began seeing the shadow every day. My phantom stalker moved with the speed of a wild cat and appeared larger each time I saw it. Sometimes I caught only a glimpse of the thing as it streaked down the street. Other times, it simply sat on the sidewalk. I knew it was there for me, that it was watching me, waiting. But waiting for what? I had no idea, but it terrified me. And that was the main reason I needed to go to Charleston. I had to get away from it. Maybe if I was gone for a few days, the shadow would give up its vigil and leave me alone.
I kept my head down and I approached my house, unwilling to sneak a peek across the street. If the shadow thing was there, I did not want to see it. Focused on unlocking the front door, I didn’t even notice that Noah was sitting on the front porch until he spoke.
“Hey.”
I gasped and dropped the keys. He came over to me, taking my shaky hands in his. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“It’s okay. I’m fine.” I smiled, but I knew he could see through it.
“Did you see it again?”
Only Noah knew about the shadow creature. And even though he had never spotted it, he believed that I was truly seeing something. It was nice to have someone trust my words even if they didn’t make sense.
“No, but it’s getting dark,” I said. “It usually makes an appearance right around now.”
Noah picked up my keys and unlocked the front door. “Well, I’m here now. You’re not going to be alone.”
Relief filled me as we went inside. Noah began turning on lights while I dropped my backpack to the floor and took off my shoes. “How long had you been out on the porch?” I asked him.
He turned on a lamp in the dining room and joined me on the sofa. “About a half hour. I stayed after school today and got a ride over. I figured you were at Avery’s.”
“You should have come over.”
He shook his head. “And interrupt girl time? No chance.”
“I could have used you.” I snuggled closer to him and he draped an arm around me. “She’s really pushing the Prom thing.”
“Yeah, she’s been after me, too. She thinks I can convince you to go.”
I looked at him, my eyes immediately finding the small bruise on his neck. I was waiting for it to fade and disappear, but the reminder of the attack we endured four weeks earlier was still there.
“If it matters to you, I’ll go.”
He kissed my forehead. “What matters to me is that you’re okay.”
I reached for the remote and turned on the TV. As I settled back into Noah, I heard his stomach growl. “I forgot about dinner,” I said. “You want to order something?”
“Sure. Anything but pizza.”
I was sick of pizza, as well. Neither my dad nor I were very good in the kitchen, and we ended up eating pizza three times a week. Noah and I decided on Chinese food. He placed the order while I called to check in on Dad.
“I think I’m going to stay here tonight.” His voice was laced with exhaustion. “We’re trying out some new medication and I want to be here.”
“Okay.”
“Shane will be over soon to stay with you. Have you had dinner yet?”
I looked over to the kitchen, where Noah was on the phone. “We’re ordering it now. What about you? Have you eaten?”
I worried about my dad, who seemed to exist solely on coffee and stale sandwiches from the hospital cafeteria. He’d lost weight over the past month. His face was leaner and he always wore a belt now.
“I’ll get something from the vending machine,” Dad said.
“You can’t live on candy bars. I’m going to start packing you a lunch.”
“Sounds good. I have to go, Charlotte. The doctor’s here.”
I hung up, wondering if he’d really heard me. When Noah came back into the room, I told him about my concerns. He agreed that my dad needed to eat better and offered to recruit his mom to help. “She loves cooking for you guys.”
“She’s already done so much for us,” I protested. “I can’t ask her for any more. Besides, I need to take care of my dad. It’s not your mom’s responsibility.”
“And it’s not yours, either.” Noah pulled me into a hug. “You have enough going on as it is. Let people help you. They want to.”
I reluctantly agreed. We watched TV as we waited for our food to arrive, flipping between the news and a comedy special. The doorbell rang while Noah was in the bathroom. I grabbed some money from my purse and opened the door, where I was greeted with a man holding two brown paper bags of food. The scent of garlic chicken made my mouth water. I paid the delivery guy and took the bags, then set them on the hallway table so I could shut the door. When I turned around, the delivery guy was gone.
But the shadow creature was there, sitting across the street.
It was now the size of a German shepherd. My hand felt frozen to the doorknob as I stared at the thing. I could make out two distinctive legs. The shape resembled a man crouching, and although I could not see a clear face, I knew in my terrified gut that it was looking directly at me.
Noah came out of the bathroom. “Smells great,” he said as he approached me. “Charlotte? Are you okay?”
I couldn’t respond. I couldn’t do anything but gaze across the street. The shadow creature was slowly becoming lighter, melting into the night. By the time Noah stood beside me to also look across the street, it was gone.
I let go of the doorknob and stepped back. “It was there,” I whispered. “It was just there.”
Noah stepped onto the porch and scanned up and down the street. Then he came back inside and shut the door. “Come on, let’s eat.”
I nodded, grateful that he didn’t state the obvious: there was nothing there. But it had been there, and at the rate it seemed to be growing, I wondered how much time I had left before it was the size of an elephant. Or maybe it would stop once it took the form of a full-grown man. I didn’t know—and I didn’t want to find out.
I had to get away and leave it behind me. Charleston would be my escape. Next Wednesday could not come soon enough.
Chapter Two
“King me.”
Mills frowned as he tried to make sense of my latest move. “Was that legal?”
I was already collecting my red pieces and preparing for the next game. Mills had tried to teach me chess, but he was very good at the game and had no patience as I struggled to remember which way the knight could move. Also, it bugged him that I called it a horse. He gave up and we stuck to checkers as a way to occupy ourselves as we passed the hours in Mom’s hospital room.
I enjoyed spending time with Mills. He and Annalise had been dating for almost a year, the longest my sister had ever dated anyone. And the more I got to know him, the more I liked him. Annalise usually visited at the same time, but there were times like today when she had school responsibilities that kept her in Charleston. When that happened, Mills came by himself and met me at the hospital. He never complained or acted like he was doing me some huge favor. He was there every Saturday, with or without my sister, and we played games or talked for hours while Mom lay comatose in her bed. It was nice to have something to focus on other than the persistent beeping of Mom’s monitors and the whoosh of her breathing machine.
Checkers was also a way for me to keep my thoughts from wandering to the shadow creature. The sight of it the night before had rattled me throughout dinner with Noah and appeared once in my dreams, where it did nothing more than watch me from my