Shadows have been knocking at my door for six hours. I am looking for answers or for an escape.
It is my belief that there are senses of mankind that are so overworked, so omnipresent, that we are latently unaware of them, dumb to their expression. A sense that reacts to an electricity, a quantum field, so perfectly present that although always expressed it remains unnoticed. But I noticed it, not through its expression, but through its lack. Waking from a dream, death delirious, I felt its lack. A pressure, ubiquitous as though pressing on the back of the skull, gone. I knew I had felt it through the emptiness I felt deep inside, the feeling of lightness.
I know how this must sound to the one reading this, if anyone is reading this. You must read this and think I have gone off into lulu land, a schizophrenic delusion. But, if anyone is reading this, I assure you I am quite sane, though expressing confidence in that fact often elicits a knowledge of its lack from the listener.
I awoke and I felt the sensation of a sense, tender and raw from overuse, finally relaxing. A dull throbbing as a sore wound healing after an impact. I struggled up into the light, and found my way to the bathroom. Two pills of Tylenol. If only I knew the futility, it was not a headache in the early stages of brewing. I looked around and then I noticed it. The lack. As clear as day everything around me was stripped, too bright, too solid. There were no shadows anywhere. As though illuminated by an atomic blast of light where no darkness is permitted to lie. As though the sun and all sources of light have finally won in their ever permanent fight with darkness and all its expressions.
I wandered outside and there I saw the same. An oppressive lack. All down the road and to the hills far off in the distance not a single shadow was cast. Furthermore, and confirmation to me of my ultimate position in the halls of purgatory, there was not the expression of a single soul anywhere. The first thing I noticed was the silence of the cars, the cessation of their constant hum-drum, thrumming motors, honking, and screeching. That was odd for if the time on my phone was correct then it should have been nine in the morning, time for work, time for the endless struggles of labor.
Once the first sign had hit all the others came flooding in. My neighbor's mongrel dog always greeted me with a hostile bark upon seeing me in the morning, yet I noticed not a sound. Walking down the street the vagrant, a constant face of howling drunkenness and condemnation, was not present on his usual stoop. I entered a gas station and while cars were queued up neatly in a hungry procession, no one stood ready to fill them. Upon entering the station the usual grunt of the man tilling the counter wasn’t there. Nor was he there as I searched, although the open sign had beckoned me in.
My head reeled, the sense of lack felt stronger than ever. Then I noticed it, for the first time that morning. A shadow. I felt sick. A shadow.
I know how this will sound, I do, but if you were there, if you saw what I saw, felt what I felt, you would have fled too. It had the feeling of evil dormant, of violence unrealized. The shadow knew I was there and viewed me with malice, I knew it the moment I saw it. Worse yet, the shadow in form had the appearance of a man.
I will admit, though not with any sense of pride, that once it moved I shrieked and ran. Out the door. When I did I started to notice more, some by the car, ones on the sidewalk, a couple sitting on the road. I fled for my life, and my suspicions were confirmed when one of them chased after me down the road into my house. I was lucky I was able to lock and close the door before that distressing shade was able to touch me. But then it started, a knocking at the door, a rattling of the doorknob, the tapping at the glass.
I stole a look outside, there is a group of them surrounding my house now. I caught some slinking around the back way. I swear I saw a shape in the form of a dog, snapping maw, dragging along one by the arm. I am locked inside now on my computer. The tapping, rattling, knocking has continued for six hours and I am afraid of what might happen if I stay here. I think I heard the sound of glass shattering ten minutes ago, but could not find its source.
I work nearby, at a research institution. It’s the only epicenter of town; it’s a small town hidden away with few opportunities around. Maybe there I can find some answers. All my calls have gone unanswered, all my inquiries to friends or family, or even coworkers. I’ll try for my car soon, perhaps I will drive away and try my luck at a nearby town, though my remoteness is working against me there.
I am still undecided, I will leave my post here and see if I get any responses. Maybe this madness is contained to my locality. If not then maybe this will serve as some document of my experience, so if any unlucky soul reads this it can help them figure out what has happened to this world. I will update this post in a week.