Prompt #20: I find myself drawn to the shadow domain.

            All the lights are off but one. Shadows stretch and tangle across the room, the furniture I’ve moved creating dangerously beautiful creatures and horrific monsters. My eyes trail them as they creep across the floor and walls and ceiling. My hands twist together in my lap, mimicking their movements.

            I turn my head, my neck cracking, as a movement dances on the edge of my vision. It’s a different motion from the others, smooth, deliberate. It brings a stretched smile to my face.

            I rise to great him, my stiff body moaning. He steps, light as a feather, into my arms. His lips feel like air against my cheek. A sigh travels between us.

            The music starts out slow, building. Our hands gravitate to their positions. I hold my breath.

            The notes crash and my lungs release as he twirls me away, catching me on the end of his fingertips. The beat pounds through the soles of my feet and up through my body. I close my eyes and let it take me far away.

            Beings that were only shadow now stand wholly beside me. Their perfect and malformed bodies, whichever the case may be, gyrate to the valleys and ranges of the song. They move in a pure raw fashion, adding their own sounds to the mix.

            My hair flies out behind me, occasionally snagged by massive claws. My feet twist in impossible ways, never ceasing. I am just as mystical, if not more so, than the masses surrounding me.

            Silence slams down and the same expression hops from one face to the next. Hundreds of stares turn from each other to us, to me.

            A cool touch slips between my fingers and another gently grips my chin. His starry night eyes are above me and sinking down as he kneels. His words are so soft, they are almost nonexistent, “I will stay with you forever.”

            The pulse in my ear is clopping along like a horse. My lips part, a breath sneaking in. I force it out of the way, making a pathway for my words, “And I with you.”

            There is scattered applause, like light rain. Then he stands and it all starts again.

            We move delicately, sensing the need rising from each other. He rests his face in my hair. I can feel the rustling of his lips though I can’t hear what he says. I don’t need to.

            The song has changed and the quick twists and suggestive shimming has been replaced. The lazy twisting and swaying of matched-up couples gives the feel of a small rocking boat.

            I can feel my eyelids starting to slip but I can’t stop them. It feels like someone has stuffed cotton in my ears. I can still hear the music playing but it’s much too quiet.

            Distantly, I feel my feet release the ground and my body mold to his arms. My muscles stretch into a smile. He lays me down carefully.

            My sleep is deep, spiraling into an abyss, but I know he’s there. His presence pushes softly against me.

            “Laura?”

            Someone is saying my name.

            “Laura, what are you doing in the dark?”

            The flip of a switch. A gasp.

            “And what have you done to the furniture?”

            I peel my eyes open and my skin immediately bunches to block out the light. I force myself to look toward the voice anyway.

            Two people are framed in the large doorway. My pupils grow small as they adjust. The lines and curves of my parents are now recognizable.

            I glance around the room, dazed. I’m sitting in the old, tattered armchair. My dance floor is now just scratched, warped wood and my enchanted dance partners have taken the shape of the secondhand furniture once more.

            One particular shadow catches my eye. I can’t locate the piece of décor casting it and as I watch it seems to slip away. A whisper nearly extinct reaches my ear, “I’m not far.”