Shadowed: Where I Stray

By Maryam Mozaffer

Dixon is an 18 year old boy engulfed in the world of darkness since birth. He is able to manipulate shadows by merely thinking it which causes most creatures to run away from him. But everything changes when he meets Cheryl. A strange girl with an unknown background who is chased by a great evil. She has no memories of her past life and has only one purpose. With her by his side, Dixon is forced to face great dangers in order to protect the ones he loves.
This book is written and illustrated by Maryam Mozaffer.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jul 6, 2014
• ISBN: 9781312333741

Book preview

Shadowed: Where I Stray

Shadowed

Where I Stray…

By maryam mozaffer

Shadowed: Where I Stray

Copyright © 2014 Maryam Mozaffer

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-312-33374-1

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1 Disturbances

Chapter 2 New Entry: Cheryl

Chapter 3 Duet Duty

Chapter 4 Falsely Charged

Chapter 5 Shelter

Chapter 5.5 – Curse Marks

Chapter 6 Who is Cheryl?

Chapter 7 In the Midst of Everything

Chapter 8 Tailed

Chapter 9 The Screaming Eye

Chapter 10 Siblings

Chapter 11 The Shock

Chapter 12 In his Shadow

Chapter 13 The Drive to Drive

Chapter 14 Thief

Chapter 15 Truth behind the Shards

Chapter 16 Nightmare

Chapter 17 Reunion

Chapter 18 Gain over Loss

Chapter 19 Cloudy day

Chapter 20 Dusk

Chapter 21 Infiltration

Chapter 22 Target Acquired

Chapter 23 Unplanned Leave

Chapter 24 Recruitment

Chapter 25 Enemy Alert

Chapter 26 Slither some by

Chapter 27 Trapped

Chapter 28 Struggle

Chapter 28.5 The Trigger

Prologue

Can anyone tell me what I’m doing is wrong?

Can anyone say that it is despicable, inconceivable, and yet I’m still doing it? Does anyone dare to confront me at all?

Silence.

I thought so. All of them cowards. Can’t even stop me from taking the golden box from the Casto’s room. That old geezer might never even notice it’s missing.

I stood on the metal window sill, looking down from several floors above. The flats were all adjoined, running along a line from one corner of the street to the other. Parallel lines of flats, connected by metal stairs that zigzagged in between them, were occupied by tons of people. Each of them had their window shutters down by nightfall as they had no desire for falling into the hands of trouble. Trouble that I usually brought with me, they said, while doing my night duties.

Trouble… it was something I’d long since stopped worrying about. I had other important things to do now. For example, at the moment, I was surrounded by the night creatures who were all here for the small golden cube in my hand. Vicious, lime yellow eyes glowed in the dark, fixed at the box. I gripped it hard, the corner of my mouth turning upwards in a half smile.

‘Hmp!’

Their pointed, cat-like black ears twitched at the sound of my voice. I put my right leg forward and let myself fall. My smile broadened as the little black creatures all dived in after me. The wind thrashed at my face but I kept my eyes open. It was as if all the windows of the flats were running upwards past me rapidly. I swooped past the metal stairs one by one, counting them… 9, 8, 7, 6, 5….

The third was my stop. Still clutching the box, I stretched my arms out in time to grab the metal railing and swing myself onto the steps. I looked up; the creatures were already sitting on the 4th set of staircase and the window sills all around. I grinned.

I knew it. They know better than to attack me head on. Clever… but still cowardly.

It was darker down there as the moonlight seldom reached the lowest floors. I slowly tiptoed towards the metal door that would lead me inside the flat. However, that was not how I got around in this place. With one hand on the railing, I lifted myself onto it; my feet perfectly balanced. I glanced up one last time to make sure the creatures kept their distance. They hadn’t moved an inch closer, to my content. Then I pushed the railing with my feet hard enough to send me flying a few feet away and onto a very old, rusted windowsill; my windowsill. I slipped in.

Chapter 1 Disturbances

Shadows were approaching.

The tiny figure rushed through the forest. Branches flayed at her, scratching her arms that she used to shield herself with. The girl hissed in pain and muttered something under her breath. It was dead of the night and she was not supposed to be here. Trouble followed her everywhere she went but evading it would have been easier, had she not been blinded by the darkness. If only she could remember why she came here in the first place, she wouldn’t feel so lost. Leaves rustled from the trees above, followed by a twig snapping. She cocked her head upwards, stopping dead in her trail. More leaves rustled and the girl squinted into the darkness.

