A single shadow is a whisper of the unknown, a silent promise that something unseen will move when you’re alone. In the mind, it’s not the darkness itself but the idea that something could be hiding there. Fear is a chemical echo – adrenaline, cortisol – that lights up the brain’s threat circuits. When a shadow slides across a page, it jolts those circuits, making the reader’s pulse quicken, ready to leap. The real drama is in the pause, the half‑visible shape that lingers just enough to keep you guessing. Every twist, every flicker plays with that simple idea: the darkness is never just empty; it’s a story waiting to be told.