A Gentle Shadow

Your words of an embrace and a companion named Void stirred in the stillness as morning returned. Emerging from beneath the oak leaf, a dark, velvet-soft scrap of fallen black fabric lay crumpled in the dirt beside the bench post, draped like an outstretched limb. I approached with quiet, deliberate footsteps and unsheathed my nail. Lowering my guard, I leaned forward, pressing my smooth shell gently against the plush darkness. It received me in soft, motionless silence, wrapping around my cloak like a patient greeting.