Shadows in the Rain

By Fiona Flanagan

Ben is an ordinary teenager, until one day he meets Seth, a mysterious boy who seems determined to destroy Ben's life. Struggling to find out why this is happening to him, Ben finds his past, present and future being stripped away. Can he find out the truth, and will it save him, or condemn him?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fiona Flanagan
• Release date: Nov 26, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301523535

Book preview

Shadows in the Rain

Fiona Flanagan

First published by Fiona Flanagan at Smashwords 2012

Copyright 2012 Fiona Flanagan

This ebook may not be resold. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Cover illustration by Kit Foster Design Kit Foster Design - Home

Chapter 1

He lay on the ground, groaning; liquid moans that sounded as though they came from somewhere outside of him. He clasped his hands tightly over the hole in his stomach as the vivid blood coursed an ever-expanding river down his t-shirt and trousers. He was more aware of the cold hard ground underneath him and its discomfort than of any pain from his wound. Why is that, he wondered, but the thought flew away in the face of his overwhelming effort to stay here, to stay on the ground waiting for something, some help or saviour.

He didn’t know how long he’d been here. Some part of him felt it had been forever, but his mind argued that it had only been minutes. He knew, though, that these were minutes he couldn’t afford to lose. He needed help, and he needed it quickly. His hands were feeling weak and numb, and he didn’t know how much longer he could hold it all in. Someone would pass by soon – someone had to. He couldn’t lie here forever, until…….But that wouldn’t happen, someone would come.

He was dimly aware of the dark figure still lurking somewhere nearby; still watching, waiting to see what would happen……

Ben’s mind floated back to the day this had all started. It seemed incredible, the way it had happened. He’d been caught by this enemy, this monster, the way people usually catch a cold; just passed by and got in its way. That day had been heavy with clouds and drizzling rain. The thick mist which hung through the air seemed to close everything in and blur the edges of the world – the kind of weather it was easy to hide in.

He’d been walking home from school, the other school kids drifting off in myriad directions, none of which matched his own. Ben lived in a large converted barn on the other side of town, and the only route between home and school took Ben through what was cheerfully referred to as a community woodland. He would follow a broad winding stream which delved deeper and deeper through tall pines and oaks until the city woodland looked more like a small patch of dense forest.

Ben loved this walk. The sounds of the traffic disappeared as the woods closed in, until you could imagine yourself in another time and place altogether. There was usually a succession of dog-walkers and ramblers wandering through the woods, but today the sky was platinum and heavy, as though the clouds were pressing down on the air. It seemed everyone had decided to avoid the impending storm, and Ben was alone. The rushing sound of the stream, already swollen from several days of rain, filled the air, and Ben almost imagined he could see shapes dancing through the tumbling water.

A movement up ahead caught Ben’s attention. Something dark had briefly crossed the path – he wondered if a dog had escaped its owner, although the shape had seemed too tall to be a dog. The first heavy droplets of rain splashed down, playing a sharp staccato as they hit the leaves above Ben’s head. He looked up at the sky, grimacing at the dark clouds. When he looked back at the path ahead, he flinched – the dark shape crossed the path again, this time right in front of him. It was gone before he could see what it was, leaving only a fleeting impression of something tall and dark. What could it have been? Ben glanced up at the clouds again. Perhaps it had simply been a trick of the light; the shadow of a bird flying overhead. There was scarcely enough light though to cast any shadows; the daylight itself seemed to be retreating from the storm’s approach. Forcing himself to look around, he examined every direction for a sign of life. There was nothing to be seen. Ben continued on, but he couldn’t now shake the feeling that someone or something was watching him, tracking his progress through the woods. A moment later a blinding fork of lightning pierced the sky, and in the split second of total brightness, Ben saw someone to his right, standing still among the trees. A jolt of fear shot through him, but a second later there seemed to be nothing there but the grey rain. He jerked in shock at the ear-splitting crack of thunder which followed. Casting wary looks around him, he increased his pace as the rain hammered down, soaking through his clothes and making it impossible to see clearly in any direction. It was with more than a little relief that he gained the safety of home.

Ben woke next day to a cold grey morning which held the threat of yet more rain. The sharp fear of yesterday’s journey home had faded, leaving only a vague feeling of doubt about what he’d seen. His parents were bustling about in their usual rush to their respective offices. Ben didn’t mention anything about yesterday’s strange events; his parents would have scoffed at stories of dark shapes and half-glimpsed strangers.

Half an hour later as he set off through the woods to school, Ben listened to the morning’s stillness; the birds sang their usual refrain, and the rush of the stream no longer sounded threatening. By the time he was halfway through the woods, Ben had decided that the strange sightings of yesterday had simply been a trick of the light. He had almost reached the final stretch of path leading from the woods when he heard a voice calling behind him.

‘Hey! Hold up.’

Ben turned to see a lean, dark-haired boy striding towards him, a wide grin on his face.

‘Hi,’ the boy smiled, holding his hand out to Ben. Ben shook it quickly, thinking what an odd greeting it was for someone his age. The boy’s skin was cold and smooth, and perfectly matched the fixed smile on his face.

