I stared at the dark silhouette of Kyle and Tanner, that had been printed on the otherwise blank page. They were identical to the ones that I saw on Friday, on the… projector screen. I quickly shifted around in my seat, to look at the back of the classroom. I stared at the rectangular box that was the projector, sitting on the table against the wall. Was the projector and this page… connected?
“Eyes on your own paper!” shouted Mr. Penumbrum.
Realizing that I must have been staring for too long, I quickly turned back around, and started to pretend to work on my packet.
When Mr. P stopped staring at me, I quickly tore the last page off of the packet, and stuffed it in my pocket. I looked around nervously, to see if anyone saw. Luckily, it didn’t appear to be so.
I asked for a new packet. Not that it mattered anyways, since I’m pretty sure that I had failed the test. After school, I found myself looking at the page again. I didn’t exactly know why I kept it, but I felt that it was important. That I could use it, to try to bring Kyle and Taylor back. I hid it in my desk drawer, and there it sat for almost a decade.
I’m ashamed to admit that I had forgotten about the page. But it’s just that, no one would believe me, and I had no idea what I could even do. So it left my mind. I went on with my life, graduated school, got a job, and even started dating a girl who I was friends with at work.
Eventually, I moved out of my parents’ house, and while I was packing my belongings, I found the page, the one with Taylor and Kyle. All the memories of that night came back in an instant. That’s why I made this, to be able to finally share the secret that I held for so long. I was overwhelmed with guilt, that I had left them. I knew I had to find a way to bring them back, to make things right.
Apparently, Mr. Penumbrum had retired a few years back, and disappeared, along with his projector. I knew that projector was the key to all of this. I just had to find it. Luckily, it wasn’t that hard to track Mr. Penumbrum down.
After asking around, I found that there was a little store in the back parts of my town called “Penumbrum’s Pawn Shop”. Penumbrum wasn’t a very common last name.
It was in the part of town that I rarely visited, which made sense why I had never seen it before. It was a small brick building between two larger buildings, and it looked rather old. But it was still open, so I opened the door, and walked inside.
There was a whole assortment of different items. Ranging from normal, to very weird. A large mirror sat in the corner, collecting dust. One of those talking dog button pads labelled “BrightPup” was on a nearby table. There was even a life sized clown rag doll sitting creepily in a rocking chair. But the thing that I noticed almost immediately was a projector sitting on a table in the middle of the room, facing a blank wall. It was the same projector that I had seen ten years prior.
Suddenly, a short, older man, came out of a door from the back of the room.
“Ah, welcome!” he spoke immediately upon seeing me. “Do you see anything you like?”
When he got closer, I could see that it was a much older Mr. Penumbrum. He also recognized me. A large smile formed on his face.
“Barry? Is that you? How’ve you been? It’s me, Mr. P! I taught you, and your friends Taylor and Kyle, before they…”
I decided to pull out the paper.
“That’s exactly what I wanted to talk about. Listen, this may sound crazy, but I think that the projector over there-“
“Where did you get that?” Mr. P interrupted, pointing to the paper in my hands. The look of joy that was once on his face was gone. Now, he looked fearful.
I told him everything that had happened that night, ten years ago. Surprisingly, he seemed to believe it all.
Mr. P sighed.
“I’m sorry that all happened. I truly am. But there’s nothing I can do. Taylor and Kyle are gone, forever.”
“But can’t we just use the projector to project the shadows back on the wall?” I asked, frantically looking for some way to solve this.
“We can’t. It’s too dangerous.” stated Mr. P, who turned his head to look at the projector. I looked too.
“What do you mean?”
Mr. Penumbrum’s brows furrowed and he walked towards the table with the projector on it.
“Not just your friends are trapped in that projector, Barry. There are other, countless victims, who’ve had their shadows, as well as their souls and bodies taken. But there’s also something else trapped in there. Something that is responsible for all of this, something that could do so much worse if it was projected into the real world.”
“So why even keep the projector around? Why not destroy it?”
“The projector still needs to be used normally. I can’t risk the thing inside becoming bored, so I use the projector, every day.” he patted the projector, and turned back to look at me. “As for the second question, it, the thing inside, would be released if it’s vessel, the projector, was destroyed. I’m really sorry, but I can’t let you project that there paper. I hope you understand.”