A pair of lime-yellow eyes flicked on suddenly, glaring down at her. The girl’s eyes widened and fear was strewn across her face. She broke into a run again, without glancing back this time. Her heart raced faster than her feet and she balled her hands to fists, literally knocking the branches out of the way. That night, the moon was a thin semi-circular line that looked like an upside down smile. It was usually interpreted as a sign of bad luck.

Another twig snapped and the girl was forced to come to a halt as the source of the sound was right in front of her. She held her breath while taking a step back. The glowing eyes, floating two feet above ground, neared her. The girl backed away further, her feet hit a root on the ground, tripping her. She fell back hard onto several more of the thick roots and looked up fearfully. The eyes were stationary. In only a matter of seconds, a strange voice emanated from the creature.

The girl’s hands flew up to cover her ears in fear of the sound. It was a mix between a cat’s meow and the mourning of a human child. Only after several other pairs of yellow eyes surrounded her, did she realize that it hadn’t been an attack. The creature had called out to its companions. She was trapped!

I exhaled in irritation.

‘Pft… always asking me to do the dirty work. Why do people tread places they’re not supposed to and always leave the rescuing to me? Can’t a guy get some peace around here?’

Nothing could be done about that. These creatures were turning out to be quite troublesome. I ran a hand through my crisp hair, ceased by frustration as I stomped through the forest. The wind blew and branches shivered at my arrival. The forest knew me too well. I was wearing my favorite black leather jacket that night. I grabbed a spiked twig, tearing it from the tree trunk and tossed it onto the ground.

Their ears twitched in my direction and I grinned. Some of them were already backing away. The rest of them now had their gazes fixed at me. I could slightly make out the little girl curled up in a ball, hugging her knees. My eyes had well adjusted to the dark through years of constantly being dragged out at night to fulfill my duties. I stopped only a few feet away from the little girl and let my eyes meet the glowing ones that were closest to her.

The creature had one skinny dark arm raised with three metallic fingers. My brow cocked upwards and the creature froze. I knew the reason well for its fear. My shadow was growing behind me, enlarging. Even in the dark it had always existed and was the one thing every living being was afraid of.

The shadow took the form of a dark, creepy figure. Its cape flailed on the ground as if being swept by wind. A long scythe formed in the figure’s hand. More creatures disappeared as the shadow started to rise from the ground to take its original form. Seeing the scythe, stained with blood and wrapped in old bandages, the creature’s hand quickly retrieved and it backed away.

‘Boo,’ I muttered, and to my satisfaction, they all fled.

I sighed and my shadow reverted back to normal. My gaze drifted towards the girl again. She was trembling. I stood there for about an entire minute thinking whether to leave her here. ‘She has ventured into the forest all by herself, she should be able to get out just as easily.’

My eyes caught sight of her red arms. ‘But in that condition… I doubt it.’

I used the door this time to carry her inside, since I couldn’t just jump onto the windowsill with her. Besides, she was already unconscious by the time we were out of the forest. She barely even knew she was being carried the whole way. ‘This kid,’ I wondered, ‘what would someone small as her be doing in a forbidden place at night? Does she deliberately want to get herself killed?’

I opened the door to my tiny apartment and walked in. Everything was exactly how I’d left it. Empty; except for the few couches that had only recently been shifted here. Without giving it a second thought, I lay the girl down onto the long couch. She was small enough to sink into it comfortably. Her long silvery blond hair blanketed her in waves, although the yellow in it was barely visible.

I stretched my arms up in the air and yawned lazily, while tiptoeing toward my room. I shut the door behind me. My room was the only place that showed some sign of civilization. There was a single, worn out mattress, a desk with a computer resting on top, a side table whose drawers were all hanging open. I never got the time to get it fixed because time was something I never had much of.

I walked across the pile of dirty clothes that were lying on the floor, skipping over them, and slumped onto the mattress. I felt my like someone had just removed a heavy load off my back. The best part about my work was when I retired to my bed. It always felt like heaven and my mind would straight away be at ease.

Closing my eyes and taking deep breaths, I tried to relieve myself completely of my worries and surrender to the sleep that waited.

Two minutes passed and my peace was shattered by the sudden gust of wind through the window. I frowned, opening one eye to see that, as usual, I’d left the window open. Sighing heavily I got to my feet, dragging them towards the window. My arms ached as I reached for the shutter when another swipe of wind made me lose my balance and I fell on my back. My fall was softened thanks to the mattress that heaved underneath me.

I stared up with my mouth half open. The closet door banged shut all of a sudden and my head snapped toward it sideways. I was on my feet again, rushing towards the door of my room, yanking it open. I hurried outside, only to clarify my suspicions. My gaze fixed at the empty couch, the girl was gone. I breathed in deeply.

