1

Something in the Shadows

There was a hoarse, cold whisper on the wind, "Freemont." the sound was enough to make one's hair stand on end, "Freemont."

Amid the fog and chill air, the silhouette of a lone, fifteen-year old boy stood, lost, confused. "Freemont."

The boy's head jerked to the left, then to the right as the voice was heard again, "Freemont."

It seemed to come from nowhere, and everywhere. "Freemont."

The boy's breath was now coming out in hard, panting bursts as he ran through the mist, his eyes unable to discern where he was going. But the voice only became louder.

He turned left and ran that way, but the voice grew louder still. He turned right and the sound became unbearable. He collapsed to the ground and cradled his head in his arms, afraid and confused.

He cried out in agony as he felt a cold hand grasp his shoulder and shake him painfully.

"Freemont!" suddenly, the voice began to change, become higher in pitch and more feminine, "Freemont!" it began to sound very familiar and annoying.

"Freemont! Wake up!"

Freemont bolted up to a sitting position with a holler. His sister screamed in fright and leaped back. "What's wrong with you?" She cried, smacking at his knee, "You scared me to death!"

The boy ran his fingers through his red curly hair, panting as though he had just run a marathon, "Sorry, Clover." He said, "I guess I just had a nightmare."

"Whatever, mom wanted me to come get you for breakfast." She than turned on her heel and stormed out of her brother's room, her long, blond curls bouncing after her.

Freemont stretched with a yon before throwing off his blankets and swinging his legs over the side of his bed. He sat like this for a few moments, thinking about the bizarre dream he had just had.

He shook his head, trying to forget about it before he pulled himself out of bed and got dressed.

As he walked downstairs, Freemont's nostrils filled with the delightful smell of cheesy eggs and the sausage he could now hear sizzling pleasantly.

Mom spied him out of the corner of her eye as she placed the plump morsels onto a serving dish, "Look who decided to get out of bed this morning." A smile appeared on her face to show that she was only teasing him.

Freemont returned the smile sleepily, the hair on his head sticking out at odd angles.

He pulled up a chair next to Clover, "Sorry about scaring you this morning." He apologized as he sat down.

"That's ok-" she was cut off by the doorbell, "you can make up to me by getting the door," She smiled teasingly.

Freemont smiled as he pushed his chair back to stand up, but he was stopped by clover.

"If it's Josh tell him I'm not here, he's been following me around everywhere for the last few days."

"Don't worry, I don't like him that much myself," Freemont said while walking to the door.

As he opened the door, he expected to see Josh but to his surprise it was a very attractive young woman with her hair in half bun and brown ringlets falling close to her smooth face. She was red in the face with a frown.

"Valentine, wha-- oh yea the dance." Freemont had just remembered, he was suppose to pick her up for the 8:00 dance.

"Freemont! I waited at my house for two hours!"

"Well, good thing the dance is 4 hours long." Freemont said looking at the invisible watch on his wrist. "Come on Valentine, I just got up, and. "

"Just got up. Just got up! So you didn't care enough to set your alarm."

"Valentine, calm down, I'm sorry, can we just forget about it and go to the dance, we're already late enough."

"Fine." She said wrinkling up her nose.

"Ok good. Now let me get dressed first."

"Fine, but make it quick."

He turned around, and walked slowly to his bedroom.

When he walked in, he closed his door right away. He searched in his closet for something to wear. He picked up a red sweet shirt with a blue short sleeve shirt, some jeans, and a sports hat.

As he walked out, Valentine looked at his clothes then looked at him and smiled, as if to say good enough, and said, "Ok lets go." She was now as happy as ever.

~^^^^^"^^^^^~

The music at the dance was so welcoming, but Freemont paid no attention to it. He was too busy looking for his best friend, Hamlin.

"Valentine, where's Hamlin?"

"I don't know probably hanging out with the boys, waiting for you."

Freemont saw three little red hairs sticking up from the crowd.

"Oh no, it's Chris. Hide me Freemont!"

"That's ridiculous, why can't you just go up and talk to him?"

"No! You don't understand you can't get away from him, and once you say yes for one dance he thinks that means you're his girlfriend."

"But Valentine I bet it takes him forever to finally come up to you and ask just for you to say no, an-" Freemont was interrupted.

"May I have this dance, miss Stag?" said a high voice trying to sound low.

"Actually Freemont already asked, and I know he'd be heart-broken if I deserted him." she said with a forced smile.

"No, I'll be fine you go ahead." Freemont swept his hand in the air.

"That's ok Freemont, I'll live somehow." Valentine said through clenched teeth, yet still smiling.

"No really I insist."

"Well lets go then." The mousy, short, red head held out his arm.

"Thanks allot." Valentine whispered to Freemont still in clenched teeth as she grabbed Chris's arm.

"Any time!" he yelled after them.

"Hey, Freemont, over here." A voice seemed to come from nowhere.

Freemont turned his head to see Hamlin, a young brunet, holding up his glass of punch. "Hamlin, where were you?"

Hamlin started walking towards him. "Oh just hanging out."