A shield

“And you’re..?”

She stared at me:

“Rosella...” I looked up and held her gaze for a brief moment. “...Edward.”

“Rosella Edward?”

“Yes, ma.”

“Okay, what do you have for us, you’ve a minute.” Her eyes went over the register and her pen twirled around her thump and index finger.

At the dying minute. There had to be something I could say, her eyes went round the class and I saw a shadow behind the window, when I was a kid, I always thought it was so tall like a tree. But he was tall but not as tall as I used to think he was.

The shadow stopped and spun as if he was gonna get into the class.

I froze from my stand.

He was watching, always.

What he was, or who he was, I don’t know.

He was a mystery, a demon lurking around me.

A dark clouds that had come over me in which I need a shield from.

The shield what was I needed to save myself from this shadow.

That was when the idea stuck.

“Ms. Edward?” She tapper her pen on the table.

“A shield.” I blurts out. Turning my gaze back to her.

Mrs. Apache folded her arms, seeming a little interested in what I had to say.

“A shield from a monster!” Someone laughed from the back. I bite the side of my cheek and a low growled escaped my throat.

“Exactly.” I confirmed. Earned a laugh from the student. Who thought it was all a joke.

“... this is the period where anything can happen, this is the era we’re, things change, the slightest thing that seems unbelievable could be what would hunt us, tear us and pull us down. Monster ain’t real. They say. What if it was, how are we gonna fight it? What if everything was a lie? You wake up one day and figured out, this wasn’t what you were made to believe, how would you escape such reality?”

Everyone listened to me, I was surprised that I was able to get their attention.

I won’t talk about what happened when I was five, the dead bodies that was found died in the convenience store last night. With the bite of a fang on their neck.

“You might think it’s a joke, but your little fear could be what would hunt you. What is your shield? I came up with this project shield from the monsters, from our fears.”

I needed that shield because my fears was right here, standing like a shadow.

I was scared, that he would someday lurched at me, what will I do?

“How can we get the shield. We’re talking about something realistic here Ms. Edward. Something real, is this realist to you? Monsters? In twenty first century?” She scoffed in disbelief.

I took a step closer to her and placed my hand on her desk.

“It doesn’t mean it have to be a physical monster Mrs Apache, you know deep down, there’s something you’re scared of.” I stared above her head, the shadow was still there, why was I the only seeing it.

“The shield is you.” I muttered.

Something was happening in shallow town, and definitely gonna break out sooner or later.

“I’ll see you soon.” He mouthed and his lips moved in a thin line.