Shadow Avenue Book 1: The Hidden House

Chapter 1

There was a shape at my second floor window.

It was the dead of night, and I'd been lying in bed for the past few minutes trying to figure out what had woken me. Peering around the room, my gaze fell upon it. A figure.

My whole body tensed with realization. The blinds were pulled up and I could make out the shape very clearly, backlit by a streetlamp on our quiet suburb.

I continued to stare, afraid to blink, trying to come to a rational explanation. After all, everything looks menacing in the dark, even sweaters on chairs. But it was a sheer drop from my windowsill down to the front door. Ten meters of air between us. How could something even get up that high?

But the fact remained; something was definitely there.

A raccoon, perhaps, somehow grappling against the bricks of the house? Or maybe it was a bag, snagged on the eaves troughs, casting a shadow?

The shape was keeping very still and silent. More than anything, these facts encouraged me to toss aside the blankets and investigate. There was a silly explanation for it. There had to be.

It was as my feet hit the floor that I saw the shape move.

The angles of the shadow shifted, something turned, and very suddenly I was faced with a set of glowing red eyes, looking straight at me.

I was paralyzed, half-hunched with one hand pressed on the mattress and the other hanging in midair as I'd been prepared to stand. My heart was pounding in my ears. I stared back, unable to process anything except the naïve hope that it couldn't see me as well as I could see it. I struggled to breathe, slow and quiet, though I wanted to gasp for air. The eyes shifted, or rather the head did, craning at an angle to observe me, and I felt my skin prickle and my palms grow hot.

Move, I told myself, barely pulling my extended hand into a fist. Run away, or scare it, or something, just move.

With a sudden burst of adrenaline I launched myself forward several steps, stopping just a few feet from the window. I don't know what I was expecting, maybe to startle it? But the shape did not budge. And that scared me even more.

This was a nightmare.

...wait.

This was a nightmare.

This realization calmed me instantly. How could someone be hanging off the second storey wall of my house? It made no sense.

My joints slowly unfroze, my breathing went back to normal, and I stared into those red eyes defiantly.

"Go away." I said, and my voice was clear and steady.

The shape twitched, tugging its head back in surprise. I kept staring it down, annoyed.

"Go on!" I shooed it with the flick of a wrist, like you would a squirrel that was digging up the garden, "I have school in the morning."

As if the notion of ruining my school day struck a chord, the shape glanced sideways, shimmied down, hesitated, then jumped away from the glass and out of sight. I treaded up to the window and looked down to see something incredibly fast leap into the neighbour's hydrangeas.

I stood there for a few more moments, but it was like it had never even happened. The figure had completely vanished. Suddenly exhausted, I dragged myself back to the bed, flopped onto the mattress and threw the covers over myself with one hand.

Then my phone alarm went off.

I tossed the blankets aside and cringed violently as morning light assaulted my eyes. I kept them shut with a hand over my face and I felt around the bedside table until I located the phone. Wincing down, I eventually shut it off and sat there, groaning, as my eyes adjusted to daylight.