The Shadow

They came in from the surrounding rural areas to the great, empty city sitting on the edges of the Gobi.  The cities, technically, were not abandoned, because they had never been lived in.

Early in the millennium a real estate boom akin to insanity had swept through the region and shining, extravagant megalopolises had burgeoned from the dusty earth like silt blooming up from the riverbed.

The government and the businesses had expected the people to rush in and fill these concrete and steel voids and yet the people did not come.  For many reasons, they did not come.  So the places sat empty, forlorn and aching.  And the people they had displaced watched with resentful eyes as slowly the breakneck pace of development sputtered then stalled.  Buildings were left unfinished, guarded by a half-hearted security that departed once they stopped being paid.

That’s when the ousted nomads had trickled back in, slowly filling the vast reaches of space formed by the elegant architectural lines. 

The first ones to venture back were Lan and her family who crept into one of the beautiful, barren houses by shattering the glass of a back window.  They had all laughed when they realized the front door wasn’t even locked.

There was no running water, electricity, or heat, but they’d never had these things anyway so they didn’t even notice.  Lan and her brother, Jun, turned all the handles of the faucets trying to figure out what they were for.  The light switches were even more confusing.  They were in every room but did nothing.  They must be for decoration, they concluded.

Two weeks later another family snuck in a few houses down from Lan’s.  They had a daughter a bit older than her named Zhen who Lan didn’t like because she was so timid and fearful of getting in trouble, but she was the only other girl so they had to make do with one another.

It would be some months before others worked up the nerve to try their luck in this place, so for many weeks it was just this small collection of people gathered in a swell of vacancy.

Lan was hard pressed to find ways to coax Zhen from the security of their new homes.  She didn’t want to stray far, afraid of getting lost.  Finally, Lan had to resort to outright lies.

Soon after they arrived Lan and Jun had explored as much as they dared.  Winding down the carless roads and past houses and stores with blank stares they came across a large mall.  There was lettering in both Chinese and English but Lan and Jun could read neither.  They could tell the building was important because of its sheer size but with the sun hastening towards the horizon they hadn’t the time to peek inside.  Lan had been itching to get back ever since.

Zhen was drawing amorphous shapes on the brick with a white stone she had found and Lan approached her thoughtfully.

“I know where there’s candy.”

Zhen looked up.

“My brother and I saw it awhile back but we haven’t had a chance to go get it.  I want to go get some but I don’t want to do it alone.  Will you go with me?”

Zhen narrowed her eyes.  “Why haven’t you gotten it yet?”

“Because it’s far, but if we leave right now we can get there and back before it gets dark.  We’ll get some for ourselves and bring back enough for everyone.”

Zhen shrugged, losing interest.  “It’s probably gone bad.”

Lan blew disgust from her lips.  “Candy doesn’t go bad.  It’s not like other food.  If you don’t want to come, fine, but don’t ask for any of mine when I get back.”

Zhen bit her lip then leapt up.  “Alright, let’s go.”

It took over an hour to make their way to the massive structure.  With diffidence of supplicants they eased themselves under the long shadows of the enormous arched entrance.

Layers and volumes of darkness were woven between the columns, creating tiers of caverns surrounding a great chasm in the center.

An infinity of empty store fronts sat stacked, side by side, indistinguishable, with only a smattering holding headless mannequins or boxes covered with a grey felt of dust.

Zhen had completely forgotten about the candy and she and Lan both floated about with their mouths open. 

It was Zhen who noticed it first.  She pointed roughly at a corner with a sharp, jabbing motion.

“What, what— ?”

Lan turned and craned her head.  “What?”

“That, that!”

Then Lan saw it, too.  It emerged from the surrounding darkness with an unsteady tempo.

It was a shadow.  A man’s shadow.  Tall and lean, but broad around the shoulders.  It halted when Zhen gasped out alarm and then urinated on herself.  She began to cry and shake.

“Why are you crying?” Lan spat.  “It’s just a shadow.  It can’t hurt us.”

But Zhen only shook her head, crying harder and began to back away.

“Where are you going?” Lan asked.

Zhen’s response was to take off running back the way they had come.  Lan watched her retreating figure then shrugged.

She turned to the shadow who was still hesitating in mid-motion.  Lan sensed what Zhen had not.   That the shadow was lonely, sad.  Sick and wrought with inanition. 

“Come here,” Lan whispered.

The shadow gestured questioningly to itself.

“Yes, you.  Who else would I be talking to?”

The shadow silently came forward.

“You seem lonely.  Are you lonely?”

The shadow eagerly agreed.

“Well, then, come on.”  Lan gestured to her own shadow.

The shadowed motioned to ask if she was really sure.

“Yes, yes.  Come on then.  I have to catch up with Zhen.”

In a rush of gratitude the shadow hopped over to Lan and melted into darkness at her feet.

From that day on Lan had two shadows, one her own and one not.  If anyone ever noticed they never said anything.