The Shadow.

I have pretty much convinced myself that it's a dream.  Just a recurring dream that scares the hell out of me every once in a while.   I just can't figure out why it's been happening more and more lately.

Since I was a teenager I have awakened during the night to a figure of some type next to my bed.  The first few times it was a child and then as time passed it became an adult.  Usually what I assume is a male adult, but hard to tell since it's just a dark shadow standing right beside my side of the bed.

  This was not something that happened nightly, or even monthly or yearly.  Just when I would forget about ever seeing it, it would happen again.  I would open my eyes and see it standing there, looking down at me.  I would instantly thrust myself away from the side of the bed and close my eyes.  Then when I reopened them it would be gone.

That's how I decided it was a dream.  I mean if it was a ghost or some other presence, why would it be gone when I reopened my eyes?  It would still be there haunting me.  This thought made me feel better, even though I would still startle when it happened because who wouldn't?

No one else in my house ever had anything like this happen to them, as far as I knew.  Another reason to think it was a dream.  A very real feeling, scary dream.

It had been well over a year, since the last time this happened, perhaps even two, when I opened my eyes and not only was the shadow there it seemed to bend down closer to my face.  This time I lunged back in my bed with a gasp, towards my sleeping husband, opened my eyes again and it was gone.  Phew!  The next night it happened again and the next.  I was starting to think I was going crazy.

I was afraid to go to bed because I knew that this was going to happen and I didn't know how much more I could take.  The shadow man, wouldn't say a word. " If it was a dream wouldn't they say something?" my subconscious asked me.  I didn't want to think about that.

After about a week of this I was driving home, after picking up my son from a friend's house.  It was fast growing dark and as I stopped at a stop sign I saw a dark shadow, out of the corner of my eye.  It was standing on the corner.  My head whipped that direction and nothing was there.  I glanced over at my son but he was too busy messing with his handheld video game to have noticed anything, IF there was anything there.

Okay, I'm definitely losing it.  I took a deep breath and continued towards home.  After a couple minutes we approached another intersection and stop sign and I saw it again.  I could feel my heart pounding as I turned to look, only to see empty space once more.

Finally, we had almost reached home, when we came to the last stop light.  I breathed a sigh of relief as I didn't see any shadowy figures.  As the light turned green and I prepared to accelerate there it was.  Directly in front of the car.  I sat there motionless.  The car behind me honked, but I couldn't bring myself to hit the gas and go.  I really wanted to speed forward and run over this shadow that haunted me, even though I knew it wasn't really there.

Suddenly from my right a semi truck came barreling through the intersection.  The shadow was gone now but I was left with the shock of knowing if it hadn't been there I would've been in the middle of that intersection, when the truck came through.  My son and I would have probably been killed.

Shaken, I slowly pulled forward and drove in a fog the last couple blocks to our home.  I pulled into the driveway and turned off the car.  My son reached over and touched my arm and said "Mom, if that man hadn't been in front of our car, we would've been killed!"  I looked at him in shock and said "You saw him?"
He nodded slowly and said "Yes, I've seen him a lot lately."  Then as only a child can, he gathered his gear and climbed out of the car and headed into the house, as though nothing had even happened.

It's been a while now, since the incident and I haven't seen the shadow.  I'm still not quite sure what it is.  The words Guardian Angel have come to mind.  I'm not sure if I'm still scared, or not.  I guess I'll see how I react next time, IF there is a next time.

Those Eyes

That little niggling feeling you get when something just seems to be off.  Some call it intuition.  Some call it street smarts.  Whatever you call it I was experiencing it right now as I looked across my desk into a pair of ice blue eyes.

He had introduced himself as Alan Martin.  He was only in town for one day and had very little time to look for a home that would suit he and his family when they all moved here in a month.  He had just accepted a job at a nearby company and would start in a few short weeks.  His family did not want to stay behind while their house sold, so he was on a mission to find that perfect home.

My name is Jane.  I go by Janie, since I've grown tired of all of the "plain Jane" references.  I'm a realtor and I desperately need some sales.  I'm working on moving up the ladder in my office and I'm doing a fairly good job at it.

I looked away from his eyes long enough to glance down at my schedule.  Yes, just as I thought,  I did have an appointment with a long time client in about twenty minutes.

"Mr. Martin, I'm afraid I have an appointment in a few minutes but I would be glad to take you out to view some houses after that, if that's alright with you?"

I saw a look flit through his eyes.  I wasn't sure if it was disappointment or something else. I was just about to apologize and see about changing my current appointment, when it happened.

It, was Caroline.   Caroline of the too short skirt, too high heels, too sweet southern accent that turned extra syrupy as she swooped in for her latest kill and she was swooping in on my prey.

Caroline was the office top seller.  For many months in a row, maybe even years and  I had my eyes set on toppling her from her lofty perch. 

As her too bright smile flashed at Mr. Martin, she asked if there was a problem and if so if she could be of any help.  Before I could open my mouth, suppressing the fury from her interruption took a few seconds, Alan, as he introduced himself to her, explained his situation and his time constraints.

"Well, Oh my!  I think you are in luck because I have some free time right now and I'd be more than happy to show you some fabulous homes.  Before we're through you will have found the perfect place for you and your family."

My mouth dropped open but something stopped me from speaking up.  My other client was, after all, a sure sell.  It might not be the biggest commission on the book but it would be another sale for me and I didn't really want to cancel on them.

Alan was already standing and reached across the desk to shake my hand as he apologized and said he really didn't have the time to wait.  I said I understood and watched as a good potential sale followed Caroline out the door.

Looking at my watch, I grabbed my belongings and headed off to my appointment.

Three hours later, or maybe it was more, Caroline stared up at those cold, emotionless, ice blue eyes.  As her vision blurred and so did her mind, her last living thought was that maybe she should have listened to her intuition instead of her ambition.