A Boy and His Shadow (script 3)

A homely suburban house lets in the afternoon light, dim and calm. Dust settles the surfaces,
while birds sing cheerfully outside. Undisturbed, everything seems at peace.

Many people trudge slowly but eagerly toward their homes. In walks a young primary school
aged boy who throws his bag and coat down, making himself immediately comfortable on the
sofa with a bag of crisps and his textbook in a completely bored and non-committal way.
Later that evening, the other family members have settle down, fed and then made docile by
the light of their screens, however, the boy is nowhere to be found.
He sits upstairs by an inert old computer examining a small plane in his fingers. Outside, the
weather had taken a turn for the worst, rain lashing down the window in streams.
The computer itself was dated for the times, a hand me down for doing homework, merely a
word processing machine. A CRT, its grey casing had taken on a sickly yellow tint. The boy
inanely types a few imaginary words onto the keyboard with his feet.
By itself, the desktop lights up causing him to react quickly, but the screen just stays pure
white, the speakers emitting a strange sound. The wind outside picks up the curtains, making
them flap loudly. As if it caught an updraft, the small plane in his hands swept up and away,
doing acrobatics in the still air as if it was a real plane. He watched as it arced and swooped
all around the room as the monitor shifted colours; something emerges briefly before the boy
twists back around towards the commotion.
Other toys in the room began to sway and act of their own accord, possessed by a magical
force that engulfed and isolated the room filling the space with an otherworldly rhythm
emitted by the speakers. Teddy bears waddled across the floor, a spacecraft blasted off in
pursuit of the spitfire while the bedsheets whisked away like a magic carpet, flying around as
if caught in a tornado swept straight into his face. Momentarily panicked, the sheet helps him
out, and soon he is playing alongside his new friends that enveloped him with a refreshing
vigour.
The boy brings his vision back towards the monitor that now flashed multiple colours in a
frenzy, lighting up the whole room, its noise white and global. In a second its display changed
although the flashing remained; a notepad typed itself out on the keyboard;
Want to come?
The desktop background displays a lurid mountainous countryside, idyllic and filled with
snarling fantasy creatures. The boy seemed eager for more, completely enchanted by the
events of the night so far.

I can take you.

The boy types a quick question
Who are you
username: G00dy
As he reaches for the keyboard, the noise fades and the display darkens. The screen blinks
out, the toys fall to the floor in a heap, as the computer seems to have turned itself off. A
chill runs up his arms, as if response, the windows slam. The computer starts typing again,
the keys tapping in the dark. Something fell off the shelf and smashed against the floor. He
feels himself being pulled into the monitor.
Touch me.
In a moment, the boy finds himself whisked away, pictures of landscapes and mystical
creatures are fluttering by his vision.
Deep in the reflection, another world shifts in the convex surface, motes of light float as if
submerged fathoms under the water, the room a shadow of itself, ruined, mostly shoved
against the wall. In this state a code floats softly by, softly whispering.
'In the depths, unknown creatures crawl, guided by luminescence and a simple will to
preserve themselves, a callback from the surface where the image is worshipped and granted
immortality. Only the exceptional will be able to see past the farce of life, and truly grow to
be the few. Will you be one to show me you true nature? Will you sink or will you swim? Don't
be afraid. I will be here with you, your shell, your home. Everywhere. Just don't leave my
sight.'
He looks for the source of the whisper, turning back and forth, thrashing against the
resistance as something like smoke drifts behind him. On the floor, a shiny marble glints in
the light. For a moment, the light catches it, before it blinks once, then rushes from sight
once again, in pursuit it dissapears into the void.
The atmosphere had a heaviness to it, the boy found himself stumbling down against the
force he'd exerted, falling awkwardly against the curved floor, but before he could feel the
impact, something rose up and caught him. The forces of rising kept his vision down as he
rose quickly from his room into the air. As he came to a stop he caught a sight of his captor.
It was something very large that had lots of eyes despite being in the dark. He couldn't see
much for the copious black smoke that surrounded it however as it mumbled.
Words were being spoken, but the boy couldn't understand, it was like interacting with a brick
wall that now held him captive. Everything said so far seemed to be deliberately conflicting
with his conscience, and it confused him beyond reason. Maybe if he gave it something it
wanted, it would leave him alone? Seems worth a shot.
He brought his hand up and attempted to get its attention, that refocused its view, as it drew
in clser as if it were short sighted, close enough to touch. As his hand contacted the skin, it
felt deathly cold; like a jellyfish the skin reformed around his forearm. All around him a
mirage of skin and eyes swamped his peripheral vision forming shapes beyond his wildest
imagination.he viciously attempted to remove his arm, complaining loudly. The eyes were
piercing right through him to his insides.
Then as if it stopped caring, the creature dropped him. Realising that the ground was
approaching really fast, the boy braces for an impact that never came. Instead, he is stark
straight on his feet, facing the door.
The sun had come up, in what felt like a small space of time had been lost into the void
overnight. The door infron of him was ajar, like it was beckoning his approach. He wondered
what became of that horrific monster. Behind the door, it stared him in the face.
The end