I looked down at the paper. At the silhouettes of Taylor and Kyle. I wanted them to be set free, but I didn’t want to make things worse. It had already been a decade, maybe I should just let them… go.
“Okay, I understand.” I spoke softly “Thanks anyways.”
Mr. Penumbrum nodded, and turned away, walking back to the other room. I was about to walk away as well, when the projector caught my eye once again. It was hard to believe that such an object could cause so much. Almost… too much. Mr. P didn’t seem exactly too worried when Taylor and Kyle went missing. Suspicion rose in my mind, with voices giving me second thoughts about this whole situation. I looked over to the doorway that Mr. P had walked through before. He was in the other room, and I was out of his sight. I stepped forward and quickly flicked the projector switch. Immediately after, all the ceiling lights went out, and I could hear Mr. P run back into the room.
“No!” shouted Mr. P. “Don’t turn on the projector!”
But it was too late. The projector had already started, and the light shined against the wall. Somehow, the silhouettes of Taylor and Kyle appeared on the wall, without me doing anything with the page that held them. That wasn’t all that appeared, though.
Slowly, Kyle and Taylor themselves materialized in front of me, illuminated by the light of the projector on them. They looked exactly the same as they did ten years ago, when they disappeared. Except for their eyes. They were pure black, like glassy, obsidian spheres. Only, they didn’t shine. In fact, nothing reflected in them. It was like I was staring into a void.
The thing that broke me out of my trance, was far worse. The shadows that they had been trapped in for so long were casted back onto the wall due to the projector light. But they weren’t separate this time. The shadows had conjoined together, in the shape of something completely unrecognizable. Except for one thing… or rather, two things. The two, small, white dots near the top of the shadow, that resembled eyes.
I could feel that sensation run down my spine, the one I felt so many years ago on the night that Taylor and Kyle disappeared.
It was looking at me.
And I was now looking back at it.
Suddenly, Taylor and Kyle began to move. Taylor made a beeline straight for Mr. Penumbrum, while Kyle went for the projector.
“Kyle what are you-“ I started to say, before he pushed past me. He turned the projector around, so it’s light was now shining onto Mr. Penumbrum, who stood there in complete shock of all that was happening.
“No, NO!” Mr. P shouted, as Taylor wrapped his arms around him, holding him still. The years had not been kind to Mr. P, making it all the bit easier to keep him in place.
The silhouette with eyes reappeared on the wall behind Mr. P, next to his shadow. But I didn’t see anything else, as the projector light suddenly went out, leaving the room in complete darkness. The screams of Mr. Penumbrum stopped as well.
Then the ceiling lights turned back on, and everyone was gone.
I looked around, but I was all alone. It felt all too familiar. However, there was something different. The projector was now missing. No paper was left behind this time.
I didn’t know what to think. Had I freed Taylor and Kyle? What else did I free? What happened to Mr. P? There were so many questions that I don’t know if I’ll ever find the answers to.
I walked back home to my apartment, feeling like it had all been a complete waste of time. Or that I had made things worse. When I got back to my apartment, my girlfriend greeted me. She must have saw I didn’t look too well.
“Is there something wrong?” she asked, worriedly.
“No… no, I’m fine.” I lied.
I quickly went to the my study room, and closed the door. I sat at the desk, and dug the page out of my pocket. Seeing if it could help me make sense out of anything that had happened. Strangely enough, the page still had Taylor and Kyle’s silhouettes on it. I had expected them to disappear when their shadows were projected. What did this mean? Were they still trapped? What did it mean? WHAT DID IT ALL MEAN?
I began to hyperventilate, and gripped the paper so tight it began to crumple in my hands.
That’s when I noticed, that on my desk, was the pink sticky note , with Mr. P’s computer password on it, from all those years ago. I picked it up instantly, holding the page in my other hand, and read it.
“Z4E1D0R3”
I kept reading it over and over again. Each time, I felt a bit of my mind slip away. I started laughing. Laughing at it all. None of it made sense. How did this get here? Does it even matter? I just wanted it all to stop. They’re all gone, taken by it, which is now free.
It… It.
It.
It.
It.
It.
It.
It needs a name, but what to call it?
As I look at the note, I realize,
I think I’ve found the perfect fit.
So I write it down, over and over again,
Hoping that someday, it’ll spread,
and it will bring the end.
Z4E1D0R3
ZAELDORE