Shadow

Something felt off. Everything looked exactly as I remembered it, but something was strange. It was as if suddenly the world were completely different. I couldn't really tell what that nagging feeling in the back of my mind was.

So, I got dressed, packed my lunch and I went to work. I sat at my desk, and took the incoming phone calls. Helping customers, although as usual they were all seemingly irate. Eventually I calmed them down, addressed their problems, and moved to the next.

At lunch, I sat at a table, eating in silence as usual. The food tasted different, too. It had no... flavor, no colour to my palate. I figured must be allergies making it hard to breathe, and therefore hard to taste. Actually, come to think of it, why WAS it so hard to breathe? I wasn't sneezing, eyes were clear, didn't feel itchy. I could feel the air flowing in and out of my lungs with no issue. Yet the air felt... oppressive.

I called my best friend, and asked her if we could meet after I got off work. I needed someone to bounce these things off of. Perhaps I was going crazy. If anyone could tell me, it was her. She was the smartest cookie I knew. Graduated young, has a nice job helping people with mental health issues.

At dinner that evening, I waited for her to arrive. I was so sure she could share some insight. She walked in, and I rushed to greet her. "Laura! Thanks for coming! I have something I need to talk to you about."

She looked past me, directing her gaze around the room. I took a step back in surprise. Laura was silly sometimes, but at least she wasn't dismissive. But in that moment, it was as if she couldn't see me. She walked over to a table, and sat down. She pulled out her phone, and started doing something. A text came on my own phone.

Hey, I'm here. Early, maybe? At the table next to door.

 I came up to her at the table. "Come on, Laura, this isn't funny. I'm right here." She looked at me. No, she looked through me. Then back at her phone. I sat down across from her, and tried to get her attention. Yes, something was definitely off. I texted her back.

I'm already here, you didn't see me?

I watched as she got the message. She took a glance around, and typed something back.

Sorry, maybe we were thinking of different locations? Is there another restaurant with the same name in town? I didn't think there was.

I typed her number in my phone, this was too eerie, and I had to get to the bottom of it. I dialed, and waited for her to pick up.

"Laura, I need your help, something has happened! I'm sitting right across from you."

"No you're not. I haven't seen you all day, and you're definitely not here."

"No you don't understand! I am right here!" I yelled, trying to move objects on the table in front of her, but they had become heavy weights. I couldn't push them, much less lift anything.

"Come on, this isn't funny." Laura responded. Before I could say anything, I saw her take the phone from her ear. "... aaaand he hung up."

I looked down at my phone. The screen was blank. Then I finally realized what seemed off. The light directly over the table revealed something that had not caught my attention until that moment. I had no shadow.

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This blog post is part of a series of stories associated with Practice makes pretense, in which a collection of writing done in response to prompts is compiled. Then, the reader should answer the following two questions: 1) What was your favorite thing about the writing? 2) What did you feel as you read it?

If you would like to view the original, please visit the Practice makes pretense book on Wattpad, and respond to the writer.