A Shadow By Liam Boyle
“It was mid-October, my friends and I were debating on where to go too practice are graffiti. I recommended the abandoned factory which was in the middle of the city, surrounded by brand new towers and modern buildings. It was fenced off by rusty, metal mesh which was easy to cut. It was a perfect area to work on are graffiti techniques. We decided to go there and then. We grabbed our stuff and off we went. It didn’t take long to reach the factory and was dark as we didn’t want to be seen. We clipped through the mesh and were in. We went through the rotting entrance of the building, a shriek from 100 rats echoed around the place.
We set up dim lamps around the factory so we could see and laid out all are equipment. I thought I could see a man’s shadow in the corner of my eye, but it disappeared the moment I looked directly at it. It was probably nothing, so I carried on. It was probably an hour since we had arrived, and we were deep in our imaginations on what to create. I was running out of room and the next clear wall was round the other side, out of sight from the others. I brought a small lamp over and as I turned the corner, the figure of that man was running out of view. I started to become more aware of the fact that it wasn’t just my imagination. The thought of telling the others never crossed my mind as they would not believe me. This figure or shadow sent shivers down my spine. It stood taller than the average man. Its steps were silent but big. It puzzled me for a while but I began to forget about what I had seen.
Another hour had passed, and we were all spread out across the decaying first floor. It must have been 20 feet until the second floor and we could not find any way of getting up there. I could only see one of my mates’ lamps now. I slowly realised that he was no longer at the lamp. Where had he gone? I shouted his name. No reply. I went to find the others. I found one and asked where everyone was. He wasn’t taking notice of the disappearance. We went to the three lamps that were absent of our friends. As I turned to tell him to stay close, he was gone. I began to panic. Shouting their name might not be a good idea as it would alert the shadow I saw earlier to my location. I had to get out of there without making a sound.
I tip-toed to the wall where it was dark where I thought I might be out of sight. I was side-stepping like a crab down the side of the wall with extreme caution. It was slow but quiet. I stopped because I heard a noise behind me. I didn’t dare to turn around. I just stood there, frozen. I could feel someone’s breath down my neck, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand, knowing it wasn’t one of my mates. I decided to just run. I ran out the entrance, smashing the door open, and just ran, and ran, and ran.” “Is that all you can tell us.” “That’s all I can remember, Sir.” “Well we will see what we can do.” “Thanks officer.”