Inferis

The light turned red again after what seemed like only three or four seconds, and, as luck would have it, I was at the same corner as yesterday, with the same homeless man staring at me again.

tap tap on the window

“Quite the ballsy move,” I thought to myself.

I lifted the palms of my hands in the air, giving him the international sign of ‘I got no money to give you.’ But the man wouldn’t go away, he simply clasped his hands together, begging again without saying a word.

After a few seconds of awkward tension, I cranked the handle to my window with an unconscious but slightly intentional frustration. “Hey, I don’t have any money on me, man. OK? I don’t carry cash with me. All I have is my card.”

Thinking that would deter him I began to roll the window back up, this time a bit more casually. But the man didn’t move, he didn’t even look towards any of the other cars around me.

I glanced up to see if the light had changed yet, then looked back at him. I grabbed my phone and flipped through the apps in an attempt to ignore the man’s vexing gaze. Hopefully he would move on and be someone else’s problem.

tap tap tap

“Seriously?! Dude, I don’t have any money. Alright? Look. No cash!” I opened my wallet towards him so he could see inside.

But still, the man continued to stare at me, clasping his hands, and remaining pitifully dumb.

Scoffing at the absurdity of the situation, I checked the light again, then looked back at the man. I rolled the window back down, this time in a more resigned manner. “I don’t know what you want, man. I already showed you I don’t have any money.”

“Look,” gesturing towards the cars all around me. “There are other people here, I’m sure somebody has something.”

I could see the driver in my rearview mirror holding out what looked like a dollar bill from the driver’s side window.

“See! There ya go. There’s somebody right there.” As I pointed towards the car behind me, the homeless man turned his head back, gave a slight nod to the offer, and remained still. Then, after a brief pause, he looked back at me with what seemed like an amused expression on his face.

“I don’t get it. What . . . what’s going on? Are you just messing with me? If you don’t want money then why do you keep tapping on my window? What do you want?”

I checked the light again - still red. Irritated, I looked back at the man but this time there was nobody there. I stuck my head out of the side window to see if he had walked away - turning my head in both directions, there was no sight of him. I glanced back at the driver behind me for some kind of indication as to the man’s whereabouts, but the driver didn’t move. Opening my door, I leaned out of the side of my car so as to get a better look at the person waiting behind me.

“Hey! Did you see where the guy went?”

The driver nonchalantly shook his head.

Looking out of the passenger side windows, and rear windows too, the homeless man was nowhere in sight.

Closing my door, I looked up at the light and noticed it was green now. I quickly put the car in gear and sped off.

In the side view mirror, I noticed for a split second what looked like a small, blackish owl perched on the metal fence along the intersection where I was previously stopped.

“That’s odd,” I thought to myself. “I didn’t know owls came out during the day.”

* * *

It was always a relief arriving home, especially after the daily, hour-long trek through the urban maze of endless traffic.

Elysi greeted me at the door with her usual fit of meowing. Except this time, instead of following me around the house until I picked her up, she quickly scurried towards the back of the house. With my curiosity somewhat peaked, I decided to follow her. Elysi scratched at the back patio door enthusiastically. I obliged by sliding the glass door open and with that she immediately darted out of the house and into the darkness of the backyard. Turning on the back lights, I could see that she was heading towards the back fence, and as I approached, my small cat leaped onto the fence and fell into the rear alleyway that runs behind my home.

“What are you doing? Hey! Where are you going?”

I had to run back into the house and go around the side in order to access the back alleyway.

“Where did you go, you silly cat?”

A solitary man stood among the shadows between the street lamps of the backstreet. My cat was in his arms as if they were old acquaintances . . . I couldn't make out the man's face exactly but his stature appeared vaguely familiar.

"You have my cat." I said hesitatingly.

The man remained silent as he slowly crept into the light.

"Hey . . . you're the guy from today . . ."

He still said nothing, advancing towards me with unknowing purpose, caressing my cat's head.

Stopping immediately in front of me, the man stared directly into my eyes. His irregular actions left me practically paralyzed, not knowing how to act in such a unnerving situation.

I said the only thing that came to mind . . .

"May I have my cat, please?"

The man's eyes widened to a shape that seemed practically unnatural. My cat hissed, and swiftly jumped onto the ground and into hiding.

The man's head began to enlarge slightly, then twisted backwards until it was as if his neck was not connected with the rest of his body.

"What the hell?" I managed to utter in panic.

His head snapped towards me again in a single motion, his eyes still wide, glistening in the street light above. His lips pursed together as if to say something for the first time, and all at once a screeching hoooooooooo reverberated around the alley and into my ears.

The noise was unbearable. I immediately started running towards the side of my house to escape the deafening sound of the man's shrieking voice.

I didn't look back, not even to find my cat. My survival instincts kicked in and I ran, aimlessly. Out into the street, I hailed the first car that drove past me, but it did not stop. The driver didn’t even look at me.

In a panic, I looked back towards my house . . . “get your phone and call the police,” I thought.

Running back inside, I grabbed my cellphone on the counter and rapidly dialed the numbers 9-1-1. . .

Ringing . . . ringing . . . ringing . . .

No answer.

“What is going on?”

I hung up and dialed again . . .

Still no answer.

It was at that moment that I first got the strange sense of . . . confinement. As if the lights, all of the light around me, was beginning to dim. It wasn’t imaginary . . . or . . . was it?

The normal glow of my home from the lamps, the ceiling lights, even the tiny flickers from the various electronic devices throughout the room slowly started to fade.

The whole world was closing in around me like a cloud of shadows . . .

And then . . . the darkness.