The First Encounter

Dedicated with Love to Naboo, without whom the story of the Shadow Runner may never have come to me.

Their evening run started out as their evening runs always had, the girl changing from her work clothes into her running clothes, the dog excitedly waiting for the moment when they stepped out the door. A mile or so into their run, the headlamp attached to the dog’s collar went out –and in that moment the girl saw that they did not run alone but with a pair of shadowy partners. As the location of the ambient light source changed, from street lamp to home security lighting to car headlights, the size, opacity, location, and quantity of their shadowy companions changed. At times the shadow girl and her dog would stretch out before them: long and lean, beckoning the girl to pick up the pace so that she might catch her. At other times, the shadow ran behind them; and at others they multiplied, surrounding the girl and her dog.

The path they ran was the same path they always ran. The girl realized that there were both benefits and dangers in always running the same path. Benefits: knowledge of which houses have dogs, knowledge of where a would-be attacker might hide. Dangers: a would-be attacker could monitor her activities and plan an attack, a sense of ease that leads to letting your guard down.

As the girl and her dog rounded the corner, her greatest fear was realized as a would-be attacker jumped out from behind a large shrubbery (which she had always approached with heightened awareness since this was one of her anticipated bad-guy hiding spots.) Before the girl could even react, the unimagined happened – the shadow runner and her dog rose up and became more than just shadows, they became protectors!

The girl stumbled backwards as her would-be attacker found himself surrounded by a pack of shadowy dogs and women. While the dogs silently encircled him, preventing his escape, the shadowy women, seemingly well trained in various forms of martial arts, subdued him.

Dumbfounded, the girl stood on the spot for a moment, unsure of what just happened – unsure of how it happened. In comic books and sci-fi fantasy stories, shadows came to life all the time… but this was real life, wasn’t it? What was supposed to happen next? Did she call the police and report that a would-be attacker just received a beat down at the hands of her shadow? As if via some sort of psychic connection, the shadow whispered to her, “Go home. Call the authorities from behind the safety of locked doors. Provide them with this location, don’t worry – he isn’t going anywhere.”

With that the girl and her dog sprinted home. Their entry was met by the immediate questions from her husband of, “What happened? Are you okay?” “I’m fine,” she whispered. “The shadows, they protected us.” He husband softly looked her in the eyes and led her to the bathroom mirror, her reflection was slightly disheveled and she noticed there was blood on her knuckles, a sure sign that she had punched someone or something … but what about the shadows? Had it all been a fantastical dream, had she actually defended herself? Or had the signs of their fight been transferred to her, after all who would believe that a shadow had risen up from the ground to defend its mistress?

The girl called the authorities and reported the attack. She claimed that the only thing that made logical sense, she and her dog defended themselves and that they left their would-be attacker on the street. He was still there when the police arrived at the scene.

As her attacker was taken into custody, the girl, her husband and their dog stood quietly on the sidewalk, their shadows standing silently with them, as shadows do, in the real world.