The Shadowman

 

If the fire died, then the wolves would get them.

But if they kept the fire lit, then the Shadowman could find them. For a shadow could not exist without light.

Looking at those under her care, teenage girl wondered which option was worse. She knew that not everyone would be able to outrun the wolves, especially not with the injuries that Joey and Cecile had.

Yet if they let the Shadowman come, who knew how many of them he would take?

"I'm scared," little Rosie said, and the teen scooped the young girl up.

"Don't be scared, Rosie. We'll figure this out," she said with false cheer. As she passed the girl over to Alec (who was much better with the little kids than she was) the girl noticed a flicker at the corner of her eye.

Glancing around as subtly as she could, it didn't take long for her to notice something that filled her heart with dread. A long, thin shadow that didn't fit the shape of the stump that cast it.

The Shadowman had found them.

He hadn't yet taken on that semi-solid form required for him to interact with their world, however, so there was still a chance. If I can just kill the fire before he acts, she thought as she turned back towards the campfire. But before she could take a step, a voice like the whisperings of a monster beneath the bed breathed in her ear, "I wouldn't do that, dearie."

Turning back towards the stump as casually as she could, the girl moved so that she was between its unnatural shadow and the others. "What do you want with us?" she asked quietly, lips barely moving as she stared at the shadow. It shifted in a motion independent of the flickering firelight, moving closer to her.

"I don't care about most of you at all, actually. It has simply taken me this long to figure out which one of you I needed," the Shadowman said, his indistinct form seeming to grow more solid the closer it came to her.

"If you only need one of us, then what have you done with the others you've taken?" she asked.

"They don't matter, dearie. You'll never see them again," he replied, and she took a step back as she turned her head to call the warning she should have issued earlier.

Her warning never formed, however, for semi-solid arms wrapped around her and dragged the girl back into a world of shadows.