The shade chased Alex and Sara through the woods. When she looked behind her, she could see his pale hand reaching out to grab Alex.
She struggled to pull her son away in time, still running with his hand grasped in hers. The two of them were exhausted after sprinting for what felt like miles.
John was gone. He’d disappeared into the woods ahead. Soon after, the shade had returned. If Sara tried to run in any direction but forward, the creature was there with his arms outstretched, trying to take Alex away forever. If she slowed, he would appear behind her, just at her heels. When she started running again, he disappeared.
The shade was hounding her, driving her through the woods in a panic. They had no choice but to keep fleeing.
“Mom, no,” Alex whimpered. “We’ve got to stop.”
But she couldn’t. If she stopped, Alex would be taken. She’d had dreams like this long ago, when he was just a baby. In them, a shadowy force was always pursuing her, attempting to wrest her child from her arms. She’d woken dripping in sweat, anxiously going to Alex’s room to make sure he was okay.
Think this through, Sara, a voice in her mind said. This isn’t what it seems to be.
She slowed and the shade once again appeared out of the forest, reaching for Alex. This time, however, Alex tried to pull away from her, toward the creature.
“Alex, no!” she shouted.
She yanked him back just in time, as the shade’s hands grabbed the air where Alex had been standing. When she tried to run, however, her son dug in his heels. He was actively fighting against her.
“No, mom!” he yelled.
The shade took another step forward, and she could see his mouth turn into a wide grin. He looked far more savage than he had when she’d seen him before. His eyes were no longer silver, but dark pools of inky black. She could see rows of sharp teeth in his mouth that were stained with blood. He had already been terrifying, but now he was something out of a nightmare.
You’re almost there, Sara, the voice said. Think it through. Listen to Alex.
Sara moved to grab Alex and pick him up. But when her arms closed around him, he pushed her away.
“No!” he yelled.
The shade was on top of them, but the creature hesitated. He hovered around Alex, looking as if he were about to grab him, but he stayed just out of reach.
“He’s not real, mom,” Alex said. “He can’t hurt us.”
Every instinct in her body told her Alex was wrong. Looking at the shade’s hands, she saw his fingers had transformed into sharp claws. They hovered inches away from Alex’s face and yet the boy didn’t looked scared.
“This isn’t the shade,” Alex said. “He can’t touch me.”
The shade snarled at Alex, showing its teeth again. Its black eyes looked up at Sara. It barely resembled what she’d seen at the playground. Now it just looked like a…
That’s it, Sara, the voice said.
Before she could complete her thought, the shade — or the monster it had become — vanished. She looked around them, but it was nowhere to be seen. She crouched defensively, waiting for it to reappear. Instead, she heard a familiar voice calling to her.
“Sara!” John said.
He walked out of the forest in front of them.
“Come on!” he yelled. “I’ve found a safe place just ahead.”
Sara immediately began walking toward him. Or she would have, except for Alex, who again wouldn’t budge.
“No!” he yelled. “He’s not daddy!”
John turned to look at Alex.
“Shut up, you little shit,” he said. “I’m talking to your mother.”
The words jarred Sara. She stopped trying to walk towards John and looked at him in shock.
“What did you say?” she asked.
“Come on, Sara,” John said, his tone returning to normal. “We can be together as a family. All of us. Just like you always wanted.”
But the spell had been broken. Instead of moving towards John, she pulled Alex toward her.
“Who are you?” she asked.
“I’m your fiancé,” he replied. “I’m the guy you got killed. It’s your fault, Sara. You know that, right? You’re the reason I died.”
Sara closed her eyes. This was another dream she’d had before, the one in which John returned to recriminate her. The realization hit her strongly. This was a dream; of course it was.
The man chasing her from the shadows, John returning to haunt her, even the room in flames — they were all nightmares she’d had in the past. This wasn’t real.
She opened her eyes to find John standing in front of her.
“I shouldn’t have lost my temper, should I?” he said, still smiling. “It’s a flaw, I have to admit. It’s just that your son is a real pain in the ass. Any other kid would have bought the show hook, line and sinker. He should be the one telling you to hurry. But I don’t think Alex believed any of it. Did you, you little shithead?”
“Fuck you,” Sara said, and she heard Alex gasp quietly beside her. “Get away from my son.”
John looked at her with disgust in his eyes.
“This was the easy way,” he said. “Now it’s going to be harder, and a lot more painful.”
John suddenly lashed out at her, punching her in the face. It sent her reeling back.
“You can’t hurt me,” she said. “It’s just a dream.”
But it did hurt. She lifted her hand to her face and felt blood on it. John was smiling at her.
“It’s just a dream,” he said in a high-pitched mocking tone. “You’re an idiot.”
He changed form in front of her, becoming the half shade-half nightmare creature he’d been before. She saw its rows of teeth as it opened its mouth.
“I’m going to tear you apart,” it said in a dark, terrible voice. It took a step toward her.
“You have to wake up, mom,” Alex said. “It’s the only way.”
“How?” Sara asked.
She forced herself to look away from the monster and stare at her son. He looked at her sadly, and for a moment seemed far older than his years.
“You have to let me go,” he said.
Before she could stop him, Alex wrenched himself free of the grip she still had on his left hand.
The world around her collapsed, almost seeming to deflate like a balloon. The monster vanished and everything around her changed. The last thing she saw were Alex’s sad eyes still looking at her.
And then Sara woke up.
Chapter Thirteen