Meet His Shadow

The obsidian prince woke up and found a vulture sleeping on his belly. He remembered the touch that his shadow would do. He would sleep there and get comfortable by looking at him with a sinister smile. “Cobalt!”

“What? Where? How?” he looked around.

“Cobalt, you make me remember my shadow!”

“Your shadow? What shadow? The shadow is on the wall?”

“You never saw him before?”

“Once in my lifetime.”

“He looked like me but older. He was…” his mouth shuts. “Much better version of myself. He was powerful just like-- Not like my father, but-- I…”

Cobalt felt a gloved hand on his back. He turned around. It was his shadow. Cobalt gulped down and flew away before his shadow snatched his neck. Once caught, he threw the vulture at the window.

The prince saw that, and he faced his own shadow. One looked younger on the bed, and the other was older and lay facing him. He knew he was trapped.

“I saw you sleeping on your bed. I cannot get enough of your slumber, the young one.”

“What makes you appear in my room?”

“Will Cobalt say it first?”

“You threw him over the window. I need to get him back.”

His shadow sat up calmly while the prince reached for the window. He teleported to get his pet into his arms. Cobalt was terrified. “Your shadow is real.”

“He is real.”

The prince and Cobalt made it to his room. His shadow lay on the bed with his arms bent behind his head. The prince froze as his shadow turned to him. “Lay next to me, the young one.”

“First, I had to put Cobalt on my bed.”

“Are you trying to be the authority here? You know you cannot beat me. I have…” he looked at the sky darkened already. His eyes glowed purple. “I want to meet the lovely lady.”

Quickly, Cobalt was at the end of the bed. The prince lay next to his shadow. He said, “There, I am here.”

His shadow’s eyes stopped glowing. He said, “Who will tell the story first, your pet or me?”

The prince looked at Cobalt, who opened its peak. “I already talk to Scruffy. He said his owner liked Cupcake. They make out and have hot baths together before she is gone.”

That made both guys in the room jealous. Cobalt said, “I am telling the truth.”

“You are not only telling the truth. You make us feel smaller,” the prince said.

His shadow snatched Cobalt’s neck. “Tell me more, you little pest.”

“Do not choke me.”

“I want to hear more from you.”

“That is all I can remember last night.”

His shadow let go of his neck and stared at the prince for approval. The prince asked, “What is it?”

“May I take you to her? So she could see the real you?”

The prince was in panic mode. He said while looking away. “You found her quicker than me.”

“I am always ahead of you.”

The prince holds his breath. His shadow was close to his chest. “I already kissed her neck, so you can watch what I did to her.”

“Did you stalk on her?”

“She worked at the office. Plus, she possessed the amber rose pen as a gift from her lover.”

“Take that pen away from her and give that to me. I can write to Prince Flame without meeting him.”

“He will be suspicious.” His shadow kissed his cheek. “Or I can modify it for you so he would not notice that you stole it from her. You can write however you please.”

“Or I can throw it at the obsidian rock.”

“That rock is bigger than normal. It needs a lot of jewelry. It needs a lot of power to withstand the time and wind. But do not throw the pen into the obsidian rock. If you do that, he notices it. He would come for you, and you could not stand a chance against him without me.”

“Fine, I write as a drawing pen.”

“Write everywhere in the lava. I dare you.”

“It is a challenge?”

“We want to fool him into thinking that lava is flowing, but it is not while you feeding the obsidian rock with jewelry. I had to find stuff in the modern world. A lot of women wore those.”

“You will find the ones collected the most jewelry.”

His gloved hand was on his head. “But first, meet her. What do you think of her?”

“You will take the amber rose pen from her. And then, I meet her.”

“Deal, obsidian prince.”

Cupcake heard the running shoes down the hall. She caught Carlo with her hand out. She said, “Do not run in the house!”

“We are playing tag.”

“Just stay in the living room.”

“Where is the living room?”

Cupcake led him to the sofa, and he sat there quietly. Anne picked up a blanket from the closet and sat next to Carlo. Cupcake noticed her blanket. “Give me the blanket.”

“I found it on the floor. I want to use it as a sleeping bag.’

“You can have that.”

“I want a blanket,” Carlo said.

Cupcake turned. “It was harder than I thought dealing with children. Bubbles might have been frustrated taking care of them. But I have to care. He wanted them safe.”

She went in to find the bag of lollipops in the kitchen. She opened the bag and put the candies in the basket. She put the basket in between them. The siblings looked at the basket and her in question. She said, “You can have sweets. Enjoy!”

They exchanged glances at first. They ate the ones that they liked. Cupcake smiled and remembered that she chose the Bubblegum and chocolate flavors when she shared a set of candies with Finna. Finna liked lollipops with glitters on the outside layer. Also, they were edible and sweet. Unexpectedly, Cupcake got her chocolate lollipop and said, “I can have this.”

She removed the wrapper and licked the tip of the chocolate ball. “It is time to feel happy.”

Once they brushed their teeth and washed their faces in the guest room, they slept together on the bed. Cupcake whispered, “Goodnight, Anne, and Carlo.” She closed the door.

She went to her room and found her purse disappeared. Her heart skipped a beat. She went around the house to find it while his shadow got her purse in the closet room. He zipped it open to find the amber rose pen. He said, “I will keep that until you find her.”

“How will I find her in the closet?” the prince asked.

“She is running around looking for her purse,” the shadow said.

The purse landed in the prince’s hands. He gulped down, and his shadow pushed him forward. The prince fell on the pillows. “I did not expect the soft material to save me!”

“Act natural and be mysterious around her.” The closet door shuts as he stood with the purse. Cupcake was outside, looking for it. She was frantic.

“If I do not find my purse, I will never talk to Prince Flame. It is outrageous.”

