A Shadow World | Short Story

A shadow world, drawn long. It grows after the sun has crested, seeping out from the church spire and the echoing viaduct. Slow at first, it crawls across the cobbles, pushing against the midday glare.

It advances, just as it retreated. The gloom reaches long-fingered down alleys and into closes – pre-dusks slinking eagerly behind the gable-end and the high, dusty hornbeam. Up drainpipes and across windowsills the shadow slips, glazing no bar to its progress. 

Some – the work-weary, the parents, the social animals – welcome the dark like a brother; for them the shadow is as sliding silk, a light-borne anaesthesia. For other the darkness brings only despair – the kind of despair that only a far-flung planet turning will ameliorate.

The shadow seeks, grows, merges, unconcerned. Until the dawn, it holds silent sway.

Thanks for reading folks. Recent short stories include ‘Deposition‘ and ‘The Worst Part‘.

Matthew Richardson is a writer of short stories. His work has featured in Gold Dust magazine, Literally Stories, Close to the Bone, McStorytellers, Penny Shorts, Soft Cartel, Whatever Keeps the Lights On, Flashback Fiction, Cafelit, Best MicroFiction 2021, Writer’s Egg, Idle Ink, The Wild Word, Down in the Dirt, and Shooter magazine. He has a Professional Doctorate in Education. Matthew blogs at www.matthewjrichardson.com.