Dream Girls: Part Fifteen

I find myself lost in a forest,

I’m wearing some red sunglasses,

It’s weird seeing such a red world,

I think about taking off the red sunglasses,

But I stop myself for some reason,

And look around my environment,

But I quickly hear a storm is brewing,

It makes sense,

Light is nowhere in sight,

Thunder is getting ready to rumble loud and proud,

Letting its voice be heard,

My heart starts beating faster,

Because I’m in such a dark world,

And I can only see red around me.

Why am I wearing these red sunglasses?

Why am I lost in a forest?

I need to get out of here,

And I need to remember why I’m here.

I start wandering through the forest,

I’m walking for what feels like hours

And I’m trying to find something,

But I don’t even know what I’m searching for,

I’m lost and afraid,

The night begins to blanket the forest,

Total darkness is all around me,

But all I see is a red world.

Rain starts falling from the sky,

I need find shelter as soon as possible,

Something tells me it’s dangerous to be in this forest,

An evil is lurking in this forest,

Waiting to devour me,

Waiting to take me out,

Waiting for me in this dark world.

All of sudden,

Salvation is in front of me,

I find myself in front of a small house,

I see no door,

It looks like it only has one room,

But it has a small window,

Maybe I can get through the small window,

Maybe this is an opportunity to save myself,

And hide myself from this dark forest.

At least until the morning comes along.

Before I can do anything,

Someone comes behind me,

And stabs me on my right side,

It hurts so much,

I turn around to see who stabbed,

My heart drops when I see it’s her.

She’s the dark figure I was running away from,

She’s the reason I’m here now,

I’m struggling to move,

And she takes the red sunglasses off of me,

And stabs me again on my right side.

She smiles in delight of my pain,

And I immediately start running away from her,

But she’s not chasing me,

She’s watching me run away in fear,

She’s watching me lose so much blood,

She’s watching me die.

I put some distance between me and her,

And I get closer to the small house,

But then I notice there’s a whole city behind the house

Maybe I should keep running,

Instead of running to the small house,

But I don’t think I can make it to the city,

It’s getting harder to run and breathe,

And I just need a place to rest,

In this dark forest.

I make it to the small house,

And rush towards the small window,

It’s the only way for me to enter the house,

I look inside the house through the window,

And I see for yellow walls,

And nothing else,

I turn back around,

And see her slowly coming my way

I have to break the window,

I have to get inside for safety,

I start banging on the window,

Trying desperately to break the glass,

I’m trying not to think about the blood,

Trickling down my body,

But I can’t stop banging the window,

I have to break the glass,

This is my only opportunity to find salvation.

She’s getting closer and closer to me,

And I’m so close to breaking the glass,

I can already feel my body ready to give up,

But I still muster up the strength to keep going,

And break the glass,

I jump into the open window,

And fall to the ground,

So glad to see four yellow walls around me,

Surrounding me,

Protecting me from her and the dark forest,

Everything turns black.

Dream Girls: Part Fourteen

The sun is slowly rising up in the sky,

A new day is finally about to start,

I’m sitting on a black boulder in a vast forest,

I look around

And admire the priceless scenery that surrounds me,

The sun is close to setting,

And it’s about to provide the blue sky with an array of colors.

A slight breeze is quietly touching me,

It means me no harm.

It’s only meant to provide me a sound mind,

I stare into the sparkling river in front of me,

The rapid flow of the river is pleasing to my ears.

My heart starts beating fast,

There’s something wrong here,

There’s something not quite right here.

This place feels all too familiar,

Yet so wrong in every way.

There’s something missing here,

Actually there’s someone missing here,

This place is deceiving me,

And I need the truth now.

Something strange starts to happen,

The river gets louder,

The breeze becomes the wind,

The branches on trees start to break and make noises,

But the sky remains the same,

The orange sun shines bright in the blue sky.

A twig breaks behind me,

And I see a woman in an all black cloak,

I can see her clearly,

She has a menacing look on her face,

And I see she has a knife in her right hand,

And shattered red sunglasses in her left hand,

When I see the sunglasses,

I instantly remember who was supposed to be with me here,

In this place.

I try to run away,

But she reaches me,

Before I can even make an attempt to escape,

And she stabs me in the stomach.

