Today's short story #ShadowWorld

“Give me liberty or give me death.”

Martha Stewart*

Today I worked on my book, had some Chinese food, emailed my dietician, met some aliens, and went on a walk with my Dad. Anyway onto the flash fiction. This is a work from my first story a day (This story specificially October 15 2009) because of an unfortunate bout of writers block and such and some resting I had to do from exhaustion spells from a type of pill I'm taking. I have to nap from time to time to make sure I don't have seizures from getting too tired. Anyway I hope you enjoy!

(The format will be different because it's an old story of mine.)

Shadow World

       A lone man sat next to a tiny candle in the middle of a blank room. Behind him he could see the door, the only other feature besides himself and the candle in the room. Though really he hardly ever looked at it and its golden doorknob.

        His sunken-in unblinking eyes locked their gaze on the candle, the only light source in the room. The candle's strong, yet small, flame lit up his ghostly blue eyes. He had on long white pants and a white-sleeved shirt. He wore no shoes because he had never left the room in his life. He had a wide grin filled with happiness from his perfect world inside the room.

       He sculpted this world with his own hands. He crafted trees, mountains, clouds, animals and people all by wrapping his hands around the candle’s flame in different ways. He usually started his day by making house and walking into it to find his dog, barking silently on the room’s walls. He made a cell phone to call his nameless friend to his side. The most they could do is play rock-paper-scissors with him acting the parts of both hands. He never beat his friend.

        His most favorite thing in the world was his girlfriend. He crafted her with the perfect figure; she had been shaped with such sensual curves the man felt like he needed nothing else. He could never kiss or hold her in his hands, but he could make her dance. And how she danced was quite incredible, her steps had such a sexual yet artistic feeling that made the watchers feel both dirty and enlightened. And at the end of everyday he said goodbye to the magical world around him as he fell asleep next to the candle that never went out.

         One day someone destroyed his world. Right when his dog barked hello at him he saw the entire world vanish in an instant. Someone had opened the door to the room. He frantically tried to make his dog again to protect him, but he could not, he tried to make his house to hide in, but he could not, he couldn’t even make a tree anymore; the second source of light from beyond the door made his attempts to construct his world futile. He turned away from the light in denial of its existence.

         He half expected to burn in this strange light, but no matter how long he waited nothing terrible happened. The only thing the light did is make him much warmer than the candle ever had. He went into the fetal position, fearing the light that took away all his power of the world.

         Through the door came a woman that resembled his girlfriend from the old world. She walked towards him in strides similar to the ones his old girlfriend had in her dances. But these moved in such a way that made him feel much different than before. This woman was not crafted by his hands on the wall, she had dimensions beyond his old world. She existed. The mysterious woman of the light descended upon him and picked him off the ground while he still folded himself in a ball next to the candle. She exited the room with him in tow.

        She had pulled him out of a world completely in his control and brought him into a world where he had very little power. But this world was real, with color and volume, with actual people he could hear sing and shake hands with. He had fled this world into the solitary room because of the feelings of weakness it used to give him. He preferred the safety and power of isolation. So for a long time he had lived in his Shadow World, and loved it. But when reality entered his room he realized that he loved the real world more. Fate, and every one of its members controlled the world of the light.