Like a normal teenager,I used to spend my leisure with my two bestfriends Eva Summers and Noah Johnson.I live in a small town called Shadow Town which was named by the local people after a mysterious shadow like figure appeared in the woods and killed people and teeangers who went in the woods for camping .The shadow man was never caught and the people of the town still live in fear upto this day.As we were spending our normal day at our school"Springwood Highschool" our Principal Kruger made an announcement for all the students to gather in the auditorium.We all gathered at the auditorium and Principal Kruger gave us a heart breaking news.
Principal Kruger: Today I have gathered you all here to inform that one of our brightest student of Springwood Highschool Ms.Jade Michaels has been found dead in the woods..As the sheriff has informed us that she was camping last night with her friends in the woods.Her friends are at the station being interrogated .No student should go anywhere near the woods as you know about the killer shadow man who lives in the woods.It's for your own safety.Thank you.
The entire school as well as the town was talking about the murder of Jade Michaels and her mysterious killer The Shadow Man.
Eva:This is totally insane.A mysterious man appears out of nowhere and starts killing people in cold blood but what's his motive behind all this?
As I could say by the look on Noah's face that he was cooking up something in his mind.He turned to me and said,"Lucas and Eva lets investiagte.Anyways the summer holidays are coming up and we got nothing better to do.So lets find out who this shadow man really is.
And from that day our lives turned into a nightmare.My name is Lucas Smith and welcome to the dark mysteries of Shadow Town.
The summer holidays arrived and we started digging out information about our mysterious shadow man.But first, let me tell you about my bestfriends.Eva is a very good detective and one of the brightest students of Springwood Highschool.She caught one of my classmate who used to steal money from other students school bags.She caught him red handed stealing an empty bag which was planned by Eva and handed him over to Principal Kruger.The Summers are a rich family in Shadow town and own the very famous chocolate factory in the town called as Dark Cubes.Noah is the head of the football team and his mom is the mayor of the town and a family friend.And about me,my dad is a sheriff and I am the head of the newspaper club in my school.My mom and dad split like 5 years ago and I live with my dad.
So back to the shadow man thing. According to Eva's information,shadow man appeared in the town 8 years ago and he has killed 30 people in the town and most of them were teenagers who went to camping in the woods.According to the autopsy reports of Doctor Fredrick the bodies have missing organs.
Noah:Why would the shadow man take out their organs?
Eva: Maybe he feeds on those organs.Afterall he's not a human or that's what people say.
There were too many questions on my mind about the shadow man but i told my myself no to get too much involved because its just a summer vacation fun investigation or that's what I thought. Well we were all late for dinner so we head to our houses. I got home and took a shower and helped daddy set the dinner table.We were having a random discussions about school and summer plans until that one phone call that gave me chills.Daddy left the house in a rush and I had no clue what was going on.I hear the door noise and it was dad.
Me:What happened dad ?
Dad:We found a body near the woods.
Me:Was it the Shadow Man again?
Dad:Yes and I have been summoned by the Mayor Johnson tomorrow morning regarding two continuous murders by that damn shadow man.
Me:Don't worry dad you"ll catch him soon.
And then I went to my room and fell asleep thinking about the murderer and the woods.Next morning we planned to meet up at Eva's tree house in her backyard.
As we were going through some of the detials about shadow man and his killings I found a woman named Angie Simon who is a survivor.I told Eva and Noah about her and we agreed to find this woman and get information about this man.Noah said he'll find where she lives so we can go visit her and ask few questions.After some digging I found out that Mrs.Angie Simon is staying at St.Peter's Comfort Centers for trauma and domestic abuse.We went to the facility to visit Mrs.Simon and only one of us could meet her so we decided that I'll go in and question Mrs.Simon.
I was taken to her room.She was sitting at the window,staring out with a rosery in her right hand saying prayers.I was given 10 minutes to spend time with the patient.I pulled a chair from the corner and sat next to her.She turned towards me with those eyes still in fear and she had few fingers missing on her left hand and a scar on her forehead which looked like she was attacked with a sharp object probably a knife.