She pulls the knife out quickly,

And blood starts pouring on the ground,

I stagger backwards,

I’m struggling to breathe,

And I’m trying to comprehend this unfortunate event,

All of a sudden,

The strangest thing starts to happen,

The orange fades away,

The blue sky is covered with gray clouds,

My beautiful scenery is slowly fading away,

I’m staggering backwards,

And I fall into the river,

But then I find myself in some sort of white tub,

Everything turns white.

Until everything turns black.

Dream Girls: Part Thirteen

I find myself trapped in a gigantic room,

Space is all around me,

But I’m surrounded by four yellow walls,

There’s no door in sight,

There’s a just small window,

I squint to see what’s out the window,

But I can only see total darkness,

I need to get a closer look out there.

I slowly get up,

But I quickly wince in pain,

I look down at my body,

And I notice I was stabbed two times on my right side.

Blood starts dripping down my body,

And I quickly apply pressure,

And I rush to the small window in front of me.

I start running towards the window,

But I notice the room feels a little smaller,

Almost like the walls are closing in,

As I get closer to the window,

I now see the walls are closing in,

I stop where I’m at,

And the walls stop closing in.

I don’t understand,

Am I just supposed to stay in this room with the yellow walls?

Am I just supposed to keep bleeding?

Am I just supposed to die here?

I don’t want to get crushed to death,

But I don’t want to bleed myself to death.

I can’t just stay here,

I would rather move forward,

I would rather go to the window.

I start running towards the window,

And the yellow walls start closing in on me.

The pain on my side is getting worse,

I’m still losing to much blood,

It’s getting harder to breathe,

I’m struggling to run towards the window,

And I want to give up,

But I’m determined to make it to the window.

By the time I make it to the small window,

The once gigantic room is now like a small bedroom,

There’s no space whatsoever,

And I have little time,

My vision is getting blurry,

I barely have the strength to stand up,

Or even open this window,

I only have one opportunity for salvation.

I try to open up the window,

But I can’t do it,

The yellow walls are getting closer to my body,

And it feels like I’m in a closet.

I start banging on the window,

Trying desperately to break the glass,

I’m making little progress with the window,

The yellow walls eventually reach my body,

And I can no escape these yellow walls.

I’m slowly getting crushed by the yellow walls,

I can hear my bones cracking,

And blood flooding out of my body,

I’m in excruciating pain,

All of sudden,

There’s a change in the window,

I look through the window,

And see a familiar, frightening woman staring at me,

Smiling in delight of my suffering,

And enjoying my demise,

Everything turns black.

Dream Girls: Part Twelve

I find myself in a white bath tub,

The water is running,

And the tub is only half full with water,

The water is clear,

There’s steam all around,

And I can barely see anything,

But I can tell that I’m in a bathroom,

How did I get here?

Why am I here in the first place?

I try to get out of the bath tub,

But I’m struggling to get out for some reason,

I’m actually in a little bit of pain,

I look down,

And I’m shocked to see the water is no longer clear,

It’s becoming a little red,

I’m horrified that it’s due to the blood from my own body,

My heart starts beating faster,

How did this wound suddenly appear?

How did I get stabbed in the stomach?

The water is still running,

I have to stop it from overflowing the tub.

But before I can do anything,

I hear a door slowly open,

I turn to my right,

And I see only darkness through the doorway,

No light whatsoever.

A shadow figure enters the bathroom,

It looks like it’s a woman,

But I can’t tell right away.

The pain starts to intensify,

But it feels strangely familiar.

Water and my blood overflows the bathtub,

And pour right on the floor,

It’s getting harder to breathe,

It’s getting harder to stay alive,

Death is near and very close to me.

The dark figure comes behind me,

And submerges me deep into the tub,

Water fills my lungs,

And takes over my body,

I’m drowning with no way to escape,

She has me pinned down,

I will be dead soon,

Everything turns black.

Dream Girls: Part Eleven

I’m losing a lot of blood,

I’m laying in a pool of my own blood,

I can’t see anything around me,

My vision is blurred,

Death is knocking on my door,

And there’s nothing I can do about it.

I’m trying to find the strength to move,

I’m trying to crawl somewhere to safety,

Because something tells me that I’m not safe.

