My mind really felt free as I walked home,I was no longer feeling afraid of whatever I thought was lurking in the dark night,it was as if all my fears disappeared immediately I was bold enough to confront the the strange shadow spirit that protected me for a reason that I didn't know.As I walked home in the dark night I wasn't worried of the dark the only thing that troubled me now was how my parents were going to react when I get home,ever since the trouble with Lisa happened they no longer bought the idea of any of us leaving the hills once it was evening, but mom had no choice someone had to go get the groceries and she wasn't going to do this it was always me.
Climbing up the hill was very difficult for me since it was already dark and I didn't have any source of light on me, but still I managed to find my way up there,I struggled finding it too hard to find the next spot to grab and pull myself up,at a point I had almost fallen off but after flinging my hands in the air for some time I was able to regain my balance,I carried my bag with my mouth so that it wouldn't make my climbing any harder.After regaining my balance and panting for a little while I decided to continue my climbing but then I started hearing something below me,it sounded like a swooshing sound the same swooshing sound the shadow spirit made when it moved.
"What the heck!"
I looked down to see if there was anything down there,then suddenly my fears returned to me I felt like something was pursuing me from below, which wasn't the right thing to do considering how dark the night was.As I climbed as fast as I could to climb up the hill,I tried to hold on to something that looked like a piece of wood sticking out on the hill but little did I know that it was just a weak branch that snapped immediately I held on to it with my full strength,and that was when my crumbling began,I was rolling down the hill like a barrel rolling down an inclined plane but before I could get to the rocky side of the hill where I would eventually get hurt something caught me.
"What's happening?"
It was awesome but I was still terrified due to the fact that things like this never happened,I could feel something holding me upright but I couldn't see what,I was too terrified to say anything I kept shut until my body flew up to the hill, immediately I was dropped on top of the hill the feeling on my body left me, something was definitely holding me and had carried me up here.I looked hard into the dark night trying my luck to see if I could see what was in front of me because I still felt something was still in my company,I even pulled out my hand like I wanted to touch something, but that didn't work, but I still felt he was there,then I heard his swooshing sound he was moving away from me.
"Hey what about my grocery bag?" I asked sensing he was about to leave.
What I heard was a loud swooshing sound going down the hill.
"Hey come back"
Then the swooshing sound started coming up with full speed,I covered my face like he was about to attack me, but the only thing that tried to attack me was grocery bag dropping right in front of me and then the swooshing sound started going away through the sky,he was going away.
"Hey come back!" I yelled."I haven't thanked you properly"
It was no use he was already far gone.
I was met with worried faces when I entered the house,mom easily got worried about any of us, she didn't even go to bed after she found out I was not in the house the night Lisa tried to murder Chloe on the other hand dad never really worried about any of us,mom had to go wake her up when Chloe brought me home with a bleeding shoulder.
"Oh my God!" mom quickly rushed to me as if to carry me to my bed."What happened to you?" She asked brushing off some dirt on my shoulder.
"I'm okay mom" I said and limped to the table to drop the grocery, the bag wasn't looking like it came out of a store.
"You don't look okay Mike" Aurora tried to show some concern.
"Relax sis" I limped towards the room door with my hands bent to my laps."I'm okay"
"Are you Mike?" mom asked.
I could clearly tell she was really worried about me now and she should be after all I did walk into the house with dirt all over my cloth,my hair messed up and something else that I didn't notice.
"Yes mom" I said trying to open the door.
"Your mouth is bleeding Mike" Aurora said,and I could tell she was really annoyed with the whole I'm okay thing I was doing here now, but she was right my mouth was really bleeding.
"Stupid fall" I mumbled as I wiped the blood with my thumb.
"What?"Aurora asked.
"You can tell us what's wrong Mike" She said slowly trying to sound caring.I knew Aurora was a sister that cared but her trying to show kind of annoyed me.
"I would love to, but the last time I checked you weren't a big fan of fairy tales" I slammed the door shut behind me before mom could finish calling my name.Dad was lying fast asleep when I walked into the room,I ignored him and walked to our room.
Aurora had tried as much as possible to doubt me whenever I told her about the strange things happened to me,I thought she could be a really supportive in a time like this but it turns out she was the opposite of what I expected.
