Raymond’s sigh echoed in the car as he drove down yet another desolate road. After seven years in the business, he was starting to feel like his only friends were the trees he passed on his way between strange towns. The life of a travelling man was not as glamorous as he had once thought. As a younger man, sure he thought a life of adventure and excitement was what he wanted, but now in his mid forties, he could see the appeal of a steady job in one locale. This life was lonely. But there was another reason for the man’s discontent. A reason more personal, perhaps more sinister.2
Raymond was being followed.3
He noticed it first during a 2 day stint over in Pitch Fork, Oklahoma. Raymond was giving a presentation to the town’s mayor and city council when movement in the far corner caught his eye. The rapid movement appeared as a smudge or shadow. He dismissed the prickling of his neck hairs as the result of exhaustion or a side effect of boredom and thought no more of it.4
Three days later, he saw the same shadowed movement behind a tree in the courtyard during a presentation for the townspeople of Sole, New Mexico. And the following week, the stalker showed up in a local café during breakfast, slinking near the bathrooms just out of view. As the days passed and Raymond travelled through towns and states, he began to recognize his tagalong everywhere he went. It seemed it was always there, lurking just within distance to be noticed and disappear in an instance. 5
Whatever was following him was damn good.6
A respite came finally for Raymond and he got to go home for a well earned vacation. Now, most people go somewhere else on vacation, but understandably for Raymond, he wanted nothing but the comforts and familiarity of his own home. His mailbox, his furniture, his oven, his bed …7
Ohhh… my bed. My wonderful, soft, bed. Oh, pillowtop mattress, how I long for you!8
His thoughts went on a tirade, spinning ridiculous sonnets and songs for his possessions.9
Perhaps it was the hope of a good rest that lowered his defenses so quickly. Reaching the high crescendo of his masterful “All a Man Needs is a Good Bed,” his voice caught in his throat. Not only was he being followed still, but it was keeping up with him on the highway! Every tree, every car, even the clouds above seemed to cast a sheltering shadow in which to hide. But how could it …10
His thoughts stopped in a screeching cacophony as he realized that he was not being followed at all. He was being met. And it was no person at all. It was the shadows themselves that leered at him from within themselves. Their grey eyes watched him mercilessly from every side, more and more coming out from the under the oppressive sunlight, and he realized that they realized he had finally caught on. Raymond knew he had little time before the shadow overtook the light and swallowed him whole. He pressed his foot down on the gas pedal and prayed desperately to get home before the night fell hard.11
The car door slammed shut with ferocity and heavy boots pounded on the cooling concrete. A half dozen keys jangled loudly, fighting for space on the crowded sterling ring. The deadbolt screeched, exchanging one brass coffin for its twin. The door screamed wide as clothes shuffled together and a briefcase fell on the floor with a dull thud and the unfortunate frame whimpered as the door slammed shut again. Footfalls echoed through all the rooms of this dormant house as all form of lights turned on, awoken from their slumber by the clattering alarm of switches clicking furiously and muffled curses slithering angrily.13
And suddenly, silence. 14
Raymond stood still, pressed against the door, eye to the peephole, his hoarse breaths shattering the silence. It was still out there. He knew it. But he appeared to have eluded it long enough to get inside and banish any infiltrators. For now, he was safe, bathed in the artificial lights. The shadows could wait until morning.15
“Mr. Glass! Please open the door. Raymond! Open up!”17
The voices had gotten progressively louder over the weeks. At first he tried yelling at them to shut them up, but his intimidation tactics were sorely lacking. The fear in his heart betrayed any authority he may have tried to portray. If this was a mental game, he was certainly the weaker opponent. He tried ignoring them, but they became more persistent as time passed and it nearly drove him insane. So he tried singing. He had learned many songs in his years and his mind was a time capsule playlist. He used this to his advantage, singing every song he knew from every artist he could remember. He sang for hours and days, until his throat was hoarse and no melody passed through into reality. But the songs continued to play in his mind, drowning out the persistent voices that invaded his space.18
That is how they found him.19
His dry lips moving in a silent song, cracked and bleeding without notice. He lay flat on his back on the floor, staring in the direction of the ceiling, but not seemingly recognizing visual stimuli. He was naked and had shaved himself completely from head to toe. Even his eyelashes had been plucked out and a brown crust of blood was in his nose from cutting out those elusive hairs. The previously carpeted floor was now a hard cement block. Every door shared by the room was closed and the cracks had been filled in with expanding foam which had hardened to look like a mustard yellow brain. There was no furniture in the room, no cushions, no fabric, no decorations on the wall… 20
Only lights; hundreds of lights. Christmas lights strung along the corners of the ceiling, bulbs protruding from a single remaining socket on what was once a ceiling fan light fixture, and floor lamps with multiple bulbs were everywhere, shades discarded. There was light from every side shining to every angle of the room. 21
There were no shadows in this room. Nor were there shadows in the next room to which Raymond was taken. He was safe now. In a clean, clutterless place where the doors were always locked and the lights were always on and no one told him he was crazy and he never had to travel again.22
Gold trophy winner
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Shadows and a madmad
I loved this! 
