shadows that spoke (standard:Psychological fiction, 1868 words)
Author: elusive	Added: Oct 06 2004	Views/Reads: 3436/2255	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
shadows follow everywhere............

There was a man named Luminas, who came to a disturbing reality when he
was 25. One day as he stood under the sun waiting for his bus to 
arrive,he began to worry about something  he that taken for granted all 
his life-his very own shadow! He would wonder why it never left him 
alone and why,why on earth did it have to exist? He couldn't confide in 
any friend or tell anyone that it was a shadow that disturbed him so. 
Once, he had, in a light-hearted sort of manner,spoken about his 
harrowing shadow to a group of friends. They rolled and howled with 
laughter. 

This became a private joke about him. Everytime his friends met him
thereafter, they teased him saying,"Hi! how's ur shadow?" or "Meet 
Luminas,and this is his shadow!" He felt like hiding his face in the 
dark when they teased him like that. He realised he was different from 
his friends,who carried on with their lives, without actually 
understanding their existence,without asking any questions 
whatsoever.They  told him to go see a shrink.He hated them even more 
and began withdrawing from them and slowly turned into a recluse. 

But his shadow,or for that matter the mystery about it's existence,
continued to nag him.His worry turned into hatred for his ghost of a 
shadow. Whenever he went out in the sun,he was bothered about how his 
shadow stuck to him,whether it was early morn or 12 in the noon when it 
was right below him, or 4 in the eve when it stretched out idly 
alongside-he was irritated with this constant flimsy company. In the 
eve too it followed him,under the street lights.It never left him even 
when he was at home. 

The worry became a nagging itch and he couldn't concentrate on his
work.Even simple activities such as writing under the table lamp or 
working in the kitchen or taking a walk became stressful..Things got 
worse and his worry grew into paranoia.He was inches away from a 
breakdown."Maybe it's time to see a shrink",he thought to himself.How 
would he know he was making a mountain out of a molehill.His only means 
of escape was to sit in a dark room for hours together to get rid of 
his shadow."Oh lord! How I wish I had no shadow!", was a plea that was 
addressed to no one in particular. 

He lay down on his comfortable bed,with all the lights switched
off,where he couldn't even see his thoughts.This was a comfort to 
him.His wishful thinking told him his shadow was gone,but his conscious 
and educated mind told him that he could not escape it forever.That 
made him panick even more.He drifted between panick and comfort in the 
darkness.He was drifting in the dark and suddenly found himself 
standing in the sun at half-past 4.The sun made shadows of everything 
around him and seemed to rejoice at the thought that nothing was spared 
of it's influence.It went down lazily,at it's receding best and cast a 
long shadow beside him."The shadow of Luminas!" he spat "I could kill 
you!!" 

In a nervous impulse he bent down,touched his shadow and gripped two
edges of it .Surprisingly he found his shadow coming off the ground. 
Excitedly, he tore it off the ground.It came off like a child's poorly 
done papercraft in a book,but was still stuck to his feet.In a 
desperate attempt to get rid of it,he made some clumsy moves, danced 
and kicked about trying to get the shadow off his feet but it just 
wouldn't come off. He pulled, tugged, whacked and threw it about but in 
vain.Finally he gave up and let the shadow down. 

It settled down to the ground as softly as a feather would fall.Tired
and defeated, he screamed at his shadow,stamped on it and walked on 
trying not to look at it,which now seemed to have a mocking expression 
of it's own."It cannot belong to me" he thought."Why should I have 
something that I don't need", was his child-like plea."It's ugly...and 
cruel.It mocks me!" The sun went down the horizon,laughing at his 
plight, then darkness descended on him again. 

The next day was a holiday.Luminas woke up late, after a long night of
restless sleep and realised he had some errands to do.So he went out 
with a heavy heart,not knowing how to avoid the day.He walked on for 
hours trying to dodge his shadow.He stood under the shades of trees for 
long,thinking to himself,or walked close under the jutting shades of 
shops to fool his shadow.He had his lunch in a dingy restaurant,where 
he spent more than 2 hrs reading and thinking,oblivious to the stares 
he received from the waiters. 


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