"Suspicious. Suspicious. Suspicious!" Genoa mumbled to herself as she and her brother entered their condo.
Harold let out a heavy sigh before saying, "Stop it!"
"Stop what?" said Genoa, innocently.
"You know what I mean!" said Harold, giving her a look.
"I'm not doing anything." protested Genoa
"I saw how you looked at him. Our new neighbor is not the shadow man!" said Harold. He shut the door behind them with his foot and then carried the bags into the kitchen.
Genoa followed after him, putting her hands behind her back. "Can you be certain?"
"Yes," said Harold rolling his eyes.
He put the bags down on the kitchen counter, spreading them out and then rolled his shoulders, happy to be free of the weight. After a few seconds, he reached into one of the bags and pulling out a handful of grapes. He popped two into his mouth before continuing, "Because for the millionth time Genoa, HE... DOES... NOT... EXIST! So would you please, please stop looking for him in every person we meet?"
Genoa moved her arms in front of her, crossing them, "That's easy for you to say, he's not after you!"
Harold groaned, "Nor is he you, he is simply a figment of your overactive imagination! Now, would you please stop obsessing!?" Genoa let out a groan of her own, Harold shook his head and then waved her off. "Go change! Paint!"
She flared her nostrils and glared at her brother for a moment but didn't say anything. She already knew what he'd say, and then what she'd say back as they'd already had this conversation countless times, over the years. No matter how hard she tried to make him understand, he just couldn't…no wouldn't! She let out a halfhearted sigh and turned from him. She dragged her feet as she left the kitchen and ran her hand along the hall wall as she went to her room. She changed her clothes, putting on her favorite painting outfit, an over-sized polka dotted shirt, faded blue coverall shorts and a brightly colored apron that was spattered with various amounts of paint. She tied her hair back in a sloppy bun then put a fresh handkerchief on her head. Finally she stepped into some slippers also covered in paint.
She popped some fresh bubble gum in her mouth then went to her art studio, a few rooms over.
Mid-morning sunlight poured though a big window that went from the ceiling to the floor. She stepped up to it and pressed her forehead again the cool glass. She looked down at the tiny cars and people below, wondering what they were up to. After a moment, she let out a heavy sigh and walked up to a large blank canvas. She stared at it for a moment turning the easel it sat on, until she found an angle she liked. She rolled her shoulders then turned on some dramatic, classical music. It bellowed throughout the room as she popped the lids of several cans of paint, black, gray and white.
She looked at the clean canvas once more, then shoved her right hand into the black paint up to her wrist. She moved her left hand dipping it into the gray and stepped up close to the canvas. She began moving her hands about, thinking of the man she'd met today. Could he be the one? Could he be the one?
Have you ever known overwhelming fear and all encompassing dread, Genoa did. She knew to always be on the lookout, for something was waiting to strike around each and every corner. She moved her hands frantically about the canvas before dipping them into the paint once more. Gobs of paint dripped on the floor as she dragged her hands up and down the canvas, making an up close picture of the shadow man as she dubbed him.
He was the monster from her nightmares...the owner of the dark shadow that never left her side. She knew one day he would come for his shadow and come for her. She continued to paint until she had a dark figure before her. She left its eyes empty and stepped back. She nodded to herself before washing her hands. Then she went to her wall of paint cans. She ran her hand over each and every can until she found the right color. She popped the lid off a blue can then dipped her hand into the open can of white. She mixed the various colors until they matched the eyes of the man she'd met today. There was something peculiar about them...about him. Could it be him? Could he be the shadow man at last? She could not be certain.
All she knew was everyone was a suspect! Everyone was a potential threat to her until they weren't! She had to be vigilant and ready at a moment's notice. Admittedly, sometimes it was hard not being able to trust or relax around anyone new, but the shadow man could potential come in any form. Maybe a man, perhaps even a woman or something else all together. The shadow man could be an alien from another plant or a monster from the planet's core. Whatever shape the owner of the dark shadow took, Genoa needed to be ready!
She thought over the elevator man and his rather suspicious nature as she paced around the room. The music intensified around her vibrating through her thoughts. She'd never seen this man before. "Supposedly" he owned the penthouse at the top of the building. The shadow man was often rich, wasn't he? She'd seen the palaces he owned and the towers of doom that dripped with blood. Yes... YES! For him, money and power were easy to come by, especially when he was willing to be absolutely ruthless.
Genoa swallowed, her eyes focusing and unfocusing as she fell deeper into her thoughts. She recalled how the elevator man, had turned around. She'd looked at him, looked deep into his eyes, hoping to know if it was him. His eye color had been striking, but even up close she couldn't tell. She stepped up to her paint and moved her hands through it. She placed ice blue eyes on the shadowy figure. When she was finished, she stumbled back, looking at her latest creation. Her body trembled and she sunk to her knees, thinking yes...yes this seemed right. This was the color of his eyes. His eyes were the color of ice...ice…ice...ice...to match his cold soul.
