Shadow Things

XVI

That weekend Felix dragged Hansel out of the house so they could traipse around the city and explore it. He said it would be fun, that there was going to be plenty of things to see, but after about an hour of walking Felix was dragging his feet, complaining about how all the buildings looked like someone had hit it with a hammer—no aesthetic beauty at all—and how all the clouds looked like an aggregation of squishy fishes.

"This is so boring," he said, swaying from side to side like a drunkard. He had a long black umbrella in one hand, which he was using as a walking stick.

"You were the one who said it would be fun," said Hansel stoically.

"Me?" Felix gasped. "Don't be ludicrous. It wasn't me."

"Maybe you should open the umbrella," Hansel suggested, walking a few paces behind him.

"Don't have the energy to," Felix said. He then dropped the umbrella entirely, as if to emphasise this point. After that he kept tottering forward with no regard for the umbrella he had left in the middle of the street.

Sighing, Hansel walked over and picked up the umbrella, then he opened it himself and held it above Felix silently. Felix said nothing, but his shoulders relaxed ever so slightly and his walking steadied. He even slowed down his gait so he would stay under the umbrella.

They walked like that for a few more minutes.

"Hansel, let's go back home," Felix pleaded after a while.

"Can you walk back? No buses come this way."

"Ugh," said Felix. "Why is my life like this?"

Hansel said nothing to that.

Felix had been planning for this trip since Friday night. According to the original plan they were to begin the exploration at nine in the morning; Felix had even made a list of all the places he wanted to go to. But then Felix overslept that morning because he stayed up late the previous night to watch the newest episode of Cheshire. He had blinked his eyes open blearily at 11:30, took one look out of the window and sentenced that the streets looked too hot for an excursion.

Still he was determined to go out that day. So they waited until four in the evening, Felix whiling away the time by throwing knives and playing games on Hansel's mobile, Hansel deciding to do some schoolwork for once, and when the time came and the sun's light dimmed a little they set out.

"We can keep exploring until midnight," said Felix, as if in compensation. "The city looks better at night."

"And I suppose we are going to have a party with the shadows," said Hansel monotonously. "I'm going to get slashed and you are going to scream and run off at the sight of my blood."

"I won't run off," said Felix vehemently. Then he frowned, as if he thought someone had just played a trick on him. "You won't get slashed. No shadow will dare touch you when I'm with you."

"Why?" Hansel had asked.

"Because I'm just that awesome," Felix had replied, being vague on purpose.

Now, walking down the streets, passing gloomy, deteriorating buildings on either side and scraping his shoes on the cooling asphalt, Felix looked like he couldn't bear to continue for another half hour, let alone until midnight.

Ravens cawed at them from the power lines that ran alongside the streets. The sky above had turned a deep metallic orange, cloudless and of uniform colour from end to end. The shadows on the ground lengthened, their edges losing their sharpness. Buildings turned from looking dull and dismal to wearing a slightly more cheerful appearance, as if someone actually lived in them—perhaps they did. After a few more minutes of walking, he had proof.