Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Ouija ❯ The Shadow ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Title: Ouija
Author: La Lune
E-mail: la_lune86@hotmail.com
Website: www.geocities.com/la_lune86
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Alternate Reality

::Standard Disclaimers Apply::

---------------------------------------------------
'The basis of optimism is sheer terror.'
-Oscar Wilde

---------------------------------------------------

Chapter 3: The Shadow


Serena silently thanked God it was Friday, that meant she had
two whole days before she had to see Darien again. Hallelujah, praise
Jesus! Serena immediately thought of the Trinity Broadcasting
Network and smiled, the fact that people actually sent them money
never ceased to amaze her. She herself wasn't exactly a 'religious' type.
When she lived with her parents the family had gone to church every
week, it had been over ten years since that phenomena had occurred.

Warm yellow light softly illuminated Serena's living room,
including the cream-colored 'Fitzgerald Chair' Serena presently found
herself curled up in. It was at times like these when a certain sentence
found its way into Serena's head: 'God bless Bombay Company'. It was
true though, Serena found herself able to spend thousands of dollars
during one visit, she just couldn't resist, everything seemed to catch her
eye. Besides weren't women supposed to be shop-o-holics? Serena
wasn't that obsessed with shopping...except when it came to her three
primary material weaknesses - clothing, furniture, and jewelry.

She sat facing the oversized, ornate marble fireplace, the focal
point of the room. Too bad she would never be able to use it, that
would involve something along the lines of lighting a match, and that
just wasn't going to happen. It was a shame though, she could just
picture herself curled up in front of it reading a book as it cast a
reassuring orange glow for her to read by, instead of the harsh artificial
light projected by the lamp situated next to her chair. In all truth
though, Serena realized the absolute foolishness of her phobia, but
could never bring herself to overcome it. Besides, it wasn't like there
was a support group she could meet with.

In her lap rested 'The Other Side and Back' by Sylvia Browne,
beside her chair two other books were stacked, 'Life on the Other Side'
and 'Adventures of a Psychic', both also by Sylvia Browne. Serena
simply adored Sylvia and believed every word, written or spoken that
came from her being. She owned every book she had written, and read
each of them numerous times, she was currently waiting impatiently for
her latest 'Past Lives, Future Healing' to arrive, until then the others
would have to do.

Eddie lounged in front of the fireplace basking in the glow
from the lamp on her beige 'Aubusson Hook Rug', another Bombay
Company find. Serena yawned slowly and lowered the book from her
gaze, she gasped, slightly startled by what she saw causing her to drop
her book and lose her page. The soft thud of her book impacting with
the floor was deafening. It was happening again. There was no barking
this time, but the intensely penetrating gaze was still the same. Eddie's
eyes were seeing, and at the same time - blind. His dark eyes almost
immediately met Serena's, her startled ice-blue irises dissipated
somewhat as the inky pupils slowly expanded. He was staring at her,
and just as before she felt invisible. Her presence seemed to have been
forgotten, but the presence she had the uncanny feeling was standing
behind her was not.

Not again.

The feeling of fierce alarm came over Serena as she swiftly
turned around, expecting to see Hannibal Lecter or John Doe to be
standing there. Instead she saw nothing, well at least no cannibals or
nut jobs obsessed with the seven deadly sins, she could have sworn
though, like before, in the corner of her eye she saw something, a
shadow or figure of some sort. She turned her face to look at the object
directly but saw nothing, it was almost as if it had vanished.

Not again.

The uneasy feeling remained, and helped Serena hastily decide
it was time for bed.

Sleep was indeed a welcome venture for Serena, who was
unable to shake the unsettling feeling that something was there, in the
house, in her bedroom, standing in one of the darkened corners.
Serena's release came with the unconsciousness of sleep, but with sleep
comes dreams, thankfully Serena didn't dream that night.

-------------------------

From the second Serena regained consciousness and opened
her eyes she knew that not only was something wrong but that she was
no longer alone as well. Throughout the day Eddie would suddenly
stare at her, and she was constantly seeing 'something' in the corner of
her eye, or she would just catch a mere glimpse of a shadowy form.

Something was wrong.

She needed to tell someone, but who could she call? There
was no chance in hell that she would talk to her parents and she didn't
want to worry Aaron. She wanted to call Darien. But calling Darien
involved having to talk to him, and Serena had to do that enough during
the week, and besides he'd have her committed if she told him she was
seeing things. Serena logically couldn't talk to anyone, it wasn't like
they could make her paranoia go away.

