S H A D O W ⊥ O W N: Page #4

NIGHT FOLK

• Fiction
• Horror
• Mystery
• Short story
• Fantasy

								


In the town square, Sheriff Kate Montgomery did her rounds, checking the protective sigils carved into every lamppost.

Her radio rattled with strange sounds – bits of conversations that had never happened, screams that came from nowhere and everywhere. She'd learned to tune it out, mostly.

"Officer down," Jim's voice came through suddenly, clear as day. "Officer down at—"

Kate switched off the radio. Twenty years, and they still used his voice. Still tried to make her doubt what she knew had happened
A figure standing in the middle of the street, wearing what looked like an old-fashioned dress. As Kate watched, it turned slowly, revealing Emily Chen's face.

"Sheriff Montgomery," it said in Emily's voice. "I'm scared. Can you help me get home?"

"You're not Emily," Kate said steadily, though her hand moved to her gun. Not that bullets would help, but the weight was comforting.

The Visitor wearing Emily's face smiled too widely. "No," it agreed. "But we have her. Want to see?, she's a very special girl"

The fog thickened, forming shapes that suggested screaming faces, reaching hands. Kate smelled formaldehyde and wet earth.

"Want to see them all?" the visitor asked. "Everyone we've taken? Everyone who opened their doors, who answered when we called? They're all here, Sheriff. All waiting. All—"

The church bells began to ring, cutting through the night. The fog retreated, taking the apparition with it, but Kate could still hear Emily's voice on the wind

"See you soon, Sheriff. We have so many new games to play..."

In her bedroom, Sarah Hawthorne finally moved away from the window. She picked up her phone, sent a message to the town's emergency group chat:

EMILY CHEN TAKEN 8:47 PM. NORTH SIDE. SHUTTER MALFUNCTION.

Responses came quickly:

Chadwick Spencer: Confirming visual. Multiple entities active on North Side. Stay inside.
Father Michael: Starting extra prayers. Lord have mercy.
Maya Rodriguez: Diner secured. They're hungry tonight.
Kate Montgomery: All units aware. Maintaining perimeter.

Sarah looked at Emily's empty house, at the frost slowly creeping up the walls. She could hear them testing her own shutters now, whispering with Emily's voice

"Sarah? Best friend forever, remember? Let me in. Please let me in. It's so dark out here..."

She turned up her music, Radiohead when she's upset, to drown out the voices. 

The night moved ahead, long and dark and full of voices. In houses throughout Cryptopolis, people huddled behind their shutters, clutching phones and medallions and each other, watching the shadows move and listening to the things that wore their loved ones' faces.

They had nine hours until dawn. Nine hours of torment and scratching, of voices calling their names.


The night crawled by with glacial slowness. Ayo dozed fitfully despite her best efforts, jerking awake at every scratch or whisper. The Visitors grew quieter as the hours passed, but she could still feel them out there, waiting.

Finally, impossibly, the sky began to lighten. Ayo watched through the gaps in the shutters as color bled back into the world. Father Michael's prayers had gone hoarse, but he kept going until the sun crested the horizon.

A bell rang – different from the evening warning, slower and somehow exhausted. One by one, shutters creaked open up and down the street. Shell-shocked faces peered out, counting survivors.

Ellen appeared on their porch just after seven, carrying a basket of muffins and a thermos of coffee. She didn't comment on their sleepless faces, the way they jumped at small sounds. She just poured them each a cup of coffee and sat down at the kitchen table.

"First night's the hardest," she said finally. "It gets... well, not easier. But you learn to live with it."

Ayo stared into her coffee. "How? How do you stay sane?"

"We look out for each other. We keep faith." Ellen's eyes were tired but kind. "Father Michael leads prayers every evening before sunset. Tuesday night is community dinner in the church basement. We've got a good school, a decent grocery store. Life goes on." She paused. "Will you stay?"

It was the question Ayo had wrestled with all night. She thought of her new job, the students who needed a teacher. She thought of Boston and its memories, the way she'd been drowning in grief. At least here, the monsters were real. Tangible. Something you could fight, even if only by closing the shutters and holding on till dawn.

"Yes," she said quietly. "We'll stay."

Ellen nodded, unsurprised. "Good. Come to dinner tonight – before sunset, of course. You should meet your neighbors. Father Michael will want to talk to you."

After Ellen left, Ayo and Thomas walked through the house, opening shutters to let in the morning light. The porch boards were scuffed and scratched, but otherwise showed no sign of the night's visitors. A fresh layer of snow had fallen, unmarked by footprints.

Down the street, children waited for the school bus, their parents standing guard with tired eyes and travel mugs of coffee. The early sun caught the church steeple, making the cross gleam. It looked almost normal.

Almost.

Ayo watched a young mother hustle her children onto the bus, checking her watch obsessively. Everyone moved with purpose, with the efficiency of long practice. They all knew exactly how many hours of daylight remained.

"We should unpack," Thomas said. "Keep busy."

Ayo nodded, but she couldn't stop watching the street. 

The sun climbed higher, warming the snow-covered ground. 

But for now, there was sunlight. There was coffee and Ellen's muffins, and a new classroom waiting for her at the school. There were neighbors to meet at the church dinner, and a father who hadn't left her side despite everything.

Ayo turned away from the window and picked up a box labeled "Kitchen." They had nine hours and seventeen minutes until sunset. Time to get to work.

In the distance, Father Michael began his morning prayers, his voice carrying clearly in the winter air: "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil..."
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