Danger is around the corner,

Just waiting to pounce and take my life away.

I’m fearing for my life,

But I don’t remember how I got here?

Did I do something to deserve this cruel fate?

Or was I just in the wrong place at the wrong time?

I’m in desperate need for answers,

But I need to survive and escape this current unfortunate situation.

How did I get to this point?

How can I not remember?

I’m looking down at my body,

And I discover that I was stabbed three times.

Two stabs on my side,

And one stab in my stomach.

There’s no way I can move right now,

Even if I wanted to,

I would lose too much blood,

I’ve already lost too much blood anyways,

My fate has already been sealed,

All I can do is accept death with open arms.

I hear a door suddenly open behind me,

It sounds like someone in heels are walking towards me,

And I instantly remember everything.

My heart starts beating faster and faster,

And my vision is now slowing starting to fade away completely.

A dark figure stands above me,

With a bloody knife in her right hand

Although my vision is fading away,

I know who it is that’s trying to end my life,

She’s truly dark and evil,

She slowly gets on top of me,

Reaches for something in her left pocket,

I already know what she’s bringing out,

They’re the red, shattered sunglasses.

She places the red, shattered sunglasses on my face

And gets ready to plunge her knife into my chest.

Everything turns black.

A Familiar Shadow: Part Five

Jaden and Marvin have been living in Jeremy’s house for a few weeks now. Jeremy lives in the house as well, but they never see him at all. In fact, they’ve never seen him before. If anything, they mostly see his shadow lurking and creaking through the hallways at night in the house. This was Jeremy’s request to Jaden and Marvin. Jeremy wanted them to be in their rooms from 12:00 am – 3:00 am, so that he could roam the house freely at night. Marvin did not care about the request, but it was strange to Jaden. Plus, there was something strangely familiar about Jeremy to Jaden. He just couldn’t figure it out.

It’s close to midnight, and Jaden and Marvin are playing Mortal Kombat together in Marvin’s room. Jaden still has not forgotten about the fact that Marvin nearly choked him out to be in this house. He desperately wants to get far away from Marvin, but he fears that he’s trapped. However, Jaden is doing his best to keep things normal and casual with Marvin. Jaden does not want to anger Marvin again.

They’ve been playing Mortal Kombat for a few hours now, and they’re on their last match of the night. Marvin is using Sub Zero, while Jaden is using Lui Kang. While they’re playing, Jaden hears the floor creak outside of Marvin’s room. Jaden takes a quick look, but he sees nothing but a person’s shadow on the hardwood floor. Jaden thought to himself that it had to be Jeremy’s shadow. It’s not midnight yet, so Jaden wonders why Jeremy is outside his room at this hour.

Before he can think about it any further, there’s a loud yell from Marvin as he ends up beating Jaden the third round in Mortal Kombat.

“Let’s go! I am the greatest of all time! No one can stop me,” Marvin yells.

“Be quiet, I just got a little distracted,” Jaden says.

“Whatever man, all I do is win, win, win, no matter what. Now, if you want to get that work again, I got you.”

Jaden laughs, but there’s something strangely familiar about the back-and-forth between him and Marvin. All of a sudden, Jaden receives a text message. He’s worried about looking at the message because his mom was recently admitted to a hospital. She doesn’t have very long to live. Jaden starts tearing up because he wishes that he was with his mom and sister.

Marvin quickly gets up and embraces Jaden. Jaden shakes his head and explains, “It’s just hard being here and not at home, especially with my mom being sick and everything. It’s only getting worse for her, and —

Jaden suddenly stops and realizes there’s something weird and strange going on. He feels like he’s said that before. Jaden starts sobbing in Marvin’s arms.

Marvin whispers, “I got you, bro. You’re my best friend, and I’m always going to be there for you. You gotta push through the pain and hurt, alright bro?”

Marvin’s words are strangely familiar and eerie to Jaden. He doesn’t know why. Jaden looks at his phone and sees that it’s a text from Maria.

The text reads, “Hey, I miss you. I was wondering if you wanted to come over and you know.”

Jaden drops his phone, and he’s starting to freak out and shaking. Marvin doesn’t understand what’s going on. Marvin quickly picks up Jaden’s phone and sees that he got a text from Maria.

