Shadows in the Dark Read Online Free PDF

disbelieve.
Time had slowed down. Cars had slowed. The people running had
slowed. Even Jackson sprinting towards the hospital, yelling in his
walkie-talkie had slowed down. I couldn’t help but stand there, in
the church parking lot, motionless. Ralph had won. He had tricked
all of us. And I realized that as I watched his prize crumble into
flames.
    …
    Ralph stood on top of the
hill, watching the local hospital crumble. He smiled as people
cried in fear, running for help, screaming in shock. He took one,
quick glance at Detective Eli, standing in the church parking lot,
watching Ralph’s masterpiece. It made Ralph giggle with
joy. Silly Eli. Thinking he could
trick me. Ralph. Rhyming Ralph. Ralph
took in the picture one more time. People in fear. Officer Jackson
calling for backup. Detective Eli standing in disbelief. It was all
too much for Ralph. But one more take was all he needed, then he
turned around and walked away.
Ralph’s car sat on the bottom of the hill, waiting for him to drive
off to his escape. But Ralph stopped. Something felt wrong.
He reached into his pocket and pulled a small flap of paper. It was
the photo of the little girl. Ralph laughed and tossed the photo to
the side.  
Ralph knew he was crazy. But, to Ralph, crazy overpowered
knowledge. Knowledge doesn’t drive you to do the unthinkable. Crazy
does. Crazy drives you to blow up a hospital. Crazy drives you to
become the nightmare of a once unstoppable detective. Crazy drives
you to blackmail said detective. Crazy… drives you to lie. Crazy
drove Ralph. It always had.
Ralph unlocked his car and got in, shutting the door and starting
the engine. The sweet hum filled Ralph’s ears. It was the hum of
freedom. Ralph took off his mask and set it aside in the passenger
seat. No need in wearing it anymore.
    As he put his hands on the
wheel, he couldn’t help but look in the rearview mirror and watch
the thick smoke float up into the sky. And as Ralph drove off into
freedom, he couldn’t help but think. I beat Eli. I had done it. I had set the world on
fire.
     
    …
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Special
     
    Karen

    It’s funny how you can sit in a
giant crowd of people, yet you feel like the loneliest person in
the world. Everyone around me cheered their hearts out as the
football game went on in front of them. I must have seemed like a
complete loser just sitting there. But I wasn’t there for the
game.
    I know it sounds weird, but I was
there to watch the cheerleaders. I wanted to watch them and see how
they could be so happy. I wanted to drown in the thought of being
one of them. How I could be popular. But, I’m not. As a matter of
fact, I’m far from that.
    I’m the type of girl that avoids
most people because I’m afraid of becoming attached to them. So,
most of the time, I keep to myself. Every once in awhile, I go to a
football game. But it’s only for when my parents are yelling at me.
Well... when it’s worse than usual.
    The horn blew and halftime
started. The cheerleaders all went over to the bleachers to sit
down and take a break. Every few seconds, a girl would walk over to
them and start talking. I would assume that it’s a friend. Instead
of sitting back in the crowd, I took that as my chance.
    I sat up and walked over to the
group of girls. They didn’t notice me at first. But once I got a
few feet away, they did. The first to notice me was Lora Martin.
She gave me a disgusted look and snorted.

    “Hey, guys,” she
said as she pointed at me, “it’s Creepy Karen! What do you want?” I stopped
dead in my tracks and stood there awkwardly. They all started to
stare at me.
    “Hey,” said Becca Swartz, “she
asked you a question.” The girls around her giggled. I didn’t move.
I kept my eyes on Lora, staring at her for the longest time. She
snapped her fingers at me a few times.
    “God, you’re so weird. Yet you
wonder why your name is Creepy Karen?”
    “I... uh...” I stuttered. My