Asunder shadows

1 — Where all began

It had been a few hours since the sun had risen to the very top of the sky. It was in the perfect position for its rays to filter directly through the window of an empty and boring room on the second floor of a completely ordinary house. The typical teenager’s room, with the difference that hardly anything could be seen other than what was necessary to live.

Not much to tell about it. A desk by the window, with four poorly stacked books and a computer on top. On one side of the room, a built-in closet with the door slightly ajar, where a pair of black sweatpants was about to fall off one of its shelves. On the other side, a bed from which a young man was just getting up because the sun’s rays were hitting him right in the face: me.

It was Saturday and I wasn’t in the mood to get up. However, it seemed like it was already noon and my body started to ache a little from lying down for so many hours. Still half asleep, after stretching at the same time as I yawned loudly, I decided to get out of this damn bed.

I went straight to the closet and opened the door all the way, letting the black sweatpants fall to the floor. I didn’t think much about what clothes to put on. I simply picked up the pants from the floor and put them on along with the first sweater I found.

After getting dressed I started walking toward the bathroom, dragging the matching sweatpants jacket with me. As soon as I entered, a mirror greeted me, in which my reflection appeared clearly: an 18-year-old boy who was

approximately 183 centimeters tall. His hair and eyes, which returned to me a fixed sleepy and carefree gaze, were exactly the same color and shade: light brown.

I turned on the tap and washed my face to finally shake off the sleep, but before I finished getting ready I heard someone’s footsteps. A girl with features similar to mine soon was reflected behind me.

“Hey, living dead, still sleeping at this hour?”

I sighed while turning off the tap and turning toward the girl: my older sister.

“I have to wake up early every day… Today is Saturday. Saturdays and Sundays are for sleeping in until I feel like it, right?”

“I also wake up early on Saturdays and Sundays. I have a life, unlike you, who looks like a zombie infiltrated among the living.”

“Honestly, I wouldn’t call showing up drunk at six in the morning waking up early… At those times you also look like a zombie… and you stink like one.”

“That’s because at least I have friends I can go out and have fun with at night, unlike you.”

She responded trying to appear calm, although she was unable to completely hide that she was a bit offended by my comment.

“Don’t talk nonsense. Of course I have friends. I just would never introduce them to a messed-up sister like the one I have… Who knows what kind of illness could you end up spreading to them…”

“Asshole!”

“That’s your mother.”

“I remind you that she’s yours too.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s true,” I muttered, a bit upset.

“You’re definitely a shitty brother.”

Even though it might seem so most of the time, my sister and I actually didn’t get along badly, although we always ended up with some stupid fight that was forgotten a short time later. I don’t know if that’s normal between siblings or not… but there were moments when I would really rather not have her as a sister.

And about my mother, despite being a woman of few words who seemed to be always annoyed about something, she was a kind person who almost never got angry with anyone. She had never treated me badly or done anything to make me think otherwise, but I felt that, unlike with my sister, she treated me with a certain distance. As if I were a stranger to her. Maybe she didn’t mean to do it, but I always noticed it, and it always hurt me a little. It’s possible that this also slightly influenced the relationship between my sister and me.

“Come on, get out of here right now, I want to use the bathroom… And change that damn expression!”

She grabbed my jacket, which I had left hanging on the entryway door, and threw it in my face before kicking me out of the bathroom while muttering.

“As you wish… Anyway, I’m already done…”

I went to the living room. Speaking of my mother, apparently she had left a couple hours ago and hadn’t returned yet. On the other hand, my father was sprawled on the couch calmly watching television. Since I didn’t have anything better to do I went over to his side and sat in a corner.

“Is there any interesting program?”

“They just started the news. There’s nothing else at this hour.”

My father was a fifty-year-old man who had already grown the typical belly of that age. His hair was starting to gray and he even had noticeable receding hairline. Unlike my mother, he treated me completely normally. You could even say he got along better with me than with my sister, since she always ended up giving him plenty of headaches… especially on Saturday nights and Sunday mornings.

“Well, what are they saying?”

“Nothing good, as always.”

I leaned back, preparing to spend some time watching TV. I didn’t catch the very beginning of the news, but the content quickly caught my attention.

“… the incident occurred at 4:38 AM. Witnesses claim it was similar to a shooting star. However, it remained suspended in the sky for practically five minutes before falling straight toward the ground and disappearing in barely a second…”

“What the hell are they talking about?” I immediately asked my father.

“Apparently a luminous object was seen this morning. As you can see, they’re already making a big deal out of it.”

“A luminous object?”

“A strange light in the middle of the night that could have been anything.”