Marvin smiles and says, “Bro, Maria is trying to get a piece of you.”

“What do you mean?” Jaden says without even thinking. He quickly puts his hand on his mouth and can’t believe the words that he spoke.

Marvin lets out a big sigh and responds, “Jaden, my clueless friend, she’s trying to get with you and smash tonight.”

This is sounding all too crazy and familiar to Jaden. He doesn’t understand or know what’s going on right now. Then, Jaden adds, “Well, I’m not trying to see her bro. She’s getting married in a month.”

“Ok, and? She’s trying to have a little fun with you before she’s committed to someone the rest of her life. She’s entitled to a little fun. Plus, you’ve been boyfriend #2 for two years and now you’re trying to dip on her? Know your role bro,” Marvin says.

“I never wanted this role in the first place. This is annoying! I want something more than just fun and sex. It’s just been pointless and meaningless.”

“You’re just tripping, bro. Why did you start this in the first place, then?”

“I never wanted to start this situation in the first place. It just happened, and I thought she would break up with her boyfriend and be with me. It just never happened, and I’ve been a fool this entire time. I’ve been trusting and believing the wrong people.”

After Jaden said those words, there’s an awkward silence between Jaden and Marvin. Before Jaden can say anything, Marvin admits that he’s hungry and needs something to eat. Jaden’s heart starts beating faster, and he once again hears the floor creak again outside of Marvin’s room. Jaden looks and sees the shadow outside of Marvin’s room not moving at all.

Before Jaden can say anything, Marvin says, “You know, this might sound crazy but maybe we should go to the Purple Eyes diner and —

Jaden interrupts, “Marvin, do you not know what’s going on right now? We’re reliving that night at Purple Eyes!”

“What are you talking about, Jaden?”

“Marvin, doesn’t tonight seem a little too familiar and coincidental to you? We’re playing Mortal Kombat, we were talking about my mom, Maria sent me a text and you were about to convince me to come with you to Purple Eyes. We did all that before going to Purple Eyes.”

Marvin gasps and realizes that they are reliving that night in their own way. It’s not completely a copy of that night, but it’s pretty close. Marvin catches his breath and whispers, “Alright, this is a little freaky and weird. Ok this is no problem, all we have to do is not go to Purple Eyes and we’re good, right?”

Before Jaden can say anything, Marvin gets a random text message from Jeremy. It reads, “Come to the living room.”

Marvin shows the message to Jaden, and Jaden quickly looks back at Marvin’s open door and finds the shadow no longer there.

“Hey man, I don’t think you should go to the living room. I think we need to stick together and get out of here.” Jaden pleads.

“What are you talking about, bro? We’re gonna be fine as long as we don’t go to Purple Eyes. Plus, Jeremy is our landlord, so we really can’t ignore him,” Marvin explains.

“I don’t know man, he seems kinda shady and weird too tonight. I kinda saw his shadow in the hallway, and why is he now trying to see us?”

“It is a little strange, but I think we’re okay. You’re more than welcome to come with me, I’m going to see him real quick and be right back.”

Jaden tries to stop Marvin, but he’s quick to maneuver Jaden and get out of his room. Jaden is scared and worried about his friend. He thinks about getting up and following Marvin, but for some reason he’s struggling to move.

All of a sudden, Jaden hears a shriek sounding like Marvin and something heavy tumbling down the stairs. Jaden’s heart is beating faster and faster now.

Then, he hears Marvin yelling and begging for Jaden to help him. Jaden rushes out of Marvin’s room and goes to the steps. He sees his best friend’s body at the bottom of the stairs. Before Jaden can do anything, he’s pushed down the steps by someone. Jaden tumbles down the hardwood steps and ends up on top of Marvin.

Jaden’s body is hurting and aching, and he cannot move or do anything. His vision has been compromised. Everything is a blur now. He’s scared and shocked. Marvin pushes Jaden off of him, and Jaden can kinda see Marvin trying to crawl away. Jaden listens as he hears someone walking down the stairs. He turns his head towards the steps and sees a black figure coming down the steps. The black figure is a blur to Jaden, and the figure mostly looks like a shadow. Jaden is assuming the shadow is Jeremy.

