"Don't forget to lock up, when you're done." My boss said, tossing me the keys. I nodded, watching my boss leave the small, secluded bookstore, at the edge of town. He turned off every light except for the one on the isle where I was stacking the dusty books. I needed the extra hours for my little girl's third birthday. Ever since her mother died exactly a year ago tomorrow, Brylee was the only family I had left. I only want to give her the best, after all she is my only baby girl. She is my top priority. I want to give her the best party to get her mind off of her mother.
Her mother, Annie, Dannie as I called her, my wife, my love, the mother of our baby. She died in a wreck exactly a year ago, tomorrow. There was a man that came that night, the one who hit her. He came to tell us the bad news. The love of my life and the mother of our daughter, was dead. Of course, little Bry was too young to understand. I couldn't bring myself to explain it to her. But, he could and he did. He knelt down to her and told her, "Mommy won't be coming home tonight."
The only sound, in the small shop, was the rain hitting the window, with the occasional crack of thunder. The lightning sending flashes of light through the window, filling the now empty shop.
There was a crack of thunder and the sound of books falling. I groaned, putting away the book that I had in my hand. I walked over to the fallen books to pick them up. When I bent over to pick up the fallen books, I heard two more books fall behind me. I turned around, putting the first books away, walking toward the other fallen books. As I walked toward the books I saw something-a dark figure-speed across my field of vision. Fast enough the be considered a flicker of darkness, in my peripheral vision. I ignored it, thinking of it as nothing more. That was my biggest mistake tonight.
I continued to stack the books, when I felt a breeze sweep across the room behind me. I spun around, looking for whoever was here. Then, it happened again; the gust of wind swept across the shelves behind me. I spun, now facing the shelves, hoping to catch a glimpse of the person. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the dark figure looming around the corner. "That's not a person, that's a dark shadow." I thought, aloud. It swept across the wall, much too fast for any human. What if that's it? What if it isn't human...or at least not anymore. "No." I said, interrupting my thoughts. I'm freaking myself out. There's nothing there. It's just my imagination. Things like that don't really exist in the real world, only in the horror articles. I reasoned, continuing to work in the stacks.
"Sam." A voice whispered my boss's name from behind me. The ghost of a hot breath hitting the shell of my ear and running down my neck, putting the neck hairs on end. The sound lingered in the air. I spun on my heel to face it. There was nothing but the shelf behind me. Nothing is there. The shadow sped past the stacks so fast that I saw nothing but a blur. There is nothing there. It is all in my imagination. I...
"You stole it!" The voice yelled, from the office door. The back door slammed shut. I heard the lock of the deadbolt, locking me in. I rushed to the front door before it was locked, as well. But, the shadow beat me to it. The doors instantly locked as a shelf fell in front of them, blocking me from exiting. That was when I realized that I was trapped, but I wasn't alone.
I pulled out my phone to ring my sister, when my phone beeped and said "no service". I began to groan but remained quiet when there was a flash of static on my phone screen right before it died. "Damn it." I snarled, shoving my phone back in my pocket.
There was a flash of lightning outside the shop window, flooding the small shop with light. The light filled the room, exposing the scruffy man in the corner. He was staring at me with a demonic glare. He had a wrinkled face, ginger stubble, blood-shot eyes, and blood covered his clothes. I instantly recognised the man, the face that haunts me every night for the past year. The man who killed my wife. Then the light was gone, as if it was never there. I was plunged into not only the literal darkness, but the darkness of my own fear as well.
I remember there was a knock at my door two days after I was told of my wife's death. The man who came to our home to tell us he killed my wife, Brylee's mother, was murdered. He was killed in his own home. They told us it was a robbery gone wrong but we didn't know. He also told me there was a box removed from the crime scene it had a book in it. They said that some believe the book contains the man's spirit. At the time I didn't believe them. Now, I'm beginning to doubt my own beliefs.
I began to panic, fear taking over my sense of reason. I looked around, frantically, hoping to get a glimpse of what was about to kill me. At the back of the shop, the dark shadow moved from one stack to another, in a zigzag motion, the only time that the dark shadow was revealed ws the split second between the stacks. The shadow was halfway to me when it stops in between the stacks.
Still frozen in place, my shaking hand grasping the door handle behind me. I stared into the darkness as the figure stood there, watching me. I don't know how I could tell but it seemed to stare at me like I was its prey. "You stole it. You stole it! YOU STOLE IT!" The shadow yelled, louder and louder each time. The shadow was screaming at me by the time it reached me. A gust of wind with every word, blowing my long curly fringe out of my face. "You stole it." It whispered one last time. I let out a final scream, though I knew no one would hear me. I was enveloped into a darkness that was not caused by any shade, but of absence of any light. The last thought in my head, I'm coming Dannie I'm sorry our daughter was left.
The owner of the small shop walked into the destroyed building the very next day, to find a cold, lifeless body of what used to be an employee. He sighs, as he knows exactly what caused this. He checked the young boy's pulse and was not surprised when he did not find one. "Sam," called his right hand man, Johnny. "What are we going to do with this one?" He asked, walking out of the office.
"Put him with the rest." He told the young man. The young man obeyed and took the body out back where it would be taken to a remote location and burned.
As the back door closed, the shop owner strolled to the office. He bent under the desk and pulled out a bloodstained box marked: "Crime scene evidence. Do Not Remove." Sam placed the employee's badge inside of the box with the others. He pulled out the bloody book and smiled as he read the back of it. The ghost of the murdered shall return, to seek its revenge on the living. He chuckled, "Too bad the living includes my own son."
