The Shadow in the Window

A Story by Ian Brunner

A shadow haunts a young man in his dreams and waking life,

By Ian Brunner

“Sleep is a patch of death.”- Ray Bradbury

I awoke to the feeling of falling. Then I came to sudden halt as the ground promptly brought me to a stop. Bouncing right to my feet instinctively I hit the ground again as my feet were tangled in my sheets. I lay there sweaty and breathing heavily. From my vantage point on the ground I could see the window I had seen every night in my dreams, except the figure wasn’t there. Only the trees, the full moon, and the sound of the wind as it pushed around the branches of the autumn trees making them creak and moan.

The dream had recurred every night for months and every night it had become more vivid; I was in bed, deep asleep, when suddenly I would find myself awake and full of dread. Outside my window lurked a figure. A spectral like black mass that seemed as if it would blow away with the next gust of wind, but every night it was there, haunting my dreams. The first few times this dream had occurred I had thought nothing of it, but slowly the dream had become more horrific. After about a week the specter had begun to take on human elements. First the shadowed mass took on the shape of a humanoid head, and then came the eyes: cold, merciless, and cruel. They gazed at me endlessly, almost hungrily.

This went on for many a night until a mouth formed, complementing the eyes, a malevolent smirk upturned on the right side. It continued on much the same for about a month, feature after feature slowly materializing until finally the specter became a shadowed figure silently gazing at me every night. Slowly the dream had begun to unnerve me and I remembered stories of shadow people a close friend had told me. But he had moved suddenly and had left only an address where I could contact him. I had phoned and written many letters but he had never made any response. It was quite upsetting, as he and I had been close friends since we were children. I wrote one last letter to him hoping for a reply and then turned my attention to other pursuits in which I could unravel my horrific dream. The next day I paid a visit to my library to see what I could unearth on shadow people in folklore.

The few bits and pieces of information I was able to find on my first visit were very scant. But from what I was able to learn. People had seen shadow people for a very long time. Nobody knew where or why they came or what they wanted but there were rumors of people seeing them and mysteriously dying or disappearing. Every account I was able to find ended with death. I returned to the library day after day going through book after book on folklore until finally I had exhausted all of my resources. All in all I was only able to find that the shadow people normally manifested themselves as a dark shadowed mass or in the vague outline of a human body. They never manifested themselves as ghosts or poltergeists and normally do not appear to be malevolent, but because of the mysterious deaths and disappearances they had become a symbol of bad luck. All of this fit the personality of the shadowed mass in my dreams. The shadow person in my dreams had made no attempt to harm me. In fact I had never seen it move! But the cruel grin and hungry eyes continued to haunt me night after night until finally one day I received a letter from my estranged friend it read.

I received your letters and apologize for my late response but I had to leave in haste, I know my sudden departure seems strange but I had to flee. They were after me, the shadow people I told you about. And I think I may have finally lost them, but I cannot be sure. When I first mentioned them I was sure you would think me mad but now you have seen them as well. I received your letter regarding them. I feared this would not reach you in time but hopefully it has. Enclosed is the address a blind elderly women by the name of Ambrose who helped me and may be able to help you. She sees better than most people who can, it’s odd how that happens, I sincerely hope this letter reaches you and I wish you the best.

Marcus

On the other side of the letter an address and a phone number were scribbled and I resolved to contact Ambrose the next day.

That night the shadowed figure became much more active, his body became defined. I could see the figure of a well-dressed man in a suit that enhanced his hungry eyes and cruel smile. Abruptly the shadow lifted its left hand and waved mockingly. His half grin opened to reveal a perfect smile the kind you see on a movie star except the teeth were pointed, jagged and rough. The kind accustomed to eating meat and nothing else.

At this moment I awoke to the sun pouring in through the window. This was the first time I felt any real malevolence in the dream. Grabbing the letter off of the table I quickly dialed Ambrose’s number. I stumbled through my story explaining all that had been happening to me.

“ I do not meddle in their affairs; it’s dangerous enough living without being enemies of supernatural creatures.”

She hung up and I called her back until finally she answered again. I pleaded with her and until I dropped Marcus’s name I made no progress. After that she reluctantly agreed to meet with me.

