Shadow World

      I grew up on a house atop a hill. Far above our little town below. I lived there with my Ma and Pa. And they taught me how to shoot shadows.

           “God damnit Jedediah!” My Ma shouted one night, “You let the shadows out again!”

           I remember that night my Pa came into my room and shoved a sawed-off shotgun into my hands. I was eight. “‘Bout time you learned how to kill a Shadow.” He told me.

           I remember he led me to the front porch, where Ma was wrangling a shadow in a weird glowing lasso. The shadow was trying to slip back into its flat form, but the lasso burned into its flesh keeping it among the living. Shadows aren’t just a thing that follows you around. They’re alive, most of them keep with their person or creature. Some though, try to come into our world. Taking the body of anybody they could get their grips on. Any body, living or dead.

My Ma looked at me, and I swore for a moment she looked scared, for my sake. But she steeled over and dragged the creature up to me. It screeched and howled into the night, it sounded like a coyote. “Jedediah, shoot it,” she ordered.

I held the gun in my hands, it felt weird. I knew how to shoot; my Pa and I went hunting all the time. But this, I never understood why, felt wrong. I think it’s because the form the Shadow was trying to take was like a dog. Our dog.

But I had no time to think. Pa ripped the gun out of my hands, and with a firm grip he shot the thing down. Watching the creature disappear into the air was a sight to see, it glowed in thousands of tiny balls and it went into the sky. And they joined the stars.

I remember Pa bringing me back inside and putting me back to bed. Out a window I saw Ma bringing our dog back to the side of the house, I was glad he was okay. “Never leave anything open Jedediah,” he scolded me, flicking my forehead.

“Why?” I was told I ask too many questions.

But Pa liked answering questions. “‘Cause Shadows like to steal bodies.”

“Why?”

“Dunno. They just do. Their nature and such.”

“Yeah, but… why?”

“Jedediah Shadows aren’t people they don’t think. If they do think they’ll think, ‘Look a corpse! It’s free real estate!’ They take over anything that breathes.”

“What about plants?”

“Jedediah plants don’t breathe.” And that was the end of that.

That night I stopped leaving the window open. The next day I started bringing the dog in at night, I wasn’t ‘bout to let Rufus get taken by… anything really. As I got older, I started seeing the Shadows around the house more. Ma used to be able to wrangle them all into a jar and keep them on the mantle above the fireplace. But by the time I turned seventeen you wouldn’t be able to see outside at night. The Shadows would block the windows, surround everything they could latch onto. At that point I left Rufus outside again because I wasn’t gonna let my dog get possessed again!

I never understood why they never tried to take Ma, Pa, or me. Maybe because we killed their friends in front of their faces. Maybe they fear us. Maybe they know Ma used to run with a gang years ago. Maybe they’re scared of Pa, and Pa is a scary lookin’ man.

“Jedediah,” Ma called out to me one night. “Jedediah.”

“Yeah Ma?” I called back, leaving my room into the black Shadow covered hallway.

“Get the shotgun!”

Not again. I knew the house like the back of my hand, even in complete darkness. I navigated myself through the house like Lewis and Clark. I found that same sawed-off shotgun on the mantle and followed my parents’ voices to the back room.

The back room was made from stone, only stone. Bullet holes chipped and cracked at the material and a single lantern made them visible. I closed the door behind me and saw Pa gripping a shadow by its neck, must’ve taken the body of a snake. “I got the gun Ma.”

She looked at me, with that scarred face. “Alright Jedediah,” she said, I never liked the way she said my name, “shoot it.”

“What?”

“‘What?’ Hear how stupid you sound?” Ma spat at me.

“Take the gun, point it, and pull the trigger,” Pa said, his voice steady and calm, “You got it, son.”

I felt like I was eight again, almost ten years ago on that night. Time seemed to slow, or my thoughts were too fast. I don’t want too though. The Shadows are alive. Did Ma used to do this after robbing banks at night? How did Pa get in all of this? Wonder where the snake came from.

“Jedediah.”

Shit. “Yeah Ma?”

“Shoot the Shadow. I swear to Aiden’s grave if you don’t you’re sleeping out with the dog.”

Aiden? Oh right, the gang. I looked at Pa, hoping he would say something, anything. But he was unreadable. I sighed and loaded the gun. I aimed it at the wiggling beast in my Pa’s hands. For a second, I worried if I was going to shoot my Pa’s hand off. I heard Ma take in a breath as I pulled the trigger.

I could hear birds from trees caw and fly away. I saw my Pa’s eyes widen and my Ma had a toothy grin. I saw the creature stop wiggling and evaporate off the diseased snake. Pa blew out the lantern and we watched the Shadow turn into little lights and float to the top of the stone room. We watched the lights dance around and twinkle like a night sky.

I got an odd feeling. I felt… holy. Or really good at least. I don’t think the Shadows will look at me the same ever again if they know I killed their friend. But this was a shadow world we lived in. And I was always going to be a part of it.