Shadow of Death (SOD)

Chapter 12

"...."

A long stretch of silence followed.

Not in the world around him.

Inside Asher’s head.

The silence was almost more unsettling than the chaos he had just escaped from.

He stood frozen in the middle of the road, his body refusing to move as his mind desperately tried to process what had happened.

Quickly, he looked around.

Panic flashed across his face.

His eyes darted from one person to another as he searched with every ounce of attention he could muster.

So many questions raced through his mind.

But only one remained prominent.

*What the hell had whispered into his ears?*

Asher looked as hard as he could.

Nothing.

Nobody appeared out of place.

People continued going about their business with the same tired, weary expressions plastered across their faces.

To the left.

To the right.

Ahead.

Behind.

No matter how carefully he searched, he couldn’t see anyone—or anything—that could have whispered those words into his ear.

His brows slowly tightened.

*So... was I imagining things?*

His heart pounded harder.

Sweat began forming along his temples.

His throat felt increasingly dry, while each breath became heavier and more laborious.

He cautiously looked around again.

He waited.

A few seconds passed.

Then several more.

Nothing happened.

Nothing came shooting toward him.

Nobody suddenly lunged from the crowd.

There was no strange figure standing behind him.

Nothing.

Eventually, Asher released a long, exhausted breath.

His shoulders sagged slightly.

Whatever had happened, he couldn’t figure it out here.

He turned around and began hurrying home.

The mystery could wait.

Right now, he needed to be behind the four walls of his house.

....

Asher burst through the front door.

He didn’t even spare a glance toward his siblings, who were sitting in the living room.

His mind was far too occupied.

He immediately rushed toward the stairs and began climbing them two at a time.

Jesse and Jayden exchanged confused glances.

"Maybe he needs to use the bathroom real quick?" Jayden suggested.

Jesse blinked.

She looked toward the boy’s retreating back before her gaze shifted to the front door.

It was still wide open.

"And he didn’t even close the damn door!"

She clicked her tongue, rose from her seat, and walked over to shut it.

....

Asher reached his room.

He threw the shopping bag onto the bed and immediately bolted toward the bathroom.

Without saying a word, he pulled his clothes off in one swift motion before stepping into the shower.

The sound of rushing water soon filled the bathroom.

Water rolled down his body, soaking his hair and running over his skin like a soothing massage.

For the first time since leaving the store, the tension finally began leaving his body.

His breathing gradually settled.

His muscles relaxed.

The panic that had gripped him outside slowly faded.

But although his body was no longer in panic mode, his brain was working overtime.

His mind desperately tried to connect the pieces.

*From the very first day we stepped into this city, so many strange things have been happening.*

His hands planted firmly against the wall beneath the shower.

His head slowly hung low as the water continued rushing over him.

*Initially, I thought the bags under the people’s eyes were because they weren’t getting enough sleep.*

His fingers curled slightly.

*But I was wrong.*

*Nobody has been sleeping at all.*

Not the adults.

Not the children.

Not the old people.

Not even the teenagers.

Nobody.

*Nobody has had an ounce of sleep for heavens knows how long.*

The thought sent another uncomfortable chill through him.

He remained in the same position for several seconds, allowing the water to pour over his head.

Then a question surfaced.

*...But why?*

His eyes narrowed.

*Why aren’t they allowed to sleep?*

He paused.

*And—*

His gaze dropped toward the floor beneath his feet.

*If I were to guess, those ’pills’ are meant to keep them awake for who knows how long.*

His expression became increasingly troubled.

*But why?*

*Why can’t they sleep?*

*Will something happen if they sleep?*

His mind immediately jumped back to the children.

Their terrified faces.

The bite marks.

The blood.

The desperate pleas.

His jaw tightened.

*If something really does happen when they sleep...*

His thoughts shifted again.

*Then why have we been sleeping soundly?*

He slowly lifted his head.

*If the people here can’t sleep... why can we?*

Silence.

His mind searched for an explanation.

Anything that could make sense of all this.

But nothing came.

Not even a plausible explanation.

His eyes slowly rolled around as the water continued pouring over him.

’Is there something going on in this city that we have no idea about? If so; why hasn’t anybody warned us yet? No manual or anything to give us an inkling.

Is that why people kept.... Oh no.’

Asher’s head snapped upward as a dreadful thought crossed his mind.

The first time they had driven into the city, the people had been looking at them and subtly shaking their heads.

Even in the Supermart, he could remember people giving him strange looks.

The cashier had even asked if he was new to the city.

Initially, he hadn’t thought much of it.

But now that he was calmly recalling everything, something suddenly felt very wrong.

Vespers was a huge city, with towns as big as they could get. It wasn’t some small community where everybody knew each other.

So how had the cashier—and almost everybody he had come across—known he was new?

What was the difference between him and them that allowed them to guess?

His mind churned for several seconds as he desperately searched for an explanation.

Then, it finally clicked.

"Of course."

He slammed his hand against the wall, his teeth clenched tightly.

"Everybody has bags under their eyes. Exhausted looks that make them seem tired, but we have none. Because we’ve been sleeping soundly for a while."

His expression hardened.

"We’re well rested compared to them. That’s why they could guess."

Then—

The image of the twisted face at his window.

The stalking neighbour.

The bloodshot eyes.

The strange tingle he had felt when entering the city.

The malfunctioning stereo.

The pills...

Everything was beginning to make sense now.

All those strange occurrences that had seemed unrelated were suddenly connecting in his mind, one after another.

Due to the fact that he was a fan of horror through Rick, who had introduced him to the genre since Asher claimed he could never get scared, it didn’t take long for everything to begin looking like a horror movie in his eyes.

Except this wasn’t a movie.

He was actually here.

The city gave him the creeps in a way he couldn’t really explain.

But one question still remained.

One question he couldn’t answer yet.

’What will happen if they fall asleep? And why has nothing happened to us yet?’

Based on the tons of movies he had watched, whatever was haunting a place would have attacked them by now.

So what happened?

Why hadn’t anything happened to them?

’Damn. I can’t even tell the others in the house all this. Otherwise, they will think I’m crazy.’

He sighed and rose to his full height.

His head almost touched the shower cap overhead.

He reached upward and pushed his hair backward.

His amethyst eyes remained fixed ahead as his second hand reached out and turned the shower off.

The rushing water abruptly ceased.

Silence settled over the bathroom.

Asher breathed a slow sigh, his gaze sharpening.

"I need to find out more. I need to bring back proof for the family to believe me. Irrefutable proof."

He thought for a few seconds.

Then he turned around and nodded.

"And I know where I can get the explanation I sought."

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