Dancing With The Shadows

• Tarran Frost, Grade 6, Beaconsfield Upper Primary School -
• Short Story
• 2018

Excellence Award in the 'Horizon of Dreams 2018' competition

There it was. Just as it was left. Broken, blood and bodies. The train that is, it crashed in 1942 but machinery couldn’t move it. The train wasn’t close to civilization so the tracks where just shut down. The train still lay on its side heating up by the warm sun in summer and freezing in winter from the cool breezy air. Even in the summer though it gave you chills. Mabey it was haunted but nobody dared to go near its daunting figure.
In every fairy tale there is always somebody, brave, courageous, strong and daring. In this fairy tale that person is me, Felix Jacobs, the only difference is in fairy tales the brave adventurer lives happily ever after, in this one I could die. As I continued each second became harder to walk through, noise became silence and my heart raced against the blood that was pumping so loud I could hear it. Then it was the second I put my foot through the door. I shone my torch towards the shadows and then, the world spun around me. My torch flicked as I fell into complete darkness. The world as I know it was about to change, but Then I was outside I could see the sky and the sun glimmering above me but I wasn’t standing. I couldn’t move. I was on the ground being pulled by someone’s feet. I was a shadow. I yelled but nobody could hear me. It felt pointless being alive. I didn’t know what to do. I had no control. I wanted to cry, I couldn’t. I could only think. Think about my life, how it had been, how I had been so ungrateful. I felt horrible, I wanted to do more. I dreamed of being part of the future and showing the world what heights we could reach.
As the sun fell and darkness spread through the city and lights in buildings flicked on. I thought, I should be grateful to still be in it. Then I felt a tear crawling down my face, I had been sad but the pain and hurt became joy. I could move! I ran any chance of getting away was a chance to take. I didn’t run far until I saw something. Another shadow. It was a girl, dancing in the street lights. Before I knew my body was twirling and my feet were spinning me around. I found myself dancing. I couldn’t believe it. I felt so splendid. I was standing in the light feeling more alive than ever, but then we both started to run, the run became a leap. We found ourselves leaping over Rome, Paris and any other place that our hearts took us. We were dancing around the world and running from the light. We were accepting we were shadows. We were going to leap through the world and only return to our human selves when we found ourselves back home, were we started.