The Shadow Anthology

Alex

The glass staircase of Blakemont Manor was, to most people, the peak of modern architecture in a building blooming with wonders. However, the residing family found their favourite part of the house to be the grand piano, which took an entire room to encompass itself.
Though the house had been refurbished some years ago when the Blakemont parents had decided that children should not mature in an environment so dilapidated and rustic, a few objects were chosen to remain as they held a more symbolic value. The first of these was the grand piano, then a small gallery of paintings by relatives long deceased and finally a single, snow-soaked sofa, located in the living room. All these were relics of a time long since passed, yet they managed to turn this stately house into a humble home.
There were three Blakemont children. The youngest was a little girl called Alicia. She was a quiet child who preferred being alone with her toys to watching television with her hypnotised brothers. The second child was thirteen years of age and was a boy named Alex. He was frequently found strange by strangers, friends and family as he had a disposition which allowed him to enjoy all activities that he set his mind to. The eldest was a sixteen-year-old named William. The boy couldn’t fit well into any box offered to him. This young man was no overqualified athlete, neither was he very academic, nor did he have any hobbies. None of this meant that he was a bad student, just rather unremarkable.
However, there was a certain aura he could emit. The young man clearly had a charm about him. William wasn’t the most attractive person one could lay eyes upon, though he did possess features some men aspired towards. Besides all this, his character was what defined him the most. It pushed past his appearance to radiate his skin until all around him shone.
Though this was the case, he still had a significant shortage of girls hunting him down. There were numerous reasons for this. Firstly, his parents forbade him to have any such relations from an early age, saying he should wait until adulthood for these matters. Secondly, his school had a variety of young men of higher viewing calibre than William Blakemont. Thirdly, he never permitted anyone into his house even though it was his last year of high school before moving on to college, as he detested the thoughts of the new friendships that would hang over his head. Lastly and most essentially, the boy himself wanted no relationships at all.
The Blakemont parents were both compassionate and outgoing, though could be scarce at times. Mary Blakemont was a gentile woman, as she was well known to be in the community. This didn't, however, mean she was a submissive or passive woman to anyone in the household. If a member of the family deserved praise, then praise (and occasionally reward) was given. Additionally, if there was ever need of punishment, that would also be dealt with swiftly, justly and without exception. She worked opposite the house, within her dentistry where she spent most of her day working how she pleased.
Joseph Blakemont was a very deep, internal man when in his natural environment. However, being downstairs with his family was neither his natural environment, as that banner was bequeathed to his work, nor was it his home. His home was his bed, but only when he occupied it with his Mary. Joseph, as far as his wife cared, worked in the local sports hall. The woman loved him like no other, but his work was irrelevant to her life. In reality, he managed the country’s leading football team as he was adept in the field. This job brought in money for the family and that was roughly the extent to which anyone in the family would have ever cared about this matter.
That day, Joseph returned from work an hour after his wife, which was a further hour after the children had returned from school. Upon his arrival, dinner was ready to be served and his family were sitting down to eat. They weren’t a religious family, nor did they care enough to appear as one, so grace wouldn't fall before, during or after meals.
The remainder of this summer's eve was spent by each Blakemont in the following ways. Joseph and Mary retired to the piano room where they took turns serenading each other. Joseph was no singer and Mary refused to depress a key but together they surmounted to an ambiance of golden harmonies. When they finished their repertoire, the pair moved as one into the living room for a half hour more. Following this they adjourned to their bedroom where they watched a film, depleted a bottle of wine and embraced until slumber.
Alicia spent most of the evening in the corner of the living room. She managed to entertain herself for some hours with her favourite toys, occasionally stopping to press her hands against her ears to dispute the deafening laughter of her brothers, scowling at them to reinforce it. She would be second to last to leave the room.
Alex watched television with William for most of the evening, habitually heaving into hysterics by watching his brother’s face. His mind wandered to his friends. There was one of which he was especially excited to see the next day. Sarah Sovereign defied his parents’ rules through her sheer existence; they had kissed several times. There had already been one day dedicated to a lie; he had told his parents about meeting up with one of his friends but refrained from revealing her name. He thought of her as his face mirrored his brother’s.
Her picture was burned from his mind as his thoughts ignited on tomorrow’s activities. He was going to an athletics tournament at midday to represent the school. The thought of releasing such energy sent electricity shivering down his spine. He loved it but knew it would delay him, for afterwards he was required to attend rehearsals for the school play. He was far from the lead but was desperate to make a good impression on his family. They didn’t expect this from him, but he was eager to shatter expectations. He started rehearsing the dances in his head until he stumbled upon a memory of history homework due in the next day. He vaulted over the ghostly sofa and ran upstairs. William regarded this as generically abnormal behaviour and left for bed soon after, leaving only Alicia and Alfie in the room.