The prince stood a while. “Where is she?” She was looking in the bush by the window. He was behind her and said, “I found your purse.”

“You scared me!” she turned to him. Her eyes narrowed. He froze with the purse in his hands. She asked, “How did you get my purse?”

“You were looking for your purse?”

“Are you the same one I saw you earlier?”

“You can say that, lovely lady.”

“You sounded the same as him. But I look confused.”

He gave her the purse. She took it and said, “Thank you, sir.”

His shadow said in the closet, “Go kiss her already!”

“Can we go inside?” he asked.

“I do not invite people into my house. You should go.”

He walked backward and turned right. She followed him, and he was not there. She opened the door and went to her room. She put the purse on the table. She was in the bathroom taking a shower.

“She wants me gone,” the prince said.

“We have a little time here before I steal the jewelry.”

“You almost forgot about that!”

“Shhh. She can hear us.”

Cupcake was showering when his shadow said, “I will get the jewelry now.”

His shadow appeared in the room, still holding the pen. He put it in his pants pocket to hide it. He searched for the jewelry. He found the heart-shaped box with rings. Some rings have silver, bronze, and gold. Some have gemstones on top of the rings. He got one for each color and put them in his pants pocket. He heard the door opened and vanished.

She saw the box opened and she closed it. She changed into her pajamas and slept on her bed. The prince sneaked on her from the floor. Eventually, he lay his head on her belly. Her hand touched his head. He blushed.

His shadow watched him by the door that led to her room. “I will tell you when we had to move before morning.”

Cupcake’s fingers brushed the prince’s hair. She thought it was Prince Flame. It was moist and clean. The prince chewed on the shard to look himself clean before going to her bed. His shadow pulled him out of her hands. He whispered, “We should leave.”

The young one looked at him, “More time.”

“We should move. I sensed the people in the house wake up first before we move.”

Both vanished before the door opened to Cupcake’s room. It was Anne, who found Cupcake asleep on the bed. She knocked on the door to wake her up.

Cupcake woke up and found Anne at the doorway. “What is it, Anne?”

“I want breakfast.”

“It was…” she looked at the alarm clock. It was too 5:00 a.m. Too early to make breakfast. “I will make one for you and your brother.”

“Thanks, Mom!” Anne closed the door.

“Mom?” Cupcake thought the word. She shook her head. She prepared breakfast for the siblings at the dining table. She was sleepy and looked down on her body, which contained the black hair strands. “Black hair?”

The siblings came with joy and sat by the table. They said, “Thanks.” They ate breakfast, and she went to their room to find on the bed. “Black hair,” she whispered, not to let them know.

She searched the bag for her pen. It was not there, and she could not write a note in her notebook. She snatched a pen from the cup. The ink was red, not orange. She wrote, “Prince Flame, have you seen my pen?”

No reply.

His shadow modified the pen in the room with the obsidian rock. He made it so orange and warm that he wrote on the floor. It says, “Prince Flame, are you okay?” he smirked while the prince was sleeping in his room. He could not help dreaming about the lovely lady Cupcake. She touched his hair while he slept. Cobalt was sleeping on his belly again.

Prince Flame did not reply yet. Then, his shadow threw the rings into the obsidian rock. It swallowed all of them. It even attached to his index finger. “You would not be daring to touch me. I am not your owner. I am his shadow.”

It let go and sat on the pedestal with a lot of weight. The pedestal broke as the shadow moved the pen away from the fall. The rock sat on the floor, barely next to the writing. “Do not contaminate the handwriting with your hunger. You need to move.”

The rock slid to the window. Not moving and not feeling hungry.

The shadow saw the reply on the floor. “Cupcake, you woke me up early. Why early?”

Oh, no. I made a mistake at the time.

“I was just worried about you, that is all,” he wrote.

“Cupcake, are you not sleeping?”

“I am going to bed now.”

“See you later [hugs you].”

Bleh, the shadow responded with his mouth. “I hate to play this part. The young one has to play it soon.” He wiped the floor with the towel, and he stood. “Soon, you will be stronger for the obsidian prince.”

The rock glowed purplish black. The shadow approached him and hid the pen in his sleeve. “I am not trying to talk much. I am going back to the prince. Stay put.”

He lay the pen next to the prince. He said, “You have the pen, and the rock is ready for you in the room.” He vanished before the prince woke up. He saw the pen on his pillow. He picked up and felt Cobalt’s peak in his stomach.

“Ouch!”

“What?” Cobalt said.

“You need to leave the room.”

Cobalt flew to the window and perched at the edge of Lava Valley. He frowned, and he wanted to be with Scruffy for the day. The prince stood on the floor and smiled at the pen. He wrote on the floor. “Hello, Prince Flame.”

“Cupcake, I am washing my face.”

“Sorry to bother you.”

“No, not at all.”

The prince wiped the floor with the towel. He stood and reached the third floor. He unlocked the door and found the rock glowing with sinister. “Did my shadow feed the rock? It was growing big. Oh, my. I did not do my task.” He locked the door and teleported to the solidified lava.

He drew some random shapes above the rocks. He even added Cupcake’s name by accident. He realized it, so he crossed it once. Then, he crossed it many times to hide her name. He drew stuff as if he was a kid on the wall. He liked to draw, not perfect, but with chaos. He had to make a chaotic lava flow as soon as possible. It may take weeks to do that if no one is around.

The man with black attire and gloves was at the corner of the office building. He did not want to enter and get spotted by Cupcake because she found the black hair on her pajamas when she woke up. He felt to remove that before meeting her, but she already remembers it. So he would not do that task. He would stalk and try to play around with her to make her feel comfortable.

“How well I do that?” he asked himself. “She would remember it. I hate people who were ahead of me by several steps.”