Genoa closed her eyes and ran her blue hands over her cheeks. She let her mind drift back to that night so long ago, when her entire world had changed forever. Her father had been lightly singing to the radio and her mother had been snoring, fast asleep. Her baby brother, Rury had also been asleep. His head had been to the side in his car seat. Harold wasn't there. He was away at school.
She'd laid down having most the seat to herself; she'd been sleepy but had not yet fallen asleep. She recalled taking off her seat belt, to get more comfortable and wrapping herself in a blanket so no one could tell. She wasn't suppose to remove it to but she slept better when she wasn't wearing it. She'd looked out the dark car window and watched the falling snow. She almost couldn't tell the difference between the snow and the stars in the sky. Eventually she'd closed her eyes, if only for a moment.
The car suddenly shifted and everything moved to one side and then the other as they skidded across a patch of ice. Her father stopped singing as he struggled to get control of the car. One moment they were turning sharply, the next the car was crashing through a barrier. They'd been on a bridge and the car rolled as it went into the water. Genoa had been thrown about the car, landing on the roof. Everything hurt so bad, she cried out but she wasn't the only one. She heard her mother scream and her baby brother wailing. She couldn't recall hearing her father.
A strange cracking sound could barely be heard as the car was sinking. Suddenly a window broke and ice cold water began to rush inside the car, filling it up. She remembered it was cold...so so cold. She tried to move but everything hurt. She kept crying and her mother kept screaming, her brother sobbed endlessly and then everything went quiet...so, so quiet and dark. She was no longer in pain. She felt like she was falling for the longest time and then drifting.
Slowly the darkness around her began to fade, strange images filled her mind... memories so many memories flooded her but they weren't hers and yet...yet they were. She found herself confused. She was Genoa but then she was- was- Tavia. Yes, it was short for Octavia. Her mother had liked the name. She recalled running through a castle as a child. Beings lifted up by her father and spun around. She wasn't a princess but her family made her feel like one.
She remembered eating warm biscuits, tarts and pies. Her father was a baker. YES and not just any baker, a royal baker. Because of that they got to live at the castle. She grew up playing with the royal children and used to love to watching her father and mother work. She loved all the smell of flours, sugars and spices. They taught her everything they knew. When she grew up, she made desserts of her own, cream filled colorful powdery desserts. She remembered working the dough in her hands and loving the feel.
She wanted to be a baker too but it wasn't to be...so many things happened. There was a man she loved but couldn't be with and yet another man she despised, who tormented her to no end. There was some great betrayal. It was was hard to recall as a whole lifetime seemed to flash before her eyes.
She recalled her last memory as Tavia. She'd been in a high tower of the castle at the end. She was injured and her dress was torn. She struggle with someone who had their hands around her neck.
It was the man she despised. Yes! He wouldn't let her go! He was unhinged! His voice had been full of venom as he cursed her name and said, "I wont let you go! I wont ever let you go! YOU ARE MINE!"
His words filled her heart with terror but still she fought. She thought she still might have a chance. They were both injured but he was gravely so. He didn't have much time left. If she could just keep him at bay and hold out for a little longer, she might be able to break free of him and survive. Yet he held onto her with everything he had. He would not let her go, no matter how much she fought and how she had fought! She gave it everything she had as well. She'd fought to get free and to live. She had wanted to live more then anything! Yet in the end he was just too strong and she succumbed to his might.
The last thing she saw was him glaring at her with such malice in her eyes, such overwhelming hatred and greed. She'd only been a child when she'd first seen all this. She didn't know what to make of it at the time and had cried out in such horror. She should have been dead but somehow she made it out of the car and she rose to the surface of the water. It was dark and she was confused. She's struggled until she passed out. When she woke again, she was under the water and it was frozen over.
She'd pounded her tiny fists against the ice until things went dark once more. When she woke she saw light peering through the ice, there were various shapes and colors on the other side of the ice but what caught her attention was tiny air bubbles that moved along, underneath the ice. Curiously, she followed them, and they led her to the hole her family's car had made, when it had fallen through the ice.
She burst through the water and the air stung her lungs, somehow she managed to make it onto the land before she passed out yet again. When she awoke once more, she wandered through the snow and into some woods for who knows how long. Several times she'd fall down and pass out...only to wake and keep moving. Sometimes it would be dark out other times it was so bright it hurt her eyes. She didn't know what was happening to her or what to do but soon found she wasn't alone. Something else was out there...watching her.
One time she awoke in the snow, to see shadows gathering all around her, after a few minutes they scattered as one shadow rose above all the others. Sitting in the snow, she saw the shadow of a tall figure looming over her. She looked all around for its owner but it was nowhere to be found. At first she was confused and then frightened as it reached out to her. She tried to run away from the shadow but no matter what she did, she couldn't lose it…eventually she grew weak and passed out yet again.
When she woke up again she saw it and ran until she passed out again. After a few more times she eventually stopped running as her fear of it lessened. It waved at her and she let it guide her out of the woods and onto a main road. An older couple eventually found her and took her to the hospital. She realized the shadow had helped her and she thought it might be her friend then…but she was wrong.