We had decided to meet at a local bakery. I had arrived first. When she entered I immediately knew who she was, she had long gray hair, wore a denim jacket and khaki pants. I approached her.

“ Ambrose, it’s nice to meet you. Would you like me to help you to a seat?”

But looking at her I knew she was the kind of women who needed no one’s help. Blind or not, but mother always taught me to help my elders.

She accepted the offer so I pulled her chair out, helped her sit. After she thanked me the waitress came and took our order. Then we were finally free to talk.

“ So you have seen the shadow people?” she asked jumping right into the topic.

“ Yes. Every night now for about a month and a half.”

Ambrose’s brow creased and she looked shocked, “ Almost two months? Tell me has the shadow begun to take on human aspects? Or is it still just the vague outline of a human form?”

I told her all in detail, the hungry eyes, the cruel grin, and the most recent occurrences during the night before.

“ So it is that close to you.” She leaned in close to me, “ Now listen you are in greater danger than you know. This shadow person has been circling you, getting closer every night waiting for a chance to take you.”

“ To take me? Where?”

“ Nobody knows. The shadows wait for the chance to drag your soul out of your body and then you slowly fade away. Without a soul your body is just an empty vessel with nothing tethering it to this world.”

“ How do you know so much? Is this what happened to Marcus?”

“ Yes. Marcus saw a shadow person in his dreams as well. But that shadow did not get nearly as close as this one has gotten to you. Marcus comes from a much more superstitious family, most people dismiss them as mere dreams until it is too late. Sometimes moving is enough to deter the shadows from their victims. As for what I know, I may be blind but I can see in many ways that you. My family has always been able to see what others cannot.”

“ So you’re saying that I should move?”

“ That might help, also buy a pet. They are much more sensitive to the things that linger just outside our world and they may give you some warning when your shadow is hanging about. Remember the shadow is present even during the day. It is just easier for it to manifest itself when you are deep asleep and your brain waves are at their lowest tide. Ray Bradbury said it best “ Sleep is a patch of death.”

At that moment our orders arrived, breaking the tension that had formed around us. She smiled at the waitress and picked up her tea thanking her.

“ Don’t worry, just look for a new place to live and be on your guard while sleeping and you’ll be fine. Although this is the last time I will have contact with you, the shadows don’t like it when we interfere in their business and I would rather not have them hanging about me.”

After we had finished our drinks, Ambrose left and I headed to the nearest pet store determined to protect myself in anyway possible. At the store I bought myself a beautiful black feline by the name of Hunter, she settled in quite quickly at my apartment. The dreams continued but the shadowed man made no new further movements, and I began to search for a new place to stay.

Finally after about a week of searching I found an apartment in a nearby city that was in my financial range and I began inquiring about moving. The landlord informed me that the apartment was being renovated and would be ready in about a month. This news worried me for who knows what the shadow person could do in a month, but I agreed because it was my only feasible option.

Nothing eventful happened during the next week, the dreams kept on their regular occurrences but the shadowed man stood there as he always had unmoving. The next Tuesday I had woke at three AM, thirsty and trudged of to the kitchen drowsily, Hunter faithfully following at my heels. As I opened the fridge she hissed and ran from the room. The light illuminated the corners of the room and I thought I saw in my peripheral vision the shadowed man standing, jumping I dropped the glass of water I had been holding and spun around on my heels searching the corner for any sign of the man. Nothing was there but I remembered Ambrose saying,

“ The shadow is present even during the day.”

Bending over I picked up the glass I had dropped letting the refrigerator door close. Leaving me with only the faint traces of moonlight to illuminate the room. As I stood again I caught sight of my reflection in a magnetized mirror hanging on the fridge and standing behind me man, this time not only his eyes and teeth showed but I could see his tongue running along the rows of jagged teeth as if anxiously awaiting a meal.

For the next three nights this went on, I rarely got any sleep and when I did the shadowed man haunted my dreams. I jumped at every shadow and saw him everywhere I went. One night after I had gotten out of work I was wandering around the streets of the city as I loathed the idea of going home. So I decided to stop in for a drink at a local pub.

