CHAPTER THREE

THE SHADOW

May 18, 2021

PRESENT DAY

ZACK

         "Zack, Zack, Zack."

          The familiar croaky voice brought my eyes to open. As my visions became clear, I realized that I am at the same place where horror always begins.

          The cold breeze engulfed my whole body making me shake uncontrollably, I felt the searing sensation of coldness in my bare feet. I can hear the familiar sounds of the rustling leaves, the waves of the lake, and the smell of this house.

          I know every inch of this place. This is where I was born and lived for some years, this was the place where I always feel home and safe. But today, I am certain that I am in danger if I stay in this place longer.

          I turned around as tears blurred my vision and realized that I am in the kitchen, in the right direction where the stove is placed, there is a window -- where I can hear the water sloshing from the lake.

           As fear struck upon me, my eyes darted on my small hand. I found myself grasping tight on a knife, but I didn't notice eventually that I was holding its sharp blade causing my palm to bleed. I continued crying quietly trying to conceal my sobs. I'm not crying because of my wound but because of fear. Fear of this place, and fear of the unknown entity that alway tried to drown me whenever I dream of this.

          Then suddenly everything disappeared, I was left alone in the cold room, looking like I am the tiniest person in the world. Unable to move, unable to speak. 

          In five seconds I will hear heavy footsteps in my direction coming from the shadow. The sound of my favorite lullaby that my late mother used to play in me before I go to bed will soon clang the whole room without a stop.

          Thud. Thud. Thud.

          Three heavy footsteps getting nearer in my direction. In this dream, I don't have any control over myself, I am like an audience hiding inside my own body watching myself do whatever it wants. 

          Taking a long pause before drawing a breath, I started running again.

          "Found you!" The darkest shadow in the black and white version of our lake house hurled a scream at me when it caught me running. "Don't you like this? I am just doing you a favor. No more suffering for you if you accept your fate in my hands. And no one will know when you die." I heard its footsteps louder, it's getting nearer.

          "Run. Just run. Don’t stop." The same old words I whisper to myself whenever I come back to this nightmare.

          "Goodnight, little one. It’s time to close your eyes,

          The things you keep asking just let it all fly away

          Like birds in the sky, they’ll soon find their way

          But honey, just make sure to remember the promised I made

          That wherever you go, even the darkest days

          I will always be here with you, we will never be far away

          Because, I will never leave you..."

          As I run and run in the dark the lullaby keeps playing somewhere in the room. The footsteps approaching, the lyrics of the song are becoming unclear as it gets distorted changing into a deep, heavy, scary voice that seemingly comes underneath the ground.

          As all the sounds uproar the whole room -- in the middle of darkness, I see an open door and the light coming from it dazzles my eyes, blinding me.

          I covered my eyes using my arms as I held tighter on the knife. In this part, I will hear a cry from my mother.

          "Don't go, Zack. Don't."  I knew that I would hear her weak raspy voice whisper in my ears. But the truth is -- she's never here. She's just created by my imagination because of me, wanting to be with her. Besides my grandpa, when I was a kid, she’s also one of my safest places, my sanctuary. 

          I continued running in the direction of the door not obeying her words and the moment I entered it, I found myself outside the house. I am once again surrounded by the lake.

          I always think whenever I’m in this part of my dream, what if I obeyed the whisper of my mother? Maybe the danger of this dream would stop. But I know that it would be impossible to control myself in this dream.

          Every step I take, I'm getting farther and farther away from the house. I feel like I'm running in a marathon match, the trees are collapsing and the bright light coming from the sun's disappearing, but I never stopped running until I found myself at the end of the dock.

          I tried controlling myself, I tried preventing myself from turning from behind me. Because I know what will happen next when I reach this end.

          But in this dream, I don't have any control over myself.

          A fume of breath escaped my mouth, gasping in exhaustion. I lost my hope by screaming in my head the moment I turned around. I saw the towering shadow hastily grab my neck in a rapid motion, strangling me, tighter and tighter. And before I could even raise the knife in my hand -- I  felt the whip of chilly waves in my skin as my body collapsed deeper in the water.

          The dark shadow, even knowing that I wouldn't survive the depth of the water, still it continued strangling me while pushing me deeper that made me loosen my grip on the knife. My lungs are getting tighter, unable to breathe, my eyes dilated in horror as my visions start to turn black. I can taste the salty water as it keeps pushing down my lungs. I tried to fight using my hands but I failed. I

          I find myself losing my senses, being defeated by suffocation that is caused by the same old nightmares who never stops punishing me.

          They came back. My nightmares came back to haunt my life again.

          "Zack?! Zack?! Wake up!" I gasped as my eyes opened wide. My throat's dried, I can feel chilly sweats in my forehead, my whole body's shaking and now I'm back in reality.

          It was hard for me to calm the beating of my chest, it took me seconds to finally get back on control over my body. With heavy breaths, I turned my eyes to the person who saved me from my dream.

          It was Aunt Olive, an expression of worry and shock evident in her face. 

          But what caught my attention is the knife she’s holding -- the state of panic flashed in my eyes because it is exactly like the knife I had in my dream.