BEYOND THE SHADOW

"Jules!

"Jules!!

"Can you please close the window?" a coursemate calls out.

I have always seen myself to be different from other people, ever since I was a kid. I never had a guardian; I think sometimes, if I fell from far beyond, it would even be better if I came from nowhere.

I talk to no one in the class, and barely anyone recognizes my presence. I don't look scary or do I look scary all this while, and I never knew.

The full moon hung low over Willow Ville, casting a silver glow that shimmered like a ghostly veil over the quiet town.

I wanted to have a clearer view of it, and I decided to open the window of the library and also tried to see everything I was hearing, when I heard my name.

"Jules!

"Jules!!

"Can you please close the window? Some of us are trying to read; if you don't want to, kindly leave? A coursemate said...

"What is even wrong with that psycho? A girl asked..."if you ask me, who will I even ask?" another one replied..."maybe she thought this was her haunted home" another one seconded.

I immediately shut the window and sit wondering why I went to the window in the first place and what is always calling me in the woods.

Shadows stretched long across empty streets, and the wind carried the scent of damp earth and fallen leaves. For most, it was just another peaceful night.

But for me, the moon held something far more potent-a call that thrummed deep inside my bones. But sometimes love to experience it, because it makes me feel like I'm the only one who can feel this way.

I'm just 22 years old, and all this is happening to me. Am I going to go to the doctor and check myself, or am I sick? This my being alone all your life sucks, I say this in my head mostly all the time.

I closed my textbook at the campus library since I couldn't stand these ladies; sometimes, I wonder if I should just stand up for myself, but I am afraid of being laughed at.

I clutched my coat tighter around my frame as I left the campus library. My brown eyes scanned the darkened streets, and my boots clicked softly against the pavement. With every step, my senses sharpened.

I stepped out of the school building like I was controlled by some kind of remote; I glanced up at the sky, my breath catching as the moon's light seemed to pulse in rhythm with my heartbeat.

I could hear the faint rustle of leaves from blocks away, smell the moisture in the air after an afternoon rain, and feel the electricity of the moonlight seeping into my bones.

Since childhood, nights like this had made me restless, as if the world around me were suddenly alive with secrets only I could hear.

This scares me because I feel I have no one, so what could possibly be the secret that I need when I obviously know I was abandoned so what more could it be? This thought always keeps me up and I do not sleep for that night.

Making me feel I'm a mess or probably a curse, no father, no mother, just me by myself. I tend to wonder what I did wrong because of all this burden; I'm just too small for all this. At least this is what I tell myself, but act strong and nonchalant out there; no matter your insult or mockery, they can't see the weak me.

Nestled in a valley surrounded by dense forests and winding trails, the town looked like something out of a gothic fairytale. Streetlamps flickered, and shadows stretched long across the sidewalks.

I walked the familiar route to my home, my apartment wasn't far-a second-story loft just outside the town center-but the short way home seemed endless. With each footstep, my pulse quickened. My breathing became shallow.

The crunch of dead leaves underfoot sounding sharper like never before, the cool breeze carrying scents I'd never noticed before in my life-wild herbs, the musk of pine, and something wilder, rawer.

My skin prickled, making me scared because I understood what it was. My senses were heightened like never before-every distant owl hoot and every rustle in the bushes felt magnified.

My pace quickened, having regrets about why I left the house, a magnetic pull guiding my steps toward the darkened woods just beyond the edge of town.

As I approached my apartment building, a sudden sharp pain shot through my chest, I groaned and was wondering if it was death.

Could it be that all the way I have been since death, and I never knew, and now every sense is shaper means it here to carry me or what? Only I knew what my head was going through with this thought.

As though the moon's light were pulling at my very soul. I stopped and pressed my palm to my heart because I couldn't cry for help having no one, gasping as the world tilted.

"What could this be?" I solemnly said to myself.

I had never experienced something like this, ever, I couldn't portray the outcome and why it was happening, but I decided to accept my fate since there was no one to cry for me when I was gone.

Something was changing inside me, I could feel it.

My fingers tingle, I was staring at it, wondering what it could be. My breath grew shallow than ever before, and my eyes, for a brief moment, caught a wild glint of something unnatural.

A low growl vibrated from my chest, unbidden. My skin prickled with goosebumps as the tingling sensation in my spine grew into a pulsing ache. My vision blurred, and a wave of dizziness nearly brought me to my knees.

Clutching the stair railing, I could barely manage to unlock my apartment door. I stumbled inside, slammed it shut behind me, and collapsed against the wall. Her fingers trembled.

"Wha.....What?

"What did I see"

What could it possibly be"

"What could possibly be happening to me" I said to myself.

Just before I crossed the threshold into my apartment, a low, distant howl echoed through the trees-a call that sent a shiver down my spine and stirred something primal within.

My lips parted as a whisper escaped: "It's starting."