I never told anyone about the shadow.
Every night,just after midnight it appeared on my wall-taller than me, thinner than anyone could be, and shaped like something that didn't quite belong to this world. It didn't move fast ... Only a slow, breathing ripple as if it were waiting .
One night , I finally stop pretending I didn't see it.
When the shadow slid across my wall and drifted towards the hallway, I followed quietly . It didn't make a sound, but I fell a pull- like it knew I would come .
Down the stairs.
Past the silent living room.
Into the cold back yard.
The shadow stopped under an old mango tree, the one I never paid attention to before. Without thinking,it reached towards the ground...and my fingers brushed something metal.
A tin box.
Old,cold, buried halfway in the soil.
I opened it .
Inside lay a single paragraph - of a child standing under the same tree smiling directly at the camera,
As if she knew I did find her someday
On the back with faded ink were the words.
"I've been waiting"
I looked up.
The shadow behind me were no longer tall or thin.
It was exactly my shape .
And that was the first moment I realised ...
It had never been following me ,it has been trying to lead me back to something I was supposed to remember .
Something I don't fully understand.
Something... unknown