Unconventional Short Stories

            It watches from the cover of the shadows, observing the people that walk by it, never stopping. As it continues to watch, its desire continues to grow. Seeing these people satisfy themselves through what is offered to them makes it wish to join them in their pleasure of living in this world of theirs. It wants to gain its own body for its own use, so that it can experience all human senses, to experience the world through the point of view of a human. So it waited for the night to come, when it would be able to move freely without fear of being spotted.

This being is a shade, a conscientious being of an insubstantial form. It has been there ever for as long as it remembered. It has seen things come and go, seen the construction of this metropolis. It was always fine with its existence, until it encountered these people, the inhabitants of this great city. This was the first time it encountered life on this magnitude. Before, the shade had only been in contact with simple life forms, such as insects and small animals. However, seeing such life forms that are on the level of intelligence of itself caused the shade to become interested in its surroundings. It started studying the humans, watching their everyday actions. Thus, its desire to become human began.

When night fell, the shade started to move. The sky was coved in clouds, obscuring the full moon overhead. As it moved, it started thinking of a way to gain a body for its own use. Getting the body wasn’t a problem. There were plenty of people here in the city. However, no ideas came up. All that came were questions. Am I able to control a human body? Can I even gain one? The shade had never had any experience with this. It had never tried to acquire a body ever, for it never needed one. It never hungered, it never thirsted, it didn’t need anything to exist. And here it was trying to gain a human body. However, its desire to be human kept driving it forward, for it finally realized how dull its existence had been. It had never done anything before. Being human would open up a world of opportunities and experiences to it. It would finally be able to live.

As the shade continued to walk, it became aware of a human presence nearby. Quickly, it darted into a nearby alleyway, trusting that the darkness would obscure its form from any wandering eyes. However, a few minutes later, the presence seemed to stop, staying in one spot for a prolonged amount of time. The shade thought that it was safe to go and see what happened. It saw the prone body of a man on the ground, barely conscious. The shade saw that the man was wounded and went over to him. An opportunity had finally come. The shade found an opening into this body and immediately dove into the mind of the man. Instantly, the shade was overwhelmed by all the things that the body was experiencing. There was pain from the wound; there was the feeling of the hard asphalt beneath the shade’s body. The shade finally had an identity. Its name was Shawn. The shade rejoiced in its newfound life. Then everything went black.

When Shawn regained consciousness, he found himself in bed at a local hospital. His head was bandaged, a reminder of the injury he sustained last night. However, the euphoria of living was still there. Shawn tried to get out of bed, but then some firm hands pushed him back down.

            “Lie down, you need some rest. That head injury wasn’t exactly minor,” came a voice that was inside the room.

            He turned his head to find some woman sitting next to him.

“What…happened?”

“I found you lying down on the street unconscious and drove you over here to the hospital to get some treatment. It looked to me like you tripped and hit your head hard. Blood was oozing from your wound, which is why I pushed you back down. I don’t know if the exertion might start the bleeding up again.”

Shawn put his head down on the pillow. He just became aware of a dull throbbing inside his head. However, he didn’t want to stay in bed. He wanted to go out. He tried to get out again.

“I’m fine. Just let the doctor know that I’m leaving. I don’t want to lay in this bed and wait to recover.”

The woman looked at him once and then, with a look of resignation, walked out of the room. Shawn struggled to get out of the bed, but as soon as he got on his feet, he immediately felt awkward. Why do I feel so strange? It’s like I’ve never walked before. Is it because of my injury? As he was thinking this over, he continued to try and gain back his sense of balance and walk out the hospital. He promptly lost his balance and fell hard onto the floor. Thankfully, no one was around to see him, or else somebody might think that he requires more medical attention. Feeling around for something that would help him stand up, he manages to find the bed post and tries to pull himself up. This is going to be harder than I thought it would be. With the bed post in hand, Shawn starts to try and walk around, not letting the post out of his grasp. After a few minutes go by, Shawn thinks that he gets the hang of it now and heads for the door, managing to get there without an incident. Walking into the hallway, he suddenly ran into the same woman.

“Oh hey, the doctor said that you should be fine. You just need some medication for the pain, because you’ll probably be feeling pretty terrible for a couple more weeks.”

