The Shadow Box: Paranormal Suspense and Dark Fantasy Thriller Novels

by Travis Luedke

  Tommy’s pale grey-green eyes blazing with some purpose. He was one of those rare individuals blessed with natural good looks. He had the athlete’s build, broad across the chest and shoulders, toned arms, and the typical wrestler’s fade haircut. He carried himself with the arrogance of wealth and confidence forged in competition. Though kinda short, everyone in school knew of his dynamic wrestling reputation. Tommy was feared and respected by most.

  That is with the exception of me.

  My hate for Tommy was a foregone conclusion. If Tommy had never been born rich or good looking or walked around with all that swagger, it wouldn’t have made one bit of difference. The moment I knew who Rachelle was hangin with, I hated Tommy. It was a wholly irrational and slightly psychotic hatred. We were destined to be enemies in all things.

  I doubt Tommy knew or cared.

  Why would he give a shit about me? I avoided him. I never said a word to the asshole. But Justin knew how I felt. And Justin followed behind as Tommy came directly towards me.

  Friends make the worst kind of enemies. They know too much.

  Rachelle tried her best to stop her boyfriend in his advance. She leaned back and pulled Tommy’s arm. “Stop it! I’m not gonna stand here and watch you be an ass! Take me home, now!”

  And then I knew. The thing I had wished for a week ago had actually happened. Someone saw Rachelle riding with me.

  Tommy turned to her, yanking his arm from her grasp, “You two started this shit, I’m gonna finish it!” He stomped up to the entry to the skate park and looked right at me. “Hey Mikey! Get your bitch ass over here!”

  Nah, I think I’ll skate a little longer. I continued my routine.

  Tommy had a real knack for being an arrogant prick. It was one of his most valuable talents, the ability to get under someone’s skin with his special brand of public ridicule, a key aspect of popularity in any social setting. Probably ran in the family. It was Tommy’s father the real estate agent who resold our family home after the foreclosure.

  I kept on skating, rolling up one side of the ramp, and back down to climb up the other side. The majority of the skatepark was now my audience due to Tommy’s theatrics. I took it in stride. This sudden sense of power put a smirk on my face. I looked over to Anita and winked conspiratorially, loving every minute of it.

  This was my turf. I owned this half-pipe. I knew every inch of this park intimately. Fuck Tommy and his bruised pride.

  Tommy stood his ground for a time, but patience was never his strong point. “Don’t make me come over there and kick your ass!”

  Tag, I was it. Can’t just keep on skating when someone’s calling you out.

  I altered my course with a deft skid of the board and cut a cross angle down the ramp, heading for Tommy. I came off the ramp partway up one side and flew through the air, a good four feet high. I executed a perfect 360 in the air before slapping down with both feet on the board, a slick squatting roll. I stood up to a couple cheers from nearby skaters and kicked hard, gaining speed, still heading straight for Tommy. Even Justin had a look of surprised admiration for the maneuver. Rolling hard, I leaned back into a rear nosegrind and skidded right into where Tommy had been standing.

  He side-stepped pretty fast.

  We stood there face to face. I was taller, lankier, scowling down at him. “What’s your problem?” I kicked up my board and caught it in my left hand.

  A skateboard has many uses.

  Overall, I made a decent entrance, and I watched his face flicker with something, a crack in his confidence. This probably wasn’t what he expected. Tommy had stepped out of his element in the skatepark, surrounded by rebellious, grungy kids with shaggy hair and even shaggier clothing. And none of us were particularly friendly or respectful.

  He continued putting on his show, “I hear you’re so hard up for a date that you tried to get with Rachelle, putting your nasty hands all over her the minute I walk away!”

  I snickered and Rachelle stared me down with her ice-blue eyes full of tension. Was that guilt I saw on her face?

  Aha. She was using this situation to fuck with Tommy. Like he had said to her, you started it.

  Rachelle must have told everyone, and now the pressure was on Tommy to do something about it. She wanted him jealous.

  I shook my head. I had thought she was better than that. “I have a date to homecoming, so you got nothin’ to worry about.” I should know when to say less or nothing at all. But my mouth just does its own thing. “She’s all yours.”

