Michelle Neu's Short Story Proposal

Exposition: Carson rolls over in bed, blinking the sleep out of his eyes, squints at his alarm clock. It read 6:15 am. Perfect, he thought to himself, just enough time to shower grab a famous New York bagel and catch the 7:05 subway to Manhattan. On his way to the subway station four police cars, sirens blaring, lights flashing, race down the street, but growing up in Oakland made him barely notice them.

Inciting Incident:  He arrives at the Empire State building only to see FBI agents plastering wanted posters with his face on them all over the lobby. In shock, he doesn’t know what to do and stands in the doorway frozen like a deer in the headlights. His heart beat seems to be getting louder and faster, and it’s only a mere seconds before he is recognized and tackled to the floor.

Rising Action: Sitting in the back of a cop car, Carson listens to the static of the police radio, confused and fidgeting trying to find the least painful position for his handcuffed wrists. The cop picks up his radio and says, “I’ve got the guy that the FBI has been after. I’m bringing him downtown right now.” When they arrive at the police station, Carson is left in a windowless room with one fluorescent light and one metal chair. A man from the FBI comes in to question you. “I’ve been watching you.” He says to Carson. “I know you are the one who goes into a restaurant and racks up a huge bill, then leaves before paying” Carson denies everything and as he sits in jail cell 2B he has time to think. He hasn’t gone out to eat for months, and would never walk out without paying. He knows that someone is framing him…but whom? Someone that knows him better than anyone, someone he has spent his entire life with, but lately hasn’t been with him. It comes to him in his sleep and he wakes with a start. His shadow of course! Shadow has been missing for days and Carson is determined to clear his name and break out of this depressing box of shame.

Climax: In the dead of the night, Carson crawls through the hole he chipped in the wall using spoons to the sewage hallway. He sneaks past the sleeping night guard and pauses at the doorway looking at the 100 yard long courtyard separating him from freedom. He takes a deep breath and counts to three, one, two; he makes a mad dash for it keeping his eyes glued to his friend Kyle’s car waiting in the alley beside the jail. After what seems like the longest run of his life, he jumps in the car and Kyle steps on the gas. The two of them speed off into the night, having successfully completed a clean getaway.

Falling Action: By the time the guards notice Carson is missing, he is already figuring out a mystery of his own; the case of the missing shadow. Carson still has to fly under the radar because he has the police on his back for escaping jail. He sends Kyle to look everywhere for shadow. Kyle finally finds shadow in Central Park soaking up the sun, enjoying a nice, cold popsicle.

Resolution: Shadow agrees to give Carson his identity back and go back to being a normal 2-D black blob lying on the street like 6,840,507,003 other shadows. He confesses that he just wanted to be different and experience things on his own instead of having to copy Carson’s every move. As a compromise, Carson agrees to let shadow have Sundays off to go have fun as long as he doesn’t go too crazy.