Me:Mrs.Simon, my name is Lucas Smith and I've got few questions to ask.
She said nothing and kept saying her prayers until I mentioned that it was regarding how she survived the shadow man attack. She stopped praying and looked in my eyes.I could see the terror in her eyes and her hands shaking and she said,"Don't ever go near the woods.The devil has made its den in there.It feeds on people.The town is in grave danger.
I thought this would be the right moment to make her answer to my questions.
Me:Mrs.Simon, how did you escape the attack of the shadow man?
Mrs.Simon starts speaking in a trembling voice.
Mrs.Simon:I..I was on my way to home from work and I was passing by th...the woods.I saw a man with a scythe standing in the middle of the road.I stopped the vehicle and horned at him.He stood for few seconds and walked into the woods and then out of the blue he strikes my car window with his scythe.It missed my eye and cut my forehead.He grabbed my shirt and tried to pull me out of the car.His eyes were cold and terrifying.I struggled to lose his grip but he striked my hand and it missed and cut my fingers.I kicked the door open which hit his scythe and it fell down.As he was picking it up I took the opportunity of the situation and escaped the place.I was later sent here by my family.But I know the devil is going to come for me.He won't rest until he kills me.I hear his whisper every night and I see his shadows in the hallway.He's gonna kill me!! He won't stop!!
And Mrs.Simon had a panic attack and the wardens rushed in to calm her down and told me to leave.She wouldn't stop screaming and saying,"He's not going to spare anybody,he's gonna come for everyone!!!
I just stood there paused for few seconds until the warden gently pushed me out of her room.We left the centre and went to our regular cafe.I told Eva and Noah everything Mrs.Simon had told me.Next morning the entire town hears about one more murder in the woods and body was missing its organs again.The town was terrified of this cold blooded killer.My dad couldn't find any leads on this killer and Noah's mom was in utter pressure by the people of the town regarding their safety.Gangsters and drug dealer's took advantage of the situation and let rise to active crimes in the town.Drugs,gangs and riots started taking place.There were fake threat calls by the name of shadow man.The town was no more safe.Next day we three woke up with a shocking news from the local new channel that Mrs.Angie Simon has been reported missing since last night.The entire facility was searched but they found no trace of her.My legs froze and my hands were trembling.I recollected the words Mrs.Simon told me that he's gonna come for her and kill her.I had so many weird thoughts running on my mind.I was waiting for dad to be back home so that I could tell him everything about me visiting Mrs.Simon at ST.Peter's Comfort for trauma and domestic abuse facility.As soon as daddy got home I told him everything and he was mad at me for going there cause if Mrs.Simon goes missing forever then I'll be held suspicious because I was the last person to visit her before she disappeared.Dad asked me that why did I visit her.I told him that I was writing an article for school newspaper about the shadow man so I went to dig up some information from the survivor.Dad warned me not to get myself involved in this mess but after Mrs.Simon's disappearance I got more curious about this cold blooded murderer and I also wanted to find Mrs.Angie Simon before she gets hurt.I didn't even knew if she was alive but I still wanted to find her and save her and my heart wouldn't rest untill then.