‘It was too strange for the wind to blow hard enough to knock me down. I should’ve known. That was no ordinary girl.’

My back started to ache again and so I dragged myself back inside, not caring what happened to the girl. It was never my business, nor was it ever my style to poke into others’ businesses so I was at ease. Sleep caught me off guard after I closed my eyes and I slept through the night without any further disturbances.

Morning came with the dim light of the sun pouring through the slits of the shutter. However it was still as quiet as the previous night outside. I blinked and rubbed my eyes, stretching my mouth open for the oncoming yawn. One hand groped for the alarm clock that was supposed to have started ringing by now. I looked at the time, it said three a.m. I rubbed my eyes again, to make sure whether I was reading it correctly. Nope. It was still three.

‘But how’s that possible…’ I trailed off, opening the window shutter. The sunlight hit my face, blinding me for a split second. I covered my eyes.

‘It’s morning, then why is my clock¬–’ I thought while glancing at it in the light this time, only to realize that it had stopped working. I dropped it onto the mattress like I couldn’t care less about it and went to wash my face.

Inside the bathroom, I looked up at my reflection in the mirror. Nothing but the mature face of an eighteen year old, with short, crispy dark hair and shiny black eyes that now seemed deprived of sleep, even though I’d slept but who knows for how long.

‘Stupid clock stops working in the middle of the night…’ I muttered to myself while splashing cold water onto my face.

The streets were all vacant as I stepped out into the sun, half struggling with my black coat. I looked up at the flats; all the shutters were still down. My brows creased. They looked duller than ever with that silent atmosphere that had been roaming around. I noticed cracks running up the buildings at several spots. I walked slowly with narrowed eyes as if inspecting a crime scene. The buildings always had cracks but tiny ones here and there.

These didn’t seem to fit in the description of ‘tiny’ that well. The cracks were deep and ran up and down in a non-uniform zigzag pattern. The hot rays of the sun fell on my head, creating a shadow on the wall beside. I stopped to notice where the shadow boy was looking. I followed its gaze up towards a metal staircase, just above my head.

My eyes widened as they took in the view of the broken metal rods hanging loosely in mid-air.

‘Something must’ve happened.’ I noted to myself and dashed forward, towards the town Square. It took me about ten minutes to reach the end of the road where all the lines of flats ended, from every direction. It was the town Square, situated in the complete center of Palace, the town. My throat itched and I swallowed. I hadn’t had breakfast yet, and was going to have it here in a nearby restaurant but I guessed that wasn’t going to happen today.

The square was empty as well. All the surrounding shops had their metal shutters down and locked, with not a single person in sight. I cautiously slipped a hand in my coat pocket to feel for the thing that mattered most while I scanned the area.

My eyes went wide in shock when my hand came out empty. I quickly searched my other pockets. A knot started to tighten in my stomach. No luck. ‘Damn. Where did that thing go? I remember putting it here…’

I still fumbled into my pockets repeatedly, just in case my hand might have missed it but again, no luck. I was sure of it now, the cube was missing. I cursed myself under my breath. How could it have just disappeared like that? I’d stolen it from the Casto’s room several nights ago. It had remained in my pocket ever since. I was lost in thought when a sudden tap on my shoulder made me jerk my head sideways in anger.

‘What?’ I snapped at the person standing behind me.

When nobody answered, I spun around in agitation, only to find no one nearby. I stared blankly for a moment, thinking whether I’d been imagining things due to lack of proper sleep. My imagination was cut short, however, by a sudden sound of glass shattering nearby. My heart lurched in excitement and I dashed towards the source of the sound. It came from inside a dark alleyway that was located in between two small, hut-like shaped shops.

‘Hey!’ I called, my voice high with confidence, when I saw a small figure disappear off into the other end of the alley. I quickened my pace, jumping over old, used boxes and wrappers. When I turned the corner, I heard footsteps move quickly away from me at the sound of my feet. I stopped, thinking it was better to deceive the enemy than to chase after it announcing my arrival.

I tiptoed towards the nearest dumpster and crouched down beside it, waiting. Silence filled the air. I could feel the dampness at the back of my neck due to the heat. What made it worse was that there were no shopkeepers yelling out their sales, nor were there any customers jostling about the stalls. Their faint voices, always ringing in my ears, made me feel at ease, knowing that everyone was busy with their lives. I rubbed the back of my neck in restlessness.

My thoughts were slightly interrupted by the sound of something shifting. My body stiffened behind the dumpster and I withdrew my hand quickly as the person started walking this way. The person was walking cautiously. I braced myself to tackle the enemy and to catch him off-guard but I was mistaken. The person’s shadow hovered over me. Without thinking much, I jumped out from behind the large dumpster. Hands in front of me like claws, I let out a provoking yell.

