Chapter 5

The game had ended, Charlotte had won every set like she always did. The school’s star athlete and the pride of everyone's lives. The girl of every guy’s dreams, at least that was what it seemed. I was waiting for her in the entrance of the tennis court and watched her as she walked toward me, sweaty and beaming. “Did you see I won! I won!” She had her usual energy and positivity. “Yeah I saw, I still don’t get tennis to be honest, it was still impressive though.” I said. “That's just cause you’re stupid.” She said in a joking tone. “Not as stupid as the mannequin was.” I joked back. “Ok ok I get it you don’t have to keep bringing it up.” Her tone souring a bit. “Maybe don’t put a hanging body on a fan next time.” I soured my tone to match hers. “Alright fine I messed up, I’ll win the rest of my tennis games this season to make it up to you." She said that so confidently, as if it were just a guaranteed future. I wondered how she could always keep up an attitude like this, it seemed so tiring. I brushed the thought away a second later since she had been like this for as long as I can remember, the Charlotte I had always known was still the same one I knew today, it was quite endearing. “Fine, but if you lose a single game you have to do my homework for the rest of the week, I don’t feel like doing it.” I said, trying to match her confidence in my tone. “You already don’t do your work.” She said, joking again. “Shut up.” The only insult I could muster since I knew she was right. “Well I’m heading back home if you want me to drop you off you can come with.” “Sure just give me a few, I need to talk to my teammates a bit before I go.” She said, “Alright I’ll be in the car,” I replied. I walked over to the parking lot and sat in my car for what seemed like ages, I was getting deja vu. I checked my phone and realized it was 3:45 pm, the exact time I had walked away from the tennis court. The thing that had happened to me before the game started had happened again, and the shadow was there as well, standing on top of my trunk. It wasn’t moving at all which gave me a good chance to stare at it. It was completely jet black and the size of a small house cat on its hind legs. Its color reminded me of my own hair color which I found strange. I moved slowly to get out of the car so I could get a little closer to it but the moment I opened the door it scurried off in the direction of the tennis court. I chased it right as it started running and as I was about to turn the corner, it stopped dead in its tracks and stared at me, its eyes were just as black as its skin, I could barely make them out of its face. The monster disappeared after a few seconds and time seemed to unpause again. I looked at my phone and it was 3:50 pm. The chase felt longer than 5 minutes to me but at this point I didn’t really care to understand what was going on with time anymore, it all made no sense to me. I overheard Charlotte’s voice as I was trying to figure out what was going on, “Yeah they are, so gloomy too.” She said, I decided to keep listening. Another voice spoke right after “Why do you even hang out with that person, they seem like such a loser,” the voice was one of her teammates. “Honestly I just feel bad, they don’t have any friends here because of how little they take care of themselves. They’re kind of annoying though, at this point I might just cut them off entirely, I’ve known them for 10 years and I’ve never once enjoyed spending time with them.” Charlotte said. “You should, you’re so popular hanging out with a loser like that is only gonna make you look like one too,” her teammate said. “I should, they really are a loser.” They both laughed after. I just walked back to the car, I couldn’t even think that was probably for the better too, I didn’t want to think about what just happened. Charlotte walked in not long after me, “Ready to go.” She exclaimed, with more of her energy. “Sure.”

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