Shadow
[You can click/tap or hover over mirrored text to view a plain version of it - or view it in a mirror!]
Darkness fell. Sauceboss was running through a world of mirrors. He didn't remember how he got there, he barely remembered the face he could see reflected everywhere. Sauceboss… was his name, wasn't it? Or a title? He didn't know.
Darkness fell. Cosmic Love was looking into a mirror. She recalled how she got there, why she couldn't see her face reflected. Cosmic Love… was her name. Was her life. But it wasn't always.
He caught a passing glimpse of his reflection and stopped dead in his tracks. It was him, but in another place, not here. He was proudly holding a bell-shaped trophy with a plaque that said… "Science Fair"? Ah, it's in a mirror, it says "Sauceboss"!
He caught a passing glimpse of his reflection and stopped dead in his tracks. It was him, but in another place, not here. He was proudly holding a bell-shaped trophy with a plaque that said… "Science Fair"? Ah, it's in a mirror, it says "Sauceboss"!
He remembers that day. His restaurant (he had a restaurant!) had been open barely a month and he'd already won an award for his delicious pasta sauce, from none other than the Pasta King himself! He was so proud of himself.
She remembers that day. She had won a contest at her school and brought the award home to show her parents. Daddy said he was proud of her. Mother said the school's respect was "cheap" and melted the trophy for scrap.
He slept soundly that night, dreaming of good days to come and good meals to cook.
She couldn't sleep that night. She got out of bed and, ignoring the sounds of shouting from the kitchen, left the house to head for her favourite tree. She never failed to fall asleep there.
He dreamt the spaghetti dream, like usual. Except this time, instead of the usual bowl of delicious spaghetti, it was one giant spaghetto with wings of flame, covered in eyes that shone the deep red of bolognese sauce. "Beware the trickster Grundy," it spake, "for he brings only ruin. Trust the way of the bell."
She saw a flash of light above her, a streak of rainbow splitting the sky in two and outshining the moon. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen, bringing with it an immediate feeling of calm. In that moment she could hear the world around her whispering in colours and shades, feel the scribbled grass under her feet, and she saw the true and wondrous nature of the world.
"Oh? You believe you have defeated me. Well, they say the night is darkest just before the day. It is truly the other way around, for the light shines its very brightest before long long darkness. I look forward to seeing you there."
The darkness lifted. He was in the arena. Someone was talking to him.
"Sauceboss, how do you feel about your victory?"
"Sauceboss, how do you feel about your victory?"
He opened his mouth to speak, and said " ."
"Sauceboss? Are you okay?"
"Sauceboss? Are you okay?"
The world was too bright. He could hear every voice in the crowd, and understood none of it. He could see Luma in the distance, playing with an empty can. He could see stars more distant, and the planets spinning around them, and every grain of sand on their surfaces.
The darkness had lifted in its entirety. Sauceboss had never lived without the shroud of darkness protecting him from the light of everything, and it was too much.
He saw Cosmic Love in his mind, and she spoke.
welcome....
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAnd she woke up in darkness.
it would seem you are
experiencing a past
that was once mine
"Daddy?"
this was not my intent
"Oh pastrycake, you're awake, thank goodness!"
She felt arms wrap around her, tears fall on her back. She heard breathless weeping and a racing heart, smelled a man who had stayed at her bedside for days, could tell how relieved her Daddy was. She saw nothing.
.......
"Daddy? Why can't I open my eyes? What's that beeping?"
at some level....
i already knew
"You're in the hospital. You... you were h-hurt. You're..... b-b-okay now, but your eyes... your eyesight's gone, pastrycake."
i
see
more
now
She didn't know what to say. She sat silently in his arms for hours, while he sang soothing lullabies to her. She fell asleep.
i
She woke up. It was already dark. No... it was always dark now. She heard clattering noises coming from somewhere below her, so she found her way to the stairs and climbed down on her hands and knees.
should have stayed awake......
She found her way to the lab. "Oh, hey there.... pastrycakes!"
He sounded wrong.
he sounded
wrong
It was like his voice was coming from everywhere.
he was
everywhere
"Do you need a bedtime story? I think I know one you'd like!"
he
wasn't here anymore
"It's about this silly goopy fella called Larry!"
he
wasn't anywhere
anymore
And Daddy told her the story. A different story every night, of people's lives, of fights and fun and joy, of tragedy and betrayal.
He kept his balancing act going for over a month.
he was a ghost
of who he once was
She woke up. It was dark, as always. It was cold, which it never was. She wasn't in her bed, she was on a surface of hard metal.
"Hello, dear daughter."
hello
mother.
"It is time for you to meet your potential."
i
i will have none of this doing???" Her mother simply grinned and nodded. "I don't believe you fully understand, Nera...." she trails off as she wanders over to a lever on the side of a large and strange machine. "Your father simply couldn't handle Spectrum....although I suppose it's fair.....he clearly couldn't handle my intellect and my resolve, so what hope could
i do not wish
this story told here
no more
shall be told
than already has
i
will not allow it
"Because, Nera! You can contain the power of Spectrum!" Nera continued to struggle against the machine that helSTOP!
She woke.
cosmic
awoke
she could
read
the world
She could see.
The world was so bright.
She found a mirror.
she was
a mirror
She looked at her reflection.
she was
a shadow