At the hospital they treated her injuries and the doctors wanted to know what had happened. The police were also there. She told them about the car falling into the water and the windows breaking. She must have gotten out somehow and floated to the surface. She told them about being under the ice and following the air bubbles and how she got to land and the shadow appeared. She told them it was really scary at first, and how she ran and ran, but eventually she found out it was friendly, and it had guided her out of the woods and to the road.
They sent out a search party to find her parents car and she was given something to help her sleep. When she woke up they had her tell her story again. They kept asking her about dates and times. They didn't understand how she had survived and how she had made it so far on her own. Again she told them about the shadow but no one believed her. She tried to show them but found it was gone. However later, when she was alone, it appeared once more. She realized it hadn't gone away but took the shape of objects around her, hiding. No matter what she did, it wouldn't show itself to others, and it wouldn't leave her side. It was always there watching and waiting.
It took them a few days to find her older brother, Harold. He wasn't at his college. He had returned home to make funeral arrangements. Apparently her family had been found two week ago in the county over. They thought she was dead like them. When they couldn't recover her body they just assumed she had washed down the stream or something. She'll never forget the look on Harold's face when he saw her again. He came around the nurses' station and just stood there for a second before he rushed to her.
He was just so happy she was alive. Usually, he teased her and they'd get into fights but after that day they never fought again...not really, not like before. She could still recall him holding her hand in her hospital room. He promised to take care of her and always be with her. She knew one day she'd have to break his promise.
They ran several tests on her over the next few weeks, trying to understand how she had survived the crash, being in the water and then out in the elements, on her own, for so long but there were no answers they would accept...only more questions. Eventually the hospital released her to Harold. He dropped out of college to take care of her. They had to sell the house and move into a small one bedroom apartment. Harold gave her the bedroom and lived in the living room. They tried to have a normal life as normal as it could be after what had happened.
He had to get a job and she had to go back to school but it was hard to go back, after what she'd seen and what she knew. She found herself pulling away from everyone. Whenever she was alone, she'd try to communicate with the shadow. She tried to understand it and what it wanted. Soon enough the nightmares began.
Night after night, she'd wake screaming bloody murder. Harold would rush into her room and wake her. He'd ask her what had upset so her but she couldn't remember. It was like her brain was protecting her, as soon as she woke up the nightmares would be gone...only the fear and a sense of overwhelming dread would remain. At time went on she slowly began to understand what she was seeing, she'd be able to recall details after she woke, it was then that she learned the shadow was not her friend.
The shadow or more as its owner was a true monster, her worst fears all wrapped into one. He was the man she despised, the one who had tormented her and killed her in her last life. She realized the shadow was just watching her until its owner returned. Oh how she screamed, the day she realized the shadow man would one day come for her. In her nightmares, she'd seen how he destroyed worlds… destroyed her and all that she loved.
At first, she tried to get help! She tried to warn others of his arrival, her teachers, the principle, the police and doctors but no one would listen to her, not even her own brother. She had no choice but to take matters into her own hands. She packed up her things and planned to run away. She thought she could protect Harold, if the shadow man didn't know he existed. She would be sad to leave him but it was for his own good. Of course, Harold caught her before she could make her move.
He was so mad at her, he yelled and screamed but what scared her the most was when he cried. He broke down and she realized she was all he had. She couldn't leave him...not yet. She tried to tell him again, tried to warn him about what was coming. She thought maybe they could prepare together or even run away together. He really listened to her and she thought he understood how much danger they were in.
He said he was going to take her to get some help. She thought they'd go see the army or some top secret agency but he just took her to more doctors, who ran more tests and asked more pointless questions. They thought she had PTSD from the accident. They put her on so many different medications and she had to see a therapist once a week. At school things became difficult; she found it hard to connect with anyone her own age. The other kids teased and bullied her about the shadow man. Eventually after one misunderstanding to many Harold pulled her out of school.
He homeschooled her during the day and would work nights. He sacrificed everything to take care of her. She felt horrible he had to, she spent most her time alone, dreading the future. For years she struggled with the reality of her situation. Then one day, one of her doctors introduced her to art therapy, telling her to paint what she saw and release her nightmares onto canvas.
At first she was hesitant to do so but it helped her to think and make sense of it all. Sometimes she'd even paint her dreams which was nice. She painted a lot and one day someone saw one of her paintings and took an interest in it. They offered to buy it for several hundred dollars. From there they signed up for a little art show and her paintings took off, so much so that Harold was able to quit working. He was able to stay with her and she kept painting.
Eventually her paintings got into several well know galleries and from there they started having their own gallery. They sold so many paintings that they were able to buy this condo and make a world of their own as Harold had put it. They made a world where she could feel safe and secure but Genoa knew she would never be safe, not when the shadow man was out there somewhere. All she could really do was lookout, wait and dread the day he made her nightmares a reality. She opened her eyes and stared at her latest painting. Once more she wondered if the man in the elevator today was him. Was it him or did they still have time?
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