Shadow's Edge

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Jessamine couldn’t stop her body from shaking and her heart was pounding in her chest. She was terrified, more than she’d even been in her life. In her mind she was screaming at herself to snap out of it but she couldn’t, the shock hadn’t dissipated and she couldn’t stand that she’d seen it again. “It was…just like that time.” She said as the sun beat down on her. “In my dream. It was the same.”



She looked toward him her usually tanned skin paler than normal. In all of it she felt small. Insignificant and powerless. Just like her dream she could do nothing but watch at least Nathanial had tried something. “I don’t want to see anymore.” She let go of his hand and sat on the grass pulling her legs to her chest.
 
Nathanial blinked in surprise, staring at her. "Dream? Someone...getting like that? A priest perhaps?" He sat beside her, trembling and telling himself e was stupid for doing so. He was a man and someone used to seeing trauma. When he had been a senior in high school, he had earned his CPR certification as well as his CNA certification. Now, he was planning on shooting for a general degree and then his physician's degree. Trauma scenes were no stranger to him. There were many times that as a trained first responder, he had pulled over to help out victims of car crashes.

This was different.

This was something he could not control.

"Oh...what...what now?" He scooted closer to her, still shaking but noticing that she was shaking and seemed to be handling the shock poorly. His instincts once again kicked in and he sat his backpack beside him. After that, he pulled off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. His hands moved to rub her arms as he tried to create better blood flow to her extremities.
 
Her gaze drifted to him and nodded. “Yeah, a priest…but how did you?” She started but shook it off. If he could see it too; she wasn’t the only one but she didn’t know how that would help them. Looking at her feet she slowly felt the comfort he was providing seep in. It wasn’t immediate but she was starting to feel better.



“I don’t know.” She said when she was able to get out things without sounding like a robot or disassociated from society. “I’ve been able to see since I was eighteen. I tried to ask my aunt and uncle but they know nothing about it.” She said feeling useless. If her parents were there they could tell her but they were both dead. They’d been on a trip and their car got T-boned by a semi. She was only ten at the time and they never told her anything.



“I dream sometimes of things that will happen; but this is the first I’ve dreamt of that.” She pulled her legs closer and rested her chin on her knee. The shaking slowly began to subside. “Thank you. I didn’t realize…I’m sorry to be a bother.” She said when she realized she was wearing his coat. Through the shock she must have missed that part.
 
Nathanial sighed. "I thought I was the only one. This all started happening a few years ago for me. I just thought I was seeing things..." he continued to rub her arms, not even realizing he was sitting closer to her.

Everything was changing and he was struggling with that realization. Students streamed past him and he blinked. "Yeah, no problem..."
 
“No, I don’t think either of us are the only one’s here. It might get worse before it gets better.” She paused as she remembered those eyes; a shiver running down her spine. “It saw us.” She said trying to remember everything that had happened. She remembered it looking right at them. “I think I’ll be alright, I guess I should say as alright as someone can be after that.” She said smiling politely at him. She reached out a hand to stop his hand from moving.



“I don’t know where to go from here, I don’t even know where we stand in all of this.” She said wishing she knew more.
 
Nathanial'ss hands stopped moving and fell into his lap. "I don't know. For the first time...I don't know what to do." He leaned forward, resting his head on her shoulder. Silence settled over them and he tried not to panic at the memory of what he had just seen.
 
The shadow watched the two from the window chuckling silently to itself. It remained where it was dark though it could see them quite clearly. This was all going to be very interesting. Perhaps before the day is done it might go after someone else. It moved away slipping from shadow to shadow. Or not, it was still full from that last meal. It could live on that girl for the rest of the day, or two days if it felt like it.



Jessamine wished she hadn’t heard him say that but she could understand what he meant. In a way she was hoping he would have some answer for her, something she could go off of. There was a weight on her shoulder she soon realized was his head resting on it. Keeping her attention forward she allowed the silence to continue until a thought came to mind. It might be crazy and they might not be able to do it but she couldn’t just sit around and do nothing.