‘Aargh!’

The person jumped in alarm and fell backwards into a sitting position. She stared up at me with large, frightened blue eyes. I froze at the sight of her face. Silver strands of hair rested over her shoulders and all the way down to her knees as if to protect her from any external harm. I quickly straightened myself, feeling a little embarrassed that I had let myself get too far this time. I didn’t quite feel at ease though, since she was the same girl who happened to mysteriously disappear from the living room couch last night. Even though she looked fragile and innocent, that gave me no reason to believe she wasn’t up to anything. It was time to inquire.

‘You know I saved you from those creatures last night…’ I started, waiting for her to respond. Her head made a small but detectable movement that was close to a nod.

‘And then I brought you to my place and let you sleep on the couch.’

This time, she just gaped at me with unblinking eyes. It was hard to deduce what she was thinking.

‘Then you¬–’ I was saying but stopped when I saw her right hand move to grip her other arm slowly and probably even subconsciously as she was still looking at me. I let my gaze drop to the arm she was trying to cover, there were red stains all over it.

‘The hell happened to you?’ I blurted out, crouching down in front of her, distracted for a moment.

She blinked at last, snapping out of wherever her mind had been for the past few seconds, and looked down at her hand flipping the palm side up as if just noticing the blood smeared on it. I reached for the left arm and lifted it to examine properly. The strangest thing was that she didn’t even object or try to withdraw her hand. ‘She must really be scared of me then,’ I thought with a slight chuckle which didn’t last long when my eyes spotted the tiny, golden colored shards of glass pierced into her skin. They were so small that I hadn’t known they were there until my fingers poked them.

I glanced at her face, worried she might start crying or something, but she showed no emotions.

‘These are stuck in too deep.’ She didn’t respond. I poked at the shards once again, seeing if I could somehow pull them out. It was useless, so I took out a handkerchief to wipe away the blood at the least. The girl sat mutely.

‘Does it hurt?’ I dabbed a little.

She nodded.

‘Well, you’re able to endure it so…’

The girl shook her head slightly. I cocked up an eyebrow in disbelief.

‘Talk about crazy, if it hurts then say something, damn it! Don’t just sit there idle. Can you move your arm?’

She shook her head and I understood finally why she hadn’t simply retrieved her hand before, because she couldn’t.

‘You must’ve dislocated it. How did this happen?’

I expected her to tell something at least but she acted as if I wasn’t there. She stood up quietly, I let go of her arm as she did. Then she turned to walk away. I narrowed my eyes, standing up. The girl was limping slightly.

‘Hey, wait,’ I called after her but she started to walk faster instead. I didn’t try to follow her this time. ‘She is terrified of me,’ I thought and started to retrace my own steps when my eyes caught sight of something dark swoop past me in air. I froze.

The next second, a loud, piercing scream tore through my eardrums and I felt a cold shiver run down my back. With my brows raised high, I half turned in surprise, just in time to see a white flash emanate from the left turning, presumably where the girl had gone. There was a loud thud of a heavy metal hitting ground. The light shone vibrantly for a short instant and then faded away just as quickly.

I watched with a benumbed expression. Seconds ticked by and I heard no other sound, nor was there any more light coming from the turning. A cold breeze blew over my face and I shuddered. I shook away the feeling and urged my feet forward. I walked to the end of the alleyway where the turning lay. I held my breath, shutting my eyes, and made a right turn, only to be left dumbfounded, for there facing me at the moment, was a dead end.

I was sure the girl had just been here because a cylindrical shaped metal trashcan was lying on the floor, its smelly contents scattered around.

‘Where did she disappear to then? And what was that thing just now…’ I mused aloud.

Chapter 2 New Entry: Cheryl

The tiny figure was hunched in a corner, gripping her left arm painfully. Her eyes were red due to fatigue and her breathing was rapid. Sweat traced down the side of her forehead. The girl was in a small square shaped room with metal bars that started from one end of the wall to the other; just like in a prison cell. There was nowhere she could run to now. Her lips were dry.

‘Water…’ she whispered in a shaky voice.

The glass on the table in front of her began to tremble slightly. The girl narrowed her eyes, taking in deeper breaths which made it seem like she was having an asthma attack. She tried to focus her eyes on the glass of water but her vision was blurry. The glass kept revolving around repeatedly. She clutched her left arm tighter, digging her nails just around the area where the golden shards rested.

The shards glowed slightly. She clenched her teeth