The Flying Shadow

The Flying Shadow

When the moon is gone and the streets are blighted with shadow, clasp your hands for the wayward children of Eve, for mayhap they shall be taken by the Flying Shadow. It is a terrifying thing, the Shadow, and it feasts heartily on the souls of the innocent children of men and women. Some most ancient sects even go so far as to regard it a minion of the Devil himself.

Behold! A little boy is walking, completely oblivious to the dangerous Flying Shadow. You might see it stalking him, but all he’s worried about is his own dinner. Yes, you can practically see the thought bubbles forming in his head. A feast of pork, carrying the same divinity for him as a feast of venison for a king. He’ll be home late. He was out playing football again, though in his defense, he had already done all his weekend homework.

He walks through the cul-de-sac as the Flying Shadow trails him. Now, let it be loudly declared the Flying Shadow is a tricky one. It doesn’t need to fly to follow the boy, so it stalks from the shadows themselves. It reaches its tendrils out to sample the terrain of his vibrant young soul every second of the way, so it knows exactly which sins to expect.

Is he proud? Yes indeed, though in his defense, he’s done nothing terrible or terribly. Is sloth a problem for him? No, not at all. In this fashion, the Shadow probes its prey for any blemishes. It itself is rotten to the core, a conglomeration of some of the most ancient and primal sins disavowed in the Bible.

Now comes the moment of truth. The boy, trapped in his fantasy of gluttony, steps into the path of a car. The driver tries in vain to stop, but the boy flies over the car and falls to the other side. He tries to evade with his left hand, but alas, as most victims do, he falls on his head, dead as a doornail. As his soul floats out of his body, the angels come to bring him to Heaven.

But they’re too late; the Shadow has gotten to him first.

The angels are ready. They try to catch the shadow, but slick thing that it is, it appears halfway across the cul-de-sac itself, chewing on the boy’s soul. The angels fly in hot pursuit, and the shadow evades them. It knows that this is a dance they play whenever it gets the call to show its shadowy figure.

As the angels fly, the shadow flies faster, until finally, it appears to tire itself out. It spits out the soul and makes its way to the deepest, darkest shadows.

As the angels take the soul, the discerning eye will note that there is no longer any mention of pork, football, or working on Sunday. In fact, many of the things mentioned in Leviticus have been erased from the boy’s soul. It’s as if he had never sinned in such ways.

For which wins in the end, the Bible as it is written or the Bible as it is followed? The shadow eats the sins which make no difference in the eyes of the follower of God, for the Bible forbids many things which common courtesy will allow with vigor.

You could say the Shadow is decadence personified, but to what extent is that a bad thing? Some call the Shadow a demon, but it is my firm belief that it is a convolution come from God’s will. After all, why would the Devil create something to pull people out of his domain? If we were to taste the fiery rocks of hell for left-handedness or eating pork or making promises, would our culture be somehow improved?

Perhaps you do believe this, and if you do, go back to whatever backwards hole you crawled from and shun the shadow’s kindness like the monster you are. The people in these fabled sects are of the sort whom I refuse to believe exist in this world. I hope the Shadow neglects them, but I hope it does not neglect their children.

So when the moon is gone and the streets are blighted with shadow, clasp your hands tightly for Eve’s wayward children, for mayhap they shall be taken by the Flying Shadow, but may they be taken by the Flying Shadow.