Dark Shadows
1159 Words
When Lana had moved to Red Hills, she found some really great friends in Veronica and Eric; but there was a dark side to this new adventure that her family embarked on. A darkness crept over Lana, and she began suffering severe depression at the tender age of seven. It wasn’t common for a seven-year-old to contemplate suicide or imagine killing their entire family and leaving the corpses of each member in the house. The worst part about this, Lana felt as though she were becoming a monster for no reason. She was frightened of herself and felt no one and nothing could help her. She kept it all to herself out of fear of what her family might do if they knew what was inside her tiny little mind.
There were nights Lana suffered abdominal migraines and vomited. It’s something her family had razzed her about to this very day, but she learned to laugh it off. There were other times in her childhood those random stomach aches would hit her, and she sat at her desk until the acid bubbled in her throat and it was too late. Kids mocked her for it, and she was known as the kid who puked on their desk for years.
Eric and Veronica were always there to shut everyone up when the teasing started at recess. It eventually died down. Despite all the good things in Lana’s life, she still had that dark shadow over her. Feeding her intrusive thoughts beyond her age. She recalled a time when they were taking a test in the third grade, the thoughts had gotten the best of her, and she sobbed over her papers.
“What’s the matter?” Mrs. Dixon whispered as she knelt down next to Lana.
“This test is just hard.” She lied.
“Maybe I can help with a hint?”
“Okay.”
Mrs. Dixon looked over the question on the test. What happens when water and oil are combined? She then looked over the multiple-choice answers. Gave Lana a quick little hint, ensured she was okay, then went back to walking around the room.
One day, Lana had opened up to her mother about the thoughts that swam through her mind. She went into the computer room where Rachelle Morgan was playing a game of solitaire.
“Mommy? Can I talk to you?”
“Sure…”
“I think there’s something wrong with me.”
“What makes you think that?”
“I have really bad thoughts, I’ve had them for a while now?”
“What kind of thoughts?”
“I think about killing you guys, and myself.”
Rachelle stopped clicking the mouse and looked at Lana, “Well sweetheart, are you reading your scriptures?”
“We read them every day.”
“But do you study them personally?”
“No…”
“Try studying them personally. I bet it will make a difference. You are okay, it just sounds like you need to be closer to God.”
Lana had felt like a huge weight had been lifted off her tiny shoulders. But it didn’t stop the dark cloud from hovering over her. She never acted upon the thoughts, but they didn’t feel as haunting as they did. It wasn’t until she turned twelve that they seemed to fizzle out of her mind. Maturing just a little bit and looking at life in a new light had changed it.
Being raised in a strict Christian home, Lana never felt like she could ever measure up to the standards that were set. Not to mention the hypocrisy of her parents telling her not to watch certain things on tv and then they would turn around and watch programs with violence and other content that was burned into her brain for life.
She was horrified that violence of such nature was very real. She also found out detectives were real, and she made up her mind to become one. It was also at the age she was when saw her first ghost. With three sisters and two brothers in the house, they all shared the same room. Beds were set up everywhere and they had all kept their socks in a large wicker basket.
Lana had woken up one morning to see the silhouette of a man in the form of a dark shadow crawling across the floor. She gasped and sat up quickly to get a better look. The shadow dove behind the sock basket and disappeared. For years, Lana wondered if it was just a figment of her imagination. But this town would continue to purge darkness in more places than one. The more darkness spread, the more Lana was convinced that shadow wasn’t just her eyes playing tricks on her, but that she really saw an evil ghost.
Veronica and Eric lived a remote part of town. Big area of hills and dirt, some parts of it were farms. The area looked big and amazing during the day, but at night, it looked like a black hole from how dark it would get. One night, Lana was having a sleepover with Veronica. Eric had Steve over, and they all sat together, watching a horror movie.
Lana remembered the movie giving her anxiety, but she didn’t want to look like a wimp in front of her friends, so she powered through it. The only reason Lana felt like she could keep it together was because Eric was by her side. There was an intense part coming up in the movie, the ghost was crawling like a contortionist down the stairs to the main character.
Before the ghost leaped at the main character, there was a loud banging on the window behind them. Everyone, including the boys, screamed at the top of their lungs. Eric pulled the curtain to see who was outside, but we didn’t see a soul there.
“The hell was that?” Steve asked.
“Come with me.” Eric told him and looked at Veronica, “Can you pause the movie?”
Veronica nodded and paused the movie while Eric and Steve grabbed a flashlight and went outside. Lana and Veronica leaned against the front of the couch, looking at the window. A shadow had ran past the window and they both looked at each other. “Did you see that?” Lana shrieked.
“Yeah…”
“What was that?”
Veronica shrugged, “Guess Terry is back.”
“Who is Terry?”
“He’s been coming around since Eric and I were born. There’s a lot of other ghosts on this property, but Terry likes to bang on windows and scare us.”
Lana was disturbed at how casual Veronica explained this. As though there was a cat in the tree again.
She looked at Steve, believing that he too saw Eric the night before. “Tell me everything.”
- Writer