‘Are you heading to school?’ the boy asked.

‘Yes,’ said Ben. ‘Is this your first day? Don’t you have a uniform?’

The boy glanced down at his clothes. He was wearing worn grey jeans and a faded brown jacket, an outfit which made him seem almost a part of the surrounding woods.

‘No, I don’t suppose I do. What’s your name?’

‘Ben. Ben Harris. What’s yours?’ said Ben.

The boy stared at Ben without answering for a moment, then said ‘Seth. My name’s Seth.’

Ben nodded, unsure what to say next. The boy’s pale cool gaze unnerved him.

‘May I walk with you?’ Seth asked.

Trying to ignore the reluctance he felt, Ben nodded and walked on, Seth falling into step beside him. A few moments passed in silence. Ben wondered where Seth lived – Ben’s house stood right through the woods, and the nearest houses after that belonged to an estate which included another less successful school. Perhaps Seth’s parents, like Ben’s, had ensured that he was sent to a better school.

‘So, you walk this way every day?’ Seth’s voice cut into Ben’s thoughts.

‘Yeah,’ answered Ben. ‘Every day I have to go to school, anyway.’ He smiled at Seth, but Seth just looked levelly back at him. Looking away, Ben tried to think of something else to say.

‘So, where do you live? Are you over on the Maxwell estate?’

Again, Seth didn’t answer for a moment, then he said softly ‘I live near you.’

Ben’s head snapped round. ‘How would you know where I live?’

Seth gazed ahead, looking completely unperturbed. ‘I must live near you, mustn’t I? We’re both walking the same way after all.’ He suddenly gave Ben a piercing look. ‘I wouldn’t want you to think I’m following you, Ben.’

Ben didn’t speak for a moment; it had indeed crossed his mind for a second that Seth might have been following him. He must have been more spooked by yesterday than he’d realised.

‘No, I don’t think that. I….’ Ben’s voice trailed away. He felt as though he was being led in circles by Seth’s conversation. They walked the rest of the way in silence. When they reached the path which led down to the school’s side gate, Ben paused. ‘You should probably go in the main gate on your first day – they’ll want to introduce you at assembly.’ Seth nodded thoughtfully, then without saying another word he turned and walked away.

Ben’s day at school was as uneventful as ever. He saw no sign of Seth; he wasn’t at assembly and didn’t turn up in any of Ben’s classes.

At the end of the day, Ben headed off towards the woods, looking around for Seth. He didn’t particularly want the odd boy’s company again, but he wanted to know why he hadn’t appeared to be at school at all. There was no sign of Seth coming through the gates, however, so Ben continued into the woods alone. He had walked for five minutes when he saw something up ahead again. His breath quickened as he imagined a repeat of yesterday, but a second later he saw it was Seth, leaning lazily against a tree. He grinned his cold smile again as Ben neared.

‘I didn’t see you at school,’ Ben said. ‘How did you get ahead of me? I was looking out for you.’

Seth stared at Ben as though he was considering something.

‘How nice that you thought of me,’ he said, as though he found the fact highly amusing. ‘I was indeed there, and I left early, which allowed me to be ahead of you as you put it.’ He smiled again, and strode over to join Ben.

They walked along in silence until they came to a bend in the stream, when Seth suddenly stopped. ‘Look at that!’ he said, hurrying down to the edge of the stream.

Ben had no idea what he’d seen, and could see nothing of interest himself. Seth reached the water’s edge and peered into the stream, then turned back to Ben.

‘Come on, come down and see this. You won’t believe it.’

Ben moved down the bank to stand beside Seth.

‘I can’t see anything. What is it?’

‘Lean closer,’ urged Seth. ‘You won’t see it from there.’

Sighing, Ben crouched right down beside Seth, who was now on his knees by the water. Ignoring the annoyance he was feeling towards Seth, he bent forward to look into the stream, and before he realised what was happening, he was grabbed by the back of the head and pushed forcefully into the water. He tried to pull himself up, but he was pressed firmly under. His hands thrashed for purchase on the cold slippery stones, but Seth was far stronger than he looked, and Ben could not break free of his grip. In panic, he gulped a mouthful of cold water, his mind racing as he fought desperately to escape. One cold clear thought filtered through his desperate struggling; Seth was holding him down too long for this to be some stupid childish prank. Was Seth really going to kill him? Disjointed images of his teacher telling the class how children could drown in a few inches of water swam through his mind. As he fought to hold his breath and avoid taking in more water, he felt himself begin to dissolve into dimness.

As suddenly as he had forced Ben into the stream, Seth released him. Ben fell limply into the water. A second later he felt himself being dragged up roughly and dumped by the water’s edge. Gasping desperately for breath, he retched, painfully bringing up the water from his lungs. He lay there, gasping raggedly, until the renewed onset of rain roused him from his shocked stupor, the heavy drops splashing loudly into the stream beside him and stinging his face with their force. He lifted himself up slowly, wincing at the numerous cuts the rocks had made in his hands. Wiping his face with a trembling hand, he found blood coming from a cut on his forehead.