Alfie lay sleeping on the sofa, where he had stayed all day. The family supposed that he was either slightly ill, solely lazy or perhaps saving his energy to wreak havoc after dark, as he so often did. The question would be answered the following morning. Alfie took pride in being the only animal in residence at Blakemont Manor, as it gave him all the attention that a righteous pet could lavish up, along with a surplus of food and such wonderful furniture to destroy. Alfie had been in residence almost three years now, so the family had become accustomed to his midnight antics. They were all to sleep well this night.
As William ascended the staircase, musing at the distinct “chink" he made with each step, he watched the walls under the hint of moon as they moved past him, intrigued by every ancient painting passing him by. He pondered asking about them tomorrow to find out if they held any significance, though he then reconsidered as some had been there even before his parents bought the place. He eventually concluded that there would be no harm in asking.
He elongated his walk to his brother’s room and peered through the crack in the doorway. Alex was at his desk and his pen was a blur. The pages before him moved like a swift fan of feathers. William regarded his brother with admiration and perplexity. Finished, Alex slammed the book shut and jumped because of it, looking around him for any irritated witnesses. William pushed his head through the doorframe, sniggered as his brother jumped again and evacuated the doorway before an incoming book could hit his face.
He moved into his bedroom like a dog tired of his duties performed during the day, ready for sleep and comfort. The room itself held a quiet baby blue, with posters decorating the walls from many different threads of a web, so many it was almost illogical to William himself. They ranged from sport to snakes, comics to Canada. His room, though clean, was far from the level of pristine that lay outside his door. The slightly dirty grey rug on the floor was testimony to the fact. In comparison with his brother’s room, it was a butcher’s den.
His bed was made of shining varnished oak and obsidian black felt. A small barrier stood at the foot of his bed, cutting off the duvet and a large barrier arose at the head of the bed to do the same. He had asked for his sheets to be soft like silk and his mattress to be hard rock. William preferred it that way.
He threw himself into the covers and wrestled with them for some minutes. He had finally wrapped himself tightly enough to feel ready for sleep when he heard the downstairs light turn off. As the faint, yet distinct noise of someone ascending the stairs grew louder and louder he allotted the feet to his sister as she was normally last to come upstairs. This, paired with the precise mental list he had made of his family's footsteps, made him certain. So, with this satisfying information, he finally let himself sleep.
Upon reaching the top of the stairs, Alicia took to her usual night-time duties. Nearest to her was William’s room. She pushed the handle and peered inside. She knew her brother was asleep. She tip-toed toward him and examined his frustrating face. She licked her thumb and brushed it across his face. She tried to avoid the rug as she quit the room, giggling with masterful mischief as she did. Her next target was the next door down. Alex seemed to be getting under the covers, though he quickly retracted upon the sight of his sister. He charged at her, betook her into his arms and flung her into the air, narrowly avoiding the ceiling each time and making her squeal with laughter. He patted her on the head, kissed her on the cheek and she ran out of the room. Passing her parents' door, she gawked up at it, looked at the monument at eye-level again and planted a kiss on the sleeping wood. She ran back to her room as fast as her legs could carry her and dived onto her bed, falling almost immediately to sleep.
A few hours later, the chaos began downstairs. A small darting ball of fur pelted from each end of the room to the other, falling anything that crossed its path. Residents of the house had, by now, a floor plan of where pillows must be placed before bed time, so to stop the shattering of the more costly ornaments. Eventually, after each room downstairs had been stripped of its precarious items, the little ball of fur went upstairs, its padded paws leaving no sound. Entering Alicia's room, he curled up at the end of her bed as he so often did and slept. None of the family had been awoken by this save for Alicia who was waiting expectantly in her bed. All now slept and the house was quiet once more.
Strange things can happen in the dead of night, especially to a family who can sleep so deeply. That night, for instance, in the exceedingly early hours of the morning, before the sun began to rise, a faint yet distinct noise could be heard emanating from the bottom of the glass staircase at Blakemont Manor. This sound, as slow as it was, began to rise. Many hours later, only after it had reached the top of the staircase, the noise stopped. Then for many, many minutes nothing could be heard.
Slowly, the door to William’s bedroom began to open. Then Alex's door. Then Alicia's. Then Joseph and Mary’s. As the doorways became naked, the ragged rug of William’s room began to make miniscule movements minute by minute. Time ached on as these many molecular motions drew closer and closer to William's bed. A shadow drew over the boy’s sleeping face yet what cast it was still stepping out of his doorframe.
Alex had no carpet in his room; there were just the creaking floorboards. The boy turned in his sleep, rolling toward the door. His hand escaped from his side and hit the switch of his bedside lamp. The room was illuminated, and the boy was awake. He looked around; all the shadows had dissipated. With nothing in sight, he got up. The boy slept in boxers alone and felt a chill in the air as he eloped his bed. His bay window beckoned him, and he peered through a crack in the curtains to find a painfully rising sun. His eye receded in sunburnt agony. He staggered about his room and out into the hallway where no illumination aided him. The shiver of frost descended his spine like a feather scraping down his spine with the intensity of a dagger.
