The shadows are chasing me. They've been here all my life, lurking in the absence of light. Why can't light just turn those bloody corners? Even now as I run up these harsh concrete stairs, my own shadow claws for me. I'm running up the stairs because I've just figured out how to get away. I've seen pictures of Heaven, it's a place where there's only yellow and light and angels. Heaven's high up, so I'm going to the top of the highest building in this city. Up there, I'll be close to Heaven, and those shadows won't get me anymore. You know how I know I'm in the right place? I can see them in corners, whispering like old women, baring their black maws at me when I look. They remind me of night, and that spurs me on. At night, they eat me. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide because they're everywhere. There won't be any more nights when I get up there.
People sense fear, you know, like prey senses the predator. People used to think I was crazy when they found out about the shadows. Once my mother took me to a doctor. They said they'd help me, and I believed them. Ha! I should've known. They had mirror-shard eyes and black maws when my mother wasn't looking, and they were out to get me as much as the shadows. Medication from them wouldn't make the shadows go away. This will. I reach the top of the stairwell, exhausted, but I burst open the door and find myself bathed in sunshine. I look back quickly - they are there, snapping at my heels - I slam the door in their faces. I turn to the sky. The clouds are nearer, the wind is strong. I must be closer to Heaven. I look up at the sun, which is blinding, then -
A cloud passes over it and the world darkens. I look back at the ground and scream. They're all around me. In the cornices of the edge of the building. They're moving, though. Moving out of the shadows and into the light. It hurts them, but they ooze from the corners and slither towards me, snarling and whispering nameless torments and evils. Fear, an icy knife, slices down my spine.
"NO!" I scream. I run, run to the edge of the building. They chase, black bodies flying, holes in the universe. A small wall separates me and thin air. I climb up and stand there on the edge with the wind whipping all around me. Far below me cars and people are specks of dirt. I look back at them. They are standing all around with their foul mouths and evil claws, but they do not follow. Suddenly, I know what I have to do. Heaven is up there. They say you go to Heaven when you die.
Jump. Just one little step of the edge. Jump, I consider. Don't jump, their ungodly crevices silently scream. I laugh.
"Try and catch me now."
Jump.
