Windows Chapter 1: The Man, The Girl And The Shadows(2) 1. He asked no more, they listened to the rustling sounds of moving fabric and tapping rain, the air was thick with moisture. "You can see me" she said quietly without turning to him, from the corner of her eyes she saw him nod, "there are others" he said, "but ground level is not a place for us". The star darkened above them, hinting the approach of evening, street lights sprung to #life as soon as they sensed the change. The man became alerted, "come now" he said quickly and held out his hand, "we must leave before the shadows awake". She very much wanted to ask about shadows: what were they? Why were they to be avoided? Did they only exist on the ground floor?And most importantly...why is she on the ground floor? Who was she? All she could remember was her endless wait and bits of colours from her past. Then she saw them rising, the shadows casted out by lights, they rose up to the blind, whispering fiercely into their ears, shaking their limbs and scratching their clothes as if trying to wake a heavy sleeper. She turned to look at the man who eyed the shadows with disgust, his grip on her wrist caused her pain, but the shadows took her complaint away and she tried hard to catch up with him. They ran through the cries and groans of blind ones, turning corner to corner, the lights passing them like lines until they reached small ally with a dead end. He hurriedly pulled her inside, "The blind ones walk on" he said quietly; "and the ones who see walk into walls" she was surprised by his casual tone, she could hear her own heart beating after all the running,feeling slightly dizzy she struggled to find her breath. There were no lights in the valley, the brick walls were covered with mold, he led her to the end and revealed a window, the glass was smudged and blurred, the wooden frames already soft and falling apart, you would find pieces of green paint if you looked hard enough. It was an odd place to place a window she thought to herself, to add to the bizarreness she saw nothing beyond the glass, no room, no wall, not even darkness, and in the down right corner of the frame was a carving of the word "home" the writing was wobbly and clumsy as if done by a child. Puzzled she turned to look at him, but the without the streetlights she saw nothing, for a split moment she panicked, her eyes failed to make out any form or shape,but then she remembered his firm grip on her wrist. "Close your eyes" he warned "whatever happens don't open them until I say so" she nodded and closed them obediently. She felt him run, tugging her with him, she realized they were running into the window, she closed her eyes tighter. Soon she heard the soft clinging of glass, she felt the ice cold pieces tumbled past her, and then there was the falling, a feeling that she grew to like over the years. The scent suddenly changed, she could no longer smell the acid rain, it was replaced by decaying wood, she expected an impact at the end of the falling but instead she felt the floor appear beneath her feet, and she stood, as if they were not falling at all. "You can open them now" she felt him let go of her hand, the room was dimly lit, across from her she made out the outlines of pots and pans, a white fridge that had become yellow, wooden cupboards and a simple dining table, there was only one chair. The man pointed to the chair, signaling her to take a seat, he then proceeded to find food in the fridge as if nothing of the odd had happened. He heard the girl say something but the shuffling of containers covered her voice "what?" he asked as he pulled the container he was finding out. "What are shadows?" the girl repeated again, her legs dangling from the chair that was too tall for her. The microwave buzzed to #life, the man sat down by the window, a spot that later became hers. "People can't stand what they see, they deny it, they create illusions for themselves, and soon they refuse to see all together." he looked out the window, his grey eyes paler under the moonlight, "they can run, but part of them still needs to accept and solve what they see, the part in which has been locked away, in a way they have neglected themselves." the microwave stopped with a bright tinging sound, the man took out the container, not bothered by its heat he poured its contents out on a white plate, he placed it in front of her along with a fork, it was then she realized that she was hungry, she looked at the food, still steaming, her memory told her it was pasta. The man sat back near the window and continued "The neglected self, over time they became angry and desperate, they had no control over actions, they were forced into shadows, but every night when the star no longer shines, they come out, and try again and again to wake themselves up" suddenly he laughed "but as you see, the blind walk on" he leaned back to the wall with his hand reflexively placed on his forehead "funny isn't it?, you deny yourself because of pain, but then you are in pain of trying to wake up yourself, while you'd rather be blind". She looked at him, she looked at the pasta, she didn't touch it yet, it was too hot. The man sat back up and looked at her,at least that's what she felt, she can only make out the shape of his head, "where are you from?" he asked, he was curious when he saw her, amused when he noticed the color of her hair and her eyes, did she just wake up? She is certainly not blind,but he could tell that she can't see clearly either. The girl picked up her fork and started to flip the food in front of her, she looked confused. "I don't remember" she finally said slowly "I don't remember anything...just that I was happier there, and I want to go back, someone will take me back...and so I started waiting."