It got worse though. The frequency of the sightings increased
rapidly throughout the day and the glimpses would be longer, Serena
thanked mother and father god when night set in. It was extremely
early by Serena's standards when she uneasily changed into her pajamas
and went to bed. She found sleep almost unobtainable, all she could do
was lay helplessly in a mass of tangled sheets with her eyes squeezed
tightly shut. Sleep came eventually, but lasted only a short time.

Something was wrong. Serena could sense it. Without
thinking she sat up in bed and opened her eyes, slowly in order for them
to adjust to the total darkness of the room. Darkness. Total darkness.
That couldn't be, Serena had a tendency to be rather apprehensive so
she had night-lights scattered throughout the house which she lit
religiously every night. But they weren't on, she knew for a fact they
had been lit when she had retired for the evening. But they weren't on.

Darkness.

Total darkness.

That's when she saw it, the shadow was at the foot of her bed,
only this time it wasn't disappearing. Every ounce of color slowly
drained from Serena's face, leaving her as white as her sheets. A
sudden shock of horror ripped through her body, leaving her incapable
of thought, movement, or sound. She shook violently, her hand flew to
her mouth when she finally found her voice and let out a scream of
sheer terror that came from her very soul. When her initial terror's
sharp edge wore down slightly Serena found herself filled with a white
hot rage she could not recall ever feeling before.

Unthinkingly she stood up on top of her bed with shaky legs.
If the figure standing before her had any discernible eyes on its 'face'
she would have been looking right into them. She opened her mouth
and began yelling random obscenities at the nameless form which
remained unmoving. The way Serena screeched and flailed her arms
madly resembled a child having a tantrum over something trivial, this of
course was anything but trivial.

When Serena finally ran out of steam she sank to her knees
like a deflating balloon. An unnoticed tear ran slowly down her left
cheek as Serena dejectedly regarded the unwavering form before her,
she wondered if she would ever be able to sleep again. Eventually
Serena considered her options and came to the sad conclusion that she
was trapped in her bed, and all she could bring herself to do was pull
the blankets over her head and lay there, a quivering mass and pray that
it wasn't real. She knew from experience though that prayers weren't
answered.

At that moment Serena experienced an epiphany. She recalled
an important piece of information that every psychic knew of, but
apparently she had forgotten momentarily. Dogs had the keen ability to
sense things humans could not, things she could sense as well. Oedipus'
strange stares were not in vain, he had seen it as well. It. Serena
guessed 'it' was an apparition, an entity.

Oh, no.

Slowly and most definitely reluctantly, Serena pulled the
covers down from over her head and sat up. She looked around
expectantly but thankfully saw nothing. She wondered briefly if it had
just been a figment of her imagination or maybe even a dream.

The distinct trembling in her hands told her otherwise.

She crawled across her bed and sifted through the top drawer
of her bedside table. Her hand retracted holding a pad of paper as well
as a slightly chewed on pencil. On a whimsy, Serena found herself
scribbling down a message, the letters slightly crooked from the
persistent shaking in her hands:

'Who are you!? Why are you here!?'

Sure, the message itself wasn't too earth-shattering, but in the
end it did make Serena feel slightly more at ease.

Slightly.

She placed the pad on top of her bedside table by her alarm
clock, with the pencil carefully resting on top, so as not to roll off.
Serena had the urge to laugh at her childishness, Darien sure would get
a kick out of it. Serena eventually fell asleep, wondering what she
would find when she awoke in the morning, most likely nothing.

Hopefully nothing.

Serena stretched her tired muscles languorously as she slowly
dragged herself out of bed. Light was streaming in the windows
through partially closed drapes, giving the room a comfortable warmth.
She stood and retrieved her slippers and was about to walk away when
she remembered the pad. Stopping in mid-stride she turned around and
approached her bed once more. She took a seat and reached over to
pick up the pad, it was then that she noticed the pencil on the ground.
Slightly distraught, she grabbed the pad quickly and read the contents
of the page. Her message of course was there, but written a few lines
underneath it was something else, something she had not written
herself:

'Now where's the fun in telling you? All in good time, my
dear. All in good time... '

A reply.



To be continued...

---------------------------------------------------
Author's Notes: Slightly shortish chapter, sorry!! The next one should
and most likely will be longer. Please review, and e-mails are always
welcome!!

Until next time...
-La Lune