It was here I met Amelia; she was a short fiery redheaded girl about five and a half feet tall. She fit the Irish stereotype exactly and I quickly became infatuated with her. After a few drinks she invited me back to her apartment a few blocks away and together we spent the night. At first I failed to notice that the shadowed man never appeared when I slept at her apartment, but slowly I noticed my health returning, and the lack of the shadow in my dreams.

Amelia and I spent the next three weeks together falling in love, I was so happy I nearly forgot about the shadow in the window as he never appeared. I only returned to my apartment to feed Hunter until the week before I was to move. It seemed as if it would go on forever until a week before I was to move. Amelia had to leave town on some business and would be back the day I moved. So the last week I would spend in my old apartment with my old roommate, the shadowed man.

The very first night the shadowed man greeted me with new horrors that I can scarcely describe in mere words but I will try. The dream started as it always had the shadowed man gazing at me through the window. Then came the eyes and the teeth, next the tongue, soon followed the suit, then he waved and began to beckon to me, unconsciously my body began to move of its own volition. I rolled out of bed and began to stand, mentally I fought for all I was worth to regain control of my body but to no avail, when suddenly I stubbed my toe on the corner of my desk and I awoke standing exactly where I had been in my dream.

This continued on every night with some random happenstance waking me. Once it was Hunter curled up on the floor that I stepped on, she scratched my leg and then howled and the window. From that night on I got no sleep whatsoever. I was afraid to sleep in my own apartment and even if I could have slept Hunter’s constant howling would have kept me awake. Finally one day at work I collapsed from sleep deprivation! I had been almost fifty hours without sleep and I had collapsed next to the water cooler in the office.

This time I saw the shadow in my office, he stood above me grinning as my fellow coworkers rushed about dialing 911 and attempting to wake me. Finally the paramedics arrived and rushed me to the hospital where I awoke ranting, raving, and thrashing about screaming about the shadowed man. The faculty tried to reason with me, and restrain me until finally they had to sedate me less I hurt someone.

The next time I awoke I was in a padded room, Amelia sat beside my bed staring at me.

“ Well it’s about time you finally woke up!” She smiled at me but I could see the worry hidden in her eyes behind the fair facade of a smile.

“ How long have I been here?” I asked drowsily.

“ About two weeks, you’ve been in and out of consciousness but good news! As far as the doctors can see there is nothing wrong with you physically. They want you see a psychiatrist, but have allowed you to return home as long as I stay with you.”

“ Thank you, we just have to move my things into the new apartment and we’ll be set.”

“ The landlord called while you were unconscious, he sold the apartment to another family while you were here.”

My eyes widened in horror as the full realization of what she was saying hit me, she would be trapped in the apartment with the shadow and I, “ No! You can’t move into my apartment it’s dangerous!”

She looked mildly offended but laughed, “ How could it be dangerous?”

At that very moment I noticed the shadowed man standing in the doorway, smirking as normal then he was gone. Amelia continued on saying,

“ Don’t worry you’ll get better soon I’m sure of it and I’ll be there to help.”

I smiled at her, but inside all I could think off was the danger she was jumping into. I resolved to do all I could to protect her, even above myself. I loved her even if I had only known her for a month; the shadowed man appeared again this time just behind her and grinned cruelly, almost as if he knew what I was thinking. His long tongue ran along his teeth then he leaned in and licked her neck. Amelia kept on talking as if nothing was happening, and I could only stare on in horror!

“ But I have to go dear.” She leaned in and kissed me and I stopped her as she left.

“ Wait I have to talk to you about something!”

“ We can talk when I come back later.” And then she was gone.

Later that night when she returned I confided everything in her. When finally I had finished recounting what had been happening she was quiet for a long while.

“ Shadow people? You’ve been under a lot of stress at work and on top of not sleeping well. This is just your imagination! You’ll be once you rest I promise.”

The next few weeks I spent in the company of a psychiatrist. Eventually medication was prescribed. It seemed as if the shadow had decided to play a cruel game with my sanity. When I first began taking the medication the shadow did not appear for almost a month. Just when I began to think the shadow had been a figment of my imagination I saw him again. In the window where we had first met he stood. Finally I became desperate. While Amelia slept I stepped outside. There it was outside the window as it had started.

