I know we’re in November now but yesterday was just Halloween so I decided to pull out one of my short stories that is just a little bit spooky. I find a lot of inspiration for short stories in every day life, a sensation, action or visual sparking an idea for a character or scenario. Since I have a soft spot for fantasy it’s not uncommon for a little bit of magic to get added to the plot. That was the case for todays short story:
Shadow on a Street Corner
Something about the moment right before the sun drops behind the horizon makes everything frightening.
Kris shifts her bag higher on her shoulder, fingers flexing against the clammy strap. She rests her other hand on her coat pocket, a small bottle of mace tucked inside. She shivers as a brisk wind blew down the street and kicks at a cluster of fallen leaves on the street corner of Harrison and Cole.
She hates walking home in the winter time. It wasn’t cold yet, wouldn’t be until January when the snow and sleet started to blow in, but it was still chilly enough that walking home in the growing dark was unsettling.
As the stoplight flashes green she walks across the street, absently counting streetlights as she continues down Cole. Why had she decided to join the Debate club, it wasn’t worth the late walk-
There’s a sharp crack and bang and Kris is running before she even registers what she’s heard. Stopping a block later, heart racing and hands gripping her pocket with a white knuckle grip, she turns to look back down the road.
Nothing. Just the street lamps and their little circles of orange light growing sharper against the deepening shadows.
Turning back around she rushes home, muttering “No more short cuts this late.”
Kris notices nothing different the first few days as the overcast November sky left everything dim and grey. It’s not until she meets up with her friends on Saturday, the sun finally out, that anyone notices anything.
Cynthia was first, walking backwards as she tried to re-tell a funny story from gym and stops mid sentence. She stares behind them, “I just noticed Kris’s shadow’s all weird.”
Kris glances up from her phone to find her two friends looking past her. “What’s weird about it?”
Kris turns to look behind her and stops. Laura’s shadow stands out darkly but hers…
“It’s like you don’t even have one,” Laura steps closer as if to study the phenomena and Kris moves back a step.
“Don’t be ridiculous, everything has a shadow,” Kris argues and with closer scrutiny they could see a shadow, but it was faint and watery even in the bright sun.
“Weird, maybe the difference is from the angle?” Laura shades her eyes as she looks at the sun and Kris walks past her, turning from Harrison onto Cole, feet following a familiar path home.
“Can’t be, the sun is on us the exact same way,” Cynthia argues, scrutinizing Kris’s clothes. “Maybe it’s what you’re wearing?”
Kris glances down at her sweatshirt and jeans. “I don’t think it could be, I’m-”
Terror, heart pounding, knee shaking. She had to run, now, get away!
“Kris!”
Kris blinks and finds herself panting nearly a block away, her friends watching her wide eyed.
“Kris? Is everything alright?” Laura calls as she jogs closer to her, Cynthia trailing behind.
“Fine,” Kris glances back down the street to where the streetlamps stand, shadows flickering. “Sorry, I’m just not feeling all that well, I think I’ll head home. See you all in school?”
Without waiting for a reply Kris turns and races home.
Now that it had been pointed out to her Kris notices her missing shadow everywhere. It rankles. Shadows didn’t just disappear for no reason. She checks standing in front of her room light, then stands directly in front of a flashlight and yet still, her shadow remains pale and faint. A barely there outline.
Defeated she returns to school and over lunch confesses to Laura she didn’t know what was going on.
“When was the last time you are certain you saw your shadow?” Laura took a big drink from her thermos, then licks her lip to wipe off her tomato soup mustache.
Kris absently hands Laura a napkin. “I know I had it last week – I remember I stopped to stare at it on my way home because it reminded me of those scary stories Dillan likes to tell in homeroom.”
“Did anything happen after that?”
Kris stops, thinking back. “No, I walked home like normal…” only there had been something, hadn’t there? The bang, and she had sprinted down the street, just like she had on Saturday.
Laura scrutinizes Kris’ feet where the pale shadow was lingering. “Well, I’m stumped,” She shrugs. “Maybe it just ran away.”
Kris turns the thought over in her head, and the more she thought about it the more she began to think running was involved, but it wasn’t the shadow that had run – it had been her.
Tuesday found her once again walking home in the dying light, hands tightly grasping her backpack and steps purposeful until she came to the third street lamp from the corner after crossing Harrison on Cole.
Kris took a deep breath and then steps forward into the shadow stretching out from the streetlamp and braces herself – fear, heart pounding and knee shaking, the desire to run and leave everything behind pressing against her. She locks her knees, took a deep breath and then began to turn slowly. She was the only one on the street.
A slight creak had her spinning sharply, looking across the street. Lying on it’s side was an old busted metal sign, covered in rust and leaning against an alley wall. She could see where it had been attached to the wall and likely fallen once the support was completely rusted through.
Deep breath in, deep breath out.
“It’s nothing to be afraid of,” Kris takes one more deep breath and then took a purposeful step forward. “An old sign fell and it was frightening but there is no danger here. You can keep walking down the street like you always used to.”
At the end of the block she glances back and there, stretching out behind her was her own long, dark shadow.