I gave a heavy sigh before crashing on my bed,all I could think of was the crazy thing that just happened to me.I had planned to take my bath and eat some food before going to bed, but that didn't because I was soon fast asleep which was strange for a guy that had his siesta in the afternoon.
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School was better for me the next day because I was no longer depressed because of strange things happening to me I was just very curious to find out who that shadow spirit was, Chloe noticed my change of altitude but I just told her I was feeling better now,I didn't think it was right to just tell her about a strange shadow that protects me, she would term crazy after all the strange things I have told her.I went home with Aurora immediately after school instead of waiting to talk with Chloe for a little while, but I explained to her to her that I had to finish up something at home.
"What's so urgent that you had to leave without having your normal talks with Chloe?" Aurora asked,after we were a little distance away from the school.
"Emmmmmmm" I tried to make up something then I decided to use her fairy tale words against her again.
"It's a fairy tale matter,so it's none of your business" I replied sternly.
"Ok I see" She nodded and increased steps in order to walk ahead of me.
"Yeah do that we have to get home quick"
She didn't say anything, she was probably mad at me now, but I didn't care she was the one that started the whole fairy tale thing.
I could feel my heart throbbing as I watched through the window as the sun went down,I had a plan to get the shadow protector, but I wasn't sure how well it would work but I still had to try.
"I'm going to bed" I declared immediately after dinner.
"So soon Mike?" mom asked.
"Yes mom I had a long day at school" I said closing the door quickly to avoid any further questions.
"Thank God he's acting better now" mom said.
"Whatever" Aurora mumbled.
"Aurora!" dad yelled.
I quickly went to my room and pretended to be asleep,few minutes later Aurora came in and I had to convince her that I was really asleep.
"Uh he snores like a warthog" Aurora felt irritated by the snoring I was faking,it was funny that she didn't realize that I never snored.I chuckled a little under my blanket but I had to keep myself from laughing else Aurora will find out that I wasn't asleep and then she would start suspecting something.
I tiptoed out of the room as soon as Aurora was fast asleep, but when I tried to open the door,I noticed that mom was just coming out from the kitchen and was just lying on her bed awake, she was thinking about something at least that's what I did before I slept.
"I have to think of another way" I whispered under my breath.
I looked at my windows and suddenly a smile appeared on my face.I silently shut the window as I climbed down from it.My destination was the edge of the hill.
"I hope this works" I muttered under my breath,after reaching the edge of the hill.
"Hello shadow spirit!" I yelled using my hands to amplify the sound.But still nobody replied.
It was time to put my plan into action,I walked to the very edge of the hill and turned my back then I started to fall back slowly, this was a very dangerous plan because if my shadow protector didn't show up that would mean my death,I kept pulling myself back, expecting something to grab me but that didn't happen until I was really falling from the hill,I screamed in terror as I fell still expecting something to happen.
"Why did I do this?!" I screamed as I fell halfway down the hill.
I closed my eyes expecting the worst as I was about to crash on the ground from a deadly height, but then something suddenly caught me in the air,I opened my eyes to see that the distance between me and the ground was very very close.
"Aha"
The shadow protector quickly carried me up to the hill just as quick as I fell so I had to scream again.As soon as he dropped me he wanted to leave but I had something up my sleeves,if this thing was able to carry and touch me then so could I.When he was about to remove his hands from my shoulders I sprang my hand there and I was utterly shocked when I caught something,he kept struggling to losen himself from my grip but he didn't do anything to hurt me which only meant one thing,he wasn't a spirit, the fact that I was able to touch him proves that.
"Hey pls stop struggling" I pleaded,as I struggled to keep my grip on his hand.
"Let go of me!" I heard a thunderous voice shout at my face.
"Please I just want to know who you are" I said, still struggling to keep hold of him.
"Let go of me now!" the voice got more fierce.
Even though he could shout at me like he wanted to eat me,he just couldn't hurt me.
"Just tell me who you are and I was let go!"
With that he stopped struggling and came back down to the ground,so I had to let go of him not minding whether this is a trick.
"I am Develee" I heard a more calm voice say.
Then I saw sharp white light from up to down in the spot where he was standing I covered my eyes because of the brightness of the light, but what I saw when I opened them was unexpected, standing before me was a boy who was the same height as me.