Chapter 4 Can I come in?

Diana was walking slowly on the street, her head lowered, her shoulders slumped. She missed a certain someone. Now that she had seen his coffin being lowered in the ground, she knew that life will not be the same from now on. She tried to clear her mind, but she felt like all her strength was gone. She couldn't explain herself the sensation of helplessness she felt at the moment.

She, that usually was bright and strong-willed, could not even find something to think about that could help clear her mind. She felt as if she was on auto-pilot. Her feet were taking her, but she didn't know where. She finally stopped and, when she raised her head to see where she was, she found herself in front of his house. And she also noticed that the darkness had already envelopped everything.

Raising her head, she almost hoped to see the light coming out through the window from his room. She hopped that everything that happened was just a dream and she would get to see him again. But, no. The room was dark. No lights except that one from the kitchen window.

She approached slowly, raised herself on the tips of her feet and looked inside. There sat his parents, both staring silently into emptiness.

Suddenly, the lights behind her coming from the street posts began flickering like crazy. Scared, she turned around. The light bulb about three posts away on the way she came from stopped working and the darkness became denser. Then the next one did the same. It seemed as if darkness was fighting against the light bulbs and, apparently, it was fighting successfully.

She remembered all the horror movies she had seen and thought that, whenever something like this happened, nothing good would follow. And she felt scared at the prospect of confronting whatever that was in such a poor mental and physical condition. So, she took the smart decision and started running towards her house.

Once she was out in the street, the last light bulb, the one in front of the house turned dark too. And she cried in fear for the first time in a long time. The darkness spread once more.

"Stop! Whatever you are, stop that!" but she couldn't stop her voice from shaking.

That was because while she turned towards her house she saw a darker silhouette coming closer to the post that just turned dark.

Her speed grew even more and she took off so fast that her feet were a blur of movement. In less than ten seconds she was already around the corner and saw her house in the distance. A distance that took her normally ten minutes was completed in less than two minutes.

Of course, during this race, she didn't find necessary to open the gate. It was a too complicated of movement... So she jumped over it.

Then she suddenly oppened the door and slammed it behind her, scaring her parents, who were quietly drinking their coffee. They looked at her in surprise because of her noisy entrance. But, when they saw her leaning her back against the door, her eyes closed and breathing hard, they bacame worried.

"Honey, are you ok? Did something happen to you?" her father came towards her.

Yeah, no s**t Sherlock! How did you guess? Was it me looking scared to death such a big clue? But of course she didn't say that. All she did was mumble something about being tired and wanting to sleep. She went into her room, turned on all the lights. Then she locked the window. After a moment of thinking, she also locked her door. She decided she didn't need a shower and will postpone until the sun returned in the sky. So, after changing her clothes, jumped into bed holding tight a little cross, gift from her now departed friend, and went to sleep. The light was on all night.

In the street, a dark silhouette was standing still. Shiny black eyes were looking at the window with the light on. Suddenly a soft sigh was heard from the silhouette as it turned around and walked slowly back towards the house where Diana ran from. Once there, knocked at the door. After a minute of silence the door opened and a woman appeared.

"Mom, it's me! Can I come in?"

Mom went silent then cried out in happiness.

"Yes, yes my dear boy! Come inside! I missed you so much!"

The shadow slithered inside and the door closed behind it. There were two hours before the dawn.