The Three Shadows

“Nathalia? Nathalia, open up!” I heard a loud pounding against my door all the way from the bathroom. It echoed through the walls and made a loud rattling noise in my ear. Who could that be at nine o’clock at night? 

“Yes?” I asked as I opened the door. 

“Nathalia? Oh, thank goodness you answered!” Oh perfect, the biggest diva in all of New York was knocking on my door on a Friday night. She moved into my apartment building about two months ago. I always love having new neighbors, but I don’t think me and this girl are even the slightest bit compatible, she’s way too self-obsessed.

“Oh, hey, Madeline. What can I do for you?” I asked. 

“Well, you see, I have a date tonight and I can’t seem to find any of my red lipstick. I don’t have any other lipstick shade that matches with my outfit. Would you happen to have some red lipstick for me to borrow?” said Madeline. 

Seriously? She has no other shade that matches her outfit? She wore an elegant black, thick strapped bodycon dress that went a little lower than her knees. Surely she had a nude or light pink to match that dress. But, in no mood to question, I agreed to lend her an extra lipstick that I had. 

“Yeah, I think I have an extra one that hasn’t been opened yet. Come in and I’ll go grab it for you,” I said. 

“Oh, perfect,” said Madeline, her face suddenly lit up. “Thank you so much, dear.” 

I quickly grabbed the red lipstick from my makeup bag, anxious to get Madeline out of my apartment. Just as I handed Madeline the lipstick, I once again, heard vigorous pounding on my door but this time, it was a mix of pounding and doorbell ringing. Oh, what now?

“Oh, I’m sorry,” I turned to Madeline. “Excuse me one moment.” 

I quickly opened the door and uttered a sudden “yes?” this time in a much more frustrated tone. 

“Finally, took you long enough.” I opened the door to see my other neighbor, Lily, waiting in the doorway. Lily, like Madeline, was one of those girls I felt I could never be compatible with. She was very reserved and had a very standoffish personality with new people. From the first moment I met Lily and any other time I tried to get close to her, she always shut me down and was never in the mood to talk. So, I’m curious to know what had her knocking on my door. 

“Great to see you too, Lily,” I said sarcastically. “What can I do for you?” 

“Do you have any milk?” asked Lily. Lipstick and now milk? What am I? A twenty-four hour open drug store? 

“Yes, I have some milk. Let me get it for you,” I said. 

Once again, I quickly made my way to the kitchen and grabbed the milk. This time, ready to get both Madeline and Lily out of my apartment. 

Just as I was about to hand Lily the milk, something happened. The light that traveled through all the rooms in my apartment suddenly went out and instead, replaced by pitch black darkness. I looked over to Madeline and Lily, they were just as surprised and perhaps even as nervous as I was. I slowly made my way to the window, careful not to bump into anything. I could feel that Madeline and Lily were slowly following me from behind and as I looked out the window, I realized that all the small squares that were once illuminated with light in each building were now just as black as Madeline’s dress. The entire city of New York had just turned into a ghastly void. 

“What’s happened?” asked Madeline, a tone of anxiety in her voice. 

“I-I’m not sure,” I responded. I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and immediately checked the news. 

“There seems to be a power outage in the whole city,” I said finally. 

“Oh no, my date is ruined! I spent all night getting gorgeous just for this? Just my luck!” said Madeline. 

“Your date is ruined? Madeline, the entire city is out of power, we have no electricity and out of all things to be concerned about, you’re worried about that? Does your life revolve around dates?” Exclaimed Lily. 

“For once, I agree with Lily,” I said. 

“At least I have some action going on in my life, you two probably sit at home all day and mope around about your miserable lives,” said Madeline, pointing her finger at both me and Lily. 

We continued squabbling and arguing and every thought that I have ever had about these two came pouring out in this moment. It was when our commotion had stopped that the moon shed its natural light on the kitchen and I began to notice something rather odd. It was as if the darkness had started bleeding into the light spot in the kitchen because three dark Shadows began emerging into the light. Each one shorter than the last. 

“N-Nathalia, what are those?” said Madeline, digging her nails into my arm. 

“I-I don’t know,” I replied a bit horrorstruck. 

All of a sudden, I noticed that the Shadows had eyes and mouths. It was one of those things that was only possible through thought, I could not believe what I was seeing. 

“Hello, girls,” said the tallest Shadow in a deep and creepy voice. 

“We are the Three Shadows, and we have come to avenge ourselves,” said the middle Shadow. 

“W-what are the Three Shadows?” asked Lily. 

