The light of an average sized sun poured its light onto a tiny spinning bright blue orb. With the rotational spin of this small planet, named Earth by long conquered natives, light began to strike the continents that named the America's. As the world spun and the sun cast its power ever more onto this bright blue world the light grew ever stronger on a city settled in the middle of what the natives had called North America. The city in question was once known as Little Rock but, it seemed that the blue world's new rulers did not care about the names given to places by their conquests.
With the continuing movement of the planet the light began to shine brightly into the small one bedroom apartment of the soul Silent Shadow. Yellow sunlight entered easily through the thin glass, of the only window in the entire apartment, and settled upon the dark chocolate skin of the rooms sleeping occupant. As more and more light began to enter the room with the rising of the sun; eventually enough sun light entered to light up the peacefully sleeping face of the young woman within.
With a muttered groan the Silent Shadow gently picked herself up from the warm inviting bed sheets she had wrapped herself in during her nights slumber. With a mild yawn she cast her eyes out once again past the bright sunlight of new day onto the bright green grass and trees of the park outside her apartment complex. Rubbing the small amount of sleep from the corners of her eyes Silent Shadow couldn't help but grin as she stared out on the green. This was the exact moment of the day she treasured most. The most glorious moment in the day when the world was most quiet with only the very beginnings of activity starting to show.
Rising up lightly with the spryness of youthful body the young soul padded over to a small bathroom to take care of the necessities when starting the day. When she reached the small white sink and cast her gaze at the mirror she saw the same face that had greeted her for the past 10 years of her life on this wonderful green blue planet. A dark skinned human woman gazed back with dark brown eyes, the constant glowing ring around the irises, high cheek bones and plump heart shaped lips. The features framed a face of what many men would have called a natural beauty. With a small intake of breath and shrug of the shoulders at the frizzled nature of her midnight hair she quickly undressed and stepped into the small porcelain tub; hurriedly starting a shower before the day could even begin to pass her by.
With Shadow's shower complete she dressed herself according to what the small man on the television said would be the perfect weather, not too cold and not too hot. She dressed up in small brown cotton shorts, with a small long-sleeved cotton black shirt, opened at the neck, over a light red short sleeved shirt. Looking over herself once more in the small bathroom mirror; Silent Shadow felt ready to head out and begin her day. Proceeding to grab a worn rectangular leather case and a small purse containing her identification papers and keys she proceeded toward the doors until a shout from the stilling running television made her come to a dead stop.
"In more serious news there was another reported break-in this morning along with a brutal assault carried out by as yet unknown soulless. However we are being reassured by Seekers that they are actively seeking out the human or humans that are responsible for these terrible crimes. One Seeker said that they feel confident they will have the Soulless responsible for this captured within the day. Marie, what do you think about..."
As the report turned into polite discussion of opinions by the two news reporters Silent Shadows heart was racing. Her hand had unknowing begun clutching her chest in fear, pulling at the dark material of her shirt. Shadow was taking deep calming breaths to regain her composer and excitement . Ever since the last of the hard fought conflicts between the natives had ended the remaining humans had turned into a boogieman of sorts and having arrived long after those conflicts Silent Shadow was mortally afraid of ever meeting one.
With Silent Shadows heart beat calmed down enough she tightened her grip on the leather case and proceeded to turn off the television and head out of the door of her apartment. She proceeded directly for her favorite spot in the entire world which was a bench underneath a small oak tree. The bench was the best view point in Shadows opinion where she could conduct her art. Silent Shadow was an artist; she drew anything and everything she saw around her, from smiling couples walking hand in hand to the swaying of the trees around her.
Usually before Silent Shadow would ever go to her favorite park bench she would stop at a small restaurant to have a small breakfast and even see something that she could draw. Shadow couldn't count the number of times she had drawn the corpulent but constantly smiling restaurant owner who always had a spot open for what he called, "his favorite stile life". Today with the news report still on her mind she bypassed it altogether and continued down the concrete sidewalk toward the park.
Among the extremely social Souls Silent Shadows was an oddity. She liked being alone and leaving alone. On her first two planets she had been forced by necessity to communicate out of boredom and as a way of guidance Aside from the corpulent owner, who she couldn't even name, and an art curator who was a close friend, she interacted with no one else. Any other soul who tried to talk to her to be friendly or get to know her were rebuffed or the conversations died leaving a frighting silence. Silent Shadow couldn't stand those silences where she felt the pressure to babble and yet she couldn't think of anything to say. Instead of interacting with her fellow souls she took deep pleasure in drawing the world around her with a precision and style that made her work decorate the walls of her only friends art museum. This pass time proved to be her one true calling as the planet of the bats and plants didn't allow for anything of the sort.
Upon reaching her favorite little green bench under the oak tree Silent Shadow sat down and proceed to open the worn leather pack to reveal snow white paper and writing implements. Sitting up straight Shadow peered her eyes around the park looking for something to inspire her first drawing of the day. She saw everything from small waste baskets with the trees swaying to the calls of the wind to a small pack of brightly dressed mothers pushing strollers and chatting animatedly amongst themselves. Nothing immediately inspired any creative designs for her to put to paper.
