Shadow Friends
Werner Kho
Shadow Friends
Werner Kho
Shadow Friends
First Edition
Werner Kho
Copyright © 2014 Werner Kho
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written consent of the author.
ISBN: 978-1-310-12533-1
Table of Contents
Shadow Friends
Shadow Friends
Once upon a time, there was a boy named Tommy. Tommy lived with his parents in a little house near a forest.
Tommy lived a simple life. He would go to the forest every day to gather different ingredients for his mother to cook at home. Through the years, the animals in the forests became his friends. He would feed them and play with them.
On clear nights, the forest was peaceful. Even though it was dark, nothing stirred and everything else was at peace. The trees stood still and only the occasional breeze would stir the forest slightly. Most animals would be asleep but a select few would still be scurrying around, making up for time spent sleeping in the day.
However, on cloudy nights, the forest would turn into a different place. Shadows would stir and the animals would hide. The trees would feel more menacing, their branches curled like fingernails just about to grab you.
Tommy knew the dangers of a cloudy night, so he would always avoid going to the forest on such nights but on one night, he had no choice.
-
“Tommy! Would you mind doing me a favour?” called Tommy’s mother from the kitchen.
Tommy ambled down from his bedroom and stepped into the kitchen.
“Your grandma is sick, can you help me to send this container of soup to her?”
Tommy felt the dread rising in his stomach, because he couldn’t see the moon at all that night. But he knew he had no choice. His grandma was too frail and his mother didn’t know the forest as well as he did.
With a reluctant sigh, Tommy nodded his head and his mother smiled.
“Now that’s a good boy.”
His mother then poured the soup into a container.
“Be careful when you walk across the woods, okay?” said Tommy’s mother as she passed him the container of soup.
Tommy walked to the door with heavy steps. He grabbed his cloak and put on his shoes. Opening the door, he took a good look at the night sky again, but still not a cloud was in sight. Accepting that it was highly unlikely for the weather to change, Tommy took the container of soup and stepped out of the house and into the woods.
Tommy’s grandmother lived across the forest, and the only way for Tommy to get there was to walk through the entire stretch of the forest.
The forest was quiet tonight. Hardly any animal stirred. The trees stood still but their shadows seemed a little longer, their branches a little sharper.
Tommy pulled his cloak tighter around him and continued to walk a little faster. He just wanted to reach his grandma’s house as soon as possible.
Tommy continued to look forward as he walked, never looking at the trees around him. It was dangerous, and he knew that looking at the trees for signs of danger would only make him feel more scared than he already was.
But something lurked in the dark, watching Tommy while he walked. Since Tommy was too afraid to look around, it was even easier for it to follow Tommy unnoticed.
This being that was lurking in the dark, blended in with the shadows. It was as dark as the night, as dark as the shadows. It could change its shape at will and move easily from tree to tree through their shadows. Tonight, it had noticed Tommy walking through the forest, and it had a plan within its mind.
The shadow assumed the shape of a wolf and continued to stalk Tommy from behind the trees. It crept closer towards Tommy until it was right behind him, keeping completely silent.
Slowly, the wolf shadow reached out its claws towards Tommy’s shadow. Using the tip of its claw, it sliced through Tommy’s shadow and separated it from Tommy. Tommy didn’t feel a thing.
The wolf shadow smiled with glee and grabbed Tommy’s shadow, but before it could fly away, Tommy’s shadow started to struggle desperately. The wolf shadow had no choice but to try its hardest to contain Tommy’s shadow within its grasp so that it wouldn’t escape.
While the wolf shadow continued to struggle with Tommy’s shadow, Tommy continued walking through the forest, totally oblivious to what had just happened.
But the commotion with the shadows hadn’t escaped the eyes of the animals.
Some animals had heard and seen the wolf shadow taking Tommy’s shadow. They were afraid because they knew that the wolf shadow was a terrifying being. It would occasionally try to steal the shadows of other animals and those animals whose shadows had been stolen, died a few days after it happened. But they had no power to stop the wolf shadow.
However, the animals treated Tommy as their friend. They didn’t want such a terrible thing to happen to Tommy, so a few of them made up their minds to help Tommy get his shadow back.
The rabbit decided to go first.
Coming up from its burrow, it hopped its way to where Tommy was. Tommy was pleasantly surprised by the rabbit, because up till then he had not seen a single animal in the forest. He was glad that he finally saw a familiar face, and so he picked up the rabbit in his hands, relieved that he had another being for company on his journey.
But as he touched the rabbit, something magical started to happen.
The rabbit’s shadow started to pull away from the rabbit’s body. It kept pulling until it was totally separated from its body and could move freely in the woods. It slipped under Tommy so he wouldn’t notice and then it started to make its way towards the fight between the wolf shadow and Tommy’s shadow.
The wolf shadow noticed the rabbit shadow bounding toward it and it snarled menacingly. It was already struggling hard enough to contain Tommy’s shadow and the rabbit shadow helping Tommy’s shadow would make matters more difficult for him.