“We are the souls of who we once were,” began the tallest Shadow. “Long, long ago we were visited by the previous Shadows. They wanted to inhabit their souls in our bodies… we refused. They gave us an hour to rethink our choice and told us that if we didn’t give them our bodies, they would take the bodies of the entire city and make them all Shadows as well. We tried to trick the Shadows, tried to make them leave and never return. Never trick a Shadow, we will know. We were eventually caught at the end of the hour, the Shadows were so outraged they didn’t even think twice about stealing our bodies. And so, they were snatched from us and we replaced the old Shadows.” 

“Now, we have come to claim back what was taken from us. We want your bodies, dear girls,” said the shortest Shadow. 

“Our bodies? But why us? We’re girls.” I asked. 

“It doesn’t matter, we just need a body to inhabit our souls. No specific gender is required. You three are also exactly like how we used to be. Incompatible… weak… and, most of all, foolish,” said the shortest Shadow, a hint of disgust in the last word. 

Suddenly, my fear turned into anger. My cheeks began to grow hot and I could feel my fists clenching. This was something I would not stand for. 

“How dare you? You know nothing about us. You have no right to make these preposterous claims!” I cried. 

“Maybe so… but, I do know that your bodies will eventually be ours,” said the shortest Shadow.

“No… this is absurd. We will not allow it!”

“We will give you one hour,” said the middle Shadow. “We tell you the same thing the previous Shadows told us, change your mind or we take the bodies of the entire city… your choice. Choose wisely.”

The Shadows let out an evil, horrendous laugh and disappeared back into the dark. I glanced over at the time on the kitchen stove: 9:30. We only have one hour. Our bodies or the city’s. I thought to myself, there must be a way out of this. 

“What’re we going to do?” asked Lily. 

“I’m not sure, there must be a way to spare our bodies and the bodies of the entire city as well… maybe we could try and break the curse the Shadows are on. Maybe we could try and prove to them that this whole “Shadow” thing isn’t real. If they believe they have their bodies back, maybe that’ll break the curse,” I said. 

“How do you suppose we do that? You heard ‘em, they’ll know if you’re tricking them. You can’t do that or else our bodies will automatically be taken,” said Madeline as she plopped herself down on the couch in defeat. 

“Well, you heard the Shadows. They said we are like how they used to be… one of them uttered the word “foolish,” maybe that means that they weren’t smart enough in their trick. But I know we could be if we just gave it a chance,” I declared. 

“Oh, please! I knew you were stupid but I certainly didn’t think you were this stupid. I mean, what do you think? You really think that that's going to work on these… these… despicable silhouettes? We’re done for!” exclaimed Lily. 

“At least I’m trying to think of something. What are you doing? You’re just standing here and picking out anything that you feel is “wrong.” If you’re so smart, go ahead, tell me what to do,” I snapped back. 

While me and Lily were dueling each other with words, I could hear Madeline quietly saying, “Here we go again.” To be fair, I didn’t necessarily disagree with her. I mean, it’s not like fighting will come to any use. We just need to get ourselves out of this mess and then we’ll go back to never having any interactions between us. 

Madeline’s phone suddenly started blowing up. It immediately silenced me and Lily. I think that she hoped that it would be her date, because she immediately got up from the couch with the biggest smile on her face. But I’m guessing that it actually wasn’t because her smile turned upside down within seconds and she plopped herself back on the couch. 

“Madeline, are you alright?” I asked, placing myself next to her. 

“Yeah, I-I’m fine. My friends just posted a picture on social media. They all went to Disneyland together. We’ve been waiting months to go on that trip, and they just went… without me,” said Madeline. 

“Oh, Madeline, I know exactly how you feel,” said Lily as she sat in the armchair beside the couch. “One time in high school, me and my friends were gonna go to this party that was thrown by another kid at school. Man, I was so excited. I put on my dress, did my hair and makeup… only to realize that the party had already happened. My friends had given me the wrong date, I felt so betrayed. The girls who I thought were my sisters were really just snakes. That’s why I don’t let myself get too close to people, I don’t want to be betrayed again,” said Lily. 

“But, Lily, not everyone is going to be like those girls. If you don’t let people in, you’re gonna miss out on so many wonderful friendships. Seems to me those girls weren’t really your true friends. And… I’m sorry if I judged you too quickly, especially since I didn’t know your story,” I said. 

“Wow, thanks Nathalia. I haven’t gotten any genuine advice like that in a real long time. And, you don’t have to be sorry, I’m sorry I was so rude to you and Madeline before,” said Lily as she flashed me and Madeline an authentic smile. 

