Lucy Young, 11th, St. Ansgar High School, (Fiction

Lucy Young, 11th, St. Ansgar High School, (Fiction)

"The Darkness You Should Fear"

I told him I was afraid of the dark. He didn’t care. It was around 10 p.m. on October first. I had just gotten off my shift at Randy’s Market. My coworker, James, and I were left to close up shop. He was in a hurry to get home, so when I asked him to walk me across the parking lot, he just shrugged and jogged towards his house. As I watched him round the block, he was illuminated by the streetlights on the sidewalk.

“What a gentleman,” I muttered under my breath. James and I had been working there together for almost four years. We spent so much time together: stocking shelves, singing along to the music played in the store, and eating our lunches in the break room. Although that is all true, we never spent any time together away from school or work. He used to have the biggest crush on me for the longest time. I never once shared those feelings and joylessly rejected him many times. It changed our friendship; based on what just happened, I guess he finally got over his feelings and was back to being the stubborn boy I knew before.

I wasn’t lying. I really didn't like the dark. Not only that, the parking lot had no street lamps; it gave me a creepy feeling. I’d walked to my car alone many times; nothing ever happened. There’s always a first, right? I don’t even know what I was expecting: a kidnapper? A thief? I told myself I was just scared, paranoid, maybe even crazy. I should’ve listened to my gut.

I imagined I was following my shadow that was cast in front of me. Obviously I didn’t have one; I had left the streetlights behind me. It was somewhat comforting, like I wasn’t alone. I focused on that until I contracted a new fear: it wasn’t my own shadow. I swore to myself I was psychotic when I thought I heard a scuffle of shoes in the near distance. Even still, I hurried my pace. When my beat up Pontiac was within reach, I was able to finally let out the breath I’d been holding for the past one-hundred yards.

I opened the door to my car, threw my things in, and planted one foot inside, just as a cold draft hit my exposed ankles. It was a shock, but I don't remember swearing. Maybe I did whisper a curse. I could definitely feel winter making an unwanted entrance into the Midwest.

The heat in my car wasn’t working well since the winter before, and I forgot to have it fixed, so I popped the trunk to grab my blanket. Expecting to get hit by a cold front, I hugged myself in my sweatshirt. Surprisingly, I looked around and everything was still; even the trees looked uncomfortably frozen in time. After spending some time shuffling

everything around, I decided I’d probably have more luck with the slow car heater than finding a blanket in that mess. I slammed the trunk closed and ran around to the driver's seat.

I rubbed my hands together and put the car in drive. As I bounced out of the potholefilled parking lot, I turned left onto the highway. Accelerating steadily into the darkness, I spotted a set of glowing eyes and hammered the breaks. The deer trotted away at the last second, and I could hear my breath coming fast. “That was close,” I said aloud.

Everything in the car had fallen forward. I felt a thud against the back of my seat. At first I thought it was my backpack, but then I heard a groan and a curse; this time, I knew for sure it wasn’t me. Shivers ran down my spine when I saw a head in the rearview, its face familiar.

“James! What are you doing here?” I yelled in shock. I twisted around in my seat, only to see that one hand was rubbing where he’d hit his head, and the other he was furiously gripping an exposed knife. He looked at me, then at the knife, then back at me. His eyes grew wide, then back into slits as he lunged forward in my direction. I screamed and my foot hit the pedal. The tires squealed and jerked us ahead. I heard James fall back into the seat. My eyes were clenched closed. Blindly we raced down the road. I heard the thunder of the car hitting the gravel shoulder. We were suspended in the air before the car tilted into a nosedive. The car finally bottomed out when we hit the dirt. I opened my eyes just as we hit the water.

All the lights in the car faded out when the water started to seep in. I glared at James through the mirror. He wasn’t making eye contact, only struggling to open the door. Meanwhile, I was wrestling with my seatbelt. It’s iron grip wouldn’t let me go. He finally got his door to budge when the water level reached my knees. He smiled a crooked smile I’d never seen before, and said, “You know what they say: when you love someone, someday you’ll have to let them go.” He paused to watch the water trickle in. “I’ve liked you for a painfully long time, and I’ve waited for you for years. I didn’t just get over the feelings, you know,” I tried not to look surprised.

“I was angry. I wanted to get back at you. Hurt you like you hurt me.” As he was saying this, he cracked open the door another inch, and a wave of water rushed in. “An injury would have been ideal,” he rolled his eyes, “but things didn’t go as planned.”

It was my turn for my eyes to grow wide. There was no wind; only the swoosh of a blade by my ankle. I looked down at my feet, which were completely submerged. Despite how cold the water was, in that moment, I somehow felt even colder. I attempted to wrap my head around what had happened, while trying to free myself from the twisted up belt. His wicked voice was getting into my head, distracting me

from saving myself, and he knew it.

“I didn’t want to kill you, and I still don’t, but maybe this is turning out better than I imagined. When your heart stops beating, it won’t be because of me, but you’ll feel the exact same way I did.” He looked at me one last time, and my eyes pleaded to him for help. James offered a small wave and opened the door to swim out.

The water came rushing in and washed away all of my confusion, replacing it with pure terror. I gritted my teeth and tried to reach back to grab his knife, but it was too far. I felt helpless. My last decision was to hold my breath. Actually, that was my second to last decision. I took a huge gulp of air before my head was completely submerged in the murky water. I couldn’t see anything. Still, black splattered my vision as I was running out of bubbles to exhale.

My last decision was one I made out of panic, and hatred. I didn’t really believe in an afterlife, but at that moment, I was desperate. I swore to myself I’d get revenge, somehow, some way. I knew then, I could choose whom I loved, and just because I didn’t choose him didn’t mean I deserved to die for it.

Then it all went dark.

Now I’m here. Just a ghost watching time go by. I get to sit here and observe James ultimately gain what he wanted. He felt no remorse. He drew a frown on his face and hid behind a mask to mimic heartbreak over my passing. It vexes me, but I continue to be patient. No one knows he’s a fake. No one knows the reason why I died. Only him. He won’t be able to ignore his conscience forever. He should be scared of me, because one day he’ll pay, but he’ll never see me coming.