In The Shadows I'm Gone

In The Shadows I'm Gone by Evan Davies

There are days in my office that feel like this. I have checked behind the photocopier but all I found was a black, dried up banana peel and enough dust bunnies to start a ranch.

Very competent writing, the main character was very believable but it's another one of those No Ending stories.

I don't know if it's just my own perception but I have been seeing more and more of these recently (Daily Science Fiction, I'm looking at you) and they irritate the loving heck out of me.

I could be wrong, this could be the start of a novel or longer story, but quite often I just think the author ran out of ideas or couldn't find a way to finish the story arc. This is probably my own prejudice showing as for every ten story ideas I come up with I only seem to come up with a satisfactory end to one of them.

[Robert_Moriyama]

The question the protagonist and the reader must answer is: Was any of it real?

At least the portal didn't lead to the inside of John Malkovich's head.

[Lester Curtis]

Excellently written, but it does leave a reader hanging, doesn't it? I'm trying to think of a better way for it to end, though, and I can't. Anything that might happen after the last line would be a let-down.

I really loved this line:

I stood there, hoping the darkness would return.

This just speaks volumes about how desperate the poor character is, that something which ought to be terrifying is, instead, inviting. I also liked:

I have extra clothing, a knife and a sword I bought online. A Zippo too, and some condoms just in case.

Ready for anything, indeed.

Whether his experience was real or not, there's a real message here about what modern life does to people.

[TaoPhoenix]

Having not read the story yet, I'll leave the topic of whether I could devise an ending to another day. But on the topic of No-Endings, fourth hand I've heard it's "more arty". However I'll side with Verse and usually prefer a clean ending, especially since that's what's sometimes impressive about the entire story. Occasionally I'll live with the "arty non-ending" but only if it's clearly done with total class and not just because of laziness somewhere in the production process. (The show Lost was rather notorious in this dept.)

Meanwhile, darn TV Tropes! They're way more fun than Wikipedia because of topic titles like a "Bolivian Army Ending" that just compels you to click... and then "Conservation of Ninjitsu" makes you click again... until you get: (Obligatory xkcd) http://xkcd.com/609/

[Lester Curtis]

Note carefully, that this story may not seem to have an ending, it DOES have a climax, which actually happens around the middle.

[TaoPhoenix]

Note carefully, that this story may not seem to have an ending, it DOES have a climax, which actually happens around the middle.

Heh climaxes without endings are better known as ...

[Robert_Moriyama]

Note carefully, that this story may not seem to have an ending, it DOES have a climax, which actually happens around the middle.

Heh climaxes without endings are better known as ...

But after four hours, you're supposed to go to a Mitt Romney Health Care Facility for the Uninsured (i.e., an Emergency Room). No, wait -- that's only if the unending climax doesn't -- um -- defuse the situation.

I'm not making Romney jokes until sometime after midnight as I hold my breath and pray for an Obama victory!

Now...I can breathe!