Trapped Shadows

Excerpt 1: Followed

It always occurred to me that footsteps were behind me whenever I'd leave work around midnight. I absolutely disliked being a janitor at a mall. It meant I had to close down the solid glass doors, clear the mall of any tourists or shoppers still taking refuge inside, and had to clean up the rubbish they would leave behind. But about three months after I started working here, I noticed there was a presence that was... following... me. I usually walked home from the mall considering I only lived 8 streets away from it, it was a fifteen minute walk.

I heard footsteps at least ten feet behind me, but I thought it might just be someone from the mall, so I kept ignoring it. Well after a month, I got aggravated with it and as I was walking, I turned around, and saw nothing there... but the footsteps got even closer. I started walking down the street, and the footsteps got louder... and louder... and then WHOOSH.

"Hey, watch where you're going man!" Yelled a middle aged man, who was tall, had a long brown beard, and wore a dark leather coat that shielded his entire body from being seen.

"Uhh- sorry." I replied, in a rush, yet frightened.

I kept walking as the man I bumped into was picking up his papers from his suitcase. I heard constant mumbling and as I turned the corner, I heard a loud noise. I turned around, stopped, and was horrified to see what was there. The middle aged long bearded man was on the ground, just laying there. So still... like a tree not being pushed by a single speck of wind. I thought he might have just been unconscious, so I rolled him over so his face was facing the dark sky, and I noticed his face was scratched up as well as his coat. And there was a trail of blood behind him as if he was dragged a few inches. But one thing in particular caught my eye.

'N-E-X-T' was written in the man's blood on the concrete beside him. Immediately, I started running home, frightened. I was two streets from my home, the street lights were rapidly flickering, and each time they flickered, I saw a shadow under the street light, getting closer and closer. I went right instead of going straight in hopes that I'd play hide & seek with this shadow. I took the detour and arrived at my house, where my mother was waiting inside for me with some fresh steak. The lights stopped flickering. Silence... absolute silence.

"Call 9-1-1" I whispered to my mother, looking out the window blinds to see if the shadow was still following me.

"Why? What happened dear?" She replied, confused, not knowing whether to be scared, or calm.

"I.. I saw a man. He was attacked, I-I dont know by what." I stuttered as the numbers were being dialed on the house phone.

I went to bed that night... thinking. What really happened? Was this a dream? Or a vengeful nightmare? But I couldn't sleep well. After watching that poor man get massacred by that... that... THAT THING! I don't know what it was... but it's like it was trying to warn me... like I was being... followed.