  I had to laugh at the instant malice on Tommy’s face. He hated this. And my laughter wasn’t helping.

  A couple nearby skaters who were pretending not to watch started snickering along with me. I threw a wink to Anita. She stood a few feet away, watching quietly, smirking.

  Tommy moved in closer. “Oh, I’m not worried. Actually I’m hoping you give me an excuse to smash your face. I should do it right now, in front of all your buddies.”

  “I have a girlfriend. I don’t need yours.” I moved to take off on my board, but Justin stepped up. He looked to Tommy expectantly, waiting. The prick was in on this. “What are you here for? Forget how to skate?”

  Justin sneered, “I’m here to watch.” Then the wuss stepped back out of my reach. Anita and I both glared hard at our former friend. Bastard Justin didn’t have the balls to do anything on his own. But he was damn good at slashing tires and playing with perfume. Fucker.

  Tommy started in on me again. “I ever catch you coming anywhere near her, I’ll toss your ass from one side of this park to the other!” He took another step forward, dropping low, hands fisted. Ready to rumble.

  “Maybe you should keep a tighter leash on your girl. Leave her sitting around all lonely and abandoned, who knows what might happen.”

  Tommy moved, but I had already anticipated the effect of my words. My board was up. I lashed out with the jagged, sharp edge, an inch from his neck. I held it there, a blatant threat. “Whoa there badass. You really wanna find out how good I am with this board?”

  He wanted to make a move, bad. He had worked himself up, breathing hard, ready to go. “Bring it on. I got no problem cleaning your blood off my board.”

  Tommy, for the first time in a very long time, took a step back. His eyes reflected the knowledge that I was dead serious. I would love to slam my board into his nose, destroy that pretty face.

  The tables had turned.

  He looked at my board, looked at Justin and Rachelle, and the crowd of skaters assembled to watch. “You’re real tough with your board.” As he spoke, he backed away, Justin backing away right beside him. “I’ll catch you sometime without it. Then we’ll see how it goes down.”

  Still walking backwards, he snatched Rachelle by the arm. He retreated to the skatepark entry for his final threat. “Remember what I said Mikey, stay the hell away from Rachelle!”

  Tommy turned and marched off, dragging Rachelle with him. Justin had to jog to catch up or get left behind. Glaring back at me, Tommy’s face was a mask of wrath, the epitome of fury. If you looked up ‘wrath’ in the dictionary, at that moment, the footnote would read: *see Tommy Schroeder’s face seconds after being punked-out in public.

  One of the junior high kids standing up high on the half-pipe raised his board, brandishing it like a medieval shield. He growled, “This. Is. Sparta!”

  Snickers and laughter erupted all over.

  I had gathered a ring of skaters gawking at the confrontation. Anita, Cleo, and Rafe moved in to join me. Tommy peeled out of the parking lot in a blind rage. He missed clipping another car by inches. It was one of those rare, delicious moments of victory.

  I savored this moment.

  Rafe bumped my fist. “That was classic, dude. I wish I had recorded it.”

  “That’s just what I need, another video for Facebook.” I grinned wide.

  He shook his head, smiling.

  Anita took my hand. “I thought you were gonna take his head off. I’ve never seen you s
o mad. It was kinda sexy.” She kissed me, like a conquering hero. A little awkward in front of her brother, but still awesome.

  Someone tugged on my shirt. I looked over to find Nadia’s amber gaze boring into me.

  “Hey! When did you get here?” I never knew what to expect from her. She always popped up out of nowhere. She’d been visiting nightly, but I’d never seen her at the skatepark before.

  She answered casually, “A few minutes ago.” Nadia peered around to the other side of me. “Who are your friends?”

  “Oh … this is my girlfriend, Anita, and her brother, Rafe.” Anita blushed. I smiled awkwardly, feeling the same heat on my face. I hadn’t gotten used to that word yet, girlfriend. It meant so much more than simply having a girl who was a friend.

  We had graduated to the magical status of dating, a truly wonderful thing.

