Mr. Shade

Guilt. I think, more than anything, guilt is what is hurting me the most. Of course there are my wounds, but Mr. Shade will find me again long before those kill me off. Mr. Shade... technically my creation. But... it... it was an accident. I didn't mean to I swear... I swear to god... if only... if only that day had never happened. I... I... no. I can't lose it now. I have to get this down. I have to.

The Beginning
My job is very unusual. By unusual, I mean I work with quantum mechanics. The fun stuff, with antimatter. One weekend I received a call from one of my coworkers. His name was Carl. He was a genius, with an IQ in the 140s. He told me that he had made a massive breakthrough, but wouldn't give any details. I was very busy with other things for the rest of the day, so I told him that I would come in tomorrow. That night I had... strange dreams. I hadn't had nightmares since I was 8, but for some reason I had them again tonight. Looking back on it, it was probably an omen or something.

In my dream, I was working in the lab when I would hear an alarm go off. Jumping up, I checked the information readouts which say that the antimatter containment failed. This should have resulted in a massive explosion, but for some reason nothing happened. Turning around, I saw my shadow streached out in front of me. This was confusing, because the lab was so well lit shadows were impossible. Staring at my shadow, I saw it begin to twist and writhe as if in great pain. Then a shady figure would rise out of it. It was vaguely human shaped, but it was hard to tell. We would stare at each other, before it plunged its hand into my chest. Right inside of it. The rest of the darkness would follow, flowing inside of me. Darkness clouded my vision and I awoke.

The Next Day
The dream had shaken me more than I'd care to admit, but I came into the lab anyways. As I was parking,  Carl ran up to my car. He was practically shaking with excitment. He ran his mouth on non-stop and I could only comprehend phrases of what he was saying. "A new type of matter..." and "Altered by electric currents" was about as much as I could get out of him. He led me into a room which was dominated by a large glass bulb. Coming out the bottom was a large pipe. But what caught my eye was the substance inside of the bulb. It was a dark, oily stuff, writhing and coiling in midair. I thought of my dream again and, ignoring what Carl was saying, absentmindedly put my hand onto the glass.

Thats when the alarm sounded. Carl ran up, face pale, shouting "What- what did you do? The whole power system is shutting down! For no reason at all!" We both looked at the matter to see that it was now dancing and weaving, casting a strange glow. Then with no warning, it stopped. It must have only hung there for a second, but it seemed like hours. We both started at it transfixed. I heard a faint crack. Snapping back to reality I just had time to dive to the ground as the bulb exploded.

Slowly, painfully, I got to my knees. Broken glass littered the ground everywhere. Carl lay next to me. Looking down at him, I saw that he was dead. But not from the explosion. There was a wound going directly into his heart. It looked like it had been made by a knife or... or a blade of glass. Arm trembling, I rose my hand up to eye level where I saw an 8 inch long glass shard soaked in blood gripped there. With a cry I dropped it and stumbled into the nearest bathroom.

Gripping the sink I stared at my reflection. "What- what happened to me?" I stammered. To my shock, my reflection, or more acuratly me, replied. "Oh you? Your hosting me now! Its gonna be wonderful! Well.... for me. Might not be so fun for you. You can call me.... Mister Shade." "How.... just how?" That came out as barely more than a whimper. "How can I simplify this for your puny mind....? Lets try. Your friend was playing around and created a new matter. Lets call it... S-Matter. It gets strongly affected by electricity. Its kept in containment and then... BAM! You come along, thinking about this dream. And what more are thoughts than electric signals? Well... those thoughts made... me! That makes you my creator! I hope you don't mind if I worship you though. Being the superior being and all." "I- I see." It was so weird seeing my mouth move without me being the one to move it. I had to get this thing out of me. Thinking furiously, I came up with a wild plan. "You do realize that, as I am currently sharing your brain, I can tell what you're thinking right? And what your thinking will never-" Moving fast lest it take over my arms, I brought the shard of glass down on my arm. I didn't expect it to go all the way through.

The pain would have been intense, but luckily I didn't have to feel it right away. As Mr. Shade tried to take over my mind again, he accidently took over the part of my brain that processes pain. And he got a lot of it. Screaming with my mouth, he flew out of my body trying to escape. I didn't plan, didn't think, I just ran and ran and ran and hoped that he wouldn't find me. Now? Now I'm hiding. But he WILL find me. Wait! I heard a noi-

hel o? Helllo? Hello? Ah! There we go! I'm really getting the hang of this, aren't I? Lets see... now can I get rid of this? Oh dog... Is that right? No... thats not it. Oh... damn! Thats right, isn't it! I can't get rid of this. Oh well. I have a disguise now. I made myself a body! Its lovely. I also got myself a... whats it called? Oh yes a tuxedo! And a top hat to go with it. I picked up one of those canes too just because. If I say so myself, I'm quite stylish now! I'm gonna be getting all the ladies. And once we're alone, I can rip every electron from their body! Hey, a guys gotta eat right? In fact, I'm getting hungry right now. Is that someone passing by outsi- oh joy it is! Well friends, I'm afraid I have to go now! I am staaaarving. Well... Goodbye!

-Mr. Shade