Flickers

Part 1

        Dan sat, waiting for the bus he felt would never show. The night fell upon him and wrapped him up, chilling his bones.The sky was lit with fire flies and fairy lights but still it was eerie. The footsteps came slowly, as did the first drop of rain, hitting Dan's nose. He figured it was the water dropping, but was proven wrong by the shadow coming into his vision, swallowing the space around him. As the rain fell harder, Dan held his breath, not looking in the shadows direction; not knowing how to feel. All of a sudden, the rain above his head ceased. Dan soon realized the handle of an umbrella. Cautiously, Dan looks over and attached to that handle was a man. There, within 4 feet of Dan, the man stood. He was tall in stature and cold in apparent emotion, without a face to be seen. A hood on a black jacket covered him up, now soaked from his own generosity. Dan was taken aback but took the handle of the umbrella anyway, relieving the arm of the stranger. With a blink, and a second of time, Dan's hand was full and the man is gone. Dan's breathing became labored. He panicked and searched for a sign of abandon, but nothing. "Where the hell is that bus?" he asked himself, continuing to wait.

        "Dan," said a voice, seemingly coming from all around him. The voice was deep and pulls the air from Dan's lungs. He shot up from his seat on the bench, quickly scanning around him. The world seems darker, like all light was gone, in a black and white filter. Dan takes it in; impressed, but disturbed. "Who the-" he stops. Dan's eyes follow the trail and scan up to the overpass and above the tree line. There he was, no longer hooded but still not visible to the naked eye. He stood, a silhouette with the only light of the world before him. Astonished he could even stay on his feet, Dan walked forward as though the pavement was a tight rope. The feeling in the air was tense but calm. Five feet, ten feet, twenty, Dan moved finally staring straight up at the man. He was as still as any being could possibly be, and he stared back with intent. Thoughts racing, Dan waited for something to happen, and in these mere seconds he aged years. A wisp of wind nipped at his ears and Dan winced as the man walked backward into the street above, disappearing slowly. Dan looked away for the first time breaking his trance. Looking ahead under the bridge, there were small lights. As far away, but as big as they were, Dan got nervous while his curiosity grew stronger. Taking a single step under the brick shadow he could tell the lights did not stay still. They sparked and guided him away from where he was. Dropping the umbrella he long held on to, he walked; the overpass creating a thick black world. There, in the dark, he followed the flickers.