The shadow goes over to Marvin first. Jaden cannot move or do anything. All he can do is watch and listen. He watches and listens to Marvin begging to have his life spared. Jaden listens to the constant and consistent stabbing taking place, the stabbing is loud, true and unbearable for some odd reason. Jaden listens to the cries his best friend is making. Jaden hears the laughter from the shadow for this is simply a fun, sick, thrilling game the shadow never wants to stop playing.

This was all too familiar and crazy to Jaden. The stabbing comes to an abrupt stop. Jaden looks over and sees his best friend with multiple stab wounds in a pool of his own blood. Jaden watches the shadow figure get up and look at him. Then, he whispers, “You’re next.”

Jaden instantly recognizes the voice. It’s his classmate’s voice from the night at Purple Eyes a few years ago. He’s alive, Jaden thought to himself.

“How are you still alive? You’re Jeremy, right?” Jaden weakly asks.

There is no response from the shadow that is quite familiar to Jaden. The familiar shadow walks over to Jaden and gets on top of him. Jaden can see the butcher knife in his hand, and it looks like the familiar shadow is going to stab him.

Jaden starts crying and realizes that he’s about to die. Then, Jaden whispers, “I’m so sorry.”

Jaden starts whispering more things, but the familiar shadow cannot understand the unclear, desperate whispers. The familiar shadow chooses to ignore the whispers. The familiar shadow kneels down to Jaden’s face and whispers in his ear, “So beautiful.”

Jaden is shocked by this familiar statement, and he continues to whisper. The familiar shadow gets off of him and stands up. It’s as if the shadow figure is waiting for something to happen. Then, Jaden realizes what he must do. Jaden reaches and begs for help, but he’s kicked in the face by the familiar shadow. The blurry figure gets on top of Jaden again, and Jaden understands and knows his life will be taken away from him. Still, Jaden whispers and whispers while he’s being stabbed repeatedly by the familiar shadow.

No More Voices

I haven’t been hearing your voice or whispers lately.

Have you left or escaped me?

I crawl and check my closet every single day,

And every single day I see your lifeless body.

You have not gone anywhere.

You’re still in my closet.

Why then can I not hear your voice or whispers in my closet?

Why is it just another quiet night?

Why do I constantly think about the blood on the wall?

I have so many questions,

But no one can answer them for me.

Maybe I shouldn’t be thinking about such questions,

I don’t have the time to do such a thing.

I’m dying right now,

And I have no interest in surviving.

There’s just no point in living anymore,

Now that you two are gone.

My vision is slowly blurring,

Breathing has become such a tedious exercise.

My blood is rapidly leaving my body,

Never to return to me.

The pain in my arms is everlasting,

Death is now here for me,

Waiting patiently to take me away from this dark, cruel place.

Tonight is the night that I die,

But before I let death take me away,

I need to see you one last time.

I need to make sure you suffered.

I need to ensure my revenge is complete.

I need to believe you’re gone for good.

For one last time,

I crawl over to my closet,

And open the door.

I see your lifeless body,

And I see his soulless body as well.

I weakly push him out the way and embrace you.

I can’t hold on to you very long.

I don’t feel anything from you anymore,

You’re no longer in this world.

You’re gone for good,

And now I can finally die.

And end this terrible nightmare.

Suddenly, I can’t feel anything.

Darkness is all around me,

I’m no longer trying to breathe,

I no longer have control over my body.

Death has me in its hold.

But most importantly,

There are no more voices.

Just silence.

Purple Eyes: Part Four

There’s a decision that must be made tonight.

It’s a hard choice for anybody to make.

The woman with purple eyes wanted him to have that choice.

She would not say which was the right choice,

It was for him to decide so late into the night.

Could he fight his personal feelings and finally find peace?

Or is peace no longer an option?

It’s frightening and scary to see my own body,

I can’t believe I was butchered and slaughtered like a pig.

I can’t believe so much blood left my body.

It’s sickening to see all the stab wounds on my body.

I was brutally murdered in this alley,

And no one could save me.

Wait,

That’s not true at all.

Some people could have saved me from my pain and suffering,

But they just chose to watch.

They watched as I was crying,

They watched as I was losing the will to live,

They watched as I was begging for mercy,

They watched and did nothing about it,

They watched me slowly die.

The woman with purple eyes lets go of my hand,

And walks deeper into the alley.

