Lost in the Shadows

26

"I don't even know where to start," he admitted not looking at my face, I could see his mind jumbling as I looked at him. He looked pale as he tried to organize his deep thoughts. "Let me put it this way. You know that metaphor about the iceberg, where we only see about 10 percent of it and that's what is sticking up from the surface and then the other 90 percent of it is unobservable and hidden," I nodded in understanding, "Well that's how the world is. You only see the 10 percent. You look at the world and see the bright side of everything, you see the good in people and everything around you. You only see the surface part of the world. You see what everyone else wants you to see. The other 90 percent is full of fraud, crime, Secrets, murder, scandals and much more darker shit," he said frustrated, however I wasn't sure if I followed.

"We call ourselves the shadows. We mostly work with underground things, but some of us work with the government," he said.

"Wait, I'm really confused," I told him.

"Let me put it this way. Me, David, Luke and Matt are all part of this organization. I'm the leader of my team, some people prefer the term gang. But there's many other teams or gangs out there. The government knows that they can't handle things alone, so sometimes they call in favors. For example, the biggest favor they ask from us, the shadows, is during election time. We make it seem like the people have a choice, we let them pick between candidates, but they really don't have a choice. Here let me put it this way. What would you like to drink right now," he asked making me even more confused.

"I don't know, coke," I shrugged.

"Well, what if I told you you're only options are milk and orange juice. Then what would you pick?"

"Orange juice."

"See you voted orange juice, but that's not really what you want. So yeah we give people a choice but it's not really a choice. It's all an illusion. We do many more things involving the government, but that would take too long to explain. We do these things for them and in return they act like we don't exist, like than man I shot last night, the police will rule it out as a suicide. This world runs on the shadows."

"Why are you the shadows," I asked wondering why the don't just call themselves a gang.

"It's more of a secret code, the police will say call the shadows or the shadows did this, because it sounds less suspicious than using the term gang. However, the reference shadows came about because we don't pay attention to shadows even though they're always there. Shadows are dark and hidden. Just like us."

"So you're in a gang?" I asked feeling myself getting chocked up.

"Technically yes. I told you how I ran away from home when I was little. Well, this man took me in, he was the leader of the a 'gang' called the Panthers. He taught me everything I needed to know in order to survive this world, he taught me how to fight, hide my emotions, and how to stay alive. Once he died he handed me the position of leader, and now I run this team. It was a lot to take in at first, but now it's easy especially with the help of the boys. We're not awful though. Many gangs are out for torture, blood, or revenge. They kill, they rape, and they're traffickers, they do many cruel things, but we don't. We try our best to keep this community safe," he told me taking my hands.

I felt myself feeling embarrassed for not knowing this. But I tried to keep a straight face even though my stomach felt queasy. "So where do I fit in eith this," I asked timidly.

"Let's start from when I first met you," he started after he looked at me one last time and then ripping his eyes off of me. "You have to remember that this was before I knew you." I nodded, but it didn't feel like that meant much.

"Before you walked into my office I was in a meeting with a leader of another gang. He had concerns about a certain gang and we tried to come up with ideas on how to take them down. Then you walked in. And please believe me when I tell you that in that moment I saw the most beautiful girl ever. I saw how you examined the room with concerned eyes, I knew you were out of your comfort zone. And then you started humming to a linkin park song and I thought that you were beyond any other girl I've met," he took a deep breath as he knew what he was about to say he wouldn't even be able to take back.