A Higher Calling

The day was perfect. A beautiful end to our small vacation. We all had just left the bar in a stupor. Heading for the beach to light the bonfire we had grown accustomed to sitting by. It was just about dusk, and the sun-kissed waters were reflecting the spread of warm red shears across the sky, mixing with vibrant orange and soft rose-pink hues above. We got to what had been our usual spot for the past 2 weeks and decided to light the fire before it got dark. I sat down with Ashley at the back of the group. We hadn’t known each other long, but long enough for me to know I had a significant interest in her. Always laughing together with hardly a dull moment. Though they were always group moments it was never just her and me. The liquid courage from the bar would help with the girl, but the fear of the water before me, would not fade. It hadn't for just over a decade now. An almost innate fear ever since I swam in this same sea and almost drowned. Not sure of what happened; my mother always said that I just started to sink.

 Unsure of myself, I scarcely said "Hey Ash, you know we could hang out some more. M-maybe just us two when we get back? Doesn’t have to be a … a date but it could be." This was my last opportunity; she was leaving for a new city when we returned and I was staying home. Stuck, perpetually in our small town helping my dad run his shop. "Y-yeah Nick, about that, I know we get along well, but actually-" 

"Ashley? You okay?" No response, she just froze there. They all froze. Eric, Kim, Mike, and even Alec. None of them were moving. I tried shouting, but not even the other people on the beach were moving. That's when I noticed it. My Shadow, it was receding. I turned to face the horizon. My jaw dropped from what

I saw.

 "What the hell?" I said, slowly realizing I was talking to myself. The sun, was as if it was going backward, and I was the only one left still moving. I tried to grab Ashley, but she wouldn't budge. Frightened, I thought, Run. I must run. I got to the top of the beach when I saw a family heading down to the beach. How come they can move? "Hey! Don't go down! Something isn't-" They froze too. Still running, I looked above, and the sun was retreating from the horizon as if it, itself, was running.

Though the sun was now rising above, the horizon and sky weren’t any more bright. Darkness crept up from it. I had never been so thankful for having long legs and a decent running career in high school. Unsure of where I was running to or why I alone hadn't been frozen in place like the rest of them. I noticed more and more people were stopping to look at the sun, and just like my friends, they froze in place. I looked too though, I looked more than once. Why was it only me? Wait, they didn't have shadows. The sun had passed over them completely taking them. I looked down in a panic "Whew, still got mine at least" I said to myself in a nervous laugh. Still getting used to the fact my childhood friends were currently frozen in place, unable to respond or move. What did that mean though? Could I even do anything about this? Wait, I had stopped running. I didn't even notice, I was so lost in thought. The sun was almost overhead. Why was it moving so damn fast? I told myself to keep moving, so I turned, running again. If it catches me or my shadow, I'm sure I'll freeze. The hotel was only a few blocks away, maybe inside was safe. I had to try and make it. I ran onto the main roads. Yelling and warning everyone not to go in that direction. Some were smart enough to listen. Others though, especially those in cars, froze. Even the cars themselves had frozen. If the cars froze how safe would inside the hotel be? 

 "Ow! What the-" I looked down at the rigid figure that just fell from the sky,

hitting me in the head. A bird? I looked behind me and witnessed a smattering of other birds freezing, falling from the sky. The birds had fallen stuck, as if still in flight. Others seemed as though perched on a wire. Now, all laid flat upon hitting the ground. Other animals were freezing just as well. All stuck in this petrified state. Shadowless. I turned a quick corner to the left and then again immediately back to the right. I had to keep moving in the direction the sun was going.

Something is up there; I could see it then. Looming inside the glare of the sun. A massive creature, large enough to chase the sun out of orbit and replace it. I stumbled while looking back at the form in the sky with a creeping sensation of familiarity to it. Feeling so insignificant, I wondered if I should just let it take me. Now coming upon the hotel, people pushed past me crying and screaming trying to get inside. Some plead to whatever god they worshipped. Couldn't they realize no one was coming? What was I even running for? The girl I wanted to be with was back on the beach a mile and a half away, frozen in time and space. My best friends were all taken from me. My resolve to keep going without them wavered. What was I to do? Should I try to keep running until I get back home? Could I even make it that far? No, I really couldn’t.