He quit his bedroom and ventured out into the hallway where the darkness awaited him. He rushed back to bed, only to return to the hallway within the cocoon of his duvet. He waddled across the floor and over to his brother’s room. Seeing the door was open, he let himself in. He sat down on the dank, frozen rug and looked up at his brother’s shining face. He stayed like that for a while. Alex became a sentry.
He mouthed the words, “Are you asleep?” and waited for the answer. “I’m tired but I don’t want to go to bed anymore.” He awaited his brother’s response. The bust was as silent as stone. “I’m meeting up with Sarah before school tomorrow!” he exclaimed without sounding a syllable. Her face reignited in his skull. “She doesn’t live far away but we’ll meet outside school so we’re not late.” He nodded his head to reassure his sleeping brother. He waited expectantly for William’s approval, but none came. Alex sighed. Realising his mistake, he clasped his hands over his mouth, causing his brother’s eyes to flutter. Like a panicked armadillo, Alex rolled out of the room entwined in his covers until he came to the landing. He almost fell down the stairs.
His senses heightened momentarily as he clutched the carpet for safety. His ears twitched as though he had heard an unnatural sound. He shuffled on his stomach across the floor until he reached his sister’s room. He looked inside, only to find her asleep. He looked around at all the open doors and rolled his eyes. He knew of her bedtime routines and smiled at the thought of them. Nobody in the house had thought to confront her on it as there seemed to be no harm in what she was doing.
Alex shed his shell and emerged from his chrysalis as a brisk butterfly. He hopped from door to door, shutting them in silence, giving each resident a nod of duty as he did. Then, like a proud soldier-boy, he marched back to his room in a dance and cocooned himself again. As Alex fell back to sleep, the strange noise began again at the bottom of the stairs. Dawn was coming. The sound became more frequent. William’s door reopened.
Meanwhile, William was dreaming of far off lands. He found himself journeying to new planets in the sky, where he alone was king. He dined with politicians amidst cows in fields. He was prompted to sing to his classmates wearing less than he normally would. Then he was whisked off to a carnival where he was led to the desk of a fortune teller, but before he could echo his words into William’s mind, the boy evaporated and awoke to reality.
William awoke with a soothing stretch and a sticky chill on his face. The boy eventually rose from his covers and scanned the room for anything abnormal. Finding nothing, he continued with his day. He could already see the sun in the sky, rising behind the forest of his garden, though William's clock allowed him a further two hours before he had to be in school.
For most people, children and adults alike, this would be substantial time with much to spare. However, in this environment William was a sloth due to the extraordinary amount of time it took for him to complete even the most frivolous of tasks. The boy, though not diagnosed, thought himself to have an obsessive-compulsive disorder. To even brush his teeth properly often took him ten minutes or so. The meagre and benign became perfection at his disposal.
Both his parents and siblings thought that his wasting and losing time was down to forgetfulness, laziness and being so easily distracted. The concern had, on rare occasion, been brought to attention by his teachers. Even though everyone knew William to not be a disrespectful child, some thought it odd how he was losing so much focus in recent years.
Alex was, almost every morning, the penultimate Blakemont to leave the house. His school started at ten in the morning, as did William’s. Though since the brothers went to different schools and William's was further away, Alex also had the shortest journey and could leave later. Today wasn’t one of those days. The boy was ecstatic to arrive at school and so left before his brother.
The morning was ripe and warm as Alex held it in his palm. The sun bled warmth onto the boy’s radiantly reddening face. Walking past his mother's dentistry, smiling at her glance, the young boy put his music on. He allowed himself to dance a little when he was sure no-one could see him. Unbeknownst to him, William had left on time and was now witnessing this spectacle from a distance. However, he was neither filming nor laughing. William analysed his brother like a floor-plan.
Though there had been no rain in the past few days, the grass withheld its bright green lustre, though remained somewhat dry. The clouds soon parted, and the sun became even more radiant. William was forced to part ways with his brother as his path diverged him from Alex. Beams of light descended from the sky and began to set the young boy's skin aglow.
The final member of the household to wake was Alfie, as usual. Though the feline appeared lazy and lethargic most of the time he was, when necessary, nimble and frighteningly fast. With immense agility, the animal darted past the glass doors that held back the garden, ran through the hot green grass, eloped the fence and sprinted through the woodland. Nearing the end of the forest, opposed to nature, the animal continued to gallop.
At that moment, a van veered around the corner, far from the speed limit. Alfie continued to run, ignoring the instinct to stop in his tracks. The van swerved off the road, narrowly escaping the cat who was now perched on the other side of the road as a content spectator. By swerving from the cat and road, the van had instead hit a young boy who was dancing on the pavement. William darted back around the corner.
Alex flew onto the grass, embraced by its touch. The sun stayed by his side and shone on his face. The boy smiled as he shook and cried until he could cry no more. Embraced by wet grass, Alex Blakemont bled warmth onto the face of nature. William lay beside him and held his brother. The van sped off.