I stayed watching the footage of what happened in complete silence… The place they showed me looked quite familiar… too familiar… to the point of being able to assure that almost every day I passed through those streets.

“… quite a few theories have already started circulating online, including that of an alien spaceship. However, experts assure that the most likely explanation is that it was a simple piece of space rock that entered the atmosphere, catching fire and creating that luminous effect. The investigations will continue for some time, but so far nothing strange has been found in the surroundings…”

“Now they’re even talking about aliens. The reporters don’t know what to make up to get people’s attention,” my father commented.

My father lost interest as soon as he finished listening to the news, but I stayed silent, my eyes glued to the television.

“A strange light in the middle of the night…”

I murmured without meaning to. For some reason my mind was wandering. In my head the images of that light in the night sky repeated over and over. I didn’t understand quite what was happening to me, but I started to feel really uncomfortable.

“What’s wrong, son? You look worried.”

Fortunately my father quickly brought me back to reality.

“Nothing, just thinking that this happened very close by… Aren’t you worried it could be something dangerous?”

“Are you afraid they’re going to abduct you? You’re already grown up enough to believe in that stuff. Besides, I doubt they’d want you specifically. Believe me, if I were an alien, you’d be the last human I’d take. I would take another cow first.”

My father teased a little. I guess my face must have been pretty funny at that moment, so I could only let out an ironic laugh.

“Don’t talk nonsense, Dad… That’s not it…”

«Although I don’t know if I should be glad or depressed about what you just said…»

“Then what?”

“I guess actually… never mind…”

I shrugged. I wasn’t really worried about aliens, but that uncomfortable feeling wouldn’t leave me. I couldn’t stay still, so I got up from the couch in a jump.

“I’m a bit hungry, is there anything left over from yesterday?”

“I think a bit of stew was left over, but your mother will be back soon, can’t you wait until then?”

“Well… there’s something I want to do as soon as possible…”

I didn’t actually have anything to do, I just wanted to go out for a while to clear my head… I couldn’t think of any good excuse to give either…

“Don’t tell me you want to go investigate on your own.”

“Dad… don’t take me for a madman…”

“As you wish, just don’t do anything reckless and come back before nightfall. Or do you actually want to try getting abducted?”

Probably my father was only joking, since he dropped the subject right away. It’s not that either he or my mother cared much about where I went as long as I didn’t cause trouble. I guess I had to thank my sister for that, who always did whatever she wanted whenever she wanted…

“Yeah, yeah, don’t worry… Besides, I’m not a kid anymore.”

I went to the kitchen and gobbled down the leftovers from the day before. Then I put on some sneakers and went out into the street. Obviously I had no intention of investigating that light like my father said. I didn’t believe any of that nonsense about aliens at all, and the news didn’t matter to me in the slightest. I simply wanted to go out and relax a bit to shake off that discomfort that was still with me… and there was a perfect place for such a purpose.

My house was located on the outskirts of town, a few minutes from a forest with a small lake in the middle. It was a little-known place that nobody usually approached. Since it was a quiet place I used to visit it from time to time when I was in a bad mood or simply wanted to get away from civilization.

Since we had to cross the forest, the only way to get to the lake was on foot. Although my house was relatively close, there was still about an hour and a half journey, and precisely because it was little-known there were no well-marked trails leading directly to the lake, but I knew the way like the back of my hand, so often it didn’t even take that long.

Just as I thought, even not running too much, in barely an hour and a half I had already arrived at the clearing in the forest. I quickly looked around, there was truly not a single trace of people or animals.

“Perfect, it’s a relief that nobody’s ever here.”

I sat a few meters from the lake. The grass in that part wasn’t too tall, but at the same time it was tall enough for one to lie down comfortably on it. The day was clear and there were barely any visible clouds.

“Today is a good day.”

I flopped onto the grass and stared fixedly at the blue sky. Before I realized it I had already raised my arm, with my hand open as if trying to reach something I couldn’t even see.

“A strange light in the sky…”

That phrase had been running through my head the whole way. I hadn’t been able to get it out of my head no matter how hard I tried. However, as soon as I arrived at this place that annoying unease that had been with me the whole time started to disappear.

It wasn’t cold nor too hot. The smell of chemicals and city fumes didn’t reach this place. There were no unpleasant noises either, probably that’s why I liked this place so much. I closed my eyes and stayed listening to the sound of the breeze moving the leaves and the singing of the insects. Only then did I finally manage to get rid of that annoying phrase once and for all.

“Finally I can relax, damn it.”

And perhaps I relaxed too much, since I was immediately attacked by sleepiness, to which I soon fell completely prey.