Plot Challenge: I Have Two Shadows

[Kitti]

To Participate: THINK FAST. Don't waste any time. The first idea(s) that comes to mind, write it down and post it!
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Challenge Phrase: I Have Two Shadows
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[Alarice]

When Sean woke up that day, he knew right off the bat something was wrong. He had a splitting headache and even the normal dose of painkillers didn't make it go away. Then he felt lightheaded but it disappeared after he ate breakfast. He didn't think anything about it until he stepped outside--which is when he saw two shadows. He shook his head and managed to convince himself it was just his imagination--until he got into town.

People everywhere had two shadows but no one seemed to notice. Was he the only one who saw them or was he going mad? If he was going mad, he didn't need to worry for long. Several of his friends and colleagues also saw these double shadows and so he got them altogether to figure out what was happening. Was this a good thing or a bad thing, their eyes playing tricks or, worst, was this the start of something they had absolutely no control over ...

 

[Mittens83]

Kane hated the way this had turned out. He had been minding his own business walking down the paths of the local carnival and a strange old woman appeared before him. She had asked if his life was interesting, he had responded no. He didn't have anything interesting going on, just the normal everyday routine of college life. Her face was grotesque, distorted with wrinkles and scars, it had made him want to leave, but an offer she had made perked his curiosity.

"I can make it interesting." she had said, disappearing in the shadows of her velvet tent.

------

That was the last thing he remembered of that day, when he had awoken he had been in his room, laying in his bed. He sat up, rubbing his face wondering if that had been a dream. His eyes scanned his room for any sort of disturbances but nothing had changed. He swung his legs to the side of his bed, standing and going to the bathroom. He washed his face with cold water, the dream had left him fevered and he wanted to get rid of the sweat that perspired on him.

'Pathetic humans.' he heard a voice hiss, making the hairs on the back of his neck stand straight up.

He turned, desperate to find out where that voice had come from, his heart racing as the echo of the voice ran through his mind.

'You don't even know where I am coming from, do you?' it asked, laughing at him, 'Look down.'

Kane looked down and was shocked to see two glowing red eyes on his shadow, or at least one of them. The other had blue eyes, and when he looked at that shadow he felt safe, calm and normal, but when he looked at the shadow with the red eyes all he felt was fear, rage, and uncertainty. Kane stumbled backwards, knocking off whatever had been on the sink. He wanted to get away, he didn't understand what was going on, how had this happened?!

The red-eyed shadow laughed manically, 'Fool, the old woman cursed you. I am a demon, and my counter-part is an angel. We have been sent to make your life more interesting, because after all, you said you hated the life you had.' it explained. 'Our purpose is to decide your fate, will you become a demon like me, or an angel like him?' it wondered, laughing once again, 'Only you can decide which path to take, and which one will take over.'

 

[Cookies Need Love]

I have two shadows.

That's what I use to describe myself. Every day I wake up and I look around the white room with the white lights. Every day I wake up and I don't know who I am. I crawl out of the white bed and I look at the ground and the light tells me who I am. I am the only one in the world. I am unique. I am me. I am the person with two shadows. That's what they use to describe me, too. They say that when I walk into their office. They look at me and smile and say "Oh yes, it's you! The one with two shadows!" Their eyes stray to the ground as they examine what they'[ve only been told about. They don't look at my face for the rest of the conversation. They're wondering. Wondering about my shadows, wondering if all the rumors they heard are true. When I'm done in the office, before I leave, I lean over them and whisper into their ear. I whisper that all the rumors are true. Everything they've ever heard.

That's how I get what I want. They watch me leave with wide eyes and they pick up their phones. They tell their people to just give me whatever I ask for. It's so easy that I never actually have to use my two shadows. I don't even know where those rumors come from. After all, I have never used my shadows but they seem to appear out of nowhere. No substance, nothing to them. Like smoke in the air. I look down at my feet and see the two shadows spreading away from them, in opposite directions.

They're starkly black against the white floor. My room. I like white. White is a beautiful color. Much better then black. My shadows spoil my white room. Even when there's no light they are there, and I can feel them. They tug at my feet and they whisper to me. They never sleep, and they don't want me to either. They want me awake always. So I don't sleep. I sit in my white room and I stare at the shadows and they ply around me. Frolicking and jumping happily as I watch. My two shadows are like children. I hate children. How are people scared of my two shadows? I hate them.

But then I watch them run in circles around each other. I watch them and I wonder if children are all that bad. Will I ever get to have children? I don't think so. People are too scared. They're terrified of my two shadows. My two children. The only children I'll ever have. I think I'm happy I have my two shadows. Would white be my favorite if I didn't have my two shadows? Would I sit up at night and watch them? Would I be able to get whatever I want? I'll never know.

I have two shadows.

 

[Villamvihar]

It is said that in the time of the nomadic tribes, people with strange abilities were not feared and shunned, but instead respected. They were often called shamans, and were thought to have magical powers or the ability to communicate with the spirits. There was only one exception to this rule: the people who had two shadows. They were considered to be servants of evil, and were killed immediately upon discovery, thus they learned how to hide their talent from other people, and were the only ones who survived the medieval times' Inquisition. Even now, they continue to exist in society, blending in while using their powers as they see fit.

Arden Harvey was one of these people. For the most part, he lived an ordinary life, but in certain cases, he could not help but use his two shadows, like when he stopped a car from hitting a teenage boy, or when he chased those thugs away, probably saving a woman's life. He did these deeds because he hoped that one day, they would pay for themselves, and in the long run, would help people accept his kind, so that one day, he would be able to walk on the street without hiding his other shadow. But that would be so far away, he did not even dare to think so far into the future. He just wished that he could share his grief and problems with someone other than his father, who also had the same ability as him.

As he thought about that on the street, a strange feeling brushed against his skin, as if something intangible touched him, and he almost jumped, but managed to control his reaction. Looking around himself, he could see a young girl concentrating on something intently, her father reassuredly grabbing her hand. Arden smiled at that, but extended his senses, and had his second shadow touch the young girl's had, to which both the father and the girl looked at him with wide eyes. Arden's smile slowly took over his whole cheeks, and then he started making his way through the crowd.

"So..." begun the man when he finally was comfortably close to the young girl and her father. "Now that we know that, I should introduce myself..." said Arden, glad that he finally found someone to share his grief with. Maybe that future was not so far away after all...