Her Shadow

[Alex]

Soundtrack - Villain

Streetlights fell on her as she walked down the suburban street. Still moving, she cast a glance down on the sidewalk. She saw her shadow, the only companion she could trust these nights. It was never cold in New Orleans, but she still felt an icy chill in her veins. She kept her eyes on her shadow, listening to it speak to her.

You can’t do it, can you? You’ll need me to do it again, huh?

She counted houses on the street she was walking on, letting her shadow’s insults fall on deaf ears. 1250. 1252. 1254. With every small mansion she passed, she got closer and closer to the inevitable. She wanted to believe that she was doing this because she had to. Because she had been made to.

You can stop us at any time. But you don’t. You want to prove yourself – ourself.

Her shadow was right. She had been a bad person well before it had started speaking to her. Her failings were what had brought her here. But she still wasn’t stopping. She kept counting houses, counting each one to her right as she approached the number in her mind – 1280. She had until then to stop, but she wouldn’t. If she couldn’t make up for her failings, she would at least prove herself.

It’s not like you have anyone else to turn to. Or anywhere else to go. You aren’t choosing between success and failure. You’re choosing between success and a painful death.

She couldn’t argue. And her shadow had helped her so much! She would have been dead by now had her shadow not known when to take control. Had she not listened when her shadow told her to listen to the strange man she had met. She owed him really, her shadow told her. And what was some stranger’s life next to her own survival?

Forget survival. We know there’s more than that now. Wealth, power, comfort – everything you wanted.

She stopped at 1280, looking over the chest-high fence towards the mansion situated on a small hill. It wasn’t opulent by any means. The Westside neighborhood she was walking through was hardly where the elite of society lived. It was more a place for upscale professionals – people who still did jobs. People like her parents. The mansion reminded her of her own childhood home. She stood still for a moment, hands on the bars.

They don’t want you anymore. And if you fuck this up, nobody will.

She adjusted the mask on her face before hefting herself up. She didn’t look strong, but her job demanded it. She hoisted herself over the fence and walked up the hill, as casually uninterested in the cameras as she had been on the street. These neighborhoods were lousy with the things, but she knew she had nothing to fear from the ones outside. The cameras inside were why she wore the mask.

Just get us to the door. Once you freeze up like a bitch, I’ll jump in.

She shuddered, another icy chill cutting through her. She hated that her shadow was right, but accepted it. It had been the same way every time. She had frozen up, and her shadow took control. Whenever she got stressed, her shadow came to the fore. It wasn’t that she went unconscious or didn’t remember anything. It wasn’t even like she totally lost control. She simply heard her shadow’s thoughts louder han her own, and she acted on them.

It’s not a contest. We’re in this together – we make a good team.

She arrived at the front door and knocked. She stepped to the side. She knew that she wouldn’t be seen, but old habits died hard. After a few minutes, she knocked again. This time, the door opened. A teenaged boy of Asian descent stepped out into the night, unaware that he had let her in. He called out, asking who was there. He had no way of knowing she was creeping into the living room, passing by a little girl and her mother. A sense of panic washed over her. If she could feel sick, she would.

Relax. We don’t have business with the kid. Besides, someone needs to find the body.

She was relieved. Sad that this was a cause for relief, but she preferred her shadow keep collateral damage to a minimum. She wasn’t even sure of what she was doing now. She wasn’t sure she could bring a whole family into it.

And that’s why you need me.

She slowly ascended the stairs, following the muffled sound of a voice coming from one of the rooms. She knew where he was. She recognized his voice. She walked up to the door, closed her eyes, and opened it.

But when her eyes opened again, they weren’t her own.

Her shadow grinned widely as the older man turned, putting a hand on his cell phone receiver. He stood up, walking towards her to close the door. Even inches from her, he couldn’t see the blade in her shadow’s hands. He couldn’t scream once it found its way through his windpipe. He could only gasp for air as warm, red blood flooded down his shirt.

She would never feel comfortable with it, but deep down she knew it had to happen. It was him, or her.

Doctor David Bloom looked up one last time. The last thing he saw would not be his wife – the wife who agreed with him to postpone a divorce until their children were grown. It wasn’t his son or his daughter, whom he loved more than anything. It wasn’t even the mistress he’d spent so many nights with. Too many, he thought in his final moments.

He only saw her mask.