Alone

"I wish you would leave me alone!"

The shadow demon grinned at him, from where it took vague shape in the street curb's shadow.

Gray sat in the stairwell of an apartment building he didn't live in. There were large windows in the stairwell, and he could take pictures of the hummingbirds outside at the feeder from there.

A rare one came by, and Gray put the camera out the window to get a good picture.

Gray's eyes widened, his vision going dark around the edge, only focused on the shadow demon in front of him.

"Is that so?" the shadow demon chuckled. Gray realized his mistake, of course, but it was too late to take it back. The words were said. "Well, I can make that happen."

Gray took pictures a little longer, but nothing else that unique came to the feeder, and he could theoretically get in trouble for being here. (Unlikely as he found that.)

He turned his camera off, put it around his neck, and headed down the stairs and out the nearest door.

He started down the street. He'd acknowledge people with a nod or a wave, if they acknowledged him first, but that was as far as he went. He saw someone he recognized from his own apartment building, someone who'd exchanged kind words with him when she helped him find his cat, and he avoided her.

He was headed for a bridge near here. A simple bridge, going over a major road. It was high up, but with no decorations or obstructions.

Gray walked along the pedestrian part of the bridge, moving to the side at one point as a bike passed by. The railing on either side of the bridge was a thick concrete barrier. In the middle, Gray climbed onto that barrier, and watched the sun. It was starting to set.

"I wish you would leave me alone!"

When Gray was in high school, he'd been unfortunate enough to be visited by a demon, offering to make one wish come true.

Of course, Gray was not an idiot. If the demon was offering a "free" wish, then it was going to twist that wish to something very cruel. And demons were limited in their power within the mortal realm. This particular one could only exist within shadows. So Gray wasn't going to give it anything to work with.

Unfortunately, it was hard to avoid every shadow ever, and the demon was persistent, always following him around and whispering in his ear, offering a wish any time something inconvenient happened to him.

Eventually, annoyed by the demon's presence, he'd snapped and made a very, very bad wish. Worse than if he'd made one on purpose in the first place.

"I wish you would leave me alone!"

"And alone you shall be."

Gray had three close friends before he made his "wish." Afterwards, one got hit by a car and one was forced to move. The third blamed Gray for this, and hated him for it.

And that set the precedent for the next few years. Anyone got too close to him, and the universe would conspire to separate them. It wasn't just in person either. There was no making online friends or pen pals. So it was best not to try, not to risk anything terrible happening to the people around him. Gray was alone. Emptily, achingly alone.

He had plants, and the cat, and he talked to them sometimes. He was that annoying person who overshared when strangers asked how he was doing. Yes, he knew it was bad, but what was he supposed to do?

He had no family or friends. He tried not to go to events or parties, or generally places where you socialized too much. When he asked for help at say, the library, he tried to make sure it was a different person each time. It could be hard to hold a job, as keeping your (metaphorical) distance at work didn't make you popular. By nature of his "wish," people weren't forced to leave him alone, but for their own sakes, maybe they should.

"I wish you would leave me alone!"

He'd taken up photography as a hobby, as something to do, after accidentally getting a good picture of his cat. She was mostly white, and some colorful lighting had hit her just right.

Of course, his photos hadn't started out too well. He wasn't sure how to use the old fashioned clunky cameras right away, aside from pressing the button to give you a picture. He hadn't known about things like lighting or angles. And it wasn't like he could join a photography group or get a mentor or anything. But he thought he'd improved pretty well on his own, mostly using trial and error. Taking lots of pictures and trying to replicate what he'd done to get the ones that were accidentally good.

He got more pictures of animals and plants. Odd shadow patterns cast by a fence. The ocean and its multiple shades of blue on a sunny day. An abandoned building that seemed to glow green. It didn't literally, just an effect of the sky behind it.

He'd even made some money out of it, submitting pictures to magazines and other publishers that wanted photos. Many people said you shouldn't turn all your passions into jobs, that it could ruin your enjoyment. And maybe they had a point, but that was a luxury he couldn't afford.

"I wish you would leave me alone!"

The sun set was beautiful. There were enough clouds to reflect pinks and purples nicely, but not enough to obscure the view.

Gray lifted his camera, and took a few pictures, adjusting a few of the dials to find the best way to capture it.

He was still holding the camera at the edge of the ledge, when he was startled.

"Don't do it! Don't jump!"

Gray jolted, and in the process, dropped the camera. It fell from where he was, flipping in the air, and hit the street below. It was already broken when it hit the road. If it could've been recovered, it didn't stay that way. A car ran it over.

Gray just stared down at the shattered pieces, gripping the ledge he'd been sitting on, jaw open a bit. Another good thing, gone.

The passerby seemed to have realized he'd misread the situation. Gray was vaguely aware he was trying to apologize, but fumbling. But Gray didn't hear his words, and if he did, he'd probably just be angrier.

Because this was the passerby's fault. Look what he'd done. Look what he'd taken.

Gray whirled around, glaring, shouting through clenched teeth. "Leave me alone!"

And his anger must've been terrifying, because the passerby took off running.