The Shadow
Gillian Sweet
Period: 1
1,148
I woke up confused. Normally I wake up to my cat purring louder than a garbage truck on a Sunday morning. But it was silent. I’m used to her licking my face and clawing me until I feed her as if she’s being starved. But I saw no sight of her. I got out of bed dragging my feet as I slowly walked out of my room. I called her name as loud as I could not caring if I woke up the whole house with my raspy morning voice, “HAZEL!!!” I screeched. But nothing. No whining, no meowing, and not even a hint of a pur. My mom walked out of her room, hair sticking up in seven different ways looking like she wanted to strangle me, “It’s 6AM why are you yelling!” She said in a stern voice. “I can’t find Hazel.” I said sounding worried. “She probably just went outside.” She said walking back to her room. She never goes outside..
I walked outside calling her name as I thought to myself, Hazel hates going outside. The last time she went outside was two months ago when she got attacked by a deer. I walked all around my neighborhood looking for her, but she was nowhere to be found. I was worried but I decided to be optimistic and hope she came back on her own. I waited and waited for a whole week. I was about to start putting up signs saying she was missing. The next Monday I got home from school and went straight to my room to crash on my bed. Then I heard a noise.. It sounded like a whale groaning in pain. I turned around and there she was, Hazel, sitting on my pillow staring at me. My instinct was to hug her but something was wrong. Her fur was stained red, her eyes were a piercing red color, and it looked as if her fangs had gotten bigger. But most importantly, she wasn’t purring. She always purrs when she sees me. Instead, she was growling.
I sat there staring back at her. She looked at me like I was her prey, like she wanted to pounce at me. Sure enough, as soon as I looked away, she pounced. She scratched my face and clawed at me as I was screaming in pain. My mom sprinted into my room and threw her against the wall. As soon as Hazel hit the ground she started to shift into something dark, like a shadow, but with the same piercing red eyes as Hazel. It’s eyes were looking at me so deeply I thought for sure it was going to steal my soul. In a split second, the shadow went into my mom.
I could see it all happen. The shadow went into her nose, her ears, her mouth, and even her eyes. When it was all over, my mom turned to look at me with those glowing red eyes and started to smile. But it wasn’t a normal smile, It was pure evil. I didn’t recognize her. I started to run for my life and as I turned around I saw my whole family, with those red eyes. It was like a virus infecting my whole family. That’s when I realized, I’m next.
Instantly, I ran out of the house and started running not noticing where I was. This isn’t my neighborhood, this isn’t even my town, where am I? The sky is a scorching red color with lightning and thunder. There’s no houses, trees, mountains, or people. Just endless flat ground. Everything disappeared. I started walking hoping I would get somewhere when I notice something in the distance. I couldn’t quite tell what it was, but I wanted to find out. When I finally got close enough I could see her, Hazel. It was Hazel without glowing red eyes. It was really her. I know it was her because she was purring.
I was so happy to see Hazel that I didn’t realize what was right in front of me. My mom standing above me, without that evil look in her eyes. Instinctively I gave her a big hug, not wanting to let go. As soon as I let go she looked deep into my eyes looking terrified and said, “You shouldn’t be here.” “Why what do you mean?” “Where’s everyone else?” I cried. “Gone” “All you have is Hazel to guide you out of here.” She said. “Just me?” “What about you?” I said sounding worried. “I got infected, which means I’m dead.” “That’s why I’m here, and why you need to leave.” “You haven’t gotten infected.” “There’s still hope for you.” She said quietly.
She’s right, I haven’t gotten infected. Which means I can leave. But that also means leaving her. I didn’t want to leave her but she wouldn’t let me stay. She told me to follow Hazel. She knows the way back. I did as I was told, even though it was the most painful feeling i’ve ever felt. I watched her disappear as I walked farther and farther away. In that moment, all I felt was rage. The Shadow is the reason my family is dead. Now, I’m going to kill it.
There’s a reason I haven’t gotten infected. The shadow had multiple opportunities to but never did. Which means maybe I’m immune. Hazel knew what I wanted to do and she knew exactly how to get there. We walked for hours to the point where my legs felt like noodles and my mouth was as dry as a desert. But then, I saw exactly what I was looking for. There was a Black dome.That’s where the Shadow was. I knew it. I could feel it in my bones. I could feel the shiver up my spine. I was ready.
I walked into the black dome to find thousands of statues of people. People that I knew. People that I cared about. I turned my head to see my whole family, turned to stone. As if they never existed. I could feel that rage build up and keep growing. The shadow deserved to die. I kept walking past the statues until I saw a red light. Then I saw it, sitting on it’s throne like a king. In that moment I wasn’t afraid. That’s what it craved, fear. I stood my ground. Made the Shadow realize If I’m not afraid, than i’m much stronger. The Shadow tried to fight back but it kept getting smaller and smaller until it had no more fear left to feed on. Then it turned to dust. Before I could feel proud I heard voices, so turned around to see that everyone was alive. Once the Shadow was gone, everyone was saved. I looked at Hazel with a big smile, “We did it!”
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