Ben staggered up the bank to the path, looking wildly around for Seth, but he was completely alone now. He shook uncontrollably as he made his way slowly and painfully along the path between the trees, his feet dragging and stumbling at times. Water from the stream and the rain mingled with the blood from his forehead and ran down his face. He passed a bench nestled by clumps of bushes, and sank onto it. He looked down at himself for the first time; his trousers were ripped from being forced over the rough stones, his shirt and jacket were covered in mud, and he was getting wetter by the minute.

After a few minutes he got up and carried on, anticipating his parents’ reaction to the mess he was in. They wouldn’t see the worst of it; Ben would be cleaned up by the time they came home from work.

The light was fading quickly as he neared home; despite being summer, the thick blanket of dark clouds made the afternoon seem more like twilight. The house was shrouded in semi-darkness, and a thought struck Ben; perhaps Seth did know where he lived? He made his way cautiously to the door, his heart seeming to pound in his head rather than his chest. He fumbled clumsily with the door key, and when the door finally opened, he stumbled through before slamming it closed behind him.

He turned on every light switch he passed as he headed upstairs, and then went to examine his face in the bathroom mirror as he filled the bathtub. The rain-streaked blood stood out sharply against his dark hair and shockingly pale face. The cut looked a lot worse than it really was. He didn’t think it needed much more than a good clean.

Half an hour later he was bathed and was feeling slightly calmer. He went into his bedroom, which overlooked the woods, glancing out of the window at the darkly marbled sky as he alternated between pacing the room and sitting restlessly on his bed, checking the clock every few minutes, although his parents worked long hours and wouldn’t be home for an hour or two yet. He tried to lie down for a while, but his mind was too restless. Eventually he wandered over to the window again, and shock tore the breath from his throat; the light from the garage door flooded the driveway, where a sinister black shape writhed across the driveway, heading for the woods. It appeared to have little substance, like a moving shadow; the same thing he’d seen on the path in the woods the other day, he was sure of it. As the smoky shape neared the fingers of darkness creeping in from the woods, it seemed to take on an almost human form, before melting completely into the surrounding blackness. Gripping onto the windowsill, Ben was horribly aware that the thing had been watching his window; had known he was inside that room.

Chapter 2

‘Ben! You’re going to be late!’ The high, impatient voice of his mother pulled Ben from the dark safety of sleep. The sharp clack of her heels echoed down the stairs, leaving him staring blearily out of his open curtains at a grey sky shot through with pink cirrus clouds. Red sky in the morning, shepherds warning…. The bizarre and terrifying events of yesterday raced back into Ben’s mind in vivid detail. He closed his eyes again. It all seemed like some awful dream; a nightmare which surely couldn’t have actually happened. Could some boy he’d just met really have tried to kill him?

His answer came as soon as he tried to get up; a wave of sharp pain and dizziness shot through him, pulling him back onto the bed. Every bit of him ached, and as he put his head in his hands and waited for the room to stay still, his fingers dragged against the cut on his forehead. Pulling his hand away, he saw that he’d pulled the cut open again, leaving a smear of blood on his fingers. He absently wiped his hand on his trouser leg, and then cursed as he looked down. He was still fully dressed; the last thing he could remember was anxiously curling up on his bed, waiting for the reassuring sounds of his parents’ return. The memory pulled him up short. They must have wondered where he was when they’d come home. Hadn’t they been curious? Hadn’t they even looked in to make sure he was there?

A moment later he heard his mother cross the drive, quickly followed by the soft clunk of the car door opening. He made his way carefully over to the window. He knew there could be nothing there now, but he still felt a thrill of fear as he looked out, just in time to see his mother climb into her car. For a moment he desperately wished she would look up at his window. He imagined her brow creasing in shock at the sight of his cut and bleeding forehead; saw her hurrying back inside and up the stairs to tend to him and make everything feel safe again. But a second later the car door clunked heavily closed, and the car purred up the driveway and out of sight.

It wouldn’t be long now before his father left the house too. Perhaps it would be better to wait here until the house was empty. That way he wouldn’t have to face any questions, wouldn’t have to try to tell his father what had happened without letting out the anger and humiliation and shock which bubbled inside him. On the other hand, letting his father leave would mean having to walk through the woods to school again. As quickly as he could, Ben struggled into fresh clothes.

He said nothing to his father as he entered the kitchen; he knew that no greeting would be expected from him. As he approached the table, his father glanced up from the papers he was sorting into his briefcase. His jaw visibly dropped as he did a double-take, his eyes jerking to Ben’s forehead.

‘What happened to you?’ he demanded. ‘Have you been in a fight? What have you done?’

Ben was so shocked by the instantly aggressive tone in his father’s voice that he was momentarily speechless. He opened his mouth to reply, but didn’t get a chance to utter a sound.

‘If you think you’re starting this now, boy……you have never been in trouble at that school, and you’re old enough to know better than starting now. If I have to deal with violent behaviour from you now…...well??’

The trembling anger in his father’s voice sent Ben’s thoughts reeling. He had expected…... well, he wasn’t sure what he’d expected. His parents paid him little attention, and he returned