Page 81 of I Accidentally Hired a Shadow Walker
I tapped the cracked screen and frowned. “Oh no.”
“What is it?” He stopped at the doorway. “Is everything okay?”
“The alarm at the job.” I opened the app to view the cameras. There was nothing outside, no evidence of a break-in. I assumed it was a false alarm and entered the code to avoid the call to the cops, but something inside me saidcheck the other cameras.
So, I did. Everything looked fine. The gym, kitchen, front office. It was all good—until I opened the camera in my office. The harsh glare of the lights illuminated the chaos: papers were strewn across my desk, broken pieces of the planter behind it. I quickly opened the previous recording stored in the cloud.
Natalie was there, standing in the office. “What was she doing there so late?” I narrowed my eyes as I watched her organizing items on her desk and doing a happy little dance.
I tapped the screen preparing to fast forward the video but paused when I saw the movement in the corner behind her. Something was there. I sat up, fear constricting my chest like a vise as the video's edge dissolved into an ominous black. Out of the shadows came a figure, its shape vaguely human but with an unnatural stillness that spoke of something otherworldly.
It grabbed Natalie and, as terrified as I knew she must have been, she fought that fear and did the smartest thing she could. Natalie hit the silent alarm, the button just beneath the desk. Then, the shadows swallowed them both.
20
They done took the wrong girl!
“Jericha, what is it?” Raymond crossed the room in what seemed like one step and grabbed the phone from my hand. He watched the video replay as I stared at my hands, clutching the blanket that covered my naked body.
“They got her. It stepped out of the shadows, and it took her.” The words felt like daggers in my throat. Natalie. That demon, that monster who was likely there to get me, took Natalie instead. “How could I let this happen?”
“Don’t do that, not now.” He disappeared and returned quickly with clothes from my closet. Sweats, a t-shirt, and gym shoes. I dressed quickly while he made several calls on his phone. As soon as I was done, he was there. “Let’s go.”
Raymond held his hand out to me, and I took it without hesitation.
“Stay close.” He looked at me as the dark opening appeared in front of us.
Raymond went through first, pulling me behind him. My instinct was to hold my breath as I stepped into the darkness and onto the narrow path. I glancedback, but his bedroom was already gone. As we walked, I forced myself to breathe and focused on his footsteps ahead of me, placing my foot exactly where he had.
The path we were on glowed slightly and gave just enough light for me to see Raymond ahead of me but nothing beyond him. I wasn’t sure I wanted to see what else was out there, because there were noises in the darkness, painful wailing and an eerie wind that gave no breeze. I also had an unnerving feeling of being watched.
I clutched my fingers tighter around his hand as we moved; it was the only thing that kept the panic at bay. Don’t get me wrong, I’d never been afraid of the dark, but this was different. I felt suffocated by the darkness, its weight was a tangible pressure against me. A constricting feeling pushed at my skin, making each movement stiff and unnatural.
“You’re okay.” He kept his gaze forward, but I heard his reassuring words as if he was speaking right into my ear. “Almost there.”
After a few more awkward steps, a light appeared ahead of us. I tried to look around him but decided not to risk it. Raymond led me off the darkened path into the light of my office. As my foot touched familiar ground, I skipped forward, moving as quickly away from the shadowed path as I could.
“Ugghereisere…” The random sound fell out of my mouth as I shook my arms and legs, trying to relieve the strangulating feeling.
“What sound just came out of you?” Raymond laughed as the dark opening disappeared behind his head.
“That felt horrible!” I fussed. As soon as I was out of there, it was like all the panic I pushed back burst out of me all at once. “It was hard to move or breathe, and what the hell were those sounds? You could have warned me.”
“It’s better this way. If I made some big speech warning you about how it will be, you’d overthink it. Happens every time.” He shrugged. “Better to just get it over with and talk about it later.”
“Yeah, right. Lots to talk about.” I slowed myself down, taking several deep breaths as the jittery feeling of panic eased from my body. The world felt real again, not icky and constricting.
“She fought.” Raymond moved around to the desk behind me.
We stood in the center of my office, the scene of Natalie’s struggle. He was right. I hadn’t noticed it in the video because I was so consumed by the sight of her being swallowed by the shadows. She did more than just hit the alarm. She fought, clawed even. Drops of green were on the floor. Raymond bent down to touch it.
“Blood.”
“Hers?” Fear struck me, worried my human friend had a not so human secret.
“No, demon.” He looked around and found the pen on the floor just beneath the desk. He lifted it, and the sharp tip dripped green. “Smart girl.”
“You’re right. She is smart. Smart enough to keep herself alive until I get there.” I pulled my phone from my pocket and pulled up Jackie’s number, but Raymond’s hand covered the screen before I could initiate the call.
