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You mean you don’t remember, Steven?” Krishelle frowned with disbelief.
“I can’t really say, Kris. Maybe the tests and medications in the facility made me forget,” Steven squinted, trying to force himself to remember what Krishelle was trying to remind him about.
“’Sides, what can a three-year-old remember, Kris?”
“I don’t know why I remember so vividly, Steven. Your mom sat there and my mom sat here,” she pointed to the parts of the porch where they were sitting.
“I’m sorry, Kris,” Steven swayed his head in frustration.
“And you were a cry baby!” she quipped.
“I can’t just piece so many things together. Not after fifteen years there.”
“It’s all right, Steve. I was just hoping that switching on some memories could help you get your bearings back.”
“You said that after I was taken to the facility, my parents left for the city?” Steven asked.
“That’s what I recall mom and dad telling me.”
“What did they say about me, Kris?” Steven looked her straight in the eyes.
“The doctors wanted to know why your shadow was blue,” she smiled.
“And what did you think?”
“I didn’t care!” She shrugged her shoulders.
“You never found a blue shadow strange?”
“Nope. You were my friend, and I guess that’s what really mattered,” she became teary-eyed.
“In the facility, they were focused on knowing everything about the shadow,” Steve explained.
“What did they find out?”
“The doctors were all excited at first. They thought it might open something revolutionary. Finally, they conceded there was nothing science could do to explain my shadow.”
“So, they just let you go?”
“Yes, just like that.”
“That’s horrible,” Krishelle shuddered.
“You cried when they took me away, Kris?”
“Sooo much, Steve! I begged Mom and Dad to take me to see you. But they were informed that subjects — that’s how they called people there — in restricted areas can no longer be visited.”
“But do you now wonder about my shadow, Kris?”
Krishelle dried her eyes and looked at him pensively.
“I wouldn’t really care if your shadow were green, red or white. What matters most to me is that you are Steven, my best friend.”
The sun’s light suddenly exploded around them as the sky cleared up. They embraced each other in tears, comforting each other’s hearts in silence.
Krishelle opened her eyes and unexpectedly broke from their embrace.
“Steven,” she exclaimed, “your shadow’s no longer blue!”
“Huh?” Steven stood up and waved his arms and hands in the air as he followed his shadow graciously fluttering with his movements.
“What happened?” He was completely bewildered.
“I think I know!” Krishelle smiled.
She stood up, embraced him and kissed him on the cheek.
“In the facility, they did everything to find out why your shadow was blue.”
“So?”
“That’s why they never found the answer because they only studied a shadow,” she continued.
“And?”
“A shadow is but a shadow. But one can never fall in love with it. They forgot that in order to understand one must know how to love.”
She embraced him and their shadows merged into one dark form.
To love a person is what matters more than his shadow! If you love a person, even if his shadow is blue, you will understand him for who he is and not his shadow.
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