Vlad
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… A moment of deathly, almost graveyard silence… A sudden gust of fierce wind sweeping right through the walls of the room… And when you looked around in bewilderment, you understood…
That something alien was in the room… And that intruder was a shadow that… Was a shadow unto itself…?.. Yes, you looked at the wall once more and convinced yourself that no object in your room could cast such a human silhouette. Aside from that, the shadow… was moving… There it was on the opposite wall… Then it traced the perimeter of the room. And moved to its center… You stared intently at the silhouette, fighting off the rising fear… And it seemed as though it began to take on more or less corporeal forms – volume, detail, and color began to appear… On the slightly reddened face, eyes, lips, and a prominent nose emerged… Finally, a human appeared before you. Though translucent, casting no shadow, and not quite standing firmly on the ground, still… It was now possible to make out even the color of the eyes – vivid blue, wide and enormous. The hair was somewhat indistinct, but of a dark shade… As for age… It was hard to tell, yes… Then you noticed another peculiarity: age-related metamorphoses were playing out across the face: from a very young boy to an aging man… "Do not let my presence discompose you, please take your place in bed… Rest if you wish, but I truly wish to speak with you…" You noticed that his voice was also peculiar – it was… Like an echo of words spoken by another. You sat down on the bed… The shadow slid past you and settled very close – right at the headboard. "I shall warn you now: I shall be long-winded, damn me… Though, I suppose I am already damned, ha… But it matters little. You are undoubtedly familiar with it… When no one can bear to listen to what you say?.." He held a long pause, never taking his watchful gaze off me, after which, not waiting for a sensible reply, he continued: "In short, a rather similar incident occurred to me very long ago… No, no… One cannot call it an accident… My way of life simply became this way. Yes, in my mind began to stir thoughts that were reckless… Or perhaps not entirely reckless, but… somewhat… Different, thoughts that no one understood… In short, no one could understand me. And if they could, they simply refused to…" The shadow sighed heavily, and fell silent for several minutes, seemingly recalling something… Or waiting for your reaction. But you remained silent, prepared to listen further. "In the end, after prolonged, exhausting moral loneliness, after the constant burden of thoughts that weighed upon the soul, to me came the most unhinged of my wild ideas: that I needed nothing more from this world… And, consequently, the world needed nothing more from me…" He sighed again. "As a result of such reasoning – here is my current essence…" If the shadow could weep, it would be weeping now. After yet another pause, he continued: "But what can be done, I've long since grown accustomed… I simply visit various souls, sharing my thoughts… And you, strictly speaking, do not object if I spend this entire night with you?.. I have much to tell… There is something I wanted to say to you specifically, personally…" You agreed, partly out of politeness, partly out of curiosity. You did not sleep for a long time, listening to the engaging philosophical speeches of your guest, sometimes absurd, sometimes utterly sound, but so fascinating… But everything that has a beginning has an end, and with the approach of dawn you fell asleep, right under the monologue of the shadow… And when you woke up, you thought about what bizarre dream you had experienced again… About how, probably, normal folk do not have such dreams… But when, having fully shaken off the daze, you noticed that you had been sleeping this entire time sitting up, your face turned toward the headboard… Then, in your mind, quite the wild yet accurate thought arose that this was not entirely a dream… ;)
That something alien was in the room… And that intruder was a shadow that… Was a shadow unto itself…?.. Yes, you looked at the wall once more and convinced yourself that no object in your room could cast such a human silhouette. Aside from that, the shadow… was moving… There it was on the opposite wall… Then it traced the perimeter of the room. And moved to its center… You stared intently at the silhouette, fighting off the rising fear… And it seemed as though it began to take on more or less corporeal forms – volume, detail, and color began to appear… On the slightly reddened face, eyes, lips, and a prominent nose emerged… Finally, a human appeared before you. Though translucent, casting no shadow, and not quite standing firmly on the ground, still… It was now possible to make out even the color of the eyes – vivid blue, wide and enormous. The hair was somewhat indistinct, but of a dark shade… As for age… It was hard to tell, yes… Then you noticed another peculiarity: age-related metamorphoses were playing out across the face: from a very young boy to an aging man… "Do not let my presence discompose you, please take your place in bed… Rest if you wish, but I truly wish to speak with you…" You noticed that his voice was also peculiar – it was… Like an echo of words spoken by another. You sat down on the bed… The shadow slid past you and settled very close – right at the headboard. "I shall warn you now: I shall be long-winded, damn me… Though, I suppose I am already damned, ha… But it matters little. You are undoubtedly familiar with it… When no one can bear to listen to what you say?.." He held a long pause, never taking his watchful gaze off me, after which, not waiting for a sensible reply, he continued: "In short, a rather similar incident occurred to me very long ago… No, no… One cannot call it an accident… My way of life simply became this way. Yes, in my mind began to stir thoughts that were reckless… Or perhaps not entirely reckless, but… somewhat… Different, thoughts that no one understood… In short, no one could understand me. And if they could, they simply refused to…" The shadow sighed heavily, and fell silent for several minutes, seemingly recalling something… Or waiting for your reaction. But you remained silent, prepared to listen further. "In the end, after prolonged, exhausting moral loneliness, after the constant burden of thoughts that weighed upon the soul, to me came the most unhinged of my wild ideas: that I needed nothing more from this world… And, consequently, the world needed nothing more from me…" He sighed again. "As a result of such reasoning – here is my current essence…" If the shadow could weep, it would be weeping now. After yet another pause, he continued: "But what can be done, I've long since grown accustomed… I simply visit various souls, sharing my thoughts… And you, strictly speaking, do not object if I spend this entire night with you?.. I have much to tell… There is something I wanted to say to you specifically, personally…" You agreed, partly out of politeness, partly out of curiosity. You did not sleep for a long time, listening to the engaging philosophical speeches of your guest, sometimes absurd, sometimes utterly sound, but so fascinating… But everything that has a beginning has an end, and with the approach of dawn you fell asleep, right under the monologue of the shadow… And when you woke up, you thought about what bizarre dream you had experienced again… About how, probably, normal folk do not have such dreams… But when, having fully shaken off the daze, you noticed that you had been sleeping this entire time sitting up, your face turned toward the headboard… Then, in your mind, quite the wild yet accurate thought arose that this was not entirely a dream… ;)