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Day Three: As if the shadows weren't creepy enough, now they seem to be moving, stretching beyond where the light shouldn't let it reach. In the afternoon sun, the shadows still seem to be climbing; darkness is spreading across the city unnaturally. More than that, now sometimes it feels like you are being forcibly grabbed, like someone is trying to drag you into the darkness.
She couldn't get away from them; what had once been a nonchalant acceptence of the inevitable shift in seasons had turned into something significantly less pleasant. There was something malevolent about the shadows, something much more intense and with a greater determination to pursue and 'catch' her. No matter what corner Liliane happened to round there was always another shadow. Even in broad daylight where shadows simply shouldn't have existed they lay there in wait.
She may not have been the only one but she certainly felt as though she were. No matter what time of day she happened to leave at, no matter how often she did her best to walk where there happened to be the most light, she was found. Time and time again she found herself faced with what should have been easy to ignore, easy to skirt round or more importantly...something that just shouldn't have been significant anyway.
Shadows were meant to be just that, shadows... a reassurance that you weren't some sort of ghost or undead being that shouldn't exist in this world. They were simply there to confirm that something was solid or in certain cases, to tell the time. Shadows weren't supposed to grow, they weren't supposed to change and they definitely weren't supposed to chase.
More than once she had caught something out of the corner of her eye, something that seemed so human and yet not. There was every chance that the anxiety that she had been feeling for the last couple of days was performing a major disservice, the hallucinations could simply be as a result of an overwhelming sense of paranoia but a very real panic clung to her. She could feel her chest tighten and her breath stop, each time a flicker caught her eye she walked a little quicker.
...And then it seemed even her own shadow was determined to reach her.
She'd made the mistake of glancing down towards it as she made her way home for lunch and in doing so she had been greeted by something that wasn't her. It had taken on a shape of something else, someone else, and then it had simply gone. Whether this was simply a trick of the eye remained to be seen but the unsettled feeling never left her and with a distressed yelp that she didn't just quicken her pace, she opted to run the entire way home.
It served no purpose though, the redhead could already see the shadows 'extending' with each step she took. They didn't lunge towards her, it was more of an insistent creep, seeping ever closer as though they intended to consume anything and everything in her path.
Whatever this wild ride was, she wanted off it.
As she rounded the corner into her street she couldn't help but regard her front door as a beacon of hope and it was with a rather sorry mewl of discontent that she scurried towards it and plunged through the door in a fashion that would have caused her parents' to lift a brow if they'd been home.
Just as well they weren't really, the second she felt something grab her she let out a shriek and unceremoniously slammed the door. More than a few of the pictures on the wall quaked with displeasure but for now she seemed safe. Whatever was outside hadn't yet seemed to seep into the house.
Nevertheless, affording a glance outside, Liliane did note that whether something was screwing with her or not was irrelevant... Those shadows that had chased her didn't seem to be receding. Whatever they were they weren't going away, whatever it was didn't seem inclined to leave her alone. If this kept up then eventually there wouldn't be anywhere to run, everything would simply be covered in shadow and that meant she'd have nowhere to hide.
She wasn't necessarily one to lock herself in the house but she could certainly see the appeal. Had she not had responsibilities it would have been an option for her to consider; as it was she was going to have to find another solution to the issue... she needed to find someone who knew whatever the hell this was and what it wanted.
Word Count: 705
