Our Song

Hello, Darkness My Old Friend

He sat on the floor just looking at it, studying it. His guitar lay in his hands. He was just playing anything that had come to mind.

He pulled his spoon up to his mouth, taking a bite of his soup. He whipped his hand on his jeans, continuing his chord progression.

He looked at the clock, at 3 am. Is it really that late? He had no recollection of what had happened that night. He was just enjoying some wine and a joint. He didn't really care what was in the past. Well, until the shadow appeared.

"Pretty boring night huh?" The shadow heckled.

"Yeah, I guess." Paul shrugged.

"Boring without Artie." The shadow said.

"Shut up!" Paul's cheeks burned.

"You love him." The shadow taunted.

"No!" His cheeks got even redder, and his hands had become clammy.

"Stop denying it." The shadow mocked.

"Just stop." Paul crossed his arms. "Why did you come to haunt me anyway?"

"Well, I am your past and all. I came to haunt you for various reasons." The shadow said smugly.

"Care to elaborate?" Paul raised his eyebrow.

"Well I am made to fit you and you alone, I know your past better than maybe even you. I came because I heard about your little falling out with Art." It smiled, revealing the wall behind it.

"So just because I had a small falling out with Art you came to tell me everything I hated about my upbringing?" Paul quizzed.

"Well, not completely." The shadow revealed.

"So you came to make my life a living hell?" Paul crossed his arms.

"Kinda." The shadow agreed.

"I already hated myself quite a bit," Paul admitted.

"Oh, I know." The shadow smirked again.

Paul frowned at the shadow. "Can anyone see you, besides me?"

It busted out laughing. "No, I told you I am a mold of you. Simply a shadow."

"But you're shorter than me." Paul pointed out.

"Remember I am your past." He cackled.

Paul came to a quick realization."So you reflect what I used to look like?"

The shadow laughed once more. "Took you long enough to figure out."

"I'm a little slow, okay." Paul pouted.

The shadow smirked once again. Paul put his hand up, signaling he wanted the shadow to say no more.

Paul picked up a pencil and began jotting down a song that had just come to mind. The first words piled onto the paper.

Hello darkness my old friend, I've come to talk with you again.

He liked what he was writing so far. The shadow had an objection. "You really want to try to write another failure of a song?"

"How do you know it will be a failure?" Paul asked spitefully.

The shadow pretended like it had a pen and a notebook. "Oh, just from the notes I've been taking over the years."

"Hey, just because my old songs didn't work doesn't mean my new ones won't," Paul said assertively.

The shadow picked up the lyrics and pretended to tilt imaginary glasses. "Hey, this would be a good song for you and Artie to sing."