  Anita and her brother came around to shake hands with Nadia, who had already hooked onto my arm. Anita noticed. I scrambled to explain. “This is my friend, Nadia. I didn’t get a chance to tell you about her yet. We met a few weeks ago.” Realizing the odd situation, I added, “She lives by me out on Stratford.”

  Nadia never let go of me. No way to hide the truth of it. We had some kind of special connection.

  Anita looked at me and looked at Nadia’s attachment to my arm. I could see the wheels turning.

  “Hey, I’ll be back in a minute.” I extracted myself from Nadia and nudged Anita. “Come here.” I walked Anita out to the parking lot, away from listening ears.

  “Look, she’s a friend. I don’t want you to get the wrong idea.”

  “She looks kinda young, like what thirteen, fourteen?”

  “Yeah something like that. She’s different. You’ll see. She’s kinda like my new adopted sister.”

  “Yeah ... I think she’s got a thing for you. Better be careful Mike. If her parents think you’re involved with her, you could get arrested.”

  “Anita, trust me. She’s a good friend. You’ll like her once you get to know her. She’s not like anyone you’ve ever met. Trust me.”

  Before I knew it, Nadia was there again, standing right at my side. “This is my bro. He takes good care of me.” She leaned up on my shoulder. “No worries here.” And then she pinched my ass with one of those sneaky sleight-of-hand moves.

  Fuck.

  But Anita smiled sweetly. Then I realized it had already happened – Nadia’s charm worked an instant spell on Anita.

  Nadia turned her golden gaze back to me. “So what was that all about?” I stared at her for a minute, unsure. She prompted, “The guy with the Jeep?

  “Oh, no big deal, a jealous boyfriend. You know me, I’m such a macdaddy. Guys can’t help but be jealous. It ain’t easy bein’ a playa with all these haters around.”

  I smiled down at Nadia and scooped both girls, one under each arm. I walked them back to the skate park. Mr. Macdaddy.

  We sat at a picnic table, a girl on either side of me. Anita held my hand and kissed me on the cheek, but Nadia spoke in serious tones. “I think he’s gonna be a problem.” I looked at her, puzzled. “Asshole with the Jeep?”

  “I’ll be alright.” I shrugged.

  She pegged me with that grave stare, imparting a sense of someone much older, dangerous even. “Would you like me to take care of him for you?”

  We couldn’t help but laugh. Standing nearby, Rafe hopped on his board to skate off to the ramps, chuckling. “Yeah, dude, let her take care of your dirty work.”

  Even Cleo overheard Nadia from a distance and snickered. But Nadia was unperturbed. She maintained her solemn stare, awaiting my answer. As if nothing else mattered beyond my answer to this question.

  “You’re actually serious? What are you gonna do, light up a bag of dogdoo on his front porch or something?”

  Nadia gave a little half smile and nodded. “Or something.”

  “Maybe you can stalk him to death?” I was smiling, expecting her to laugh or giggle or show some kind of normal girl behavior.

  Nadia maintained her stare and spoke real low, almost a whisper in my ear. “If necessary, maybe. Let’s just say I’ll make sure he never bothers you again.”

  I almost believed her for a second. She was so disarming with her intensity. Then I shrugged it off and hugged her closer. “No, I don’t think I’ll unleash you on him yet. Let it be. Tommy has enough problems keeping up with Rachelle. He doesn’t deserve the wrath of Nadia.”

  After another laugh, I directed the girls to my Geo to give Anita a ride home. Nadia hopped right in with us like she belonged there, a member of the family.

  Anita had that look. That what-the-hell-are-you-doing-Mike look. “You’re giving her a ride?”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  As we traversed the familiar route to Anita’s house, she spoke low, glancing at Nadia in the backseat. “So … where exactly does she live?” She tried her best to seem casual, but she wasn’t fooling anyone.

  “Out by the trailer park, I’ll drop her off on my way.” I had a sour feeling in my stomach with the lie. I’d never had cause to lie to Anita. But I couldn’t think of a way to explain this thing with Nadia. I didn’t really understand it myself.

  Nadia nodded as I spoke, adding validity to the lie.

  I wanted to tell Anita all about Nadia, about how I let her stay in my room, this homeless fourteen year old. But no one would ever understand. All I knew was that I enjoyed Nadia’s company, she was welcome, and I missed her when she was gone.

