It was early in the morning. He was being rushed quickly into the OR. The doctors didn’t know how long he had had it. His parents thought that it had seemingly come out of nowhere. Everyone was surprised that he, a healthy young adolescent, had fallen into such a precarious situation.

In truth, he knew about it all along. He knew. He felt it coming nearly a year ago. The tumor started growing slowly in the back of his head. At first, he didn’t think too much of it and attributed it to a bump he received sometime ago. But it didn’t go away. As much as he tried, as much as he willed it, the foreign presence continued to linger about inside of him.

He didn’t think it was cancerous. He was a young healthy person; no one at a young age entertains such morbid thoughts. He fought against it and didn’t bother troubling anyone with something so trivial as constant headaches. Yeah, they affected his focus; his grades slipped a little bit, his athleticism dipped a bit, but everyone said it was just a funk he was going through. He’d get over it.

And so he did. It leveled off, to some degree. And all was well. Or so everyone thought.

He kept trying. He continued to fight. It was an internal battle that he refused to let anyone partake in. In truth, no one could help him. It was almost invisible, known only to him. He kept up the good fight, but felt his life slowly leaving him. He knew that he had to get help, but didn’t exactly know how to do that. And so he stayed silent.

Here he is now. Lying there. It’s as if he’s only sleeping. But inside, the alien presence had done its damage. You could tell by his pale and unresponsive form. It had won.

He was too stubborn. Too full of pride. Had he merely said something any point in the past, this could have probably be prevented. There was always a way out for him, but it required him to take the first step. He was too good for it, it seems. And as a result, his arrogance led to his downfall; all that’s left of him is his eternal shadow that he has left upon the life of others.

05.09/10.08, 11.45pm-12.15am