Starry Night

Author's note: Thanks for the reviews everyone! Sorry I hadn't been uploaded recently. Like I had said last chapter, life caught up with me. So, to make it up, a few more answers will be in this chapter!


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“Is that him?” I heard a man ask.

“Shane!”

Behind me approached Carter. He was at the end of the hall with a group of officers whom he had just spoken with.

“Where have you been? I didn’t even see you come in.” He entered the lounge and stood above me. “I thought we made it clear that you needed to spend as much time as possible at the station so we’ll be able to contact you if you’re parents are found.”

I almost spoke in my normal voice, and then recalled that if I did he might recognize it like Cecelia had. So I deepened my tone before speaking. “Sorry, how long was I gone?” I asked, still wrapped in the quilts I had been covered in when I had been enveloped by the shadow.

“Umm…” The officer looked up at a clock which read that it was ten past midnight. “A few hours. Where did you go? No one saw you leave.”

I guess no one saw me magically appear like Spyke had, which meant I was lucky that no one had been looking when I came back, otherwise I’d have a few more questions to answer.

“I, I guess I just went out for a walk. I’m sure someone had to of seen me leave.” I lied.

“Well,” Carter began scratching his head. “You’d better not sneak off like that again. Next time tell someone so we won’t be running around looking for you. Especially at this time of night. There’s weirdo’s and murderers out there who wouldn’t hesitate to take advantage of you.”

I know…I mentally told him.

“Any way, stay in the lounge for the rest of the night. We got a report saying that someone saw that Jack kid on the outskirts of town so we’ll be busy going after him and won’t really be able to help you with anything till we catch him.”

“Alright.” I nodded. “I’ll stay here….” I didn’t feel like going to where ever that other world was anyway. Not after learning that it was populated by………I don’t really know what but I wanted to figure it out, though it would be a while before I got the guts to ask one of them directly.

“Are you alright? You look a little spooked.” Carter noticed.

I shook my head. “I’m fine. Don’t worry.”

The officer then placed a hand on my shoulder in what I assume was meant to be a comforting gesture. “Calm down, we’ll catch him. It’s not you’re fault that he got away.”

I was grateful that he had come up with his own assumptions as to what was worrying me.

“I know.” I whispered and cuddled back down into the quilt. It was warm and calming.

Carter removed his hand from my shoulder and left the lounge. Just before he went out of sight he called back, “Get some sleep and we may have some good news for you in the morning.”

I nodded groggily. In the back of my head a little voice was shouting at me to stay awake and find a way to get out of Cumberton before someone realized who I really was, yet I was too tired to pay attention and allowed myself to drift asleep.

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The next week proved interesting. During the day I stayed at the station, attempting to find a way to get out of Cumberton. I didn’t have any money for a bus, nor did I know where I would go. When I got bored, I started cleaning up so long as no one was looking, and did my best to be polite to everyone. So far nobody else had said anything about recognizing who I really was and after a while I became accustomed to being addressed as ‘Shane’ or ‘Mr. Singer’.

At first Carter seemed extremely busy, never having time to help me find my way around. Yet after a few days he suddenly seemed to constantly be available. He even brought me some of his old hand me downs from when he was my size, so I didn’t have to wear the same thing all the time. Almost every day he’ d bring me something to eat from either Mc Donald’s, Burger King, Subway, Pizza hut, or any other restaurant near by and eat with me. After a while of talking with him, I became more comfortable around his prescience, yet always aware that he’d hate me if he found out who I really was.

I don’t know who this other person was, but another boy had stolen a car on the outskirts of town and has yet to of been caught. The only witness claimed that he appeared to be 16, but was unable to give a good enough description for the police to tell who he really was and for the time being was mistaken for the me that was known as Jack, which meant that I was safe for now.

Each night was a roller coaster to me. I couldn’t control when the shadow came to take me away, but I could control when it brought me back. So every time I returned to that room I would stand there with my eyes closed and will myself back. Each time Blake was there, either in front of me or beside me. Once he had even grabbed a hold of my hand before I ran and disappeared on the balcony.

What bothered me most was how he spoke to me. His voice was always so sad, and he would constantly plead with me, trying to convince me to stay or to at least tell him why I didn’t want to stay anymore.

“Please! Singer! Talk to me! Why won’t you stay? Please don’t leave!” He’d call.

I’d do my best to block it out and run. Each time I’d hear him call out ‘Singer!’ in a tragic tone, and then I’d be back in the station.

I felt guilty each time I returned. So today I decided I’d figure out how to get rid of that shadow once and for all.

“May I use one of the computers here?” I asked an officer one day.

“Sure. There’s a few in the back office not hooked up to the office line that should still have Motorola on them.”

“Thanks.” I smiled up at him and headed towards them, knowing my way around here perfectly.

