The place of Shadows

I;m working on a story here it is in progress

Aryeh was at a store buying a few things to refill his refrigerator at his apartment. He sometimes goes out to eat. But he felt that he should have some food in the apartment. He is not bad at cooking since he lives by himself and had some practice. It’s sometimes difficult coming home to an empty apartment. Then again, there are people older and waiting longer. He’s only 29. People might wonder what’s taking so long. They don’t know his story and he prefers it that way.

He gets home and makes something to eat. The phone rings and he answers, “Natan, what’s up?”

“That’s okay, come when you can.” Aryeh tells him. He eats dinner and then looks at his email. Nothing new. He grabs his things and leaves.

Aryeh goes to his usual seat in the Beis Midrash. While waiting for his friend, he gets a message from someone, and he replies. Then he puts it away.

Natan arrives and he sits next to him “Sorry, something came up.”

“No, problem.” Aryeh responds. He was pretty patient and had his experiences with situations coming up.

“Did you finish that article you were working on?” Natan asked.

“Yeah, I sent it in today.” Aryeh is a journalist and is always looking for a good story. He just finished one

and is looking for another story to work on. They open their sefarim and start learning.

Rina walks into the rehabilitation center that she works at. She just has three patients on her schedule today.

she enjoys being an occupational therapist. The hours are flexible and she sees her patients progress everyday.

There are certain times when it’s challenging, especially if the patient is in pain and doesn’t feel they can do it.

She acknowledges how they feel and tries to give them some encouragement.

Her friend Devorah also works there. They are like a team. Rina actually appreciates that, since Devorah is no longer single like her, she probably wouldn’t be with her as much if it wasn’t for work. Then again, they do still talk on the phone a little, and once in awhile go out.

“Excellent Mrs. Silver. You are doing great.” Rina says to her patient. The lady looks worn out and is sitting slouched.

“Okay, you can rest now.” Rina heads out to the hallway and writes some notes in her folder.

Then she go meets Devorah in the cafeteria. Sits down and takes out her lunch from home.

“I got something interesting in the mail yesterday.” Devorah said.

“What is it?”

“And invitation to meet up with former classmates from high school.”

Rina thought back to that moment. It was like long ago and yesterday in one. She and Devorah were 27 now.

“What you think? Do you want to go?” Devorah asked her.

“Sure. It will interesting to see what every one’s up to.”

Aryeh decided to go home and see his parents. He sometimes goes on Sunday. They live in the next town close to his. He gets into

his car and goes on his way. It would be nice if he could go for Shabbos but his parents aren’t religious. He became a baal teshuva at 20.

They sometimes come to him for Shabbos though, and the three of them eat at a neighbor he knows in the community. But sometimes, they

want to stay home. He invites his brother and sister too who are in college,

but they usually are doing their own thing. Although, they do once in a while drop by his place on Shabbos afternoon to hang out and chat.

He was almost at the house. While in traffic, he looked out and saw his old high school building. It was a boarding school.

It has been vacant since he graduated. He decided to check it out and see how it looked now. He drove up to it and got out.

It was a tall building, and very old. He tried the door nob. To his surprise, it was open. The place was dark and empty. It

had an eerie feeling to it. He looked around and was amazed that he use to go to school here. Someone else might want to leave, but he wasn’t the type to run. He moved forward, and then saw something strange from one of the rooms. He goes into the room and there is something there.

It’s like something you would read in Medrash. He’s heard of Sheidim before, but he didn’t think he would encounter one.

He goes back to his car and back on his way to his family. He decides to keep it a secret. He doesn’t need people thinking he’s nuts. However, there is one person he can tell. Natan.