Strange creatures, they are. Swathed in shimmering cloaks, hazy when you look at them. Not quite real. Dark, most definitely, with outlines clear enough for you to see where they are and what, or who, they resemble. But like ghosts, they haunt you. Silent, yes, but not unmoving. They follow you wherever you go, only not into the light.
No, they're not fearless, these creatures. The light burns, it disintegrates them, and they vanish.
They never really leave you, no, they're too dedicated for that. But they are night-dwellers and they cherish the dark.
Sometimes they look like you, as if there's a reflection or photo of you on the wall, hazy, dark and unclear. You can't make out a thing, not one distinct feature, except for maybe a vague outline of a body that could be yours. Even that's not quite right, as if these creatures are determined to confuse your mind, your eyes. Tricksters, they are.
Limbs longer and slimmer or thicker than yours, bigger or smaller than you are, they like to copy your movements when you look at them, so it seems like they are a reflection of you.
But dark, ghost-like reflections they are, if at all.
When they know you aren't looking, they'll move. Fly above your head, float through walls or sink through floors, they'll dance, with each other and with nothing and no one.
Oh, yes, they're fickle. They love to follow, to mimic, but they do enjoy their freedom as much as the next creature.
It's very rare for someone to see them moving by themselves, they're very cautious about these things. These creatures are carefully spontaneous, taking only the safest of risks. They don't want to be seen, but they love your attention. If that's not fickle, I don't know what is.
If you do see one of these creatures moving about without its opposite, beware. You never know with them. Some won't mind too much, though they will stop moving and vanish, returning to their opposites. Others, well, you never know. (Be careful, that's all.)
These creatures do love their opposites, most of the time.
Oh, yes, we all know the story where someone found one of these creatures flying about and sewed it back on to its opposite. No, that wasn't particularly comfortable for either of them, I'm sure.
It's rather troublesome to have to sew one of these flighty creatures back on to its opposite. The needle must be a rose thorn, the thread must be starlight. These things don't come cheap, you know.
These creatures, fickle and free and beautiful, they love their opposites, they follow them and confuse them for fun, cheeky things. Shadows, they're known as, but I think it'd be better if they were known as they were. Our dark reflections, or our ghosts. Either way, I suppose.
Fickle things.
Let's keep it at that.
YOU ARE READING
Spontanéité
Krótkie OpowiadaniaA collection of some bits and pieces of my written works. These bits and pieces weren't all spontaneous pieces of writing, though. They're descriptions of people, places and memories, and maybe they're short stories or other things. I don't know, it...
