My Dear Shadow

I’m writing this Long after these experiences occurred and first and foremost I’d like to apologize for any grammatical errors (because I know they will happen). I’m currently 18 bordering 19 and a senior in high school, these occurrences started when I was in about the 6th grade, I think. I was about 11 at the time I started noticing these things. And YES I’m aware that doesn’t add up, I have a June birthday and was put to school early then held back in 7th so bleh. Most of this is a little foggy so pardon me if i don’t make much sense. I apologize for the length in advance; this is basically a recap of the events that happened in the last 7 years of my life.

I was in 6th grade when I first started to notice these occurrences, we were also living in Panama City, Florida at this time, and when I first started to notice foots steps behind me as I walked home from school each day, I am not sure when they started I just noticed them randomly one day and then they continued. I would turn around and see no one but instead of being scared I felt this odd feeling like I was not alone but not precisely in a frightening way, the same feeling as if you’re walking with a friend but aren’t paying attention to them. It was a little startling at first, but still comforting. It was a 10 minute walk through the neighborhood to my house from the bus stop and no one else lived in my direction so I suppose I was glad for the company. Every day I would hear those foots steps in the grass behind me walking me home to my house. When I was younger and even now I walk in the tall grass and hope to hear those footsteps, it was a comforting sound for someone walking alone. And every day I would walk to my door and the moment I’d step out of that grass the footsteps would stop. And I have tried multiple times and know for fact there’s no mistaking, I would hear my own feet and those of larger feet behind me, they were never in unison with my own for a second. Almost every day for 6 years I heard those steps and was happy to hear them, sometimes they would be there and sometimes they wouldn’t, but I found it was on the days I felt loneliest I’d hear those steps. And sometimes I’d think maybe it’s in my head. But I knew it wasn’t.

I do remember one small thing though, when I was in either 5th or 6th, there was a tornado close to my sister’s school, which was the high school. So school was held in for them, but since my school was a good ways away, I was let out normally. I was walking from my bus stop and there was a strong breeze and i felt my feet lift off the ground, but then something grabbed my backpack and pulled me back down to the ground. I ran home after this. I mean seriously what little kid wouldn’t?

Now over the years I’ve seen some strange things, and at the time we were living in a haunted house but this is a different story and I’ll have to post that on here later. I don’t want to be annoying and tell 5 to 6 stories at once.

For a long time that sound of footsteps would follow me. And since it started, I had transferred schools, and started to make some friends. I was a sort of lonely girl when I was younger and when all this happened I only had my sister as a friend and a girl named Kate. At my new middle school which was a Charter Academy I made a lot of friends and I mention this because one of them were directly affected.

During my time at this school most of the classes were inside and the walk from the bus stop was much shorter, so I didn’t get to hear those footsteps as much but it wasn’t so bad since now I had friends.

But one night I and my friend Grace had got into a terrible argument. She had lied to me about a matter involving a ghost, and I just knew without a doubt she was lying. This argument took place on the phone late one night and I had been angrily pacing outside in the dark while yelling at her on the phone until I got so angry that I hung up on her.

The next day I was late to school and when I arrived my friend Karlena (we called her K.K.) had ran up to me saying something was wrong. I asked her what was wrong and she said that something had happened to Grace. We ran to the bathroom and I had asked what happened. And what they told me was they were playing bloody Mary.

Now grace didn’t actually play the game. And this is not about the Bloody Mary story in anyway. She just said that she would. And she had went into the bathroom alone and turned out the light joking around. She said she turned on the light again and tried to open the door, which was a door to push to open. But she said she couldn’t open it. She figured it was just the other girls playing around. Then she told me that a shadow came out of nowhere and hit her. According to her it was like a black silhouette of a man, but seeming to be made of nothing but shadows. This shadow had then grabbed her and thrown her against one of the bathroom stalls so hard she bit through her lip. And this part of the story she showed me her lip which was severely swollen and giving a small stream of blood.

Now to be honest I was sort of glad this had happened. And while I was concerned I was trying to stop myself from laughing.

Since that day, the footsteps continued, and every now and then when I was outside I’d see a black silhouette out of the corner of my eye but when I’d turn it’d be gone. This was in 7th grade by the way.

Another day we were visiting my grandmothers new house, she had sold her house by the bay for a smaller one story house by a lake. This place also has a few stories about it but nothing important. But one day during the summer me and my friend Ossana were in the backyard by the lake, we had picked some flowers and berries and were grinding them up trying to make lotion because we were extremely bored. When my friend Ossana told me that she saw someone. I didn’t look up immediately but when I did, I saw a silhouette of a man staring at us, or so i thought but the second I looked up he ran off and hid behind a bush next to the pond. Me and my friend ran to look but saw nothing behind the bush.