The summer vacation was over and after school I asked my bestfriends to meet me at our regular cafe.They arrived and we settled down at our regular table at the end to the left side corner.I told them that I was going to look for Mrs.Simon and I needed their help.And they agreed to help me.We were like teenage detectives who had to find a killer and a missing person.One of my classmate Sierra Spencer discovered a dead body in the girls washroom.The dead guy was a football player of our school. His wrists were cut and they looked like symbols.Next day we heard from the local news channel that Mr.Millers entire family was missing.My dad couldn't find any leads.We couldn't find anything until I overheard from the leader of the scouts group of our school that one of their member went into the woods yesterday and saw some weird stuffs.So I decided to talk to him and interview the guy who wnet into the woods.I took Eva with me incase if he denied.So we asked him to give us the name of the guy who went into the woods and as I expected he denied.He was trying to get cocky until my detective friend blew his guard with her investigation.She told him to give us the name or she'll publish in the school news paper that the leader of the scouts group is a secret weed dealer of the school.And without taking anymore seconds he gave us the name of the guy.His name was Jonathan Wills.So we searched the entire school but we couldn't find Jonathan.We asked one of the scouts member and they said he hasn't come to school today,so we had no had other option rather than visiting his house.We knocked on the door and his mom opened it.We told her we were his friends and because he was absen today we came to tell him about the homework that was given today and the due date was tomorrow.We had to come up with a convincing excuse and this worked.She told us he was upstairs.To be honest I never knew Jonathan nor I've ever spoken to him,not even once.Jonathan was surprised to see us and we told him we wanted to ask him few questions regarding what he saw in the woods.He told us that he saw a pentagram and skulls and symbols drawn on the skulls.There were people people wearing black robs and chanting something.I got a little closer to take a look and I took few pictures.I asked him if I could see those pictures and he agreed to show it to me.He took the picture of the skulls which had the exact symbols I've seen on the wrists of the dead football player in the school.We were done with our investigation so we left his house.Eva looked at me and she could tell that I had questions running on my mind.She asked me what was I thinking.I told I don't understand how did those symbols were carved o his hands.Was he a member of the occult?Eva told me that maybe he was a member of the occult and thats why he slit his wrists to sacrifice himself.I told her that why would he kill himself in the girls washroom rather then illing himself in the woods or his bedroom,don't you think thats weird?Well she had no answers and she me to stay focused on the shadow man.I got home and I saw dad on the couch holding a letter and he looked tensed.I asked dad what's wrong and what's that letter? He said it was the letter from the shadow man.I froze for few seconds,I could hear my heart beating so loud and my hands were cold.I sat beside dad and asked him what the letter said.He handed it over to me to read it.The letter said
"People of Shadow Town, I want you all to know that the woman who had gone missing Angie Simon is at the river locked in a car which is going to drown any minute in the water.Save her people of the town before it's too late"
The Mayor, my dad and people of the town gathered to find the car and save Mrs.Simon.It was all over the news.People scattered around with their torches finding a woman who was nothing but a stranger to everyone.The whole town united to save her and defeat the plan of shadow man.But we couldn't find anything.There was no car nor any sign of Mrs.Simon.While we were on our way to our houses we saw a car parked in the middle of the road.Dad got down of the car and pulled out his gun and told us not to move.He got close to the car and slowly opened the door.The car was empty and then he saw a letter on the backseat of the car.It was from the shadow man,the letter said...
"Save her before she jumps off the school building"
Dad told people what the letter said and we all rushed to the school.Dad along with his fellow cops went on top of the building to save the missing woman.He opened the door and there was no one except a gift box.He picked it up and opened it and it was blank.There wasn't anything written in it.
In the end it was all a setup to create chaos and develope fear among the people.We couldn't fall asleep and I bet neither did the others.First he killed people in the woods and now he's sending letters and scaring the shit out of people.After few days the cops discovered Mr.Miller and his entire dead at the river side with their organs missing and on the otherside people have reported seeing a bunch of strangers in a black robe going into the woods and some have reported hearing noises coming out of the woods. Next day I saw a bunch of students with the same symbols on their hands.I went to one of them and asked what is it about these weird symbols.The guy snapped and walked away.I went home and told dad about the students being involved in some kind of an occult and that he should inform the Mayor and the principal.I informed Eva and Noah too and they agreed to help.The kids were called to the principal's office for questioning and they didn't answer anything not even a single word.So they had to let