And then passes by…
Alan is a healthy, middle-aged manager in a large manufacturing company. He works normal hours and enjoys his time off engaging in outdoor recreation. Bike riding and hiking are his favorite activities.
It’s a sunny, early summer Saturday morning when Alan is on a short hike on one of his favorite trails. He stops suddenly to re-tie one of his hiking boots.
While bending over to tie his boot, he notices out of the corner of his eye, that his shadow seemed to momentarily keep moving from in back of him to his side. He glanced over, but his shadow was there on the ground in back of him where it should be. It moved when he moved and then stopped moving when he stopped.
Alan kept going with his hike and soon forgot about what he thought he noticed.
The next day is again warm and sunny, so Alan is taking another short hike on a different trail. This trail has some steep spots, so he periodically stops to take a breather and sip some water.
Midway through his hike, he pauses to take a short break. As he turns to reach for his water bottle that is hooked on his belt, he notices his shadow is slowly moving from the back of him to his side and stops.
Alan is creeped out by what just happened. He decides to move his arms around to see if his shadow responds as one would expect.
The shadow remains at his side and does not move with his arm movement. Alan doesn’t know what to think at this point.
All of a sudden his shadow slips into place behind him where it should be given the position of the sun. His shadow now moves as he moves.
While quite apprehensive about what just happened, he cautiously continues on with his hike and ends it with no further events.
Due to a stretch of rainy weather, Alan hasn’t gotten out for much of any outdoor activity in a couple of weeks. His experience with his shadow is not forgotten, but he hasn’t dwelled on it either.
With a sunny and warm weekend in the forecast, Alan is planning on a hike on a favorite trail that he hasn’t been on in a while. He’s looking forward to some fresh air and exercise he hasn’t been able to get during the recent rainy period.
It’s early Saturday morning with clear skies and bright sun as Alan arrives at the trailhead. He’s been looking forward to this hike all week.
The trail he is on is somewhat hilly, with a couple of scenic overlooks along the way.
Alan is about halfway through his hike when he stops at one of the overlooks to take a short break and take in the scenery.
As he pauses, Alan is suddenly startled when his shadow slowly passes by him and moves directly in front of him. The shadow is now in direct conflict with the position of the sun.
He is momentarily frozen by what is taking place. Internally, he is freaking out, big time.
After partially regaining his composure, Alan takes a few steps backward, away from the shadow. There is no other movement of the shadow other than it elongating as he steps away from it.
He moves his arms around. Nothing. No response from the shadow.
Alan is in total disbelief of what he is experiencing, and has no idea of how to deal with it.
He stands frozen for what seems like an hour, afraid of the fact that his shadow may not follow his movements.
He finally pulls himself together and decides to step back forward.
After three steps forward into the body of the shadow he has an incredibly intense sensation of being in a free-fall. He has lost all sense of time and place.
He has become his shadow…
He has company. There are others in the shadow with him.