“Th…Thanks for your help.”

“No problem. Here, I’ll drive you home, since you still look unsteady on your feet.”

As she said this, the image of a house appeared in his mind: his home. Shawn followed her outside to her car, got in, and gave her his address. Soon, they were driving down familiar roads to Shawn’s house. When they got there, she stopped the car and Shawn got out.

“Thank you again, Ms…?”

“Oh yeah, my name is Cindy. If you ever need any help, here’s my number.” She took out a scrap of paper and wrote her number on it. Shawn took it and slipped it into his pocket. Waving his hand in farewell, he slowly climbed up the front steps, unlocked the door with the spare key hidden beneath the “Welcome” mat, and closed the door behind him.

            Here, the shade continued to get used to the body it now inhabits. So the shade uses the body some more, putting it through its motions, perfecting its skills with the body. It learned all the functions it could until, finally, it felt confident enough that it could pass as being normal. It then left the house and entered the world outside.

            The sunlight immediately blasted Shawn’s eyes, blinding him momentarily. Disoriented, Shawn could only blink rapidly, when he bumped into something.

            “Watch where you’re going!” came a stranger’s voice.

            When Shawn looked up, he saw a man standing in front of him, dressed in black casual clothing.

            “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to bump into you, its just that the sun was in my eye and I couldn’t…”

            “I don’t give a shit! Look at what you did to my clothes! Man, I don’t have time for this, I’ll get you back later.”

            With this, the stranger walked off, turning past the corner at the end of the street. What was that? I have never seen this yet. In all of my observations, I have only seen people either interact in a friendly way or not at all. Whatever, I’m not going to dwell on it. There’s too much I can do now! With these thoughts, Shawn walked off, heading towards the center of the bustling city.

            After a few minutes of walking, Shawn reached downtown. Everything was immense, with thousands of people walking everywhere. Shawn couldn’t wait to get out there and experience what he was missing out on. But as he stood there, he bumped into many people who were walking by him, because it was rush hour. People, talking on their phones, were too engrossed in their conversations to pay any attention to Shawn. They just brushed past him as they concentrated on what they were doing. Shawn could do nothing except continue on his way, knocking into people, muttering his apologies. no one payed any attention to him.

            As he made his way through the busy streets, he suddenly felt an empty feeling around his lower abdomen, which also made strange noises. What is this new feeling? It's painful. Why am I feeling this now? Then it hit him. He was hungry. He had totally forgot about the time when he saw a man dressed in rags, asking for food and clutching his stomach at a local shelter. So this is when people go into those buildings for food...what were they called again? Oh yeah, restaurants. Ok, I guess it's time  to go and look for one of these buildings. Shawn quickened his pace, looking for one nearby. At the same time, he had to keep himself from succumbing to the emptiness inside. Then, he saw a McDonald's restaurant and headed inside.

            “Can I take your order?” said the cashier.

            Shawn looked up at the menu. Photos of strange-looking items were up on the ceiling. Shawn decided to take the biggest-looking one.

            “I'll have that one.”

            “Ok, that'll be $3.69.”

            Shawn couldn't make sense of this. What does this number have to do with anything? Then he remembered that he saw people hand over pieces of green paper over to the cashier person. He looked around in his pockets. Nothing.

            “I'm sorry, I don't seem to have any money on me.”

            “Then get out of here! Next in line!”

            Shawn could only go back out the way he came. The sun was going down and he was still hungry. So he headed back to his house. Suddenly, out of nowhere, he felt something hard hit him in the back. Pain exploded throughout his entire back. Then, blows were raining down on him. Unprotected, he could only take the hits. There was only pain. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the blows stopped.

            “That's for what happened early today, bitch. Don't you ever do that again, or you'll get something worse.” These were the final words Shawn heard before he lost consciousness.

            When he finally woke up, he couldn't move. Pain flared through his body. Is this what it really means to be a human? To experience hardships? Nothing seems to be what it  seems. Instead of having a good time, I got nothing but trouble and misery. I think it is time to leave this body. It isn't worth it. Never again will I seek to do this again. With these thoughts, the shade lifted itself out of Shawn's body and disappeared.