Where Shadows Walk

It was a chilled night in Virginia City as the four of us stumbled out of the Old Corner Bar on B Street, riding the warm buzz of good drinks and laughter that echoed off the brick walls. The drinking lamp cast long, sharp shadows on the asphalt in front of us, and one of the gals, giddy from the night, piped up.

“Hey, let’s do Y-M-C-A, like the song!”

Grinning, we lined up four abreast and took our positions, each forming a letter. I held my arms high in a Y, feeling silly but enjoying its ridiculousness.

Then I noticed it. An extra shadow on the ground, stretching out beside ours—a fifth figure. I squinted, looking over my shoulder and past the others as they laughed, oblivious.

The laughter faded one by one as each of them caught sight of the extra shadow, and an odd silence fell over us. We glanced at each other, no one daring to speak, as though words would make it too real.

The fifth shadow suddenly moved, throwing its arms up like it was frustrated with us. Then, without a sound, it turned sharply and stomped off into the surrounding darkness, leaving us standing, staring after it.

We looked down the sidewalk in the direction it had gone, and there was nothing, just the usual empty street. Only our four shadows remained.

“What…was that?” one of the gals whispered, her voice barely more than a breath.

No one had an answer.

We lingered there, observing the shadows on the ground, waiting for anything to explain it. But the street was empty, silent as if it had always been.