Chapter 6: Shadows.

His fur changed colors depending on my mood.

That statement is somewhat of an egocentric projection —nothing to be proud about. But I can excuse myself easily: since I had been homeschooled, I had been extremely lonely.

Satsuki never tried to connect with me at an emotional level, and the closest neighbors we had —the owners of an apple orchard— were quite reserved and had no children.

Finding Shadows was a blessing. There was no place I could call home, there was no place were I felt at ease —even if I could find temporarily evasion in books and computers.

Shadows looked like a mutt. Not too far from being a wolf, he was a big slender dog, of pricked ears and two layers of wolf-like fur. I'd say that it was me who named him, although it felt as if he explicitly spelled his name with his coat uniformly colored in a shade magically varying between light grey and black. As if he incarnated the many shadows I could safely hide in.

Shadows gently approached me. I had no food to lure him close to me, but he didn't seem to care. I did pet him. It was nice. I assumed that he would go on exploring the world, or back to wherever he belonged.

However, he would stay by my side.

With a protective stance.

Whenever I was near the door that led to the backyard where I met Shadows, I thought how Satsuki would react to me bringing a dog to her house.

“You'd better live outdoors” —I told Shadows.