On Saturday morning, Alen was standing at the kitchen wall, looking for something in the cabinet. The light came through the east window at a low angle. He noticed that his shadow had stopped moving a half-second before he had. Not dramatically. Just slightly, the way a person pauses before turning away from something interesting.
He closed the cabinet. He stood still. His shadow was still.
He told himself it was the light. Old building, radiator heat causing subtle air movement along the walls. Something reasonable like that. He went to make coffee and did not think about it again until Sunday evening.
Sunday: the hallway, six o'clock. He was walking toward the front door to check the mail. His shadow, thrown forward by the overhead light, turned its head to look at the door a full moment before he reached for the latch. Not a trick of angle. He was walking straight. It looked at the door the way a person looks at something they have already decided about.
He stood in the hallway for a while.
Monday was harder. He was in the bathroom, brushing his teeth. Morning light, overhead. He moved his arm to rinse and noticed that his shadow held still for two, three seconds, the shape of a person standing with their arm at their side. Then it caught up. He stood there with his mouth still foamy and watched the shadow very carefully, but it did not do anything else. It followed him out of the bathroom with perfect fidelity.
He thought about who he might tell. He did not tell anyone.
By Monday night he had started moving differently in his own apartment. Leaving more room. Not pressing into corners or reaching across his own body unnecessarily. It felt less like accommodation than acknowledgment. He didn't examine the distinction.
Tuesday morning, leaving for work. He opened the front door and stepped aside to let the light in, which was something he did habitually, and his shadow paused in the doorway. He stood with his hand on the door. His shadow was looking back into the apartment. Not dramatically. Just the way you look back at a place you are leaving for the day, to check whether you forgot something, or to remember it.
He waited.
After a moment, his shadow came through the door.