“ What do you want from me?” I hissed. “ Why do you torment me?”

The shadow stood looking through the window not even acknowledging my presence.

In a moment of desperation and rage I picked up a rock and threw it at the shadow! “ Get out of here, leave us alone!”

Slowly the shadow turned to look at me. It’s grin spread then waved and retuned to looking through the window.

The next night my nightly sleepwalking returned and at this point we have reached the beginning of the story again. Every night that week I would awake drenched in sweat. Tangled in my sheets on the floor, at first Amelia would get up and check on me but then she began to pass them off as just night terrors. Until that Friday, for the first time in my dreams I had control of my body. Turning I saw my own body still sleeping in bed, Amelia next to me. The clock on the bedside table read three AM. The image seemed very serene and for a few minutes I watched as the women I loved slept next to me, once she stirred and looked at me then went back to sleep.

Then came the feeling of dread, looking at the window I saw the shadow. He grinned gesturing at Amelia then passed through the wall! The shadowed man loomed above me and I cowered in horror but he wasn’t looking at me he seemed to be much more interested in Amelia

A sudden rage entered me and I charged him attempting protect the women I loved. I simply passed through him landing sprawled on the floor! The shadow stood above me and laughed silently, never making any sound. I could only tell because the shadow made all the motions of laughter. Strangely enough even in that moment of utter hideousness my mind thought clearly. I had just enough time to think,

“ The most horrific part of the shadows is their silence, they come and go at will, stalking the unwary silently until it’s to late.”

Then what seemed to be shadow tentacles emerged from its torso and grabbed on to me! Then dragged me out the window with the shadowed figure.

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The next night Amelia anxiously watched over her lover. His breathing had continually become shallower and he had not woken once. She had taken him to the hospital and he had been examined, but the doctors had found nothing wrong.

“ I don’t know what we can do. Watch over him, call us if anything happens.” They had said, but nothing new had changed in the following hours.

So on Amelia sat long into the night. The pale moon streamed in through the window and the clock crept ever nearer to three AM. Finally Hunter screeched and ran from the room startling Amelia! Leaping to her feet she had just enough time to see Hunter exit the room. Looking back to the bed she saw her lover pointing to the window. Whipping around she saw nothing in the window but still her lover continued to panic! Running from the room she grabbed the phone and dialed the hospital. Returning to the bed she tried to calm him while waiting for the paramedics to arrive. He thrashed about while she hushed and comforted him and the sound sirens rang out in the distance. Louder and louder they became and he became more frenzied! The paramedics knocked on the door and Amelia rushed off to answer! Just as they entered the room he stopped moving as abruptly as he had begun.

“ Oh God!” Amelia shrieked. “ Help him!”

The paramedics rushed over to him.

“ He’s not breathing!” Said one.

“ Lets get him to the ambulance!”

Rushing off one returned with a gurney.

“ We’re going to take him to the hospital miss, you can follow behind and meet us there.”

Off they went! Amelia rushed about the house packing a few things she thought would be needed. Hopping in the car she glanced at the clock, it read exactly three AM. The pale moonlight streamed in through the car window illuminating the backseat as Amelia took a second to compose her self. Turning on the car she glanced in the rearview mirror and for a second she thought she saw a man in the backseat! Squeaking she whipped around but nothing was there.

Meanwhile across town the ambulance sped! The paramedics did their best to revive the man. One gave him mouth to mouth while another readied the defibrillators but nothing could be done for the man.

The autopsy showed no physical reason for his sudden death. It was as if he had given up the will to live. Questioning Amelia they asked about his visits with the psychiatrist. She told all including the whole story of the shadowed man. To the best of the doctors abilities the doctors could only say his delusions had been so real they deceived him into believing he was actually dying.

In the end Amelia returned to his apartment to gather a few of her things. She decided to take Hunter with her back to her apartment. The next day she returned for the rest of her things, the apartment felt eerie. She felt like she was being watched and the feeling didn’t stop all the way back to her apartment.

That night while Amelia slept Hunter screeched and ran from the room. She awoke, saw nothing and went back to sleep. Soon after the clouds passed over the moon and the light shown in through the window to reveal the shadow, standing, waiting, patiently for it’s next victim.

***