“Shadow figures!” Brandon shouted in a high-pitched voice, “Shit Dan, I, ah damn...”
Brandon had read about shadow figures. He had started to see them for himself, fleetingly, but he knew what he had seen. He started out trying to deny it, but the more it went on, the less he could argue with his senses.
“I saw them today” Danny said, “and Monique said she had been seeing them for days. I didn't believe her at first until all this happened, and then they seemed to be everywhere”
Brandon was shaken by all of this, not as much as Danny was, but enough to get his pulse racing.
“So, Monique...she's gone?” Brandon asked tearfully.
Danny nodded, in the back of his mind still hoping that this had all been a terrible nightmare and that any moment he would wake up and discover they were all okay and none of these insane things had happened. Please let that be true. But he never woke up; this was all happening right now. Brandon wept for Monique, bewildered and saddened. If he had taken more notice of the shadow people, he may have been able to do something. He didn't know what, and he knew deep down that the chances are that there was nothing he could have done, but he knew of these creatures and they could have been a sign that something else was going to happen. It left him with a gnawing guilt that was eating him inside.
“It's no coincidence Dan” Brandon said, “The shadows and that creature, they've got to be related, there's no other way”
He grabbed his beer and took a long gulp, tossing his half full pizza box aside. He had no appetite now. All he had was a thirst, a thirst for answers and some kind of resolution, but he didn't have one, not a complete one anyway. They began talking about what they had each experienced. Danny went first and relayed in detail everything that had happened to him over the last few days. The people who had disappeared, which of course Brandon said he never known; the odd details that changed around him, and the continual loss of time. He then went into detail about the events of that day. How they thought that there could be something in the city's water supply causing all these mental anomalies, and then ending with the shadow monsters, the unidentifiable creature and the tragic events Monique had had to endure. Brandon took his turn and explained to Danny about how he had started seeing the shadow figures around a week ago, it was subtle at first, but they gradually became more persistent, appearing and disappearing from his peripheral vision almost hourly. He thought at first that he was overworked, then, going mad, finally he had decided to look into what they were. He had found numerous answers and wasn't sure which, if any was the right one.
“What do people say there are?” Danny asked, eager to know more.
“Well when I really started delving deep into it, I found that they are mentioned throughout history” Brandon said, Danny nodding slowly, prompting him to continue, “Early texts speak of Shadow people as some a sort of paranormal apparition. They're normally seenout of the corner of the eye, passing quickly, and then disappearing, like we've both seen. But the ancient beliefs make a clear distinction between the forces of evil and shadows. Shadows aren't evil; they exist as a line between good and evil, somewhere in-between. The forces of evil are afraid of the shadows”
Danny's eyes widened, Brandon seemed to be saying that these figures aren't evil, but then why were they here suddenly and what was the connection with the creature?
“So, they aren't the ones who caused it? What about that fucking thing I experienced, what you saw on the TV, what have they got to do with that?”
“Well one ancient text I found online said that shadows protect certain people and that demons fear shadows and their power. When a human being is protected by a shadow, that person can't be attacked by demons or other evil supernatural entities” Brandon replied.
“So, who are they protecting? They certainly weren't protecting Monique, or if they were, they were doing a pretty shitty job of it” Danny said butting in.
“That's what I am trying to figure out Dan” Brandon replied quickly, “I also read that only the spirits of the deceased enter the afterlife, shadows can't go to Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory. Shadows just maintain a balance between good and evil”.
Brandon sat there thinking hard about what it could all mean andwhat sense could be made of it.
“Okay, so, let me just suggest something then” Danny said, who had been thinking hard about what Brandon had just told him, “If they weren't protecting Monique then they were protecting someone else, and Monique just happened to be able to see them. So, they're protecting someone we know, as we're both seeing them too”.
“Yeah, I guess they could be protecting me or you, and the other is just seeing them too. Or it could be someone else and we're both unprotected”.
They were both silent for a few moments, each of them trying to piece together a workable theory.
“I was just thinking about what you said about there being something in the city's water, but unless that report on the TV is also a complete hallucination we're both seeing, then something definitely happened” Brandon said, his mind twirling his thoughts ever deeper.
“So, whatever has been happening to me before and what happened today are separate things? I don't buy that, it's too much of a coincidence Brandon”
Brandon agreed that it was a bizarre coincidence, but that didn't stop it being a coincidence, and to be fair, there were much