Awestruck, I stared at the presence held above our world. Out of fear and anticipation, I closed my eyes in prayer to my own god. I guess it was to anyone who was listening, that my parents were safe. Though, I knew they probably wouldn't be for long. Now with my prayers in place and a new feeling of welcoming for the petrification awaiting me. Eyes closed. It didn’t come. What was taking it so long? It moved so quickly before. I opened my eyes, looking up at the now expansive darkness behind the sun. The sun had stopped above, now slightly in front of me. The massive creature still there looming just behind it. People

around me started to realize it too. Slowly the panic of the town started to fade into a morbid curiosity. When will it move again? Why did it stop in the first place? 

My friends, they were all still down there, stuck. I wondered, should I go back? Is there anything I can do? Well, I’ve got to try at least while I can. Slowly, I walked back in the direction I came. Strong in my resolve that I would either be taken or potentially on the upside have the chance to save my friends. Either way, something was bound to happen, and I couldn’t waver now. I got to just about underneath the sun when it started moving again. This time it moved in the opposite direction. Confused as to why the sun now moved in the way it was supposed to, I continued to walk towards it. The ominous presence started moving away slowly the more I walked towards it. Wait. The more I walked towards it? No, it couldn't be connected to me. Could it? I was the only one around who was moving in that direction though. I decided I had to test that theory out. I started running towards it, bewildered, the sun started retreating from me. It moved with the same speed it did before. Confused and afraid I kept running towards that beach. A sudden motion beside me as the animals and people started to move again. Their shadows returned to them as the sun crept back toward its correct place on the horizon. How was I connected to this thing in the sky? Why did it follow me? I didn't have time to worry about that. I just needed to keep moving towards the beach. I started running harder, faster, sprinting to my

friends and hoping that everything could go back to the way it was. 

Passing the people, I saw petrified earlier, I knew I was getting close. almost down to the sand. Rushing down the path I ran on prior, I reached them. All still standing there shadowless in their statuesque poses. Ashley up further on the beach where we were talking while the rest were closer to the water. I hated that water and now it was all I had left in front of me, where else was I supposed to go? I walked past Ash, her shadow returning to her as she started to speak from where we left off "I'm gay Nick, I'm sorry I-" she cut off noticing me walk towards the others who were still frozen in their celebration. Huh, she’s gay? Hopefully, she wasn’t keeping that from me out of fear.

 "Sorry Ash, don't mean to walk away just need to do something really quick," I said knowing that I had nowhere else to go but that dreadful sea. It had been 11 years since that accident, and I still was afraid of drowning. The closer I got the more it called to me. My dread formed a new emotion of curiosity and longing to be swept out in the crashing waves. What compelled me to do this? I stopped just before the water. My friends all looking at me confused after coming out of their trance, noticing the expansive darkness in the sky. Looking up towards the sun, I felt a deep shiver in my core. Sitting in the sky was that otherworldly being. Its form was clearer now. Long tendrils draped from its core; a massive eye lingered in the middle of it. A shiver running down my spine. I stepped into the water feeling my body grow calm and my senses dull. I walked until fully submerged, casting all fear away. This was something I couldn't run from, not anymore. I looked up towards the sun as I sank into the abyss below. The creature writhed with satisfaction as I was now in a place purely of shadows. Unable to cast my own. Ah … who or whatever you are up there, you’re calling for me, I thought to myself submerged in darkness. It came to claim me today and it succeeded.

 Now shadowless, my consciousness faded as I could no longer move. Just as my mother always told me before. I sank. Now quicker, with velocity and speed. It was like I was running into that void below. I sank deeper and deeper, until, I awoke. I was heading in a direction I did not set. The Earth behind me now, the sun in its correct place of orbit, and the creature gone. I drifted through a new void. Curious, I thought, run.