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Inklings Youth Advisory Board Writers Group: Lauren Byunn-Rieder

Inklings Youth Advisory Board Writers Group: Lauren Byunn-Rieder


 

This summer our Inklings Youth Advisory Board Writers Group chose a topic to write about. The goal of this project is for us to stretch ourselves to explore new topics and formats in our writing, share our work with others, be open to feedback, and enjoy collaborating with other writers. The theme is Shadows. Enjoy reading!
Leave a comment below on what you thought!

 


a red hat and hand-drawn stars

by Lauren Byunn-Rieder
 
+++++“Why is there no one besides us out here?” asks the boy in the red hat, whose name has been long forgotten.
 
“Because we work in the daylight,” replies the girl with stars drawn on her arms, “and no one else will.” Together the pair walks down the empty street, the just-risen sun casting their shadows long in front of them.
 
“Why won’t anyone else work in the daylight?” asks the boy in the red hat, looking curiously at the mirror the girl with stars drawn on her arms holds. It is a small, triangular piece, polished to a blinding shine.
 
“Because they are afraid,” replies the girl with stars drawn on her arms, holding the mirror just so, her hands on edges worn smooth with use. The boy in the red hat looks down and notices that he too has a mirror in his hand, four grubby fingers marring the perfect reflection.
 
“What are they afraid of?” asks the boy in the red hat, idly watching as his shadow twists and writhes on the road before him.
 
“They are afraid of the shadows,” replies the girl with stars drawn on her arms, eyes widening as she notices the boy in the red hat’s shadow. Her hands jerk to life, using the mirror to cut a line of reflected light straight through the shadow. The top half flickers for a moment, then disappears, leaving the bottom half to wriggle its way back to the normal shape of the boy in the red hat.
 
“What’s wrong with the shadows?” asks the boy in the red hat, now using his mirror to chop off bits of his shadow and watch it regrow.
 
“They make you forget,” replies the girl with stars drawn on her arms. She anxiously watches the boy in the red hat’s shadow, not noticing the growing, squirming lump on hers until it reaches her feet and spills up her leg. She cuts sloppy, panicked lines of light across her leg, but to no avail.
 
The boy in the red hat looks up when the girl with stars drawn on her arms yelps in panic, just in time to see the shadow ooze up to her face.
 
The girl with stars drawn on her arms looks at the boy in the red hat, their eyes locking for one moment before hers fade to a distant, misty grey.
 
The shadow retreats downward, satisfied. As it slips lower and lower, the boy with the red hat watches as the girl with stars drawn on her arms’ eyes slowly regain their light.
 
“Why is there no one besides us out here?” asks the girl with stars drawn on her arms, whose name has been long forgotten.