Shadow

• Teeka Hampton, Grade 10
• Short Story
• 2009

The night was black as ebony with clouds covering the stars. A thousand houses rested with their eyes lit up in the darkness. It was pretty late, late enough for the little suburbs street lights to be on, but not late enough for everyone to be in bed. A distant continuous roar came from the heart of the city where cars never slept and shops stayed open until midnight. No one in their cosy homes; or even their dirty cardboard boxes, could have suspected something amazing was happening at that very moment.

The trees in a nearby park ruffled frantically as something sped past at a great speed. The shadow flew over the tiny duck pond, causing ripples across its smooth surface. It danced over the rooftops and soared under a bridge, dipping, twisting, falling, floating, spinning and prancing like an excited child. It finally came to sit gently on a large rock and looked at its reflection in the pond. There wasn’t much to look at; just what appeared to be blackness in what might have been the shape of a person.

Shadow had been like this for as long as he could remember. Living in the underground drains through the day and tumbling through the never-ending sky at night. He had had a name once but it had long since been forgotten through the many years. He hadn’t always been like this great black nothingness either but those memories too were faded and seemed almost dream like now. He had never asked to be like this and yet here he was. He wished terribly to feel the sun again, to see great clouds up in that amazing sky. What colour had they been? He couldn’t remember. When had he last spoken to another person or even spoke at all?
He could sometimes remember a few memories of his past life if he concentrated hard enough, when he was all alone in that suffocating black void under the ground.

A woman gently smiling down at him.
A funny little toy that made a delightful rattling sound.
A stern, strict looking man writing on a blackboard.
Gooey hair gel and shading glasses.
A huge crowd of people all clapping and cheering.
An attractive lady with exquisite, emerald green eyes.
Last but not least a strange metal instrument pushed to his head that made a very deafening noise.

At that moment the sun peaked over the horizon and kissed the ground with the first new raise of sunlight. The sky lit up in greeting with a beautiful blushing shade of pink. It was time for Shadow to disappear once again into eternal night. Life is very lonely when you’re dead.

Teeka Hampton
Age 16, grade 10
49 Cremorne Dr, Queensland 4680, AUS
Tannum Sands State High School