Observations of The Urban Spaceman 
It Wants In [Flash Fiction]
Its claws rake at the windows of my soul, sharp talons searching, exploring, hunting for the tiniest crack to exploit. Formless It drifts, alert for one moment of weakness, poised—perpetually—to strike.
It whispers, a scratchy voice which penetrates the walls of my mind. I walk into a room full of strangers, and It tells me, They think you’re ugly. When I’m asked what I think of a friend’s new music video, It snaps, Complete garbage! I swallow annoyance over some perceived slight at work, and It devours the sentiment, gorging Itself on what I’m torn between not being able to say and what I want to say.
Jailer. Host. Chauffeur. It knows me by many names, but I know It only as some indefinable monster. Some dark reflection that lurks within the shadows of consciousness and never, ever rests. I hide It behind a mask of false smiles and vague pleasantries, drown It in a thousand half-full glasses and shroud It within the stifling embrace of poorly-stitched silver linings.
The mask works, for a time. The world sees the smiles, the silver-linings, the half-full glasses, and is none the wiser. But there are two people the mask can’t fool; myself, and the shadow lurking behind it. Each day, when I wake up, I fix the mask in place. All I know for sure is that It wants in, and I don’t know what will happen to me if It ever finds that crack.
Today’s flash fiction was written for one of Chuck Wendig’s Flash Fiction Friday prompts, another “pick your title out of these ten and write something coherent” affair.
The shadowy image above seems to originate somewhere here, but I can’t find a proper page source or license. If you know where attribution belongs, please let me know!
Glorken
The Urban Spaceman
Observations of The Urban Spaceman 
This was great. Many of us can relate. I loved how you interpreted the dark nature of the title.
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Cheers, Michelle, glad you enjoyed my (your) brush with darkness!
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I think this works because it remains kind of vague and shadowy. Everybody’s It is different. Great job!
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Creepy! Feels like it’s about anxiety or the dark side you never want to show anyone. I agree with rhythmandcrime, it works better because it’s short. Thanks for writing
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Glad you ‘got’ the gist of “It”! Cheers for reading. 🙂
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Yeah, I was getting the “shadow side” vibe. IT always finds a way, doesn’t it? A really universal narrative. I’m glad you went with the shorter approach. Left me with more gaps to fill in myself.
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I definitely didn’t want to hit the word count on this one. People will either relate in 250 words, or not at all. Thanks for reading!
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Loving it. Thanks!
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Cheers, cara, glad you enjoyed the story!
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I think we’ve all felt this way, which is good–you’ve tapped into something a lot of readers can relate to. The monster within.
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BTW, I’m getting hits from INDIA ’cause I wrote about ICE. Scanners?
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Haha, that’s too funny! Maybe it’s just folks hoping you can help them with their Green Card applications. 😉
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Let IT in. IT is the real you…the alter ego that wants to express itself. Your “ID.”
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Indeed! Nothing like being haunted by an unrealised Shadow.
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I love this! Creepy and oddly relatable.
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Thank you! 🙂
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