The Other One by Amanda Jay

Author:Amanda Jay
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2017-05-01T06:00:00+00:00

FELIX

Felix had always believed in monsters. It was something that Ioana, the housekeeper, had told him once, when he wouldn’t sit still for his lessons. Felix couldn’t help it-- the discipline one needed to practice arithmetic was something that Felix simply did not possess. He far preferred his books and writing and poetry instead.

But Ioana was not very sympathetic. It was understandable, Felix always thought in hindsight. After all, no one, not even the housekeeper was exempt from Ezra’s stern rules and occasional bouts of anger.

"You had better behave yourself, young man," she had said, her voice rigid and her double chin quivering. Although to call it a double chin struck Felix as being rather gentle, as he could count far more than just two soft rolls of fat on the older woman’s neck. They always shook gently as she spoke, like a mound of light pink pudding, grotesque, but fascinating. Felix always had a harder time focusing when Ioana was around. His attention was dragged back to reality, however, by what she said next.

"Unless you concentrate and study hard, the Shadow Man will come for you." Her voice was hushed, her eyes wide. She played her role well.

Felix had tried to remain nonchalant. He wasn't too old to believe in monsters, but he was old enough to know that cowardice, no matter how warranted, should never be displayed.

So he forced his voice to remain neutral as he asked, "the Shadow Man? Who’s that?"

Felix had already known that he wouldn’t like the answer.

"Aye," Ioana continued, her eyes shining now that she finally had his attention. "The Shadow Man hides under the beds of naughty little children. Especially those who don't concentrate on their lessons. If you’ve been a bad little boy, he'll grab you by the ankles and take you with him to the Shadow World, he will. Aye, no one ever escapes the Shadow World."

Her face was close to Felix’s by now. Felix gulped softly, hoping she wasn’t able to hear his heart hammering away inside his chest.

"You’re lying," he insisted even though his voice shook. He buried his head back into his algebra and buried the shadow man at the back of his mind. But that hadn’t stopped him from taking a running leap the next time he had to get into bed. He had carefully tucked the covers over his feet. No Shadow Man was going to get a hold of his ankles if he could help it.

The rest of the night was not so easy. Every shadow cast on his wall was the monster reaching for him. Every sound was a warning that Felix would soon be on his way to the Shadow World. It was the longest night of his life. Only when the sun was about to rise did he finally drifted off into a restless, nightmare riddled sleep.

Of course, that was when he was a child. It wasn't the nights that scared him anymore. Not as much as the mornings did. Felix was sound asleep when he was woken by loud shouting and a crash.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.