The Dancing Shadow

The cabin in woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. The night was dark, the moon shrouded by the clouds, and the stars tucked away in murky folds of the sky, almost as if they themselves knew that a shadow danced tonight.

On a night much like this one is a night fit for the shadow of Silverwood cabin to dance.

Many have heard about the Silverwood shadow, perhaps you’ve heard of it too, but none can claim to have seen it. None can claim to have witnessed the shadow dance and live to talk about it.

But many have tried.

And perhaps none are more famous than the Balderston sisters.

You see they were told of the dancing shadow of Silverwood; it’s supposed grace matched only by its elegance, its bodiless form mesmerizing to behold, its beauty enough to stretch a moment forever.

Supposedly.

A reckless uncle, perhaps, so carelessly shared the story as well as the ritual with the sisters, unaware of what they’d do next and negligent to omit the warning.

The sisters visited the cabin on the night with shrouded moon and tucked stars, on a night just like this one.

You see, the sisters had spent years training in the ballet, the older sister found fast success and admired greatly the art. Her skill and refinement for dance was unrivalled. But the younger failed to achieve greatness and was unable to compete at even pre-professional level. What the younger lacked was originality.

And so, each with their own reason together the sisters sought the dance of the shadow.

They followed the ritual. They went to cabin and with blades in hand, each sister sliced at their palm. Their dripping blood used to mark a circle around them. They then lit the candle and held it aloft within. This left one last thing to do – whistle.

Its a sombre tune. Three notes, a melonholic soft lament like the cry of a lost pup, enough to echo through the silence of the night and call upon any lingering spirits.

And so, they whistled and then they waited but it was only for a few moments.

The older of the two sisters stood from the circle to peer out the window. The other watched her, too frightened to get up herself and that’s when the older saw it.

Her eyes widened by three sizes, the beauty she witnessed almost too much to comprehend. As moments passed and as the shadow danced on, the older began to weep. Her head dropped to her hands as tears flowed down her arms toward the ground. She lifted her head again. The shadow was gone. Her eyes began to twitch, her breath short. She grabbed the knife from the floor. She lifted it to her eye and lined it up long ways toward her face. She hesitated as she hovered the knife in front of her.

Then she ran headfirst toward the wall and BAM! The blade glided straight through her eye socket without effort, the force of the blow against the wall enough to crush the older sister's skull and fling her remnant brain matter across the floor and across her sister.

The younger sister became paralyzed with fear and didn't move a muscle until morning.

The beauty in the end was too much for any one person to comprehend.

When the family found and took the younger sister the next day no one would believe her story of the dancing shadow. They believed it was an act of jealously and so she ran. Back to the cabin, to call upon the shadow, to prove herself innocent but she couldn’t make herself do it.

She couldn’t not bring herself to complete the final step. To whistle, as she feared what she might see. And so, there she stayed until they found her again and locked her up in an asylum for the rest of her days.

And that’s story of the Shadow of Silverwood Cabin.

One forced to death for what she saw, the other condemned for what she didn't.

The thing is that the sisters needn’t have gone to too much trouble with the ritual. They could’ve used any circle shape, like for instance these logs we’re sitting around. And they didn’t need a candle, any form of flame would do, much like this campfire...

With a night like tonight, all anyone would need to do would be to…

(whistle)