“We could fight it. I don’t know how yet but I can’t just leave it like this.” She said her voice finally calm. It was taking a lot to sound this way and to keep herself from shaking at all. The very thought of going up against that thing was terrifying. “If we just leave it, I don’t think that girl will be the only one we see end up like that.”
 
Nathanial shuddered, the air suddenly feeling like ice against his skin. "I will fight it...I can't allow more to die that way.." he scooted closer to her, lifting his head from her shoulder. "What do you propose?"

His mind raced and he wondered what someone like he could do.
 
“I think we first need to find out what makes us so interesting to it.” She said feeling better that he would be willing to fight. She didn’t know what she could do, how she could do it or if it would do any good but she had to do something. “No one but us could see it, though in think that girl might have. It didn’t attack anyone else but her and when it was…done…it just left the others. There must be something different about us.” She said wondering if she was right, if not then she had no other clues.
 
Nathanial stood, shifting from foot to foot. "Whatever it was..." his phone rang and he frowned as he opened it. "Hello?" There was a long pause and Nathanial began his pacing. "Yeah. Thanks....they said what? Well...okay..." he hung up the phone before turning his attention back to Jessamine.

"Classes are cancelled for the day." He failed to meet her eyes, feeling uncomfortable. "Those that live off campus are being asked to be careful on the drive home. Those that are living on campus have been paired in groups." He hesitated, looking around him as another group of students passed. "You should come to my dorm room until your ride arrives. My roommate won't be able to make it back. Apparently his girlfriend..." he swallowed hard. "There was another body found across campus...his girlfriend was the second..."
 
Jessamine watched him pace remaining where she was. Her mind was racing and trying to figure out things they could do when his voice cut through her thoughts. “I am not surprised.” She said the image of that girl racing through her brain again. Standing herself she whipped off the grass from her jeans and adjusted her back on her shoulder.



The news shocked her. Another one? How many were there? “I’m…I’m sorry.” She didn’t know what else to say; she didn’t even know if he knew her that well or if the roommate was a close friend. Either way it didn’t matter, she was still sorry to hear it. “Yeah, sure.” She said waiting for him to lead her to his dorm room.



“It might take a while before he gets here though. Even after my classes would be done I would have had to go to the library. He wasn’t going to pick me up until around sunset. He has a lot of work to do and.” She stopped talking not wanting to go into it. Pulling out her phone she sent him a text not wanting to call him directly. He’d yelled at her last time for doing that.
 
Nathanial grumbled, taking the phone from her hand. "I can drive you home...my car is in the student garage. I just want to let everything die down for a while. I have a feeling the legends here will start up again and students will be unenrolling." He took her hand gently and started pulling her towards his dorm room. Her phone lay forgotten in his hand and his eyes roamed around as he picked up the pace.

"Don't be sorry. I don't know the girl very well. Even in high school, David kept her a secret..." Nathanial pulled Jessamine up beside him and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Here..." he handed the phone back once he remembered it was in his hand.
 
She was about to say he didn’t have to do that but from the sound of his voice and the way eh was acting she wasn’t going to argue. “Legends?” She asked not having heard of this before. She’d gone to this school because it not only had her major but because it was close and her aunt had said she would help as much as she could with the schooling. Her uncle on the other hand wanted nothing to do with it.



“I see.” She said taking her phone back. So he didn’t know the girl very well but he knew his roommate well. “We might be able to come up with a strategy before I go home.” A thought came to her as they walked. “I don’t know if it is safe for you to be on your own, even if you are driving. It saw us remember.”
 
Nathanial reached the front steps of the dorm and looked back at her. "Don't worry bout me being alone...as soon as they realize David has left for awhile out of grief, they'll pair me up with a different student." He didn't mention the fact he already knew he would be rooming alone for awhile. He had no wish to startle the girl. He moved towards the stairs, still dragging her along. "I live on the third floor..."
 
