Free The Shadow People: A paranormal short story by Pepper Pace Page A

didn’t need to revive memories of their friendship to miss her so deeply that her entire body ached.  This loneliness had settled around Dani until she felt saturated in it. There was nothing else but this loneliness and this fear.
    She powered up the desktop computer, knowing that it would take a long time before it warmed up.  It was a dinosaur of a computer, the same one that her Mother had bought for her on her sixteenth birthday … seven long years ago.  Unintentionally thinking about her mother and Patricia and turning sixteen made her hands tremble and the panic slithered up her spine. 
    Her intent had been to turn on the teapot so that she could make instant coffee but instead she settled into her ratty yet comfortable reclining chair. It was covered in an afghan that Mama had made years ago, which caused her to feel very secure every time she sat in it.
    Dani opened her notebook, disregarding the half finished sentence that hung there on the page. The sentence and thought was disregarded, no longer needed, it’s purpose already served. Dani began scribbling again, about a different subject, about that day when this entire shit had started. They had been sixteen and Patricia had told her a secret that she should have never spoken of … and then that secret had then become hers to bear.
     

     
    Sweet sixteen parties never meant anything to Danielle when she was not the most popular girl in high school, nor desired to be.  She didn’t want a car since she didn’t drive, didn’t want lots of high fashion clothes since the only thing she ever wore were chucks, jeans and t-shirts.  She wanted a computer and to maybe have a sleep-over with a few of her friends.  For her, that would be a sweet sixteen.
    When Mama surprised her with a computer, Dani had been in a state of sheer joy.  She didn’t think her mother would do it; could afford it but she had managed it.  Dani understood the sacrifice.  Her mother was single and there was no father around to help out.  Mama worked two jobs to give them a comfortable life; and in return Dani did little to stress her out. 
    Her three best friends came over and they played on the internet, using a free AOL disc to surf the unknown territories of cyberspace.  It was so fun, but Mama made them get off of it after three hours so they popped popcorn and watched movies and told horror stories.  Dani was the best at telling stories. She wanted to be a writer and had already written a poem that had been published in the local community section of their newspaper.  The new computer would help her write a real novel and that was her biggest wish--to be a published novelist.
    Crystal began by telling them about an urban legend that ended with a veterinarian telling a family to step away from their newly found puppy because ‘that’s not a dog—it’s a giant poisonous African rat!’  Everyone laughed and shivered, but mostly laughed. 
    Neecy told a story about a maniac that had kept girls trapped in his basement as sex slaves, which then caused them to begin talking in hushed voices about sex. Sex was still a mystery that none of them had broached and contemplating a day when they would no longer be virgins seemed a distant dream.  And then Dani had given them each a solemn look.
    “Okay, what I’m about to tell you isn’t a fake story.  This is real.”  Dani noticed that the smile had fallen from Patricia’s mouth and her eyes had taken on a strange look.  Dani almost didn’t tell her story because of that stricken look on Patricia’s face.  With a slight frown, Dani put the look aside for later analysis and she plunged forward.  “Does … anyone else see things before they happen?”
    Charron nodded.  “That’s called Dejavu.”
    “Everybody gets that.” Crystal added.
    Dani paused and then with a slight swallow she continued.  “I saw my grandmother’s funeral before it happened.”
    Neecy raised a brow.  “Girl, I don’t believe in