Page 18 of Possessed By Shadows

Micah tucked in against me, and Sky snuggled up against him. When I closed my eyes and focused on the words of the meditation, with Micah in my arms, all was right with the world, even if it was only for a few minutes.

Iwoke with a jerk at the sound of some half scream.

It wasn’t an unfamiliar sound, and sometimes it worked its way into my dreams before waking me, or I slept through it, only vaguely remembering it had happened when I awoke the next morning. The fact that it had startled me awake this time meant either it had been going on a long time, or was especially loud.

I blinked into the darkness of the space. The pale nightlight the only indication of light. Though I could see the reflection of Jet’s eyes as he lay sprawled out on Micah’s pillow. Neither Micah nor Sky were awake. Sky sort of became an octopus while she slept, legs and arms flung everywhere, though the blanket was still thrown half across her. Micah slept on his stomach; arms curled beneath him as a sort of defensive pose he claimed he’d developed over the years of night noises. He might have heard it, but hadn’t woken yet.

I lay there a while longer, curled close to Micah, hoping to fall back to sleep when it happened again. A sort of chittering scream, like we were in some alien jungle instead of the middle of New Orleans. Micah still didn’t stir, but I sighed and carefully extracted myself from the mix, feeling irritated and grumpy, at being woken.

Climbing down the stairs was always an interesting night adventure. They were a bit more like shelves than actual stairs with an open and floating design. We had added handles to the wall to help with balance because my hip locked up sometimes, making the climb or descent difficult without help. I quietly made my way downstairs, and into the main space, which was still and motionless. Precious sat on the futon like she owned the place.

I glared at the ghost cat and headed to the door. In truth it was a bit reckless. I’d vanished from Micah’s garden, taken by a demon or something, perhaps adjinn, to be used for what, no one really knew. Vanished a month. Which didn’t seem like a long time in the scheme of things. Micah had been taken from a hiking path, and gone at least twice that long before being dropped down in a different state missing his socks and memories.

Whatever it was that haunted his garden did so because of us, not due to the space being part of an old house. Sometimes the gnome statues seemed to move. Other times there were shadows without explanation, or something got knocked over. More often were the night noises. That terrible scream-like cry that made no logical sense in the middle of a city.

When I opened the door, I half expected to see a black-eyed child there waiting for me, demanding attention or something. Micah had seen it more than once, or so he said. It made me feel less crazy to know I wasn’t alone, but wasn’t sure if that meant we were both psychic, or just a little insane. Thankfully, there was nothing when I stepped onto the path. The lights illuminated the space as usual, nothing seemed out of place, and nothing moved.

I stood there, door closed behind me, but solid at my back, arms hugging myself, waiting, listening, and watching. Almost daring it to do it again. It hadn’t. At least not any night that I could recall. Maybe it happened some nights and those memories got looped into dreams?

I waited a while, maybe ten minutes or so before turning to go back inside. The second I turned, it happened again sending a chill down my spine and goosebumps trailing across my flesh. It was that close.

I sort of half froze in fear, thinking it was right behind me, whatever the fuck it was, but none of us had ever seen it. And the noise, as much as I’d like to blame the black-eyed child, was not related directly to it. I turned around, expecting something. Perhaps that mass of writhingDeathwe’d seen in Texas, or some alien or something, but as always there was nothing.

I sucked in air, mind racing, and the chill making my breath freeze. Was it that cold outside? It was possible, the nights had gotten pretty bitter lately. The garden remained motionless around me. Though I watched again, feeling time pass, and almost a bit like I was dozing while standing. Twice I thought something moved, but only caught a glimpse out of the corner of my eye. I stood, waiting, daring it. Almost demanding something.

At some point I fell asleep standing there. It was warm arms wrapping around me that jolted me awake. For a second, I thought something was dragging me down, taking me away in some unknown darkness, but when I turned it was Micah. His gaze filled with concern.

“Alex?” he pressed warm hands to my face. I was freezing. “You’re like a giant ice cube.” He tugged me inside, and I felt a bit numb, exhausted, and frozen to the core. How long had I been out there? It was still dark out, so couldn’t have been long.

Micah closed and locked the door behind us and dragged me up to the loft where he piled the blankets on us, wrapping us up like a burrito. Sky fast asleep, and I began to thaw with the warmth of Micah’s body next to me.

“Alex?” he whispered again sounding worried.

“Cold,” I said, feeling like my bones were chattering. Without him close to me, the blankets wrapped around us, and the comfort of the small space, I wasn’t sure I could warm up. Slowly the chill eased, and I relaxed into him. Tension lingered in my shoulders, like I was waiting for the noise to happen again. It didn’t. At least not that I heard. And I fell asleep finally, dreaming of dying monkeys in the garden and being buried in ice cream which my brain told me Micah couldn’t eat, so he’d never find me.