The Shadow People: A paranormal short story Read Online Free PDF Page A

that she was still in the Starbucks, so engrossed in her memories and in writing them down.  She stretched her stooped form, peered into the ceramic white coffee mug and noted that it was still half full of cold liquid.  She got up, feeling ten times her age and carried the mug up to the counter.
    “Can you reheat this, please?”  The young man with the nametag that read ‘Tyler’ gave her a surprised smile.
    “How about I just freshen this up for you?”  And then he winked as he whisked away the mug.
    Dani stared at him as he made her a brand new drink.  He was tall; over six feet.  And his neat brown hair was cut short but still curled in a way that made him look boyish even though he was probably actually about twenty-five or so.  He had the type of peaches and cream complexion that hinted at a heritage that might be other than Caucasian.  His eyes were brown, but flecked with gold and she wondered if those flecks turned green sometimes …
    She was still staring at him when he looked up from the espresso machine and met her eyes.  “So are you a writer?”
    Dani tore her eyes away from his and glanced down at her notebook.  “Oh … no.  I just … ”
    “Write for pleasure?”
    “Yes.  I guess you can say that.  It’s not an assignment or anything.”  And it wasn’t quite pleasure, either.
    “I hope you don’t mind me asking, but I see you come in everyday and I was curious.”
    “Curiosity killed the cat.”  She muttered.
    He slid her drink to her.  “But satisfaction brought him back.  I’m Tyler, by the way.”  He pointed to his tag.  “Tyler.”
    “I’m Danielle; Dan-i.”  She said with a brief smile. He offered his hand and she shook it and felt something.  “Thank you for the new drink.”
    He put his finger to his lip.  “Shhh.  I only do that for the regulars.”  He gave her a killer smile before returning to his other orders and she felt her heart race.
     

     
    DANIELLE!
    Dani sat up in her bed, her heart slamming against her ribcage.  It had rained earlier and despite the fact that she only took to her bed once daybreak was reached, the room was gloomy from the rainclouds.  She looked around, her eyes falling into every nook and corner and every shadowy crevice.  But they weren’t here; and they hadn’t been here in weeks.
    In the weeks since their last visit Dani had become a nervous wreck. Now that she didn’t need to stay awake she didn’t even make her daily visit to Starbucks. 
    Not actually seeing them did not reduce her anxiety because she knew that death would come soon.  She scrambled out of bed and hurried to her newest notebook.  She had written out the timeline, but although she had it memorized she stared at the facts written on paper. 
    Six weeks.  It was six weeks from the time that their appearance ended until Mama had died, the same with Patricia; six weeks.
    Now was almost a month since she’d last seen them .  Damn, she’d been hiding out in her apartment for nearly a month …
    She warmed up the computer and logged into the internet.  She couldn’t allow her fears to keep her from finding out just what they were because her time was nearly up. She had just over two weeks left…
    She began by searching key words: demon, devil, visitors.
    Most of the hits that she came upon were religious references and she spent only a few minutes of reading about the origins of demons.  She went to some websites that dealt with summoning them but they all included references to the use of symbols and chanting words or using charms. Next she researched visitors; not confidant that she would find anything useful.
    They come only when you’re sleeping; but it’s not a dream.  Mostly appearing at night, these visitors can sometimes infiltrate the daytime hours.  But mostly you will see them surrounding your bed…
    Danielle wanted to scream in joy.  It was as if she had written those very words herself!  She searched through the long