them go but we were secretly spying on them.Wr kept a track of where they went after school and what they did during the break hour.But nothing suspicious was found in their behaviour or I guess they knew someone was spying on them so they pretended being normal.There were two threats in the town The Sha dow Man and the Occult.One killed people and the other manipulated teenagers.And both of them were in the woods.Next morning we received a letter from shadow man about his next victim and that was the leader of the scouts member from our school.The boy was under police protection and few us gathered out at the station with our flash lights and baseball bats to show our support and give him courage that he'll be fine with so many people around to protect him.Hours passed but there was no sign of any threat until we got a call from Mrs.Will that her son Jonathan is missing.The cops rushed to Mrs.Wills place.She told the cops that her son was upstairs in his room and when she went up to call him for dinner he wasn't there.My dad went up to check the room and they found the window broken and it looked like a forced entry.The other boy at the sation was safe but Jonathan was nowhere to be found.We came home and I told dad that we need to do something or else this won't stop.We got another call from the station and my best pal Noah Johnson was missing.His mom the mayor told us that Noah went out to buy something from the store and he never returned home.It's been two hours since he's gone missing and his phone is switched off.I told dad we had to go into the woods and find Noah before the shadow man kills him.We formed a search group with flash lights and cops with gun for safety and etnered the woods.The moon shined bright on us and huge trees looked so frightening.Like Mrs.Simon said it looked like the devil's den.It was so quiet that we could only hear our footsteps and the breeze.We saw a pentagram and skulls like Jonathan had told me.We moved further as we heard noises of people and saw big heavy boxes and I heard a familiar voice.The cops surrounded the area and rushed in with their guns.Everybody hands in the air!! and the cops rushed in and the one's who tried to escape were tackled to the ground.I saw the shadow man escaping from behind the tents,Eva and I rushed to catch him.We followed him until reached the occult spot.He jumped on Eva and pushed her to the ground and held a gun at her.As I rushed forward to save Eva I got shot in my leg and I fell of the ground.As he was gonna pull the trigger my dad shot his leg and he fell on the ground and dropped the gun.Eva pulled the mask and the person under the mask was Mrs.Simon.I was shocked.'Mrs.Simon you were the shadow man all along?,'I asked.'Yes',she replied.One of the officer came to inform dad that Noah had been found and the boxes contained of organs of the victims.It looked like they were smuggling organs.Then dad told Mrs.Simon to tell us about the everything going on inside the woods.'Yes I killed al these people' ,Mrs.Simon confessed.'So you faked the attack on you and your own disappearnce',I asked.'Yes',she replied.'Then what about that scar on your forehead and your fingers missing?'',I asked.'One of my victim tried to attack me and thats how I lost my finger and I needed convincing to tell and get myself treated and create more fear in the hearts of the people so that they never come inside the woods and we keep doing our business'.
Now it all made sense to me,Mrs.Simon told a fake story to convince people that she was really being attacked and acted crazy and traumatized so that her family could send her to ST.Peter's facility which is more convincing to people that she was really attacked by the shadow man and then she faked her disappearance which made it obvious that she was taken away by him.And she wrote those letters to everyone and gathered them at the river so that she got plenty of time to place the other letters like she planned.'How did you smuggle the organs?' ,dad asked.'We send them in a boat to the other side of the river where we have one of our guy wearing a black jacket with a devil symbol on his jacket waits for us ",she replied and gave out the information.Dad sent few units to the other side of the river to verify the story and arrest the man.'Where is Jonathan Wills?',dad asked.'I don't know anybody named Jonathan Wills',she answered.'We know you set a trap by telling us your gonna kill the scouts leader and you kidnapped Jonathan',Eva said.'I set that trap to kidnap the mayor's son',she replied.'But there are few bunch of people wearing black robes and looks like they practice some occult but I have nothing to do with the disappearance of Jonathan ',she added.As dad lowered his gun she rushed and picked up the gun and pointed at dad.'Put your gun!',she said.'Okay okay,calm down',and daddy put his gun on the ground.Eva slowly picked up the skull when she wasn't paying attention and threw it at Mrs.Simon which hit her forehead.Mrs.Simon got so furious that she turned towards to shoot her.The gunfire was loud that people came following the sound.Mrs.Simon was shot dead by my dad in self defense to save the life of Eva.The guy on the otherside of the river was caught and arrested.I was hospitalized to take out the bullet from my leg.It was all over the news about the shadow man shot dead by the sheriff.Jonathan was still missing and the cops were working on finding him.The town was relieved from the terror of the cold blooded shadow man.The peace never remained too long until we heard from the local news channel that a group of occult is on the lose picking up women's for sacrifice.
Written by :.Kounain