I reach for her,

But she continues to move further and further away,

Until she suddenly stops

And has her arms wide open for me.

I’m realizing now that I have to make a choice.

I can go to her,

And be free from this terrible, dark world

And welcomed to paradise,

Or I can be brought back to life,

But do I really want to come back to this cruel place?

All alone late at night in the city,

Where nightmares are a reality for me.

An inescapable prison of my own making.

I decide to reject the woman with purple eyes,

And be brought back to life.

For I have unfinished business that I must attend to,

I need revenge,

I need to make them suffer like I did.

I need it more than anything,

And it’s the only way for me to move on.

The woman with purple eyes disappears,

And leaves me all alone and broken,

But I don’t care.

I don’t care about peace or freedom,

Nor do I care about the woman with purple eyes.

Whispers in My Closet

I’ve been hearing whispers in my closet lately,

I especially hear them late at night.

The whispers are so loud and apparent,

It’s hard to really get any sleep.

I just listen to the whispers all night long,

Since it’s impossible to ignore them.

I moved you both in my closet

Because I realized that I can’t leave you both just lying around,

Bloody and dead on the floor.

You both needed to be put somewhere safe,

I was thinking about burying you both,

But I’ve lost too much blood,

And I’m close to dying I think,

I don’t have the strength or energy to bury you both,

So putting you both in my closet was the best that I could do.

I was surprised that you were alive for so long,

While he just died right away.

I never really liked him,

And I honestly enjoyed killing and stabbing him multiple times,

But I’ll admit that it was hard killing you.

I cried when I was stabbing you,

And I just couldn’t kill you right away like I did to him.

I had to keep you alive

And give you a fighting chance.

I remember you struggling to breathe,

And trying your best to crawl and move around,

In your pool of blood,

But there was nothing more you could do,

Your body was useless thanks to me.

For a few days,

You were barely able to move,

I watched as you coughed up blood,

And struggled to breathe.

It looked like you were just in so much pain,

And there was nothing you could do to save your own life,

Instead you were just whispering.

You were whispering a lot,

When you were dying,

And I never knew what you were whispering.

Maybe they were whispers of regret,

Maybe they were whispers of hatred for me,

Maybe they were whispers of a dream,

There could have been so many things you whispered,

But I’ll never know,

And I’ll never be able to escape your whispers

Because they will always be in my closet.

This is the end of “Whispers in My Closet,” the third poem of the Night Terrors poetry series.

Be sure to like, share and comment your thoughts on “Whispers in My Closet.”

“No More Voices” will be the next poem of the Night Terror series that will be posted next Saturday.

A Familiar Shadow: Part Three

Jaden and Marvin find themselves trapped behind a dumpster in an alley, and they’re not sure what to do. The guy that Jaden recognized as his classmate starts walking into the alley more. Jaden and Marvin can hear his footsteps getting closer and closer to them. Marvin looks under the dumpster, and he can see the guy’s shadow getting closer to them. Jaden starts shaking and trying his best to control his breathing. Then, they hear more footsteps approaching.

The shadow figure that was drawing near Jaden and Marvin stops in his place. He’s begging and pleading for his life to be spared.

“P-p-p-please, p-p-please, please leave me alone. I-I-I-I I’ll give you my wallet,” the guy stutters.

Jaden and Marvin hear the guy crying and pleading for his life to be spared. Jaden wants to do something, but Marvin stops him.

Jaden whispers, “We have to do something. We can’t just let my classmate get hurt and beat up like this. I can’t listen to this”

“We don’t know what’s going on or how many people are trying to hurt him right now. We need to be quiet and protect ourselves first,” Marvin whispers back to Jaden.

Suddenly, something hits the dumpster that startles Jaden and Marvin. Then, they hear something hit the ground. They both decide to look underneath the dumpster and see Jaden’s classmate’s body on the ground. Jaden’s eyes meet his classmate’s eyes, and his classmate is reaching to him for help. He’s begging and hoping Jaden will help him out of this frightening, horrific situation. Jaden does not know what to do, but he does not have time to do anything.

