Two

Falling into the cracks

[TODAY]

Yah, so maybe I shouldn't be getting all philosophical at this time of the night, 'cuz I've just noticed that while I was woolgatherin' I've missed my stop a couple of stations back. I get up in a hurry and dive out of the closing doors. The sweater lady looks disdainfully at me and snorts in a half smile. What a weirdo, she must think.

I wait for the train in the opposite direction to get back to where I need to go and get on it. In that train there's a trio of high-school-sized hoodlums. They are the most clichéd hoodlums I've seen in a long time: biker leather jackets, steel-toed boots, jeans and dirty t-shirts. If they had bandanas wrapped around their noggins I would've thought we were suddenly in an 80's movie, and they probably would proceed to breakdance. But they don't. They are just sitting there, looking in my direction and being as obnoxious as they can to the rest of the few passengers in the train.

When I get off at the correct station this time, they get up and start following me. Oh, dear, someone is in for a mugging, I guess. All the while they are cat-calling at me and making disparaging comments about my nice suit and the distinct possibility that I am not heterosexual.

"Hey, papi, are you cruisin' for a good time?"

"Hey, he looks so pretty in his pretty suit! Wanna party?"

I exit the station with the trio still in tow, and walk towards the collective taxi's queue parked at the back of the Metro station. Usually I would have gotten on the second route and gone home, but I keep walking past them and I suddenly dive into an alley.

I wait for the trio to catch up to me at the end of the alley, where I wait with my back to the dirty wall and my briefcase on the dirty floor. They make a big show of looking around, making sure there's no cop in sight, which is almost funny, since when is there a policeman around at this time of the night?

They close up on me, trying to box me in the alley. Can't they see I have no intention of running? I put up both my hands, palms towards them, and say in a voice that is not quite mine:

"Look:"

[FIFTEEN YEARS AGO]

"… I really don't feel like being alone tonight. Why don't you come back with me to my apartment, and keep me some company while we wait for Rob?," and she gave me a hug.

Now, I gotta tell you, getting a hug from a friend is no big deal, right? But suddenly there was entirely too much of Courtney hugging me, and I couldn't help but to notice it. This double-handful of beautiful girl could have convinced even a priest to go back to her apartment and keep her company. But I pictured in my mind the face of my friend Rob, and imagined all the heartache there would be etched in his placid, moon-like face if I were to do something as stupid as going back with Courtney to her place and try to make a pass at her. Even then I didn't think she had any intention of misbehaving with me, but I was shocked to find myself wishing she would.

So I broke away from her awkwardly and took a stumbling step back.

"Erm, you know? I still gotta go back to Pizza Hut and clock out, and turn in the clip-on car sign. Why don't you go ahead and I'll catch up with you guys in a while?"

She looked up to me through her eyelashes and I blushed a little, suddenly realizing that she could pretty well guess what I was really thinking. I could see it in her eyes that she wasn't offended, and that she was probably flattered that I had reacted to her body so readily. She smiled a little at me and briefly poked out the tip of her tongue in between her lips. Oh, boy. At that moment I was pretty sure that if she had insisted, I would probably have gone with her and done something stupid.

But she didn't. I think she was satisfied to ascertain her power over my dumb maleness, and just turned away and started walking towards her car.

"Okay, bye! See you later," she called out from over her shoulder, knowing full well that I would watch her leave and stare with equal parts fascination and regret at her butt.

After Courtney left, I headed toward my pick-up truck, which I had parked on the other side of the building. I decided to take a shortcut through the service alley behind the Administration building.

I was still reviewing in my mind the whole scene with Courtney, trying to make sure that I hadn't misunderstood the whole thing

(but mostly just savoring again the memory of her butt swaying away)

when I noticed that there were dozens of spiders and hundreds of ants scurrying around in the alley. Maybe there's a dead cat somewhere, or something, I thought. But suddenly there were blue sparks jumping around the ground and the walls, and a few feet away from me there was something that my eyes couldn't interpret, or that my brain refused to understand: There was a wrinkle in the air. It was like looking at the world as if it were photograph and someone or something had slashed right through it. The rip in the air started widening, and… something… shone through it, but it was the opposite of light. If darkness could shine, that's what it would look like.

Off to one side, a blob of the same dark shining started to coalesce into a material less shining but darker, and grew and grew, all the while forming a rough man shape. But it reached my height and still continued rising and rising until it was the shape of a hooded figure towering over me, ten-foot tall and lanky.

I was too scared to scream, but my mouth didn't care and reacted on it's own, opening wide to fill up my lungs with as much air as it could manage and let out the loudest yell of terror it could produce.

But before I could start screeching, the tall, dark, hooded figure extended a bony claw towards my face and placed a long and putrid talon across my lips. And it said:

[TODAY]

"… There's no need for violence, let me reach for my wallet and you can have all my money. But first, you gotta give me a kiss!," and I purse my lips towards the guy in front of me.

"Oh, ho, ho, ho! Fucking fag, I'm gonna mess you up!"

"Get 'im, Chato!"

"Yeah, kick his ass!"

Sure enough, Chato takes a lunging step towards me and throws the biggest haymaker he can. But I don't care. I am faster than anything anyone has ever seen. Ever. In my mind, I can see them as if they are all swimming in a sea of molasses and I am the only one who can move at normal speed. I can see his arm swinging out in a big arch directed towards my nose, and I even have time to look at his cheap skull metal ring and look into his face, to notice that he's a lot older than any high-school kid, except he is really short and wiry. None of that matters, because now it's my time to act, and I reach out with both hands and clamp them on his head, one covering his mouth and one holding on to the back of his neck. I step sideways and twist his head around his neck, and now his whole head is looking backwards.

All of this happened even before he had time to land his punch.

I let him fall to the ground and look up at the other two guys. They still don't understand what just happened, and they rush to see what happened to their friend. I calmly pick up my briefcase and start walking away.

I hear them yelling at me, I hear them trying to revive their friend, but I know they are not going to bother me anymore. In a few moments they will finally understand that their friend is dead, and they will probably run away home. I don't care.

I'm done for today and the darkness recedes again… For a little while.

D