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Shadow
by Tamsin Hopkins
EXCERPT
Jon is first aware of the shadow growing stronger on Thursday morning, when he lifts his coffee cup and sees another hand doing the same. The shadow hand becomes heavier as it holds his cup steady for Clare to give him a refill, the same way his fleshy hand does. He doesn’t remember usually having a shadow this early in the mornings, but maybe he’s wrong. Shadows are everywhere. If you look at your hand on the page, depending where the light is, there will be a shadow.
Jon sits on the bus and remembers hearing a story about a man who sold his shadow to the devil — the usual Faustian pact. He’s fairly sure that’s not what’s going on here, as his shadow has not disappeared. If anything, it’s becoming more present, growing stronger, which is not to say that it’s becoming darker. As he walks over the bridge, he tests this and notices: yes, the shadow reacts to light the same way it always has. He just knows somehow that it’s getting stronger. …
… Read the complete story in our anthology Broken Ground.
Tamsin Hopkins
Tamsin Hopkins writes poetry and fiction and has a Masters in Creative Writing from Royal Holloway, London. Her short fiction collection SHORE TO SHORE, River Stories (Cinnamon Press) employs the mythology of individual rivers around the world to illustrate the interconnectedness between humans and living rivers.