The news broadcast seemed to be weighing heavily on her mind. Every time she thought she spotted something interesting the news report quickly popped into her head and she lost her train of thought. This cycle of interest and distraction carried on for hours and just as the sun had raised itself to its zenith Silent Shadows stomach gave an discomforting rumble. This uncomfortable feeling drew Shadows mind from wondering if the heavily kissing couple on the grass would be subjects to draw and made here remember she had skipped part of daily routine.
Immediately she packed up her writing utensils and still perfectly white paper back into her worn leather case and proceed to cross the nearby street and go toward her favorite restaurant with the rotund owner. When she reached her the place she found the light green doors to be locked with the Closed sign still in place. She didn't understand why the place was still closed she knew that it was open early in the morning to well past night fall. It was never closed unless there was an emergency.
Frowning to herself she turned around and wondered what to do as slow moving cars and mindful pedestrians carefully moved about her. Silent Shadow stood in front of the restaurant for a time unsure of where to go. Even though she knew that there were other places to eat along the street and around the block she was unsure where to go. Silent Shadow was a creature of habits and was uncertain of what to do and coming up with the best plan of action she could she proceeded to walk down the street and stare into each place and see if they met her liking.
The first one she passed packed place with far too many people to liking; they would be too loud for her to think and draw peacefully. The second store had no one around except a bored looking woman mindlessly wiping an already clean table top; there must be a good reason why no one would be eating there. Silent Shadow walked by a third restaurant that had it's own problem, then the forth, then the fifth, and then the sixth restaurant were just as quickly dismissed. As she continued to walk, having long since taken off her black cotton shirt and tied it around her waist; Silent Shadow grew unsure if she would ever find a nice place to eat until she nearly passed by and missed her holy grail. The place was a two floor construction with painted bright green woodwork outlining the doorway and was nestled between two nice looking apartment buildings.
Silent Shadow didn't know exactly what drew her to the place but when she looked inside she knew she had found her spot. Inside were 4 separated people dispersed throughout a nice well-lit and fairly roomy area with a small counter to place orders inserted in the back. Everyone looked to be minding their own business; either occupied reading a newspaper or book to animatedly talking on a phone while picking at their food. The place had a look and feel to it she had never encountered before but what past natives would have called a 50's diner look. The checkered black and white flooring and soft looking booths and chairs however were what really sold the place to Shadow; her feet were really starting to ache.
Tentatively opening the door and ringing an unseen bell Shadow was immediately pleased that nobody looked up from what they were doing to see who the new comer was. She smiled lightly and walked toward the back where a woman dressed in a light blue dress with a white apron tied around her middle stood smiling waiting for her to approach. Silent Shadow clutched the worn leather case to her chest as if for protection and walked up to the blue dress wearing woman.
"What'cha looking for hun?" said the woman. Silent Shadows looking down at the shinny counter top noded not meeting her eyes, "What would you suggest ma'am?" The woman chuckled lightly, "Well that depends sugar. How hungry are yea?" But before Shadow could answer on her own her body did it for her. It let out a low grumble that was clearly audible to the waitress and Silent Shadow but seemed to sound the death gong for any chance of her eating here.
Her face felt as if it were on fire from embarrassment, Shadow couldn't think of anything to say and just shuffled her feet looking for a way out of such a mortifying situation. But the woman was far more understanding and did something that Shadow did not expect. The waitress gently placed a finger underneath Shadow's chin and lifted her face until she was starring into the kind eyed waitress. "How about I give you a menu and you wave me over when you're ready?"
Nodding fervently Silent Shadow took a proffered menu, a thing of laminated plastic and hurried over to the booth farthest from anyone but directly near a window. She placed her leather case on top of the table and plopped down with a sigh into red velvet covered seat; very grateful to the waitress and immediately looked through the menu she had been given. Quickly she found something to her liking and looked up just as the kind waitress walked over with a glass of ice chilled water. Silent Shadow smiled happily and pointed directly at what her choice was, "Do you think this will be good?" she asked with tones that were far warmer than any she had used in times past.
Smiling and leaning forward to inspect Shadow's choice the waitress could only node, "It's perfect for you hun." Quickly the woman turned and walked back but not before grabbing the menu she had given to Silent Shadow.
As Silent Shadow proceeded to wait for her food she began to look and take in her surroundings silently sipping on the cold water. She noticed two older men with differing complexions reading the same newspaper. What really caught her eye was the extravagance of the facial hair each of the men sported. One, a pale wrinkle eyed man, whose beard seemed so over grown and bushy that it could have passed for pillow stuffing. The second man was clearly balding with darkly tanned skin and hair as white as snow with a mustache so long and curved it reminded her of pictures she had seen on first getting her body, of large animals called goats.
All thought of the news broadcast she had seen so early this morning fled her mind as she saw these two men and immediately pulled out paper and writing equipment and proceed to scratch ruff sketches of both men as they read and turned their newspapers. Just as she finished both men's drawings and just begun to fill in the background around the pillow stuffing man she was pulled from her work by the arrival of the waitress with her food.
