Sabotage

This was probably the hardest of these short stories to write. I couldn't come up with a good story idea, and when I finally did, I almost didn't want to write it, because I wanted a happy ending. Sadly, a happy ending wasn't in store for poor Gabe. Please enjoy, comments and feed-back are always appreciated!
 Also, I apoligize for the distinct lack of colour on this picture. I scanned it before I coloured it, so it never actually got done.

 

                Tall and thin, the shadows crept along the wall. They shouldn’t have been possible. The room was already weighed down with the sort of darkness that presses the world into silence, muffling sound and stifling dreams. And yet, there they were, spindly fingers reaching out, ready to pluck the sleeping boy from his bed and fill his head with shadows.

Before creatures could do any more than brush the curls off of the boy’s forehead, however, the door opened, letting in a sliver of golden light. He boy’s mother peered inside. She smiled, and closed the door again, leaving the boy in the darkness once more.

Slowly, slowly, the shadows began to move once more.

Tall and thin, Gabriel wandered down the school hallway, glowering at the floor as he went. People automatically moved away from him, his stormy features promised trouble that none of them wanted. His hands were stuffed into his pockets, preventing them from listening to the voice that told him to strangle the people around him, to rip them to pieces and paint the halls red with blood.

He stopped at his locker and opened it. For a fleeting second, he thought he saw a grinning face in the shadows, but it disappeared instantly. He glared at the locker. Those faces were the reason that he couldn’t have a normal life. Their insidious voices crept into his brain, making him violent, unpredictable, angry.  They sabotaged every friendship, every attempt he made to reach out, to get better, to get them out.

A pretty girl that passed by smiled at him, and he tried to smile back. The shadow voices, always at a murmur, grew to shouts. Kill her, break her-

No! He slammed the locker shut. No. He wasn’t going to listen. He wasn’t going to be some tool for destruction and death.

He turned away from his locker and walked out of the building, into the bright sunlight.  The shouts faded to whispers. He leaned against the building and stared at the sun, welcoming the momentary quiet that the light gave.

He was done with living with the damn shadow people. He turned away from the sun and started walking home, blinking away the dark spots that appeared in his vision. In every spot, he saw the face of the girl who had smiled at him. Just a smile, nothing more, yet it made his heart beat faster. She probably thought he was some sort of loner loser, and, even if she didn’t even if he did like her, it didn’t matter. Maybe he’d be able to ignore the voices for a while. Maybe. But the moment they got into a fight, over anything, the voices would start screaming, and maybe, just maybe, he’d listen to them for a split second.

And even in split second, he could hurt her.

Gabe hopped up his front steps and opened the door. His mom wasn’t home, but she never locked the door. It was really stupid. It wasn’t as if they didn’t have keys to use.

Kicking off his shoes, Gabe travelled into the kitchen and rifled through the medicine cabinet.  He pulled out a bottle of Advil and shook it gently. The container was mostly full. He got a glass of water and took them all, one by one, swallowing the little pills and wearing an insane grin across his pale face.

Sabotage his life, would they? Gabe didn’t intend to give them another chance.

He swallowed the last pill.

Victory.