All Chapters of Loved By A Shadow: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Eden packed lightly but deliberately, stripping her life down to the essentials. Map, water, food, tent, clothes, sleeping bag, travel stove. She folded each item with careful and delicate hands, as though the organisation of this simple packing could keep the pieces of her broken heart from falling to the floor. She had gone through the entire house (or what was left of it) grabbing everything that was Ben's, a shirt from the washing basket, a bottle of aftershave and their photo album, all went into a black bin bag. She didn't want to come home to reminders. it was time to take back her life, starting with this trip.At the very last moment, she added her diary, its cover worn and its pages cramped with untidy, restless handwriting. It was full of dreams mostly, but some deep impulse told her she couldn't leave without it.She stood holding the diary in her hand trying to find space for it in her already overstretched bag... She had purchased this Diary when the dreams started, t

Eden's fingers trembled as she forced the tent poles into place, trying to concentrate only on the task at hand. The whisper still coiled in her ears like smoke, lingering even after silence had long since replaced the sound... It took a surprisingly long time to get the tent up and set up the rest of her campsite. She swallowed hard, telling herself it was just the wind whistling through the trees.But the wind had never known her name.By the time her tent stood firm on the ground and her sleeping bag had been set up how she liked it, dusk had descended over the forest. The trees now standing like black pillars, the branches stretching overhead blocking out most of what little light remained in her small clearing. Eden used the waning light to look for fire wood, collecting a few good armfuls of dry wood, she set herself to work and coaxed a small fire to life a couple of feet from the open mouth of her tent. The flames lapped eagerly over the dry timber, the light of the fire pushe

The night was still and peaceful.Eden curled in her sleeping bag, the fire outside reduced to a calming red glow, the moonlight coated the clearing in a pleasant silver glow. For the first time since entering the mountains, Eden felt completely at ease and her body surrendered to sleep without resistance.After a few hours of a peaceful, dreamless sleep, something startled her awake, at first she thought it was the sound of the wind whipping through the trees, she opened her eyes blearily and froze.A shadow stretched across the canvas of her tent, tall and broad shouldered the thing stood, unmoving. Her eyes widened in shock, all she could do was stare at the shape that seemed to have appeared out of thin air.The silhouette lingered, its head tilted slightly as if it could see her through the fabric of her tent, studying her. The outline was unmistakably human in shape, but also somehow distorted, as if it wasn't completely solid, the outlines of the shape coiled like smoke. Eden s

The hiker, Markus looked up at her, the shock of her actions seemed to have snapped him out of his delirium, he began to speak, his lips coated in fresh blood still pouring gently from his nose. "We,... We thought it was just an easy trail" He stammered, his shoulders sagged in defeat. "We just wanted to go hiking, there were 6 of us all together, we thought we were safe because of how big our group was.... We were wrong, They..T-They were my friends" His eyes scanned the treeline nervously, the sound of his voice still seemed to hang on the branches after the call from beyond the clearing. Eden had bigger priorities, that voice no longer scared her, she had known that voice as soon as she heard it... She knew the owner of this voice would never hurt her, it was a soul deep instinct."The forest" He continued, snapping Eden back to attention. "It-it isn't right, the paths, they move.. The air, it, it just feels wrong... And the shadows...""What do you mean, Shadows?" Eden pressed, su

Eden woke with a start but kept her eyes firmly shut. Memories of the advancing shadows rushed in on her like a tsunami and the fear that hadn't left her in oblivion gripped her even harder. The ground beneath her was not pine needles and dirt but smooth and cold, she opened her eyes slowly and shock replaced the fear, she was laying on smooth black stone that shimmered faintly, as though polished by countless hands. She sat up too fast, her breath hitched and a wave of vertigo hit her hard, she was disoriented, her eyes darted around the cavernous black space, she spotted her canteen sitting beside her, and hurriedly grabbed it, realising it was now full to the brim with cold fresh water, she chugged gratefully.It definitely wasn't the forest, wasn't her camp. The air hummed with a low vibration that seemed to fizzle in the marrow of her bones. Shadows moved along the walls, not like natural ones cast by light into sheltered places, these were...alive, sliding and twisting in shape