Pocket knives are stabbing Jaden’s classmate’s body. The stabbing is loud, true and unbearable. Blood starts creeping and slowly moving closer to Jaden and Marvin. So much blood is being lost now. Jaden is close to throwing up, while Marvin is in shock with what he is witnessing. Yet, Jaden’s classmate still reaches for him. Despite the suffering and pain he’s enduring, he still reaches out to him. Jaden still watches in horror. Marvin and Jaden hear laughter from the attackers for this is simply a fun, sick, thrilling game that they never want to stop playing.

“We have to do something, Marvin. I can’t keep watching and not doing anything about it. This is sick and wrong, we have to put in an end to it. I’m calling the cops,” Jaden whispers.

Jaden reaches for his phone, but Marvin quickly stops him. Then, he whispers, “We can’t do anything right now. It’s too late. Even if we did call the cops, they would get away and we would be the ones in trouble somehow.”

“You don’t know that, we have to do something. They’re murdering a guy right in front of us.”

“I know, but we gotta think about ourselves right now. The best thing we can do right now is stay hidden and be quiet, Jaden.”

“I can’t just be quiet, I have to do something. Do you not see a guy being stabbed over and over again? Do you not care at all?”

“Of course I care. But what are we going to do about it? Join him and die with him because it’s the right thing to do? No, I don’t know this dude and neither do you. He’s just a shadow in your class, but if you want to die with him too. Be my guest.”

The stabbing comes to an abrupt stop. Marvin and Jaden kneel down again and see Jaden’s classmate’s body lifeless on the floor. Then, they hear footsteps walking away from the alley. They wait a few minutes before doing anything at all. Marvin eventually gets up and takes a quick peek to make sure nobody else is around. Marvin sees that no one else is around and assures Jaden that the coast is clear.

They get out from behind the dumpster and find themselves stepping in a pool of blood. Jaden sees his classmate’s body with multiple stab wounds and almost throws up. Marvin tells Jaden that they need to hurry up and get out of here.

Jaden replies, “No, we need to call him an ambulance and—

“You’re still trying to save this dude! We don’t have time for all that. We need to get out of here and get back home where it’s safe,” Marvin interrupts.

“What are you talking about, Marvin? He needs medical attention, we have to do something.”

“Bro, we need to leave! If somebody sees us right now, we’re going to be in some deep and serious trouble.”

“We didn’t though, and we can prove it to them. We can just explain that we—

“What did we do exactly, Jaden? Oh yeah, we watched a person literally get murdered and did nothing about it. We’re technically accomplices to murder, I think,” Marvin interrupts and yells.

Jaden does not know what to say, then Marvin continues, “Plus, we don’t even know where his attackers are or anything at all. They could still be in the city. They could be waiting for us right now because of all that whispering you did behind the dumpster! Maybe we should stop wasting our time trying to save a dead man! Maybe we should be thinking about getting out of here and worry about saving our own lives right at this very moment!”

Jaden understands where Marvin is coming from and agrees that they should get back to campus. Then, Jaden feels a hand on his ankle. He looks down and sees it’s his classmate’s hand. He’s still alive.

He whispers to Jaden, “Help me, Jaden, please.”

Jaden is shocked that his classmate knows his name, but he can’t believe he’s alive. There’s blood all over his classmate’s face, so he can’t really see him at all. Jaden is not sure he can help his classmate, Jaden does not know what to do. Marvin quickly comes over and kicks his hand off of Jaden’s ankle. Then, Marvin kicks him in the face. Jaden is stunned.

Marvin turns to Jaden and says, “Let’s go, Jaden. We don’t have time for this. We need to get out of here right now. Come on.”

Marvin runs out of the alley and yells back for Jaden to follow him. Jaden quickly kneels down to his classmate’s level and whispers he’s sorry. Before Jaden can leave, his classmate points at the wall. Jaden looks and sees a mural of some woman in a black veil with purple eyes. Then, his classmate whispers to Jaden, “So beautiful.”

He starts coughing up blood, and Jaden wants to help him more than anything. Instead, he runs away from him and follows Marvin out the alley. As he’s running, Jaden hears his classmate calling and begging for him to help him. Jaden ignores his classmate’s call for help and continues running out of the alley. Never looking back once.

This is the end of part three of “A Familiar Shadow.”

Be sure to like, share and comment your thoughts on this short story.

Part Four of “A Familiar Shadow” will be posted next Thursday.