Prologue

You may have heard of us. Vincenzo and Dawn. Vincenzo certainly knew how to make a show more extravagant than it already was, that's for sure. We were supposed to show Vincenzo's "Shadow Manipulator", and interesting machine that could make shadows be folded or moved or have its own free will. One night we got into a fight.

"You may not want her, but she's your daughter! You HAVE to take care of her!" I yelled.

"I didn't mean to have her, I'm a busy man! I cannot deal with constant fathering!" He replied.

That pissed me off. "How DARE you!? She's a poor girl and her mother can't afford to raise her by herself! At least not for long!" I screamed. Neighbors may have heard us, but we didn't really care. We yelled and screamed.

"I'd rather jump off a building- no, I'd rather go bankrupt than stay in this broken city and raise her!" He yelled. I cursed at him. I threw a book off of a nearby table. The Study of Light. I don't know why. I'm sure he'd done this to many other women. I stared into his eyes. A chilling tear found its way down my cheek. My cheeks flushed red with anger. My head spun with rage.

"Vincenzo! You dirty sleaze bag! That poor kid! She doesn't even know who her father really is!

"I'm sure that Johnny can take care of her."

I shrieked. I yelled and cursed. Why does this kid matter? I kept asking myself. I knew only one way to convince him to take care of her. I flipped at table over at him, stalling for time. He jumped out of the way, hitting his knee on it. He fell in pain. I ran to the kitchen sink. I looked at my reflection in the freshly washed knife. I could see my red rose cheeks. They formed perfect circles. Or was it from my make up? My mind was too tired to remember. My eyes looked large from the smearing of my make up. I laughed. My beautiful hair, so full with volume. Jet black. I looked terrifyingly cartoon like. My hair was so long. I reached back and cut a portion of it off.

"DAWN!" He bellowed. I turned to him. My heart knew somewhere that I had to do this. I rushed at him. The knife extended. I cut his arm before he jumped away. "What are you doing!?"

"If you won't take care of Didi..." I barely whispered. "I'll make you unable to care for yourself." If ran at him again. The knife cut through the air at the last second. I drew even more blood, but he was already running. He ran up the stairs. Towards the Shadow Manipulator. "Not on my watch..."

I quickly sprinted after him. He had gotten into the room and hid before I go there. I looked around for him to no avail. Suddenly I heard a noise behind me. I turned around to see him. He grabbed the knife from me and held it to my stomach. "Dawn..." He whispered.

"No..." I gasped. I felt him puncture me. The knife was amazingly sharp. More blood found its way on his clothes. Tears ran down my face. I turned toward him, my vision blurring. I laid my hand upon his face. I couldn't even mutter a word. He wet his face by crying.

"Don't go..." He cried. "Please..." He lifted my body. He looked around, hoping for any solution.

"Show me the... shadows." I pleaded.

"What?" He sobbed.

"I never... got to see it..." I said.

"I... Okay..." He cried. He walked over to the machine. He flipped a switch. The machine emitted light and shadows showed on the wall, moving around, flickering between the bits of light. He set me down. I watched him play with the dark figures. I slowly closed my eyes. I used my last strength to drag my body to the walls. I touched the beautiful, black characters. They moved as though I was one of them. I pressed my hand against one and held him there. I giggled. Vincenzo looked over to me. I looked at the shadow. "I want to be like you... Able to live as long as there is light..." That's the last moment of my life.

Black.

That's the only thing I saw.

Black nothingness.

Is this it?

I sobbed.

Vincenzo... Didi... Kat... Johnny...

I missed them already.

"Don't be sad miss!" I hear a small voice say.

"Huh? Wh-who's there?" I ask gingerly.

"My name's Didi! I heard crying, so I looked around for the source, but I couldn't find it! So, I just said it out loud and hoped whoever it was would hear me."

"That's nice of you, Didi..." I sniffed. She's already a really kind girl and she's only a few years old.

"What's your name, miss?"

"I'm... My name is Dawn."

"Well, Dawn, where are you?"

"I don't really know. It's just... black..."

"Oh really? Do you need a light?"

"I don't think that'll..."

"Here, I'll use my old lantern!"

Suddenly it's blindingly white. I flinch and shut my eyes.

"There you are!" She exclaims. "But... You're..."

I open my eyes. I can see ahead of me is some weird completely black versions of everyday objects. There is a black wall to my left. To my right is a 2D version of an alley. There's a silhouette of a little girl. "Didi?" I question.

"Yeah... You didn't tell me you were a shadow!" She says.

"What are you doing out of your room!? How did you get out!?" I ask.

"I heard you, so I opened the window and come to check what was happening. Mom says I'm too smart for my own good." She says with a chuckle.

"You could've gotten hurt! I'll figure out a way to get you back up to your room!"

"I think if you could somehow climb these shadows... You could knock a rope down or something."

"I'll try." I tell her. I look at the objects, I notice that they all line up perfectly, though in the "2D" world, they are quite distant. I jump up on a cart, then climb up a dresser. I manage my way to a piece of roof. I look for the rope she mentioned, but it's only visible in the "2D" world. "I can't get it!" I yell down.

"Oh no! I don't know what we can do!" She cries up to me. She silently sobs. "Mom will be so angry..."

"I'll figure something out, don't worry!" I look at the rope. Out of reach... I press my hand against the "wall". Suddenly I feel chills run down my spine. I yank my hand away. The image ripples where I touched it before receding back to normal. I press my finger against it. The spot I touched ripples like water, and feels cold. I press my finger slightly and it glides through the wall. I can feel cold night air rush past the tip. I put my whole hand through, then my arm, and then the rest of my body.

"Whoa! How'd you do that?"

"I... I just did..." I reply. I sit for a second, before grabbing the rope and tossing it down. "Grab on!" I shout down to her.

"Okay!" I pull her up with ease. "You have to teach me how to do that one day!" I look into he big, bright eyes. I smile.

"From today on... I'll protect you as best I can, OK?"

Prologue End