Silent Shadows eyes turned into dinner plates as hunger took control and immediately took up fork knife and even at times spoon to consume her meal. Just as she was scarfing down a particularly tasty bit of food the waitress poked her on the shoulder with a thin index finger. As the woman looked at Shadow with those kindly eyes from before she was unsure what to do, "So you're an artist?" Nodding and giving a minor grunt Silent Shadow hurriedly swallowed her food so she could talk, "I like to draw."
"Well by my guess sugar you're pretty good at it" said the woman. Beaming with delight Silent Shadow couldn't help but feel good about the woman's compliments. "Would you be willing to draw my diner then? If it's no trouble of course!"
"Of course!" said Shadow. She felt that in trade for such a delicious meal she would have drawn the kindly waitress the entire city block by block. Smiling gently at Silent Shadow the woman proceeded walk away toward what Shadow presumed to be the kitchen. Quickly she abandoned, for the time being, her drawings of the old men but not before making sure to fix their images into mind for future sketches. Then with speed and precision Silent Shadow proceeded to begin drawing the entirety of the diner she had so unexpectedly found to her own delight.
As time flowed and passed Silent Shadow lost track of all movement around her to the point where a thousand rampaging bulls could have run by and she wouldn't have even noticed. Time passed even more until the suns gaze on the little blue orb of a planet began to shift to another side of it and the light which had brightened Silent Shadows day began to fade and die.
The sun had long set by the time Shadow felt her drawing had been completed to her satisfaction and she was surprised to find the light blue dress woman sitting in front of her, her hands clasped together patiently. Hurriedly getting up Silent Shadow was embarrassed that she had detained the woman past what must have been her closing hours. "I'm sorry sorry I didn't mean to keep you!" she cried. The woman acting the epitome of soul simply waved it off. "It's fine suga. Don't worry about it! But would you like a friend to walk you back? It's kinda late." The woman further made her point by looking outside, drawing Shadow's gaze with her to look at the perfectly dark outside only punctuated by the street lights.
Hurriedly handing her finished drawing to the woman Silent Shadow declined the woman's offer, "Thank you but I don't need one. I'm not that far away." Then quickly with all her things repacked into her worn leather drawing case she proceeded toward the door but before she had completely gone outside the door the kindly waitress called back to her, "There will always be a spot open for yea sugar! I wanna see more of those drawings!" One of the biggest smiles Shadow had ever had crossed her face and she waved back and then quickly went in the direction of her apartment home.
The smile that had come across her face was so joyous that she hugged the leather case to her chest tightly and walked the concrete streets with a little spring to her step. Silent Shadow felt she may have found a wonderful new place to sit, eat and draw and deep down maybe a new friend. So consumed with thoughts of drawing and the idea of friendship she didn't see the rather large man walking toward her until it was too late.
Both Silent Shadow and the unknown man met with force and rebounded from each other slamming into the hard unyielding pavement below. Silent Shadows leather case bounced from the clutches of her arms and burst open spilling all her drawing paper and implements. Unseen amongst Shadow's spilled possessions was a pair of dark tinted glasses.
A low groan escaped the lightly battered form of Silent Shadow raised a dazed head upwards wondering what kind of wall she had run into but then she saw the scattered papers about her and quickly sprung into action. She made to grab the papers around her but the wind it seemed had designs on stealing some of her drawing supplies and unfinished work. Looking up too see the man was already up she shouted for his help, "Please help me! Don't let them get blown away!" The man seemed to hesitate at first but then silently began to pick up the fallen paper and stuff then into a rather large hand before grabbing for more.
Quickly Silent Shadow did as the man did grabbing all the loose papers around her including a pair of dark tinted glasses that must have belonged to the man. There was something odd about the glasses but Shadow didn't have time to think about that as she was too afraid of losing her drawings to the clutches of the evil blowing wind. As the last paper was gathered up from both the ground and the unknown man she hurriedly stuffed her drawings back into the worn leather case. Throughout this Silent Shadow hadn't once looked at the man standing before her.
Securing her leather drawing case more tightly Silent Shadow turned to see the man still standing before as if waiting for something. Quickly she realized it must be the glasses she had still clutched in her hand. "Are these yours?" she asked as politely as possible.
The man leaned forward without a word to take the glasses back and as he did so Silent Shadow was able to get a perfect look at the face of her impromptu wall. What she saw caused her heart to squeeze as if in a vise, her breath turn to ice and her very blood to run cold. The eyes she saw were bright blue and they did not have the glowing ring around them. This person was a soulless. This was a soulless human being and Silent Shadow was terrified.
I hope any one who reads this liked what I've written and I hope you leave a nice review even if it's bad I like any input you can give me. I'm sorry for any grammar mistakes that you might find. I literally wrote this entire thing within 2 1/2 hours and did as much proof reading as I could. I simply want some opinions on if I should continue this or not.
On another note if I do continue this then I plan to bump this up to an M rating due to the dialog of certain future characters are going to have and the level of maturity required to handle them. To put it mildly I plan to delve deeper into the brutality that mankind would enter into when an alien invader such as the Souls takes over hosts bodies. That means causal murder, torture, and rape. While I find it horrible I believe it's necessary in order to tell a story about people in this situation.