Reign Of The Harvest Moon - The Shadow

Dusk came fast today, the day flew by as a sign that fall was here. All the stores started shoving Halloween candy and costumes down everyone's throat early this year; a sign that people just were not shopping much these days. Jessica loved hanging out with her friends after school where she had been since class ended. Her agreement with her mom was to always be home either before Dusk or before she walked in. That varied greatly depending on the time of year. Kim's mom pulled into the driveway which signaled the girls to look out of the window.

"Oh no, it's dark out! Your mom will call my mom if she sees me then I might get in trouble."

"Only if she sees you, hurry out the back door and ill meet her in the driveway. She's supposed to take me to get my costume anyway." Kim grabbed her jacket and shoes. Then pushed her out of the door. "Jessie I'll call you later and let you know what costumes looked totally hot if we go."

"OK see you later." She ran out of the back door and grabbed her bike, quietly rolled it up the other side of the house and waited till the coast was clear.

"Ah hah guess you're not going to the store." Jessie softly spoke under her breath. She was known to do this for a while to where no one thought anything of it. As the front door closed she rode off under the glow of the street lights.

"Geez I hope we beat mom home...I mean I hope I beat her home. What am I saying "No one around but the shadow of her on her bike. She often looked at her own shadow like any other person, the dark image of herself that was always there even if she couldn't see it. She thought it hid inside of her when the light wasn't bright enough to bring it out. It was almost an invisible friend to her that was often joked about around her friends and family. She arrived on her street and was distant enough to see that her mom was home, feared the worse. She parked her bike in the backyard and ran inside the back door. "Jessie!"

"Yes mom".........."come here now!" Jessie walked towards the living room..."what have I told you too many times before?"

"Always be home by Dusk and always beat you home."

Her mom sat her keys down. "So what excuse do you have this time since forgetting is out of the question now."

"Sorry mom I'm just not use to how it's starting to get dark earlier."

"Sorry that isn't a good excuse when I still beat you home, you're going to have to be grounded. I will figure out how long later, just go to your room and do your homework." Her mom turned away to walk to the kitchen.

"But mom it's the weekend! Well almost the weekend...there's the Halloween party I have to go to Saturday!"

"Oh you don't have to go anywhere, better get to that room before you get grounded till thanksgiving!"

Jessie turned and stumped up the stairs, then slammed her door.

"Oh you're making this even easier, maybe I'll make it till Christmas!" Her mom disappeared into the kitchen to see about dinner.

"Oh I hate her! She's always so mean!" She slammed her math book down on her desk. "She hates the people she work with then takes it out on me!" She turns her desk lamp on and there her shadow was as expected. A bit darker than usual she thought...The thought was dismissed, seemed ridiculous. Jessie opened her book and started working through the problems, she hated math and had to stay on top of it just to get a passing grade. Today was different, the answers seemed to come to her pretty easy as if she had done them before. Just as she finished the set of problems the phone rang, the caller ID read "Kim". She answered, "Hey!"

"Hey Jessie did you get home on time?"

"I got grounded and........", "No Kim she didn't, she's grounded and can't talk on the phone. Have a good night."

"Geez mom! I finished my homework."

"Then hang up the phone and study." Jessie hung up the phone, jumped in bed and screamed into her pillow out of frustration.

Next morning came with shouting up the stairs "Get up Jessie you're going to miss your bus again!" The shock of the words jolted her out of bed, she rushed to the shower and threw her clothes on in record time...not enough time to make the bus however. She saw it pass by as she walked out the door. Couldn't bear to listen to how terrible her track record had been lately, she chose to grab her bike and started off to school. If her mom found out she would be in a lot of trouble and couldn't afford for the neighbors to spot her. She rode through the trail in the nearby field which butted up to the next neighborhood. They used to play in the trail a lot as kids all the way down to the large storm sewer system. The kids loved to dare each other to go inside and the parents didn't really care since they also grew up playing there......until about five years ago. A group of kids dared John Telly to go in right before a big storm hit, he never came out. A search team went in to look for him a few hours later and found him dead. He apparently got his foot caught in a grade on the ground and the water rose too fast for him to get his foot out, he panicked and drowned. Now they say they can hear his voice calling to nearby kids to come play, but they are most likely just trying to scare the younger ones.

"Hey John Telly" Jessie cried out as she rode pass the large drain, the kids said you must do that so he doesn't come out of the storm drain to pull you in. She came along the big fence and found the hole all the kids used to take as a short cut, she crossed into the next neighborhood. Seemed like people were always out during the day doing nothing at all. "I only have a few more minutes before I'm really late!" She looked down at her shadow, the sun was pretty bright this morning. Into the street she went, a van turned the corner into the intersection. Jessie looked up and dropped her bag trying to react, the van honked the horn as his tires squealed. Turning and spun out hitting the girl with the front right side corner panel. The bike tire slowly spun to a stop as Jessie tumbled quiet a distance away from the bike. The man looked from his van, the body laid their stiff and silent, no movement...no sign of life. He opened the door to take a closer look, Walked over to the body.

"Oh God it's a young girl!" He looked around "help!"

A woman that heard the commotion came out on to her front porch and took a second to realize this van hit a young kid. She ran by the side of Jessie's body, there was no movement...not even her chest. She stood up to call the police and ambulance from her cell phone. No one noticed the position of the shadow, it slowly twitched...slowly where the leg was located...then again where the hand would be. As if a delay, Jessie's leg twitched, then her hand. The woman is crying on the phone for help to come as soon as possible while the driver put his head down on the hood of the van and repeated "what have I done." The shadow disappeared, moments later Jessie slowly stood up. The woman turned around and screamed out of shock. "You're alive!" Motioned for her to sit back down "You can't stand up, you weren't breathing a moment ago! You need to wait here for the ambulance."

"Thank Goodness!" The man yelled when he turned around to the screams of the woman.

"No I can't stay here I have to go." Jessie pulled away from the woman.

"But you were dead, you weren't breathing. You could have serious injuries!"

"No I feel fine I'll be alright."

"Look at your bike it's demolished, you were on that!" The woman protested in disbelief that this girl was alive let alone trying to walk away.

"It's ok I'll walk!" Jessie started running across the street towards school, all she could think of is how bad she would be in trouble. If her mom found out she didn't catch the bus and was on the wrong part of town, missing a Halloween party would be the least of her worries. No one noticed her back pack at the other end of the corner, she ran off and disappeared in the distance.