By my 8th grade year I had decided to name him ‘Shadow’. Now I was never exactly afraid of Shadow because anytime I saw him, be it out of the corner of my eye, or like the time at the lake, he gave off the same feeling as the ghost that walked me home, and to this day I believe him to be the same one. I always felt he was watching over me, like a sort of guardian. My 8th grade year I was transferred back to my original middle school and made a few more friends. But since I was back at my old bus stop I got to hear shadows footsteps walk me home and stop at the sidewalk every day.

One morning, and forgive me for gong out of order but I can’t quite remember if this was my 6th grade year or 8th grade year since I changed schools in 7th and then back in 8th. I remember a rainy day and the house next to our bus stop had a Doberman pincher. This Doberman jumped the fence and started running at me growling and barking, and I went to hit it with my umbrella because I was scared it was going to bite me. But the dog stopped randomly and just stared at me, the growled and ran for me. I went to hit it but before I could I made a loud whimper like it had been hit by something else and ran away. I didn’t see anything hit it. And didn’t remember hitting it with the umbrella, though I intended to. So I figured I was safe and continued to the bus stop, and after that there were no further problems from the dog. Because not to long after it had disappeared. I don’t know what happened, maybe it ran away, or maybe it got taken to the pound. But it was a mean dog so I was glad I didn’t have to see it bark at me every day.

Ninth grade there wasn’t much to tell, except I saw Shadow a few times around the school. But the summer of my 9th grade year, just before I started 10 grade, we moved to Warner Robbins, Georgia to be closer to my dad. We moved into my Grandparents house. And yes same grandparents.

At my grandparents’ house I saw Shadow more frequently, every now and then when I’d turn around quickly I could catch a quick glimpse of him. And sometimes if I looked down when I walked I could see his feet behind mine. But he showed himself more frequently to my friends as well.

My friend Jade stayed the night one night, and we had stayed up till about 3 AM that night drinking monster and eating candy, even putting skittles in our monster, mainly because that night my computer crashed. Around 6 or 7 I had gone into the kitchen to get something, it was getting dark out but not enough to need all the lights on.

Anyway Jade was waiting in the room while I went to get some food. I walked back in and Jade was looking at me strangely. And she mentioned she saw the silhouette of a man outside of the door, but she couldn’t tell if he was watching her, or me, as the door to the bedroom and the opening to the kitchen were directly across from each other and at the angle he was standing it could have been either.I told her about what had happened to Grace and all the times I’d seen Shadow. She said it was possible he was watching out for me, that he might be protecting me.

Another night Jade had asked to stay over out of the blue because both me and her had tried the Hell Correspondence website, and were scared that Hell Girl was going to show up. So we decided to spend the night together so we wouldn’t be so freaked out. Late that night, about 8 or 9, about when it just had gotten dark, me and jade went out to the pool and decided to blast some music while we were swimming. By the way it’s nice swimming in the pool during the summer at night. Water’s warm and its more relaxing.

While we were swimming Jade looked up and noticed the shadow of a man watching us from the gate. We were already spooked, and even though we knew it was shadow, because the entire night we felt something brush against us and grab our feet here and there and kept seeing strange shadows in the pool and it felt like something was watching us from under the water and kept feeling cold spots. So we decided to go inside. But before we went inside I had looked back at the pool and saw the figure of a baby floating face down in the water. I closed my eyes turned around and walked back to the porch quickly and Jade did the same. I asked her if she saw anything, and she mentioned she saw it too. Both our descriptions matched except I saw it face down and she saw it facing up. I always look back and wonder, because it was like Shadow was telling we to go inside that night, and I always wonder what would happen if we didn’t.

Recently I have been seeing my Shadow less and less. And one day when I reached down to get something, I saw the feet of a man dressed fully in white, I turned around and no one was there. No one in the house was even wearing white shoes that day.

After that I stopped hearing his foots steps, and stopped seeing him. And that’s when I noticed a lot of strange figures around my house.

After he vanished I’ve see the shadows of others, but they were static like, and see through. And I saw a ghost or two hanging around my house that wasn’t there before. But recently they’re all vanished.

One day at the bus stop, a black cat walked up to me, and that day I took her home and she’s been with me ever since. When she showed up those strange figures vanished again. I find it amusing because she’s all black, just like my Shadow was, except for her pretty green eyes.

She’s a sweet cat, and has never hurt me not even if I bathed her.

And I believe her to be Shadow in a new body. She’s always following me, and she’s always there when I’m lonely. I named her Midnight, since it is a lot like shadows covering the whole night. And it was a lot more feminine than Shadow.

Though she will respond to Shadow more than Midnight.