What Fights Beneath
Your shadow shows what you're really thinking. Not what you're saying. Not what you're pretending to feel. What you actually want. What you're about to do. The truth you're trying to hide from everyone else. From yourself.
Dr. Reyna Martinez had been doing couples therapy for fifteen years.
She'd seen it all. The affairs. The financial lies. The slow death of trust that left two people sitting three feet apart like strangers.
But she'd never seen this.
Tom and Lisa Chen sat at opposite ends of the couch. Both mid-thirties. Married eight years. Not touching.
Tom's shadow had its hands wrapped around Lisa's shadow's throat.
Lisa's shadow was clawing at Tom's shadow's face.
"We can't agree on anything anymore," Lisa said. Her voice was calm. Measured. "Every conversation turns into a fight."
Her shadow raked its nails down Tom's shadow's cheek.
"We used to be happy," Tom added. "We used to want the same things."
His shadow squeezed harder.
"When did things get difficult?" Reyna asked.
"About six months ago," Lisa said.
Tom's shadow slammed Lisa's shadow against the wall.
They talked for forty minutes. About Tom's job. Lisa's mother. Resentment and exhaustion. Bills and boundaries and the thousand small ways people hurt each other without meaning to.
Their voices stayed level the entire time.
Their shadows tried to murder each other.
Reyna watched the violence unfold three feet in front of her. The brutal honesty of it. These two people sitting calmly on her couch while their shadows acted out what they really wanted to do.
What they were actually thinking.
What they would never admit out loud.
"I want you to try something," Reyna said finally. "I want you to say what you're actually thinking. Not the careful version."
Tom went first. "I'm angry at you for putting your mother first. For making me the bad guy when I say I'm drowning."
His shadow let go of Lisa's shadow's throat.
"I hate that you got to escape," Lisa said. "I hate that you travel and have a career while I watch my mother die."
Her shadow stopped clawing.
They stared at each other.
"I love you," Tom said. "And I don't know if that's enough anymore."
"I love you too," Lisa whispered. "And I'm scared it won't be."
Their shadows sat down on the floor. Not holding hands. Not fighting. Just sitting there.
Exhausted.
Reyna made notes. Scheduled their next session. Watched them leave together. Tom held the door for Lisa. Their shadows walked side by side, not touching, but not fighting either.
Small progress.
After they left, Reyna sat in her dim office.
Her phone buzzed. Text from James.
"Running late again. Don't wait up."
Third time this week.
Reyna typed back: "No problem. Love you."
She turned on the lamp. Her shadow appeared on the wall behind her.
It stood up from the chair.
Walked to the door.
Pressed its palms flat against it like it wanted to leave.
Like it had been wanting to leave for a long time.
Reyna watched it for a long moment. "I wish I could."
Then she turned on the overhead lights. Flooded the room with brightness. Her shadow fell back into place. Aligned with her body again. Obedient.
She checked her schedule. Three more couples today.
Three more sessions of watching other people's shadows fight while she kept her own pressed flat against her chair.
Controlled.
Still.
Lying.