Spirited Shadow

Mom and I take the dogs out for late-night walks on the weekends around Whitestone. One night a while ago, we were walking around the condos and apartment buildings and we passed by one of those dead-end blocks with the benches circling the garden and flag. That circle dead-end thing was wedged between two brick apartment buildings with street lamps and bushes around the brick walls.

We were across the street from it, and it probably wouldn't have grabbed either my mom's or my attention if Betty and Daisy, our dogs, hadn't started barking in that direction. We turned to see what the fuss was about, but there wasn't a squirrel or dog or anything that would normally set them off. Mom and I calmed them down while we walked a little away from the dead-end, when I glanced back again to see a shadow cast out against the brick wall. It was big, as if cast from afar, and looked like a person subtly rocking back and forth from foot to foot.

I nudged Mom and pointed to the shadow, interested because I didn't see any one in the dead-end. It wasn't anything spooky at first as if I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up or anything like that, I was just confused. "Maybe they're in the stairwell," Mom said referring to the little stairwell and door in the corner of the dead-end. We moved back a little to get the bottom of the stairwell in view, but still no one was there. We exchanged glances and laughed a little. "I wonder if I screamed, would we see the shadow jump?" I said and laughed, loudly to see if we'd see any change in the shadow's movement.

The shadow stopped rocking back and forth for a moment, then continued again. Mom and I looked at each other again and Mom said to just let it alone, that it was probably a tree or something...Of course, me being an extreme skeptic towards anything paranormal or supernatural, all kinds of rational causes were running through my head. But also, me being a curious 13 year old girl, I was bored and wanted to satisfy my curiosity. I walked across with Daisy, Mom following with Betty.

While we were crossing, two old ladies were scuttling passed the dead-end street and spotted us coming their way. I slowed down, I didn't want to interact with anyone, especially some old lady...So many old people live around where I live, and so many of them are snotty, frustrating, and grumpy. Anyway, Mom, as the friendly neighbor she is, greeted them and explained why we were "so hurriedly crossing the street for" and whatnot, and the little old ladies turned to see the shadow as well. The six of us, including Betty and Daisy, stared for several moments at the slowly pacing shadow from afar...Betty growled and slowly approached with Mom holding onto her leash. They had to be at least 10 feet away from the wall, when the shadow stopped pacing and looked as if it let out a sigh. It seemed to turn around and began to shrink, as if walking away, and we heard the footsteps in the distance sound off to the beat of the way the shadow was walking.

It was only a while ago when this weird little encounter occured. We still walk the dogs around that area, every so often. We don't usually walk the dogs in one place more than a couple of times, but when we do pass by that dead- end at night, we laugh to ourselves, thinking about that strange spirited shadow.