wouldn't give it to the first guy that showed interest in me. Call me old fashioned but I take pride in the fact that I'm still a virgin.

"And that is good," Jay realizes that what he said came off as judging, "god knows there are a lot of sluts out there these days who just open there legs for every handsome guy that walks by but don't you want to be in a real relationship? I know it is inappropriate of me to talk about it now since gran just died but she wants you to be happy, and her being from an older generation she wants a man to take care of you."

"Well I can take care of myself I don't need a man," I say determined, I know Gran wants the best for me and all but I don't want to depend on a man, "besides I first want to graduate college. Focus on school first before I get into a relationship."

Jay nods and we resume watching the rest of the movie. It is great to see a woman break through in a men's world. The movie comes to an end and I have to leave that world and return to reality. Jay has to go home, I have class in the morning and Jay has to work.

"Get a good night of sleep please," Jay urges as I let him out of the apartment, "I'll be back tomorrow night, and I'll tell Rick to give you the week off so you can concentrate on the funeral."

"Take care Jay, and thank you, " I hug him, I hold on a little longer than necessary for comfort, luckily Jay doesn't let go either. A sudden thud coming from across the hall has us stepping apart. Apparently people moved in.

"By babe," Jay kisses my cheek and leaves. The door across the hall suddenly slams, but there is no one else in the hallway. I can hear some yelling. I close my door and start cleaning up the mess we made.

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Sitting in one of the lecture rooms I am eager to learn from today's lesson in Criminal Justice. I notice a guy standing in the corner watching the class, assessing him I can see a concealed weapon and what looks like the side of a police badge on his belt making him probably a detective.

It wouldn't be the first time that we have a guest speaker but the way he was standing in the shadow, his face was hidden from view giving off a strange vibe.

Suddenly the classroom disappeared and I was back in the alley I was in earlier hiding behind the trashcans, "Remember the shadows have eyes." BAM.

I wake up with a start, my sheets are wet from sweat. Ew, what the hell. I pick at my clothes before realizing what woke me up. Was that my front door or was it my neighbors? Looking at my alarm it is only 4 am, not wanting to get out of bed, but having to check if everything was alright, against better judgment I kicked the covers off and got up, grabbing the bat that I always keep next to my bed only to come up empty. With wide eyes I look towards my bedroom door, always sleeping with my bedroom door open I am shocked to see it closed, I look at my window seeing it is closed so it couldn't be the wind that slammed my door shut, I turned on my bedside lamp and saw a note on my bedside table.

Dear Samantha,

Sleep tight for tonight, don't worry about anyone coming in to harm you, we will keep an eye on you.

We were sorry to hear that Gran died, she was a good woman.

There is so much you do not know about and for now there is no time to tell you. One day you will get to hear what happened to your parents.

Your Guardian

Still scared out of my brain I got up from my bed and walked out my bedroom, looking around the living room, it looked normal and there was nothing out of the ordinary in the kitchen either. I walked to the front door and opened it, stepping out I looked towards the elevator but there was no one there. There was however someone coming up from the stairs, I was about to close my door when I recognized Mario from when he was at the coffee house.

"Is this some kind of joke to you? Following me around and breaking in to my apartment?" I snap as I walk up to him, his face was passive and his eyes were cold but there was a slight shock in them, and for that split second I caught it, "oh I've noticed you, don't you worry about that, the shadows have eyes, remember, that goes the same for you, now tell me why you want to go into my apartment!"

"I have no idea what you are talking about, I don't know who you are or what you want," he says almost believable, but the shimmer of doubt had me going.

"Don't play pretend with me Mario," I emphasize his name, "I know who you are, hell I can have anyone at the coffee house vouch that you stalked me at the coffee house, waiting until I was in."

"Fine, what do you want?" he snaps grabbing my arm and dragging me back towards my front door, I am not one to stay quiet about being manhandled but right now I wanted some answers so I was gonna stay quiet.

"I do not want, or need a guardian," I snap at him, " don't you think that if I wanted to talk I would have done so already! Tell who ever is behind it to stay out of my life and to return my bat!" I trust the note in his hands and glare at him, his eyebrows scrunch up as he reads the note before looking back up at me and back down at the note, I was starting to doubt my accusations as his face turned more confused before he stuffs the paper in his jeans.

"Who did you tell?" he asks again like he doesn't know the answer, "did anyone else see what happened in the ally that night or did you tell anyone else except your grandmother?"

"You think I am stupid enough to do that?" I snap incredulous, not believing this guy "after you have threatened my life? and while you are stalking me with whoever you have hold up in the apartment across the hall. I do not have a death wish!"

Mario looks torn, he wants to say something but it looks like he is not able or he is scared to say it, sighing and shaking my head I turn around to go back into my apartment and sleep praying this was all a dream.

"We weren't the once who took your bat," Mario says as he sees me opening my front door.

I turn around and look at him, "so you have been in my apartment! What for?" Snapping at him didn't feel good, it wasn't as relieving as I had hoped, "you know what I don't even care, i never asked for any of this to happen, I wish my life was normal for once, no funeral to plan, no people following every step I make, just a normal college student, is that too much to ask for?"

I walk in my apartment and slam the door shut, but instead of going back to bed like I intended to do, i collapse to the floor and cry my heart out.

I know life isn't fair but I am not sure I can handle this.