The rabbit shadow tried its hardest to free Tommy’s shadow from the wolf shadow’s grip, but alas, it was too small and the wolf shadow could still fend it off without losing its grip on Tommy’s shadow. Thus the struggle between the wolf shadow, the rabbit shadow and Tommy’s shadow continued.
Meanwhile, Tommy was already halfway through the forest, with the rabbit now following him at his side.
The squirrel decided to go next.
Like the rabbit, it ran up to Tommy for it needed Tommy’s magical touch for its shadow to separate from its body. Tommy was of course, glad to see another animal friend of his on this dark night. He picked up the squirrel and placed it on his shoulder. Again, with the magical touch of Tommy’s fingers, the squirrel’s shadow pulled away from its body and immediately ran towards the fight happening between the three shadows.
Now the wolf shadow was getting frustrated with the rabbit shadow constantly biting him and Tommy’s shadow still refusing to yield.
The squirrel shadow chose to sneak up behind the wolf shadow to gain a better advantage. It blended in with the tree behind the wolf shadow and when it saw the opportunity, it launched itself at the wolf shadow. The wolf shadow yowled in pain when the squirrel shadow sank its teeth into it, but it managed to shake the squirrel shadow off its back. The wolf shadow was determined not to let the other animal shadows free Tommy’s shadow so the battle between the shadows continued.
The rest of the animals in the forest decided that this couldn’t continue any further. So they decided that the biggest of them would have to go out and help.
This time the moose went.
The
moose charged out so suddenly from behind the trees right and out onto the path in front of Tommy that it shocked Tommy. Tommy was wary at first because he rarely saw moose in the forest. The moose sensed Tommy’s apprehension and so it slowly walked up to Tommy so as not to scare him any further.
Tommy stood still as the moose walked up to him. He didn’t know if such a large animal was friendly. The moose continued to walk until it was right in front of Tommy, and then it bowed its head. Tommy realised that the moose was being friendly, and he was relieved. So he patted the moose’s head and the magic of his touch released the moose’s shadow into the battle.
Finally with the moose shadow joining the battle, the animals seemed to have a better chance of freeing Tommy’s shadow from the wolf shadow’s grasp.
The moose charged right into the fray between the three shadows and it knocked the wolf shadow right off its feet. The impact of the hit was so strong the wolf shadow had no choice but to release Tommy’s shadow. Thus, the battle was finally won and Tommy’s shadow was back in the safe hands of the other animal shadows.
Seeing that the wolf shadow was finally defeated, the animal shadows decided to return Tommy’s shadow back to his body, but before they could, they heard a cry from behind them.
“Wait! Don’t leave me!” cried the wolf shadow.
The animal shadows turned back to face the wolf shadow.
“Why shouldn’t we leave you? You tried to take Tommy’s shadow! And you also took all those other animals’ shadows too!” exclaimed the squirrel shadow.
“I was just very lonely in the forest,” said the wolf shadow. “There are no others like me and everybody was so scared of me. I had no idea what else to do.”
“Well, you could have just said so! Instead of just taking all those shadows like that,” said the rabbit shadow
“Sorry,” said the wolf shadow
“Well, maybe Tommy can do something about this with his magic touch. We should bring you back to Tommy,” said the moose shadow.
The animal shadows felt that it was a good idea and agreed. So they all went back to their bodies with the exception of the wolf shadow.
Tommy’s shadow was finally returned to its body, but Tommy didn’t feel a thing. The whole battle between the shadows had passed and Tommy had no idea what had just happened.
While all the animal shadows and Tommy’s shadow returned to their bodies, the wolf shadow tried to get Tommy’s attention. With some help from the animals, the wolf shadow finally got Tommy’s attention.
“What’s this? Why is there a shadow here when there shouldn’t be one?” Tommy wondered aloud.
He reached down onto the ground and touched the black spot out of curiosity. Immediately with his touch, the wolf shadow rose up of the ground and turned into a real wolf!
Tommy was so shocked he fell backwards.
“Whoa! What was that?!”
The wolf immediately came over to Tommy and started licking him.
Tommy couldn’t believe what had just happened, but he had no way to explain it.
So he got up and decided that he should just continue on to his grandma’s house. Maybe she would have answers for him.
So now Tommy had four animal friends with him and all of them continued on their journey to the other side of the forest.
-
After walking for a little while more, Tommy and the animals finally reached Grandma’s house.
Grandma was totally shocked when she opened the door.
“Tommy! How are there so many animals with you?” asked Grandma.
“It’s a long story, Grandma. I’ll explain when we get inside,” Tommy replied.
So they all went into the house, although it was a little difficult with the moose.
Tommy sat down with Grandma and he told her what had happened during his journey.
Grandma listened patiently to Tommy and was amazed when she heard what he did with the wolf shadow at the end.
“Maybe all that time you spent in the woods made you special, Tommy. Other than that, I have no idea what could have possibly happened,” said Grandma.
Tommy was a little disappointed that his grandma had no explanation for what had happened, but at least he had new animal friends with him now.
-
After that night, Tommy always had his four animal friends with him whenever he visited the forest. The forest was no longer dangerous during cloudy days because Tommy had freed the wolf shadow.
And they all lived happily ever after.
The end
