One night, in a single bed overlooking the stars, Ethan lay awake.

​

A soft, amber glow from the street lamp projected fine lace‑like patterns through his window curtain into the room.

 

Ethan’s eyes were both heavy and alert,

and so he wasn’t sure what he truly saw when he noted to himself that a strange shadow was dancing on the walls.

 

Ethan knew the game of shadows well,

and he knew perfectly that a shadow is the natural result of blocked light.

 

But this shadow did not belong to anything he recognised from the room.

 

Not the lamp, not the dresser, not the wardrobe, nor the bed -

none of these created it.

 

It was a shadow that seemed as though it had a life of its own.

Changing shape and texture according to the moment’s need that only it understood.

 

Ethan was captivated and did not want to detach his gaze from it.

 

The longer he watched it, the more the shadow grew,

as though it had many words it needed to release,

until finally,

Ethan felt it seemed he was also hearing a whisper:

"Where are you?"

 

"I’m here", Ethan answered,

as though it were a conversation meant to happen.

 

"No, you’re not here", replied the shadow in a low voice.

 

"Then where am I?" he wondered.

 

"You’re hiding behind the veil", said the shadow.

 

"And where are you?" Ethan asked.

 

"Here and there.

I am the space in between and the one after.

Do you see the veil?"

 

Ethan searched every corner around him and wondered if the shadow meant the curtain at the window.

 

"What veil?" he asked in confusion.

 

Instead of speaking, the shadow began expanding.

 

It filled the entire room with deep darkness -

as though dominating all the shading created by the curtain, the lamp, the wardrobe, the bed - and Ethan’s own body.

 

The room was now the shadow in a presence

that enveloped from every side.

 

"What do you want from me?"

Ethan asked with a trembling voice,

a tear weighing on his eyelid.

 

"I’m here because you created me."

 

There was softness in the shadow that surprised Ethan.

 

He expected that the darkness enclosing him would bring cold, deep pain or sting -

but it seemed there was something before them.

 

"I am everything you built between you and yourself."

 

"What do you mean?" asked Ethan.

 

"I am everything you did not want to see." replied the shadow.

 

"I am all the lies you told yourself to survive.

All that you fled from because you feared you would not bear."

 

Ethan wanted to argue,

but he also felt that it wasn’t right.

 

The shadow began to project the moments Ethan had buried in denial.

 

Times when he forcibly closed his eyes even though he knew the answer.

 

Lies of various sizes that kept him safe.

 

Half‑truths that were more comfortable as reality at the moment they were lived.

 

"And how can I rid myself of you?" Ethan whispered.

He lowered his head under the weight of an existential task.

 

"You do not need to rid me." the shadow caressed.

"I am simply what I am."

 

"What does that mean?"

 

"It means," the shadow expanded.

"That you can pass through me and move on.

Everything will continue in the same direction,

toward the same end,

when reality is everything you see with me.

 

But just as equally,

we can meet one another a moment before you move on."

 

"Where is that meeting point?" Ethan asked.

 

"In understanding." said the shadow.

 

"What does that mean?"

 

"Instead of relating to me as ‘everything there is’ -

try to recognise all the threads you wove into me.

Don’t tear me. Don’t try to unravel or distort me anymore.

Look at me.

Ask yourself:

‘What brought me to insert this thread?

What was I trying to hide from myself?’"

 

Ethan inhaled deeply and tried to think.

A word escaped him even before he shaped its edges:

"Fear."

 

"That is very brave of you." shone the shadow.

 

"Fear of what?" it asked.

 

Ethan realised he sounded more and more like a person.

 

"Fear I won’t love me if I saw who I was at that moment.

Fear that everything will end not the way I can be."

 

The shadow shivered lightly and Ethan understood he was nodding.

 

"So now you already know.

And it’s different, right?

Now you can see - because we met in understanding," it said.

 

"Now what you will see - can reveal more than you expected.

Every time you look at me -

you will approach what I’m trying to hide -

without passing through me.

Because instead of fighting me, you paused to see what is."

 

That night, Ethan found himself watching and examining the shadow.

 

At first, he thought he would be able to know it only in the room.

 

But as time passed -

he understood he could meet the shadow at any moment and in any place -

when he becomes curious to understand -

not forced to banish or hide it.

 

Ethan also noticed that the more he cared -

the more the shadow changed.

 

The more he understood -

another thread in the thick weave of the shadow’s veil became sheer.

 

He noticed that the shadow grew more transparent itself.

 

And as it became transparent -

Ethan felt there was a strong light filling the reality beyond the shadow.

 

Ethan knew that a shadow is blocked light.

 

And yet he understood differently

why when the blocking is gone - what remains is light.

 

The light behind the veil wasn’t blinding.

It was a light that complemented what Ethan had not noticed before -

that accompanied him from within.

 

"Are you there, shadow?" asked Ethan.

"I feel you’re still there."

​

"I’m here.

It’s kind of you to recognise my presence even when I’m so transparent.

Do you want to dance?"

 

"To dance?" asked Ethan.

 

"Only if you wish." responded the shadow.

 

"And what will our music be?" 

 

"Let’s listen." suggested the shadow.

"What do you hear?"

 

For a moment silence descended.

 

From within the silence,

delicate pulses emerged before Ethan.

 

It was a gentle rhythm of warm vibration that renewed his aliveness.

 

A flutter between all there is -

and the infinity that hovered for a moment.

 

"The melody I am attuned to." he smiled.