They were new flat screen computers with black mice and keyboards. I sat at a chair and did my best to navigate around the desktop before getting online. I discovered Google and began my search for ‘shadows from another world.’

All I found was a mass collection of websites for a band. So I began searching for shadows that travel between worlds.

It took me a while before I found something that didn’t involve band names or spiritual mediums. It was a small article about things called Unseelie Sidhe.

‘Unseelie Sidhe. Beings of which are called evil yet are actually magical beings bearing unatural appearances. Their unusual appearances are what marked them malignant and thus have had them shunned from the eyes of their opposites, the Seelie Sidhe.’

Curious, I looked up ‘Seelie Sidhe’ and was somehow both surprised yet not at what I read about them.

‘Seelie Sidhe are a beautiful race of magical beings free of deformities. They are extremely intelligent and powerful. It is said that they one day disappeared all together without a trace, thus making the world doubt that they ever resided in reality.’

The description fit them perfectly. Fern used magic to heal me, and each one of them was extremely handsome. As for the Unseelie Court, I wondered if they were the same, only in another form.

If that were the case, then I would be able to talk to it the next time it came around.


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Night seemed to take for ever to arrive that day, and before long the shadow finally appeared.

I watched it approach me in the lounge. I was sitting next to a folded quilt and pillow, patiently waiting. Just as it was nearly upon me, I addressed it.

“Who are you?” I asked.

I didn’t react and began to envelop me. Desperate for an answer I called out, “Unseelie Sidhe! Answer me!”

It stopped and I sighed. Half my body was wrapped in a black abyss. “I know what you are! I want you to tell me why you keep taking me away each night!”

It backed off and turned into a blackened puddle on the ground. I watched it as it began to churn and rise upwards. It then formed into a humanoid figure, yet it had no features. It was sort of like a dark black mannequin, though the top of its head appeared to have short disheveled hair.

Then its eyes appeared. They were green, but silted. Simply by looking at it did I get the sense that this being was evil.

It hissed, attempting to speak.

“What?” I asked, frightened. Was this what the other’s really looked like? Or was this the type of ‘deformities their supposedly free of.

It simply stood there, hissing at me. I was frightened out of my wits. There was nothing I could think of to do.

“Who are you talking to?” I heard Carter from out in the hall.

I blinked, and the shadow being was gone. Carter came in from around the corner that led to the hall, obviously having seen nothing and carrying a plastic bag in one hand.

“What?” I asked him, and then faked a stretch. “You woke me up.” I lied.

“I thought I heard you talking to someone…” He paused and scratched his head as I noticed he often did when he felt stumped.

I thought quickly. “I might talk in my sleep. I guess I dozed off while watching TV.”

“Yeah, well listen, I got some things to tell you.” He announced cautiously.

Fear welled up inside me. Did they find out that the other boy wasn’t me? Did someone else claim they knew who I really was? Did they find out that the fake names I gave them for my parents weren’t real?

Carter came up and sat next to me on the couch, keeping his gaze to the ground. “For one, we’ve given up searching for Jack. He’s obviously long gone so there’s nothing we can do if he decides to terrorize another town.” He eyed me for a moment, probably expecting a reaction.

I pretended to be depressed about it and received a pat on the back for it.

“Relax. It’s not you’re fault. Personally I’m glad that bastard is gone. Wish he’d have taken my car actually. It takes more miles to the gallon so he could have gotten even further away.”

Somehow I didn’t find this comforting……

“What else did you want to tell me?” I asked, remembering that he had said ‘things’ and not something.

“The other thing is, well, it’s just that it’s been a whole week since you’ve been here and I was wondering if you’re comfortable with still sleeping here in the lounge?”

“I’ve not got a problem with it.” I answered.

He grinned to himself. “Oh really? I guess it’s hard to hate the sounds of officers tramping around when you got a large flat screen TV and a fridge so near. Speaking of which…” He opened the bag and pulled out a red box containing a Pizza Hut personal pan pizza along with a small rectangular box of bread sticks and a large sierra mist. Handing them to me, I already knew it was a pepperoni pizza. I had told him it was my favorite a few days ago.

“Thanks.”

“No problem.” He responded and pulled out his own lunch.

Carter sat back in the couch and began eating casually with me as we had begun to do for about three or four days so far.

As I took a bite out of my mini pizza I recalled what had happened merely moments ago and suddenly lost my appetite.

That thing was what had been taking me to the other world each night. It wasn’t just a shadow. Judging from it’s reaction from when I addressed it, It obviously was an Unseelie Sidhe, which meant it was as intelligent as a human. It’s appearance had seemed so frightening, had I not known what it really was I would have mistaken it for a demon or malignant spirit. Maybe that was why I kept coming across so many spiritual medium websites when I was online earlier? Perhaps Unseelie Courts are commonly mistaken for evil spirits.

It accurred to me that it may come back, and now that I knew what it really looked like, I grew frightened and began to shake.

