A portion of “My Father’s Shadow

Andre spent the night in complete darkness curled up in the corner of his bed. He was afraid to turn on a light because he did not want his shadow to talk to him anymore. The next day he dragged himself out of bed, got ready and walked to the subway. He looked down at his shadow, it glided across the sidewalk, going over the grass, then the benches. It stopped when he did, but did not say anything.

He got to the school and walked into the hallways and went straight to the bathroom. He looked in the mirror just as the bully and his friends walked in.

“Well, well, if its not my island homie,” the bully said stopping in front of him, his dark brown eyes shifted from side to side, his nose as flat but got flatter when he laughed.

“You sure you from the island, because you look like a damn African booty scratcher to me,” he said and looked at his companions. Laughter filled the room. Andre tried to brush past him, but the bully stepped in front of him.

“ohhh so you gangsta now huh? You are just going to push your way past me?’ He said putting his hand on Andre’s chest. The frightened boy smacked the bully’s hand.

“ohhhh, well look at this, wah gawn here, you a rudebouy all of a sudden,” He said in a fake island accent. Andre tried to walk past him again, the bully pushed him and he slammed into the tiled wall. Without thinking Andre threw a punch, the bully ducked then laughed and before Andre could react, the bully rained a barrage of punches to his face. The other boys formed a circle, screaming. Then as fast as the attack began, it ended, and the boys filed out of the bathroom, some kicking Andre as he lay curled up on the bathroom floor.

He got up and tried to fix his disheveled cloths. He looked into the mirror, blood streamed out of his nose, his right eye was swelling fast, his shirt was ripped and dirty. He turned on the faucet and splashed water on his face,

“Why you din fight back, eh bouy?” The voice of the shadow said. Andre looked down at the dark form elongated on the floor.

“Leave me alone,” Andre said splashing more water on his face.

“Bouy, when you go realize that I is here to help you eh?”

“I don need you help,” Andre said,

“Really, is both we face bleeding right now?”

“Leave me alone,” Andre said and walked towards the door,

“Bouy you tink you go get rid ah me,” the shadow said then laughed, Andre stopped just before the door,

“I say to leave me alone,” he said as a small boy walked into the bathroom and stopped, looked at Andre, then shook his head. Andre walked past him looking down at the ground.