The Boy in the Shadows: Chapter 1 (Revised)

I'm not exactly new to this whole writing business, but I am new to showing it to other people. I don't mind constructive criticism at all, in fact, I prefer it! I just recently found this place, and I feel safe no bashing will occur, so I decided I could post it. Plus, I'm almost positive this will help me improve my writing as well as my editing! Enjoy!

Chapter 1

“You're gonna get a stomach ache if you eat to fast Eli! Slow down, and enjoy your food!”

I scarfed down all the food on my plate, eggs, bacon, and a biscuit. Your typical breakfast. Looking over at my mom I smiled, bacon pushing my cheeks out. My mom began laughing, it was a lovely laugh and it was one of the greatest sounds in the world.

“What are you in a rush for champ? I don't think I've ever seen you eat so fast before. Pass me the biscuits Marie?” I swallowed the remaining food and looked towards my dad.

“It's bring your parent to school day, so you get to talk about your job! Didn't mom tell you?” He chuckled and nodded.

“Of course, of course. How could I forget. I wouldn't miss it for the world.”

“Thomas, don't forget to bring you and Eli's lunch, the poor kid would starve if he so much as missed one meal!” We all laughed.

“That or he may go looking for food elsewhere. Eli has always been a troublemaker.” We all looked at the door to see my younger sister, only seven, she was way more mature than me at the time.

“Aw June, I don't know what you're talking about. I would never cause any trouble!” She smiled and sat beside me.

“Yet you put soap in dad's lawn mower yesterday. It'll be shooting out bubbles for days!” I gasped and looked at June.

“June! You weren't supposed to say anything!” I frowned.

“Eli, did you put soap in my lawn mower?” I looked to my dad and tried to play that innocent kid look.

“I might have put a little soap in there...”

“Wait, so that's where my soap bottle went? That wasn't a little soap, Eli that was a whole bottle!” Busted. I was beginning to wonder when she would notice. I sat there innocently as she scolded me, and looked towards my dad for help.

“Oh no, you bubbled me son. You're on your own kiddo!” We both laughed and my mom frowned.

“If we don't show him that he's wrong Thomas he'll keep doing it!” My dad cleared his throat.

“Right, right. Eli, you shouldn't do things like that and you know it. I'll have to ground you for a week.” I could tell my Dad was doing his best not to laugh.

“Only a week?” June and my mom announced at the same time.

“Oh, sorry. A week and a half!” My dad yelled happily. My grounding was like a trial to them, but we all knew Dad's word went when it came to punishments, unless he wasn't home.

“Thomas!” He laughed and shoved a piece of bacon in his mouth. He looked at me and gave me a wink. We bumped fists under the table and he mouth “good one”. He was just as in to my pranks as I was sometimes.

My dad and I headed off to school that morning on our normal routine, except he was actually coming into the school with me. School was great, and dad talked about his job as an Architect for some big business that I didn't care to know the name of. I felt proud as all the kids got excited as he showed them some of the buildings he had designed.

After school was over, dad and I headed home, laughter filling the entire ride home as we talked about some of the classier jobs and how uptight some of the dads were.

“Like that Mr. Wagner, he was such a buzz kill!” I said, mimicking the hand gestures and faces he made.

“Yes. I'm a business worker, and I do business things. None of you would ever understand the line of work I am in, as it is very complicated and such. Business, business, business!” My dad mocked him and even almost had his voice spot on. We laughed and then continued to sing to a bunch of songs on his favorite CD. Our favorite song by far was Pour Some Sugar On Me by Def Leppard. We got really excited when it came on.

“Love is like a bomb!” I echoed the bomb to sound like the song. I started tapping to the beat.

“Love is like a bomb, baby, c'mon get it on. Livin' like a lover with a radar phone Lookin' like a tramp, like a video vamp. Demolition woman, can I be your man?” I sang.

“Hey! Hey! Razzle 'n' a dazzle 'n' a flash a little light. Television lover, baby, go all night. Sometime, anytime, sugar me sweet. Little miss ah innocent sugar me, yeah. Hey! C'mon!” We sang together.

Take a bottle, shake it up. Break the bubble. Break it up. pour some sugar on me. Ooh, in the name of love, pour some sugar on me. C'mon fire me up. Oh, I can't get enough!” We laughed and continued to sing the rest of the song the rest of the way home.

Whenever we pulled into the driveway, I jumped out and ran to the house. The day continued on as usual, I talked to my mom about my day with Dad, and then got scolded some more about the soap. We ate, laughter filled the entire house and a warm glow was present. After dinner, I headed to my bedroom after taking a shower. I fell asleep quick, as it had been a long and eventful day.

I woke up sweating, I had forgotten to turn my fan on, and it got really hot in my room if I didn't. I slid out of bed and switched it on high and headed to the bathroom. Afterward I headed back to my room, but before I could so much as close my eyes, a scream rang out through the house. I froze, hoping I had just imagined it.

