We Are the Dark | Are You Afraid of the Dark? Fanfiction

Tricks and Treats

Layla and the Shadowman didn't discuss their eventful experience at Playland, returning to Shadow Bay in silence. She should've been relieved that the demon was gone, and that neither of them had been harmed, but a horrible thought was gnawing at Layla's mind. She didn't want to think about it, but had the demon's words been true and free of hidden consequences, would Layla have had disappeared instead of the demon?

She looked at the Shadowman, just for a second, as they were taking the train back home, but he caught her glance.

"You okay?" the Shadowman asked.

Layla nodded, rubbing along the black fabric of her jacketed arms. "Yeah."

The Shadowman's gaze lingered, and he turned away. Layla wanted to say something, to fill the silence, but she failed to find the right words and looked out the window for the rest of the trip instead.

When they reached the front porch of Layla's house, the Shadowman spoke.

"I'll see you tonight," he said.

Layla nodded and, without thinking, hugged him. The Shadowman stiffened under the sudden embrace, and Layla drew back.

"Sorry," she said. "I didn't mean—"

"It's okay," the Shadowman said. "Just... wasn't expecting that."

Layla nodded again.

The Shadowman held out his arms, a sheepishness overcoming his face. "Try again?"

Layla smiled and gave him another hug, and he reciprocated.

She waited for him later that night, the fairy lights in her bedroom casting a soft, cozy atmosphere while her cat, Sushi, was stretched out on her back, demanding a belly rub. The shadows in the left corner shifted, and Sushi perked up, rolling onto her stomach as they formed a silhouette. She bristled.

"It's okay, Sushi," Layla whispered, stroking along the cat's back. "Be a good kitty."

The cat's ears folded back, and she vibrated with a low growl as the Shadowman left the darkness.

"I remember when she attacked me," he said. "Brave kitty."

Layla tried not to laugh, recalling the memory of her big, black cat throwing all her weight at a giant tree monster. "Thankfully, you didn't murder her."

The Shadowman chuckled. "She was fast."

He sat down on the edge of the bed, maintaining eye contact with the cat. Sushi's ears lifted, tail swishing, and she tilted her head in curiosity and trilled. The comical reaction made Layla laugh, and she gave the cat's head a scratch.

"She's like, 'Hmm, there's something different about him,'" Layla said.

"Yeah," the Shadowman said. "He looks an awful lot like Connor."

Layla laughed.

"It's even funnier because Connor has never been to my house," she said. "He's always hanging out with Luke. I think he's in love with him. Might explain the note about a love potion we found in his locker."

The Shadowman merely nodded. He obviously wasn't interested in the melodramatic love lives of teenagers, and neither was Layla.

"Anyway," she said, "I guess we solved the mystery of the Book of Shadows—for the most part. Seems we'll never really know exactly what we are and why we're here like... this."

"Like what? Human?"

"Yeah. Just a chaotic universe we live in, I guess."

"Hmm."