The candle had been burning for weeks. No-one dared blow it out. It had just appeared one day; the simple, stone mausoleum, previously abandoned to time, suddenly lit with a flickering warmth that illuminated the empty interior.

With the light came shadows. At first, they were simply the ordinary shadows one would expect: the solid rectangle of darkness cast by the alter and the more ephemeral inky pools in the corners where the light couldn’t quite reach.

But as the days passed, a new shadow emerged. One cast by nothing. Indistinct at first, it slowly became more defined, and darkened to the onyx of deep space: a black hole growing on the mausoleum wall, until the indisputably human figure stood tall and still in the inconstant light.

He watched and waited, with the patience of stars, until one day he was no longer alone. The shadows reached out and clasped hands, and with the gentlest breeze – a mere exhalation of breath – the candle flickered out and they were gone.

“You’re a storyteller. Dream up something wild and improbable,” she pleaded. “Something beautiful and full of monsters.”

Strange The Dreamer by Laini Taylor

Inspired by Erin Morgenstern’s Flax-Golden Tales, I have decided to embark on my own creative writing blog series, “Wild & Improbable Tales”, as a way to write more freely and more frequently. At least once a week, I will choose a card at random from The School Of Life‘s ‘Small Pleasures’ box and use the image and/or writing on the back to inspire a short piece of creative writing. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.