  Anita accepted the simple explanation. “Oh … okay.”

  We kissed and said our goodbyes like lovesick teenagers who’ll never see each other again. Anita stood there in her driveway watching as I drove off. Nadia slipped into the front seat, taking over Anita’s place.

  She patted my hand. “She knows you’re hiding something. She knows you didn’t tell her everything.” She had that queer little half smile.

  “So … what’s to tell? You stay with me when you want, and I’m happy to have you. It’s nobody else’s business.”

  “Exactly. And that’s the way we’ll keep it. People wouldn’t understand.” She paused, then smiled and continued, “I like her. She’s good for you. Much better than Rachelle. I’m happy for you.”

  “Well thank you very much, I’m so glad you approve.”

  Nadia nodded regally, a queen granting permission to her subject.

  At home Dad was passed out on the couch, six beer cans on the living room table, still in his RSC work shirt. But I didn’t mind him having a few beers after work. He earned it. Conveniently, too. I walked Nadia right past my father and into the bedroom. No need for the sneaky window routine.

  Tired, I went straight to the bed and flopped. I was starting to doze off to her comfortable weight curled around me when she asked, “You’re taking Anita to the dance?”

  I squinted, as she stared at me expectantly. “Unh hunh.”

  “How much money do you need?” I squinted at her again. She was serious, no smile, no teasing.

  “I think you’ve given me enough money already. Do you know how weird it is to have a teenage sugar mama? How old are you anyway?”

  She gave me the slightest hint of a smile, running her fingers through the hair at my temples, a wonderfully relaxing scalp massage. “A hundred and six.”

  I snorted and chuckled. “Seriously, how old are you?”

  “I guess I’m probably fourteen. Don’t I look fourteen?”

  “Yeah, or maybe thirteen.” I smirked.

  “So, how much?” She asked again, her fingers running an entrancing pattern across my head.

  She had turned me to putty, smiling and relaxed. She could ask me anything and I’d tell her if only she kept on playing with my hair. “Ahh … my tux is $150, we’ll probably go to dinner, that’s another $30, and I should get her one of those flower things.”

  “A corsage.”

  “Yeah, that’s probably $20. So about $200 I guess. I have most of that from what you left me l
ast week.”

  “Okay, go to sleep now, I’ll take care of it.” She kissed me on the forehead.

  As I dozed off I mumbled, “Sure thing.” Somehow I’d gotten used to the idea of accepting money from her. It was strange, but like so many aspects of our relationship, the strange had become ordinary.

  As was the norm, I dreamt – dreams of Nadia sliding over and around me, caressing, stroking, running her hands everywhere. The best dreams ever. I could die a happy man in the middle of those dreams. I always seemed to get a more restful sleep when Nadia stayed with me.

  In the morning there was $250 in assorted bills on my dresser and Nadia was gone without a trace. She must have thrown in the extra fifty for good measure. Sometimes, if it wasn’t for the money, I’d think I dreamed her entire existence.

  Ah … life was good.

  * * * *

  Chapter 11

  Friday, October 22nd, Homecoming Night

  Nadia had become a regular fixture every night, sometimes showing up at the skatepark to hang out with me and Anita. At other times she slipped in through my window later in the evening. Anita liked her. They became good friends within days. The fact that Nadia bragged repeatedly about how Anita was good for me, and that Anita made me smile all the time probably had a lot to do with their friendship.

  Anita seemed to accept her without feeling jealous or threatened. And Nadia made it obvious she had no intention of trying to steer me away from Anita. She actually did the opposite; Nadia was always trying to get me to take Anita out on the town (on her dime of course). Whenever we went on our little dates, Nadia would tactfully excuse herself. She understood there were moments when three’s a crowd.

  On homecoming night, Nadia was there in my bedroom, checking out my tuxedo, combing down my unruly waves of hair, a regular fourteen year old mother.

  “You know I can’t take you with us to the dance?” I felt guilty about leaving her behind.

  “Sure, don’t worry, I’ll stay busy. I had a life before I met you. You can drop me off in town on your way.”