Chapter Ten: Nobody Can Survive Without a Shadow

Without knowing if we'd ever return to normal, Mom and I gladly made it home to our house in Supernaturalville. Later that night. Mom still couldn't believe we were stupid enough to get into so much trouble. With someone who obviously isn't worth getting involved with.

Mom turned on the kitchen light when we entered the back door to our garage. I couldn't stop from floating away from Mom in the kitchen. "Why are we still like this?" I asked, miserably. Trying to keep from floating around too much.

"Try to calm down, son," Mom said, trying to comfort me. "Obviously we will have to get answers from the old magician again next time we go back and visit him at the magic shop," Mom said. "I don't know how long we'll last. But I don't feel comfortable staying like we've been separated without our shadows to keep from being invisible," Mom said and sighed.

Trying to open the refrigerator, my hand went through the door handle! "Okay, I can't survive without my real body back! This is not normal. I mean, what will the people of Supernaturalville think about us, scaring them with our shadows trying to haunt them?" I asked, Mom. I started pacing back and forth in my kitchen.

Trying to think, Mom and I heard a knock at the front of our door in the living room. Mom turned to look at each other, nervously. "Stranger?" I asked, quietly to Mom. She nodded and we floated into our dark living room.

Mom turned on the front porch light by the door. She peeped through the hole in the front door. Looking out, there was nobody there! Mom quickly unlocked the front door…Lightning flashed from the storm clouds in the dark sky…But it didn't rain or anything…Just cold and windy.

I stepped beside Mom at the door, looking out. It was empty. Mom closed the door and locked it. "I don't know what's happening here, but I don't think it's safe to live here in this neighborhood, kid," Mom said, sadly. 

Nodding Mom and I started to walk back into the kitchen. When suddenly, someone at the front door pounded an angry knock on our front door again! Mom and I nearly jumped, making our hearts thud heavily in our invisible chests.

Mom and I quickly ducked behind our gray love sofa in our dark, empty living room. "We can't ignore them, Wesley! They'll just keep coming back!" Mom screamed. I was beginning to suspect they were just kids pulling a prank on us. But the way the sound of the knock seemed like they really could use our help.

It got quiet for a moment. Then, a few seconds later…somebody kicked the door open! Breaking the locked hinges to the door, the intruder stood there, entering our house, uninvited. He was also some kind of shadow monster, looking for us. 

It puts on some kind of night goggles to see in the dark. Looking around the kitchen, it started walking on hind, hairy legs into the living room. Getting out a walkie talkie, the shadow monster, spoke to his partner on the other end of the communication device: "They're around her someone…they haven't left since I've been tracking them down, Glow in the Dark Shadow Master," said the invisible monster puppet.

The walkie talkie crackled as the shadow creature walked into our front kitchen. Looking at our muddy footprints on the white linoleum floor, it sensed we were nearby. It started to look in our refrigerator.

Then, closed it, turning off his night goggle vision. He stood in the darkness of our dimly lit kitchen for a moment longer. When he wasn't looking at us, I quickly grabbed hold of Mom by the hand.

And we both rushed out of our open front door. We stepped on the broken front door as he screamed to get to safety! The shadow beast growled and howled into the night. He turned back on his night goggle vision again.

Without looking back, the shadow creature charged after us! Running through the dark neighborhood, trying to get away from the beastly encounter who followed us home, was not what we planned. He was gaining incredible speed!

Mom pushed me over some neighbor's lawn into some rose bushes. She ducked beside me and we watched as the angry beast capture stopped in front of us. Looking around the dark, empty neighborhood, the hairy bast pounded his fists angrily on his shield he wore around his chest and howled at the moon. Then, he took off into the night and disappeared down the lonely street.

"That was close!" Mom sighed with relief. As she helped scramble to my feet in the neighbor's front lawn. Suddenly, their front porch light turned on. We turned and looked behind us. As one of our neighbor's opened their front door shouting angrily at us to get off their property. Grabbing my shadowy hand, Mom said, "Let's go!"

We stopped when we got half-way down the main street downtown. "Do you think we lost him?" I asked Mom. Leaning over a barber shop pole that was twirling around next to the shop, I couldn't stop breathing heavily.

"I don't know, kid," Mom answered, looking around. "We need to see the magician again," she continued, looking into the dark, closed barber shop window. "Do you know where we can find the store? I can't remember where it was," Mom said, worriedly.

Mom kept looking in the closed store shops, searching for the magic shop. She stopped to look in the closed grocery store. The security lights were on in the back next to the frozen section. At first she thought she thought she saw somebody walking in the aisle going to the frozen dairy food products, but then stopped.

The shadowy cloaked figure turned around when it noticed Mom and me were eavesdropping on the dark stranger lurking in the closed grocery mart.

Scaring Mom and me, we quickly turned away from the window of our small grocery mart. Hearts pounding, Mom wouldn't stop trembling and shaking with fear. "Do you believe what we just saw, Mom?" I asked, skeptically. I don't think even I believe there was anything real to believe to be there.

Mom grabbed hold of my hand and squeezed it. Slowly, Mom and I turned back to look into the dark, closed window of our grocery mart. We both suddenly screamed! Staring back at us from the dark empty, was the shadowy cloaked figure in front of the window, howling and screaming at us! The cloaked creature's eyes flashed deep blood red at us behind his hood.

Taking a shadowy cloaked creature's scythe in its bony hands, it smashed the grocery mart's window. Shatter the window to pieces just as Mom and I dodged out of the way! Suddenly, a strong gust of wind quickly carried us away down the main street.

As we floated endlessly down the empty, closed main street in Supernaturalville, we watched as the shadowy cloaked figure stood at the broken window of the grocery market. Watching with his eyes glowing fiery red and didn't move anywhere else.

Finally, the wind dropped us to the ground. We landed with an oof on the concrete sidewalk. Looking up, I gaped and pointed at where we had ended up. "How lucky can we be?" I asked Mom, with relief. "We're back at the twenty-four hour magic shop!" I said. Mom helped me to my shadowy feet.

The front store light was turned on by the top of the door. And as we looked in the window stop, the lights were on. But the shop seemed empty. Trying to open the door with her shadowy hand, the door wouldn't budge. "I don't get it," Mom said, angrily. "Only real humans can open this door, I'm afraid, son," Mom said. Small tears started streaming down her dark face. I hugged Mom and she wrapped her arms around me in return.

We both jumped at the sound of a metal trash outside the shop being turned over its side. As a couple of black stray cats were fighting over a piece of half-eaten dead raw fish in their mouths. Finally, they pulled the raw dead fish apart in their sharp mouths. And ate the raw fish and hurried off down the cold, empty alley into the night.

Lightning flashed from the dark storm clouds. It wasn't going to be over until we found our bodies back. There must be a way to the magician. Only he has the magic power to save our cursed shadows from disappearing altogether.

 That's when we heard somebody screaming from somewhere in the dark alley. They needed our help. And Mom and I didn't want to draw attention to the victim. So, we floated away from the magic shop. Hoping to get away from everybody who seemed to be caught in darkness.