“I doubt they’d be able to find someone so quickly…” She started as the realization he would be alone hit her. “Until they do find someone you could stay at my place. It’s big and we have a spare room. It’s out in the country which makes it isolated but it could also be a place to come up with a way to fight back.” She wasn’t an idiot. She knew how the system worked and how slow some things could be. He might be trying to protect her but she wasn’t the type to need that much protection.
 
"Ill be okay. They'll find someone." He led her to the front door of his dorm. He opened the door and shoved her inside, locking the door behind them. Nathanial was distracted as he checked the dorm, worrying over things. He heard slamming coming from David's room and he opened the door with fists raised.

David looked at him, pausing in his packing. "That was fast..." his eyes were red and puffy and he was wearing the jacket his girlfriend had given him.

Nathanial nodded. "Yeah." He moved to help David pack, silently comforting his friend.

"I'm leaving." David mumbled, sighing. "This town has too many memories...will you be okay? If there is a murderer around, you will have to be extra careful..."
 
Jessamine only shook her head as she allowed herself to be led to his room. She didn’t like being shoved but she could see he was anxious and let it slide. Her own heart was pounding as she stood in there. There were too many shadows and she didn’t like it. What she really wanted to know was their connection. It wasn’t everyone being affected it was a few people. Leaning against the wall she closed her eyes hearing the conversation going on between David and Nathanial.



She felt like chiming in but she was tired, she felt very tired. Her breathing began to slow as sleep tried to take hold. In her mind she was telling herself it was not the time or place but she couldn’t help it. Slowly she slid down the wall till she was sitting against it her eyes closed her arms at her side. Before she fell asleep she muttered; “I don’t want to see.”



Another dream, another person. She couldn’t see who it was or where they were all she knew was this person was in danger. She tried to open her mouth to say something but she couldn’t get them out. Of course she couldn’t communicate with them it was a dream. It was there again, stalking its prey; she could see its green glowing eyes boring into the young man as he walked down the sidewalk. Obviously he had ignored the paring request; probably thought it was stupid. She couldn’t look, couldn’t watch again but the scene was fixed in her brain and she couldn’t leave unless someone woke her up. I don’t want to see. Please, I don’t want to see.
 
Nathanial nodded. "I'll be okay." He walked David to the door, noticing Jessamine had fallen asleep.

"Who's she?" David asked, setting his bags down. "She's really hot."

Nathanial shook his head, frowning. "Lay off." He noticed Jessamine's expression and was quick to move towards her. "Hey, wake up." He put his fingers on her skin, trying to check her pulse. She was fine, but that did not explain the way she was acting. "Jessamine!" He fussed, shaking her shoulders.
 
She mumbled intangible words and frowned in her sleep. In the dream she could swear she heard a voice calling to her but it was just out of reach. The silence was deafening as it engulfed her the guy unaware of the danger lurking right behind him. She opened her mouth again but found herself drifting away. Before she woke she caught a glimpse of that thing looking right at her like it had before in the dream with the priest.



Her eyes opened quickly and for a moment she didn’t know where she was. She heard her name being called and she looked toward the one saying it. “I’m sorry, I must have dozed off.” She said noting David was in the room too. She was scared, very scared her eyes held the terror in them from the dream and her body was trembling again. The last thing she needed was to worry them about something they could do nothing about, especially since David’s girlfriend had been a victim. Once he left she would tell Nathanial what she saw...
 
Nathanial noticed Jessamine's appearance and he worried. He brushed hair away from her face and nodded. "Alright."

David laughed, smiling softly. "You two make a great couple..." He bent to pick up his bags and nodded. "Don't let her out past dark tonight if you want to keep her.." He sadly opened the door and sighed. "I'll call you..."

Nathanial nodded, allowing David to leave in peace before he turned back towards Jessamine "You okay?"
 
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