Friday Flash Fiction
Dark Messenger
By Nomar Knight
He vanished,
leaving me standing with my mouth open.
I scanned the surrounding woods with my only aid being a full moon and a
sprinkle of sparkling stars. Gripping
the porch banister, I recalled the oddity that struck my gut when I first laid
eyes on the man. He had to be over six
feet tall. A black overcoat and dark
fedora made him appear real to me. But how
did he disappear?
I spotted
movement out of the corner of my eye. On
such a breezeless night, a pair of bushes swayed as if something had pushed
through them. Every fiber of my being
screamed for me to forget what I saw and go back into the cottage. The allure of safety was disrupted by more
movement.
Once again the
man reappeared, this time to my left. He
tilted his black fedora yet I couldn’t spot his eyes.
“Trickery of
light,” I mumbled.
He had gaunt
cheeks and a sturdy chin. It seemed his
gray complexion fused to his countenance.
It was almost as if he wore a surreal mask.
“What do you
want?”
I could have
sworn I spoke yet my voice didn’t carry through the night air. The stranger spun and vanished for a second
time.
Logic abandoned
me, though I wondered if he was a magician.
Something about the man sent a burning sensation spiraling through my
gut. As if my soul had access to ancient
knowledge that I couldn’t attain in this lifetime. Somehow, the man’s identity remained hidden within
the confines of memory. However, I
sensed those memories didn’t belong to me.
“Atticus! You shouldn’t stay out there too long,
honey. The insects will eat you alive.”
“Yes mother!”
I couldn’t help
but roll my eyes. Although my mother
spent most of her hours catering to her new boyfriend, she still found time to
baby me.
I whispered,
“I’m eighteen, not eight.”
I spun, upon
hearing movement by the bushes. The man
in black stood facing me with his head lowered, the hat still shielding his
face. I decided to speak to him with my
thoughts.
“Where do I know you from?”
He lifted his
head. Like a sculpture coming to life,
his facial features became more detailed.
Thin lips curled into a snarl. A
chiseled nose filled his face. And the
blank eyes formed into what appeared to be cat’s eyes. Shades of gray surrounded his shiny gold
pupils.
Without moving
his lips he said, “I’m your reminder.”
Speaking aloud,
I asked, “Reminder of what?”
Once again my
words didn’t carry into the physical realm, but remained trapped within the
threshold of my mind. It was as if I
could not break through an unseen barrier.
Before I could ask for more clarification, the man faded into the night air.
“You’re not
gone. It’s a trick! Tell me, a reminder of what?”
“What did you
say, honey?”
My mother opened
the front door, stuck her head out, and stretched her neck to peer behind me.
“Who are you
talking too?”
I shook my
head. “No one.”
Sleep became difficult. Every time I shut my eyes, I kept hearing the
man in black whispering, “I’m your reminder.”
It wasn’t until
I actually slept, that corridors of time began to send clarity my way through a
beam of white light. I stepped through
the rays, shielding my eyes. Once my
vision adjusted, I spotted the man in black.
He spun and faced me with his eerie snarl.
“What were you
supposed to remind me of?”
He glared at me
with his catlike eyes and shouted, “Save your mother!”
Screams!
I woke to
piercing screams. Then I jumped out of
bed with my heart practically in my mouth until bursting through her bedroom door. My vision focused on a man dressed in black,
his body on top of my mother, strangling her with a chord.
“Get off her!”
I tackled the
monster and we both fell off the bed.
His fedora scooted away revealing his face, leaving me numb.
“Father, what
are you doing?”
He punched my
face. The sting on my cheek sent a
nauseating pain to my head. While I was
dazed, I heard my mother choking. From
the corner of my eye, I spotted her current boyfriend sitting on a chair. A knife protruded out of his bloody chest.
“No!” Mother pleaded.
Once again my
father jumped on my mother. I didn’t
understand how he had gotten out of jail.
I pulled the knife off the stiff and lunged at my father, plunging the
blade in his back.
As my father struggled
for life next to my terrified mother, I spotted the stranger in black. He grinned at me, tipped his hat and
vanished.
Till this day I
could never fully understand who the stranger in black was or where he came
from. Though I suspected he came from
another time, a dimension beyond my current understanding. Each night, before I slept, I prayed to see
the dark messenger so I could thank him for helping me save my mother.
Each day I’d
wake up and say, “We will meet again, my dark friend. I’m sure of it.”
© Copyright Nomar Knight 2012. All rights reserved.
A Knight Chills Flash Fiction Presentation.