Somehow after that, the conversation just flowed between me and the girls. It turned out that we actually had a lot in common, more so than I ever would have guessed. Oddly enough, I felt at peace with these girls. Like I could be me. Truly me. 

I noticed the time on the clock: 10:00. We only have thirty minutes. 

“Girls!” I said, jumping out of my seat. “We only have thirty minutes left. I know you guys might think my idea is stupid, but just trust me on this, I think I know what to do.” 

“You know what? Let’s give it a try!” said Lily. 

In the next five minutes, I brought out every single newspaper I had ever collected within the past ten years. There was always a man who stood outside my work building handing them out and I would always take them and keep them. I wasn’t sure of the exact date when these Shadows lost their bodies, however, I’m sure it couldn’t have been too long ago, considering how easily they managed to come into my home demand to have our bodies. We split the newspapers between the three of us and each tried to look for any peculiar headlines. 

After what seemed like an eternity, Madeline jumped up from the table and said, “I found something!” Lily and I both got up to stare at Madeline’s newspaper. The headline was dated back seven years ago and it read, ‘Mysterious Disappearance of Three Men Shows Signs of Supernatural Activity.’ There was also a picture of three men under the headline, one short, one tall, and one just between. I thought to myself, this must be them. 

“Great job, Madeline!” said Lily. 

“Thanks! Now, Nathalia, what super awesome idea do you have?” said Madeline with a great smile on her face. I couldn’t help but giggle, who knew I would’ve taken a liking to these girls?

“Okay, let’s cut out this photo. We are going to take it out of context and pretend that we saw these men in the city earlier today. We’ll show the Shadows this photo and try and make them believe they aren’t actually Shadows and hopefully, they might just not be anymore. Our bodies, as well as the bodies of the whole city, will be spared,” I said. 

“I think we might just have something here, girls!” said Lily in a confident voice. I glanced at the time again, 10:17. 

“We don’t have much time though, girls. We need to cut this photo out fast!” I said. 

Finally, the photo had been cut out and we had thought of a clever enough back story. Once again, I looked over at the time. It was 10:29. One minute left. Lily, Madeline and I stood in front of the light the moon shone on the kitchen, expecting the Shadows to return there. Suddenly, the time on the stove hit 10:30 and the Shadows started to come into the light once again. 

“Well, well, well… your time is up, girls. What will it be? Your bodies or the city’s?” asked the tallest Shadow. 

“You know… your voice sounds very familiar. I think I heard it in the park today,” said Lily, ignoring the Shadow’s question. 

“Yeah, I could hear you talking to two friends. One was a little bit shorter than you and the other… well, he was the shortest one out of all you three. You were all dressed in sweaters and jeans,” said Madeline, referring to the photograph. 

“W-what? But that’s impossible. You could have only seen us if we… if we had bodies!” said the middle Shadow. 

“You better not be tricking us, girls. Or, we will be forced to take your bodies!” said the shortest Shadow. 

It was my turn to jump in. I flashed Madeline and Lily a confident grin as Madeline handed me the photograph. 

“Oh no, absolutely not! This is no trick. There was a photo of you guys in the paper today, calling you the most fashionable men in town,” I said. 

The girls and I had glued the photograph over a photo that was in today’s paper so it would make it seem like the photo actually came from today. We also changed the headline as well. 

I walked over to the Shadows and held up the newspaper in the light just enough so the Shadows could make out the photo, date and headline. I prayed that this would work. 

“B-but if this paper is dated for today… then that must mean we are alive… it means we have bodies… it means we have existed this whole time,” said the tallest shadow. 

“W-what is this feeling? Do you guys feel it too?” asked the middle Shadow. 

Just then, I noticed that the room was shaking. Was it an earthquake?

“N-no, I definitely feel it,” said the shortest Shadow. 

Suddenly, there was this big burst of bright light and I could no longer see the Shadows on the wall. Instead the light in my apartment had come back and I saw three men before me. One tall, one short, and one just in between the others stood in front of us. The men were looking around as if they had no clue what had just happened. I thought to myself, it worked, it really really worked. 

“Welcome back,” I told the men. They didn’t say anything, they just stared at me with an odd expression. I threw my arms around Madeline and Lily. 

“We did it. It’s all over,” I said with a sense of relief. 

“And we did it, together,” said Madeline. 

I gave the girls a big bear hug. Somehow, throughout all of this, I had forged two new friendships. Friendships that I never thought I would have. Who knew? Who knew that the darkness could act as a guiding light?