Becoming The Shadows (Shadow Series #4)

01- Alive

I push myself to run faster. Low tree branches scratch at my bare arms. I burst through a line of trees, finding myself out in the open with a road ahead of me. A car drives by with the headlights temporarily blinding me as they pass me by. I hold up my arm to block the light the best I can. They zoom by without a glance in my direction.

I lower my arm, sighing. Looking down either direction, I decide to start walking the same direction that the car was driving towards.

A yawn slips out of my mouth. Headlights shine from behind me, but I keep on walking towards town, seeing the small diner in sight. Surprisingly, this car slows down until it is driving right beside me. Automatically thinking the worse, I silently wonder if I could somehow out run this car if the person turns out to be creepy.

"Excuse me, miss." A very familiar voice calls out from the car window.

My head snaps towards the car, quickly noticing it's a police cruiser. Parrish's head is poking out of the passenger's window with his hand still on the wheel. His face holds a concerned look. I stop walking, grinning at him. Oh, thank goodness. A familiar face. Parrish stops his car and rushes to my side after climbing out with a blanket in hand.

"Are you okay, miss?" Parrish wraps the thick blanket around my shoulders.

"Parrish, I'm so glad to see you." I grab ahold of the blanket and holding it tightly around me. It's freezing out here.

Parrish frowns for a nano second. "What's your name? I'll take you home."

My brows furrow in confusion. He leads me towards the passenger side of his car, opening the door for me. I open my mouth to question why he keeps calling me 'miss' and asking what my name is, but stop when I catch a glimpse of myself in the side mirror. I fall into the seat with my mouth open. Parrish shuts the door and walks around the other side.

I lean forward to examine my face in the side mirror.The dirt on my face couldn't cover up the face beneath it. In loose curls, my hair falls past my shoulders in an auburnish color. My bangs are cut to the left side, nearly falling into my eye. My eyes are a light brown color when they should be a dark brown. Freckles are dotted along my cheeks and nose. My skin has stayed the same pale shade, though. I lift my fingers to my face, surprised at how slender my fingers are.

This is not me. This must be why Parrish frowned when I called him his name. He probably doesn't understand why this loner girl knows his name. Although, he is wearing a name plate.

Parrish falls into the driver's seat, hands instantly reaching to turn the heater up more. "What did you say your name was?"

I nervously swallow.

"Clara, you're not going to look like yourself. Everyone is still going to think you are dead. And, I know you will want to tell everyone that you are you, but you can't. That's one of the bad things about you coming back to life. You can't tell anyone that it's you."

Allison's voice reappears in my head once more. I jump in surprise from her voice, not expecting to hear her so clearly again. She sounds like she is right beside me, but she is nowhere to be found. Is hearing your dead sister's voice a side effect of coming back to life?

"Miss?" Parrish asks again.

I tear my gaze away from my reflection in the side mirror. "Uh- Claire?" I pick the closest name to my own name.

Parrish nods once. "Where do you live, Claire?"

I press my lips together, sitting back in the seat. My fingers tightly clench around the blanket. If I don't look like myself then there's no way I'll be able to get back to my apartment. Everyone believes I am dead anyways. My apartment will be taken over, forcing my friends and dad to clean it out.

I have nothing now.

"I don't." I whisper. "I'm on my own."

Parrish's face falls at those words. He places his hands on the steering wheel.

"I'll take you to the station, okay? Everything's going to be okay, Claire."

The car begins to move forward as Parrish drives us into town. My eyes stay locked on the side mirror, too shocked by my own reflection to look away. I'm alive now, but now, no one knows who I am and I can't tell them.

Everyone still thinks I'm dead.

XXXXX

Okay. So, this whole thing was not planned, but I've been feeling really bad about not being on as much because we've lost our internet for about a week now and I have no idea when it will be getting turned back on. So, I've been relying on someone else's hotspot to get on when I can. I feel really bad about not updating as much as I usually do. That's why I decided to officially post another preview of this story.

Now, you will know when I officially start it. You, also, get to have this first chapter. I'm not officially starting it yet.

However, how excited are you for this story? It's going to be so good. You guys have no idea what I have planned for this. What I have planned for Clara, who is using the fake name of Claire. Which is pretty clever.

This kind of gave you some insight of what has happened to Clara. Sadly, everyone still believes she is dead. I wanted someone to find her when she was walking along the road to really show that no one has any idea of who she is.

Question: What do you think of this whole thing?

So, yeah!