Free Shadows in the Dark by Hunter England Page A

or so, until I saw a diner at the side of the road. That was
when I finally decided to stop and take a seat, after about six
hours of walking. I had no clue where I was, and I loved
it.
    The cool, air-conditioned breeze
felt amazing as I opened the diner doors. The place was nearly
empty. I only saw a fat guy sitting in a corner drinking coffee,
and a person wearing a hoodie with the hood over their head sitting
all alone at the counter.
    I awkwardly walked over and sat
two chairs away from the hooded guy. He didn’t look over at me. His
gaze seemed to be glued to the countertop. His hands were trembling
as they were clamped together.
    The waitress walked over to me
with an obvious fake smile and asked, “What could I get you,
sweetheart?” I gave her a fake smile back and thought.
    “ Could I just have a coffee?” I
asked. “I’m kind of in a hurry to get somewhere.” The waitress gave
me a look that said she was sort of interested.
    “ Where to?”
    “ Honestly?” I started to tap my
fingers. “I have no idea. I just know I shouldn’t be where I was
before.” The waitress sat the coffee in front of me and stood
behind the counter.
    “ Why shouldn’t you? What happened
‘where you were before’?” I took a sip of my half-assed made coffee
and sighed.
    “ Let’s just say,” I started,
“things got complicated.” I looked down at my coffee. “Something
happened, and if it had of gotten out, people wouldn’t accept me.
Well, it’s not like they did before anyways.”
    “ Well,” she said, “I hope you find
what it is you’re looking for.” She smiled and walked away towards
a man that had just walked in and sat down.
    I noticed the hooded guy was kind
of looking at me, tilting his head in my direction. I ignored him.
I wasn’t going to be there that much longer. I finished the crappy
coffee and sat up. The guy raised his head and was directly looking
at me. Again, I ignored him.
    I was about to walk out of the
door, when the guy stood up and started to follow me. I started to
walk faster as I walked out the front doors. I heard as the man
opened the door and continued to follow me.

    I didn’t bother to run. It’d only
make it obvious I was up to something. I kept on walking down the
highway, not having to look back to see if he was still following
me. I could hear him. Even over the cars. All of a sudden, his
footsteps grew louder. Ear piercingly louder. My head started to
ache. I covered my ears and attempted to run, but I could still
hear it.
    I toppled over onto my side and
pressed against my ears, trying to block it all out. But no matter
how hard I tried, I could still hear it. Then, it all stopped. The
only thing I heard were the cars as they drove by me. I looked up
and searched around. The guy was nowhere in sight. He was
gone.
     
    … ..
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Luke
     
    The guy named Nick led me through
the trees, probably having no idea where he was going. But I didn’t
care. Anywhere was better than that motel.
    I didn’t bother trying to start a
conversation. Sure, I met someone like me. But we were avoiding
Nick’s past at the moment. Avoiding a past that I didn’t know
about.
    “ Hey, Nick,” I said. “Are you
going to tell me about what happened back there?” Nick kept walking
ahead of me, not looking back. He just kept silent, thinking and
leading the way.
    “ It’s a long story. I’ll tell you
when we have the time. But, right now, that’s what we don’t have.”
I shut up after that, letting him lead the way. He started
whispering to himself, turning his head in many directions, taking
sharp turns. I almost lost him a few times.
    After doing that for about half an
hour, Nick finally stopped and sat against a tree, looking up at
the stars. I stood in front of him, looking down
confused.
    “ We’ll stay here for the rest of
the night. You can sleep. I’ll take watch.” He watched me as I laid
down in the dirt,