Chapter 21

I looked down at my phone... No response... It's almost like I don't exist anymore... At school, she only talks to the new kid, Logan. It feels like she's just been ripped from me out of nowhere.

I packed my bag for school. Since Fran and Logan have been seeing each other, I haven't run across any shadow men. I left my house and saw them walking up the street together. He's been picking her up from school every day since then.

I stared at the ground as I walked. "Another day for the invisible man." Sometimes I wish I was invisible; at least then it would make sense. I feel tired. I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep coming to school like this. My heart was shattered, and it's like she never cared about me at all.

"Hey, Steven!" Rebecca called after me from behind. "Oh, I thought I missed you! Mind if I walk with you?" I gave a tired nod. I guess it's not bad to be alone when you feel this way, but I just couldn't really bring myself to speak.

"Hey, I wanted to come by today after school to see your projects... Uh, sorry, I guess you're still not feeling up to it, huh?"

I tried to shake the tired feelings away. Rebecca was still my friend; she didn't deserve to be brushed off like I am. "Yeah, why don't we walk back home together and I'll show you what I've been up to?" I forced a light smile so it didn't seem too fake, but I was also glad that I had someone who wanted to hang out with me.

Rebecca smiled brightly. "Oh, great! I'm so excited!" She was still wearing clothes that didn't seem to fit her personality. In fact, she seemed like she was trying to be someone else most of the time we talked, but I figured it would go away after we got more comfortable with each other again.

We chatted about school while we walked and took our seats in the class. It seemed like Fran's seat was getting closer and closer to Logan every day, while getting farther and farther away from me. Rebecca sat next to me today. "Hey, I switched seats with Brom so I could cheat off you, hahaha, just kidding!" That made me chuckle a little. I knew Rebecca was smart and she seemed genuinely interested in school, so I wasn't really worried about her cheating. Not that I would have minded, though; I often helped Fran out during class, but I always noticed the occasional glance when she wasn't sure if she was doing the problem right during the tests.

School dragged on but finally ended, and we started walking home. I tried to leave first so I wouldn't have to watch Logan and Fran flirting while walking home. Rebecca caught up to me, panting. "Geeze, Steven, slow down! I almost lost you there!"

"Sorry, Rebecca, I just needed to get out of there..." She had a worried look but quickly changed the mood. "So, what are you going to show me today? Or should we keep it a secret?"

I furrowed my brow and pretended to think about it. "Hmmm, definitely the super dangerous one, the one that spits slime, and the confetti one." I glanced at her with a smile on my face. She seemed genuinely worried. "Are you going to tar and feather me?" We both laughed. It feels nice to laugh.

We got to my garage, I put in the code, and the gears started turning, making a screeching sound. Just loud enough to drown out Logan's and Fran's laughter as they came up to Fran's house. I quickly ducked under the door as it lifted and remembered something really, really important.

"Oh, Rebecca! Could you go through the front door and get me some water? I have to set up the project so it's a surprise!" I hurriedly pushed her away from the garage opening. "Oh, uh, sure!" She looked at me puzzled and played along, knocking on the front door to get let in. I rushed back into the garage and went to where my pet shadow man was. He was playing my Gameboy in the corner, trapped inside my electric field.

"Shad, I have a friend over, so no talking, okay? I'm going to hide you behind these." There were a couple of file cabinets, but they weren't filled, so I easily lifted them over to barricade him in the corner. Shad gave me a thumbs up and continued to play my Gameboy like he wasn't even bothered to be a jail. Just as I finished covering him up, Rebecca walked in the garage. "Am I okay to come in now?"

I quickly rushed over to the shelf with my projects on it. "Yeah, come on in. These are what I've been working on. This one is a shock trap that you can throw on the floor; this one actually does shoot slime. Want to see?" She cowered as I pretended to aim it at her, but she also giggled playfully. I showed her some of the other ones but didn't show her all of them since they were mainly used for fighting shadow men, and I didn't want her thinking I was hunting them down or anything.

"Don't you have any laser guns or something?" She seemed more curious than hopeful. "Not right now, haha. I don't really want to hurt anyone with these anyways; it's more for fun." She gave me a slight pouty face. "Fun? Steven, that's a taser." I glanced over at the shock trap and shrugged. "Ahhhh... Boys, am I right?" I tried to make it seem like I just thought it was funny to shock things... But I guess that would also be a little twisted too if I was just walking around shocking innocent people or creatures... "Uh, you know, like dates and stuff, like jumping over fire pits..." She sighed as if I was ridiculous. We decided to go back inside and work on some homework for a while.

After studying for a bit, Rebecca asked, "Steven, how long do you think you'll feel upset for... You know, about Fran? Sorry, I know it's still fresh, but I don't want you to feel so discouraged anymore if I can help it."

How long? I don't know... Honestly, I would like to stop thinking about her if I could... It's not that easy.

"Sorry, Rebecca. I really don't know, but I had a good day with you, so thanks for helping me out." We smiled at each other, and then she headed home for the night. I do feel a little better, but it still hurts.

I went back into the garage and removed the barricade from Shad, my shadow man.

"Thanks, Shad, so how far did you get?" He showed me the Gameboy screen, and he was already on the third boss of Dungeons and Stones, one of my favorite RPGs. Dang, this kid's a natural... Well, I guess he doesn't eat or sleep, so what else can he do?

"Let's take a break and talk some more today." We had several discussions so far about where he had come from, who he was, and why he was a shadow, but most of his answers were, "I don't... know." He seemed young, almost my age even.

"What is your purpose? Do you feel like you have to do something?"

Shad tilted his head and crossed his arms. "Follow the Smell Goods... Sometimes, though, I feel more aggressive." He was referring to the red aura that sometimes accompanied other shadow men. "That feeling was close today while your friend was here." Huh? Rebecca's presence made him feel aggressive? "Shad, tell me what happened."

Shad started, "When she came in, I felt the familiar feeling close by, but it wasn't commanding me like it usually would." Why would Rebecca's presence have that effect?