“Stop this! She has nothing to do with this.” I hadn't imagined it. A gunshot went off, and silence took place only a for a few seconds after. Another scream of terror. It was my mothers. Her beautiful laugh had been replaced by a scream of sheer terror.

“Thomas! No! THOMAS!” I needed to know what was going on, and why she was yelling my dad's name. I slid quietly out of bed only to see June standing frozen in the hall way.

“June....run...” It was my dad's voice, but it was raspy, something was wrong. I flinched as something snatched June out of the doorway and I stood there, expecting to be next.

“No! Leave her alone!” Someone had June, as well as my father and my mother. Footsteps and a man's muffled voice was all I could make out until more screams filled the house. Two more gunshots. I ran out into the hallway and looked on in fear. My mother and sister were now laying in a pool of blood, their own. My dad had been shot in the stomach, and he saw me in the hallway. He was trying to mouth something, but I couldn't make it out. It looked like “run”. About the same time, a man's face appeared in the hallway. Looking straight at me. No. Not a face. It was dark, concealed by the dark, and I couldn't see it well, but it was not a face of any normal human. I could make out red eyes, sharp teeth, and some weird shaped ears, pointed almost. I could never forget the image of that man. He had a mark on his left cheek, a coffin with an X inside of it. When he saw me, a grin of pure pleasure that he'd get to kill again grew from ear to ear, sharp and yellowed teeth showing. His mouth moved, but it wasn't words I heard. More like something you might hear from an animal. He stepped out into the hallway, and that's when I realized how tall he was. He slid a mask over his bizarre face, and stepped towards me.

“Run Thomas!” My dad tackled him and held him down on the floor. “I said run damn it!” I took off, but not to my room, to my mom and dad's. I ran to his dresser and pulled out his pistol that he had told me about. I quickly scrambled for the clip and checked to make sure it was loaded. My dad had taught me a lot about guns, so I knew what I was doing for the most part. I slid in the clip and cocked it, taking it off safety. I held it close to me and walked slowly back into the hallway. Footsteps. They were coming my way, slowly. I could hear the creak of doors opening slowly, as if he wanted the entire process to be slow and dreadful for me. I took a deep breath, shaking from head to toe, and stepped out in the hallway. Gone. There was nothing there. I should have known better not to let my guard down, but I was naïve, and I ran to my fathers body, his chest still moving, but very slowly. I set down the gun beside him and grabbed his face.

“Dad. Dad, please answer me!” He opened his eyes, but it wasn't relief to see me, it was pure terror, a look I'll never forget. This wasn't pointed towards me, but behind me, and I knew what I would find behind me. Something jerked me up and spun me around. The man pulled me very close to his masked face. He continued to hold me up with one hand as he began to remove his mask. I had managed to snag the pistol without him noticing when he grabbed me, and I pushed it against his chest, right where his heart would be. He stopped and began laughing. More sound coming from his mouth, and still not words. I began shaking uncontrollably, and he moved to grab the gun. If I didn't fire now, I was as good as dead. Instinct took over and I pulled the trigger. He dropped me and stood there staggering. He held the spot where I had shot him and looked at his now blood soaked hand. I scrambled backwards to my dad's body, and looked at him for comfort. It wasn't there.

I cried. I cried nonstop for a good hour. My head buried in my dads shirt. I yelled at him and my mom, asking them to come back. I saw June's body next to my mom's and cried even harder. My family was gone. Something in me that day was lost, and confusion took over. I didn't know what to do. I didn't think to call the police. That's just it, I didn't think. I couldn't. I just lost the three most important people in the world to me. My chest felt heavy, and I felt like I couldn't breathe. It was as if the world was caving in around me, and my family were the broken pillars that had been holding it together. I stood up, as lifeless as the bodies before me.

I stared on at the four lifeless bodies which lay before me. Three of them belonging to my beloved family, my mother, my father, and my little sister. The fourth to the man who had ripped them right out of my life just like that. In my hand I held a pistol, covered in blood along with my hands. The shivering had stopped shortly after pulling that trigger. A sense of justice had been fulfilled in my mind, and fear no longer resided within me. Being only nine at the time, you may think that it would be scarring, but I might say otherwise. Maybe I was just fooling myself, but it was that foolishness that kept me moving, dragging my feet on in this hell we call our home. The lies I told seemed so much like the truth that I began to believe them myself. That I was okay, but inside I was completely broken. The lies just a facade to hide what I felt inside. Sadly, you can only hold up that fake smile for so long before you finally break, shattering like a vase that has found it's way off the table and onto the ground. Little did I know, the man that sent my world crumbling, was far from human, and he had forever left his mark on me. In more ways than one.