I. His past clings to him like a shadow, grotesquely deformed in the wrong light.
II. His dead sister looks like an abandoned house in the midday sun. He continues haunting it
His first crush looks like a monster when the day dawns. He continues taunting it.
His forgotten mother is barely visible until the sun sets. It continues to haunt him.
His absent father looks like a noose in the daylight. It continues to taunt him.
III. Sometimes his shadow looks more like the plants Demeter's children like to change him in than like a survivor.
Sometimes it bleeds red in all the places he's ever been hurt, leaving his unmarred skin exposed like a target.
IV. He took to the darkness and forgot.
His past clings to him like a shadow. A larger-than-life shrine to his growth.
V. His dead sister has become a person to be remembered rather than idolized or resented. He's moved out as well.
His first crush has faded like a shirt he used to love but never wears anymore. He's grown out of it as he has grown out of his fear.
His forgotten mother has become a name, has become a grave, has become a person. It will have to do.
His absent father has tried and failed and tried again. It is with morbid curiosity that he awaits the next attempt.
VI. Sometimes his shadow looks more like all the growth he's gone through than his actual size.
Sometimes his shadow shines brighter than the sun.