Beyond the Shadow

Alice listened to sound of her brothers running in out of the house, shouting and laughing as they chased eachother.

"Hey, Carter. Do you know where my baseball is?" Thomas inquired his voice carrying down the hallway,

"I dunno." Carter soft voice replied,

"You have to know where it is." Thomas pressed,

"I don't know." Carter insisted still,

Alice tuned them out as the interogation erupted into something of a verbal battle. Accusations and defensive remarks thrown across the battlefield, she found herself focusing on her thoughts. Grabbing the laundry basket she made her way towards the stairs and stopped.

Seeing the baseball laying abandoned at the top of the stairs, annoyance flared up, like a fire that crawled up her throat, grasping for every reason to be negative. Feeding off it even. In one spit of anger she snatched the ball, but it slipped rolling down the stairs.

Plop! Plop! Plop!

Until finally it came to stop in front of the basement door, gleaming with an achromatic innocence.

Groaning, Alice began the descent down the stairs. Approaching the ball, she leaned to grab it. An unnerving creek interrupted her as her fingers gilded against the red stitching, like healing scars on pearly white skin.

Nervous chills slithered down her spine, her eyebrows knitted together in confusion. Finally, she gave a nervous chuckle. No, that was silly. It was just a creak, probably the boys coming into the house.

She listened. Silence. Shaking her head, she reached for the baseball again. A creak sliced through the cold silence once again, a slow, obvious noise, that was unmistakable. She listened as it repeated itself in a soft chilling repetition. It was coming from the basement door.

Dropping the laundry basket, she cautiously turned the lustrous doorknob. Stepping into the basement, she let the blanket of darkness enveloped her. The baseball lay forgotten at the crack of the door, gleaming in the eery hall light.

Gasping, Alice awoke in a cold sweat, her entire body shaking, only to see that same baseball gleaming threateningly on the pillow beside her.

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