Shadows

Easing back into the chair he lifted his book from the coffee table and sat back. The light from the single reading lamp threw shadows across the room. He glanced up at the clear dark shapes cast against the wall. Something jarred, and it took him a few moments to notice that their were shadows of ornaments he didn’t have upon the mantelpiece. He stood up and switched on the main light to drive away the demons.

Each evening over the next week more shadows of things that were not in his room began to appear. He tried moving the light, tried standing where the object should be, tried masking the shadows source with his body. Nothing would diminish them them.

He could no longer sleep. The shadows began to fill his head in the daylight. A normally happy and outgoing person retreated inside himself. Weight was lost, greyness filled his pallor.

One evening she appeared. The shadow of a woman quite beautiful in her profile. She went about her business in the shadowed room picking up and cleaning the objects that were not there.

Suddenly a man appeared and a shadow was dropped to the ground. He watched them argue as you would a Victorian silhouetted sideshow. The man pushed her to the ground and turned. He wanted to get up from his chair and lift her from the ground to comfort her but she was on her feet before he could move.

The shadow of a knife appeared. As she plunged it into the shadowed man’s back he let out his own scream from the armchair.

When the Police found him he was dead. It appeared that it was from natural causes but it didn’t seem right for a person of his age. The Detective Inspector asked his friends and colleagues if they knew of anything that might have been worrying him. No one knew a thing but they all agreed on one point. He had become a shadow of his former self.