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

Chapter 5: Tricks and Treats

"My friends will be asking about what happened. They thought the demon and you were secretly working together."

The Shadowman half-laughed. "Well, now you can tell them that I made the demon go 'poof.'"

Layla smiled, petting Sushi, who was a purring puddle of black among the bedsheets. Her smile faltered as the dreadful question from earlier slithered back into her mind.

"Can I ask you something?" Layla said.

"Sure," the Shadowman said.

Layla struggled with wording the question in her head, and she gave up. "Never mind, it's stupid."

"What is it?"

"I... I just wanted to know, if what the demon said were true, and you could have whatever you wanted and it wouldn't cost anything, would you have used the Silver Sight? I mean, you could have... taken all my power. You could have made me a weak little human again, and then killed me or something."

"Why would I do that?"

"I... don't know. I guess I'm just not used to... um, feeling that valued?"

A silent pause grew between them, an awkward thickness in the air. Layla regretted having spilled such ridiculous and unnecessary thoughts out to him.

"Before we met," the Shadowman said, "I wasn't able to leave Shadow Bay, even as Connor. Today, I took a train. I visited a different city. I haven't been pulled back to the woods after dark. Before we met, I was trapped, and it was impossible to realize that until you made it possible."

Layla's heart squeezed with warmth. She wanted to get up and sit beside the Shadowman and hold him, but she refrained.

Sushi swatted at her, meowing for attention. Layla laughed to herself, giving the cat the petting she demanded.

"Sorry," Layla said, glancing at the Shadowman. "I don't really know what to say, other than I'm just... happy to know that. I'm happy you're here."

The Shadowman responded with a small smile.

Layla wished she had expressed more that night. She wasn't just happy that the Shadowman was free of the curse and in her life—she was the happiest she'd ever been. She'd recovered her fragments that had made her whole through the only person who truly understood her, who knew what it was like to be a non-human of the night in a human world that feared the dark.

The Midnight Society, as cool and fun as the group could be, would never understand. It was focused on fear and portraying the darkness as a primordial enemy of humanity, like most horror stories did. Maybe Layla was overthinking it, but the fact that her friends couldn't fully accept her was evidence of the commonly pedaled ignorance that rotted human brains: light was good and dark was evil.

Recounting what had happened at Playland to her friends earned Layla stares of disbelief. They were still trying to register the reality of a curse-free Shadowman, among other things. No one had forgotten what she'd done to Ms. Shaffner. The teacher hadn't returned to school; in fact, she'd quit without notice. If Layla were honest, though, quitting had been long overdue for the miserable hag.

The new English teacher was Ms. Lightbody. She was as fair and dainty as her surname suggested, her long, blonde hair sweeping behind her as she practically floated across the classroom. Her voice was soft and angelic and almost put a few students to sleep. She was a stark contrast to Ms. Shaffner. How had the school hired her so fast, Layla wondered? Not that she could complain.

With Halloween less than two weeks away, Layla was trying to figure out what to do. The Midnight Society wouldn't be able to have its annual horror movie marathon at Connor's house. Surprisingly, Connor didn't have a plan. He would've had wanted everyone to sneak out at midnight for such a favorable holiday. Layla didn't have to ask why—she knew he and the others trusted her as much as they trusted the Shadowman.