Stranger

"You've spent all these years worrying about our threats, yet you've done nothing in the way of preparing yourselves. Not that it

would have mattered." said the stranger, raising his voice so that all could hear, both these men brave enough to enter and the

handful of them that waited on the other side of the door. The flickering torchlight cast shadows across the stranger's face and the

faces of those standing before him. My body tensed as I fought the urge to race from where I hid in the shadows of a stack of crates.

Something in his voice and the darkness in what had just this morning been bright green eyes gave me the feeling I needed to run. I

was about to give in when I saw movement in the group. A man stepped forward, the stranger smiled in mild amusement though in

his eyes i saw something else, something I couldn't name. After a minute I recognized the man who stepped forward as the man

that ran the general store. Bill Harting I think his name is. He wore a white apron over a cream colored shirt, his salt and pepper hair

combed over to one side. In his right hand he held one of the torches; he swallowed hard as he noticed the shadows it added to the

strangers face. With his left hand he pulled a folded sheet of paper out of his pocket. I could almost feel his fear as he tried to find

his voice under that dark gaze. I saw Harting's mouth move but I couldn't make out what he said. Apparently the man did though

because he laughed, a deep eerie laugh, one that sent chills down my spine. Harting's face paled as the man replied. The stranger's

face suddenly changed. He was no longer the same handsome polite yet secretive stranger that had earned both the admiration

and respect of the people. Now he was a monster, the once serene bright eyes that a moment ago had been full of a cold

impenetrable darkness, now held a fierce hunger. I fell backward sending a crate crashing to the floor, as I caught a glint of steel

and Harting crumpled to the floor. Those eyes turned on me seeming to grow larger until I thought nothing else existed. A cold

mirthless laugh filled my ears echoing inside my head.

I woke with my heart racing. Realizing where I was, I went to the window, the cool night air reassuring me of the words repeating in

my head, 'It was only a dream'. I froze as I saw something move and the wind seemed to carry a hint of that same cold laughter.

Once again I saw those same eyes in my mind, dark and cold, as deep as a bottomless pit, the kind of eyes that draw you in and

make you feel as if you were falling forever in the darkness. With a shudder I closed the window and crawled back into bed

burrowing beneath my comforters, falling back into a thankfully dreamless sleep.