“Shane?” Carter asked, noticing my condition. “Are you alright?”

I gulped and nodded shakily.

“What’s wrong?” He put his pizza back down in the bag and leaned towards me. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Maybe I did? I answered subconsciously and closed my eyes, trying to think of something else.

It didn’t work. The darkness behind my eye lids only served to remind me of how that thing had been wrapped around me earlier. And how it had been doing so each night…

I jumped as Carter suddenly pulled me towards him. He had his arm around my shoulder and was pressing me against his chest with his head resting on top of mine. “Calm down, it’s alright. Just tell me what’s wrong.” He cooed.

I hadn’t had anyone try to calm me down since my parents were alive. It felt so comforting having some one care, it reminded me of them.

Everything seemed to come crashing down on me then. I was orphaned, beaten most my life, had been encountering a demon like shadow every night which I knew was going to come back, and was lying to the entire town about who I was because the real me was so widely hated.

Before I knew it, I began to weep silently into Carter’s chest. I suppose he was confused and surprised at first, but held me tighter non the less.

“Tell me what’s wrong.” He whispered.

I shook my head because I couldn’t tell him anything.

Carter then pushed me up away from his chest and held me at arms length to look me in the eye. “You know we’re not going to let anything bad happen to you right?”

I nodded, attempting to calm myself down.

He stared at me, examining my woeful expression, then cupped my face in his left hand while still holding my shoulder with the other.

I felt too depressed to think of it as anything else but an awkward attempt at helping me feel better.

“Please don’t cry…” His thumb began to slide back and forth across my cheek slowly.

Taking deep breaths I did my best to stop the tears. I even closed my eyes tightly to remove any access ones. Then I felt his thumb caress my lips.

It kind of tickled. I was so unused to having anyone touch me without hurting me that I hadn’t ever even tried to imagine what it could be like.

I opened my eyes to glance back at Carter, who’s stare had strangely obtained a distant look in them as though his thoughts were elsewhere.

“Officer Carter?” I spoke up, snapping him out of his trance.

“Sorry.” He removed his hands from me and sat looking at his unfinished food smiling. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I just wanted you to stop crying.”

“Was I that annoying?” I asked sarcastically.

He shot me a look that said he had taken my question seriously. “Of course not.”

I giggled at him.

“I’m glad it worked.” He smiled towards me. Carter’s smile was no where near as perfect as the ones Blake or Chase or even Fern had, but it held happiness in it, so it was good enough.

I took one last gulp before I made the statement I knew I might regret. “Carter?”

“Yes?”

“I don’t want to be left alone tonight…” It was a cowardly statement, but I still hadn’t gotten over the fear I held for that thing which came every night, and I knew would most likely continue to do so.

Carter appeared to think I wasn’t serious, but realized I was serious when I refused to look him in the eye.

“Why not?” He finally asked me.

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I just don’t feel safe when I’m alone anymore.”

Carter was quite for a few minute before he managed to think of something to say. “Does that mean you want someone here to guard you tonight?”

“As long as I’m not left alone, I’ll be fine.” Was all I said.

He looked down at me, thinking. “Well, I don’t supposed you’d want to come home with me tonight?”

That snapped me out of my dazed state. “What?”

“Well, my shift is over for today. Normally I’d go home and get me some sleep before coming in early in the morning. But since I took you’re case I’ve been staying here over night waiting for a call from your parents and making sure you don’t sneak out any more. But if you were to come home with me, I could assign another officer to manage the phones till we get back in the morning.”

The idea wasn’t even worth thinking about. It was dangerous enough staying in the police station, but living with an officer? That was too much.

“No, I think I’ll do better staying here.” I answered.

“Are you sure?” He suddenly leaned down closer to me. “I have a spare bedroom. You could sleep on a real bed instead of these couches for once, and if there was anything you needed, all you could do was call out and I’d hear you.”

The man seemed extremely intent on this, yet I had to refuse. “Sorry, but I’d rather stay here.”

Carter sighed and sat up. “Well, I gave it my best shot. The offer’s still available though.”

“Okay.” I smiled, happy that he had given up.

We both finished our food silently while watching family guy. When he finished he stood and left, announcing that he still had some work to do.

“But didn’t you say you’re shift has ended?” I asked him.

He paused in the doorway. “Yeah, but I’m not gonna leave you here all alone tonight, so I’ll take on some one else’s load again.”

Watching him leave, I couldn’t help but stand and follow him. There wasn’t anyone else in the room and the shadow normally came when no one was looking, so I figured it’d be best to stay where the people were in order to ward it off…


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Author's note: It took me a while to figure out what species I wanted the other beings to be. I altered a little bit of the information on the Sidhe so it'd go along with the story. Next chapter should tell where he's going each night and why the Unseelie Sidhe is taking him there. ^.^

Sidhe:Fairy folk.
Seelie: Good
Unseelie: Chaotic

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