Feature
Shadows In The Rain

D J Ahmed

It was very late, shadow cast and misty as the rain was pouring in a light steady drizzle. It was the type of drizzle that makes the city relinquish it's steamy warmth. The rain comes down and pools on top of the valleys of sweat. All from the drizzle and the hue cast humidity that relinquishes one's soul. The first realization that I was not alone came from the stench. It came from far away. Enough so that it could have been said to be steadily creeping up on me. It finally caught up to me and encircled itself around so that I had to notice it.

At once it was a friend and a mystery. It was everything forbidden and everything I ever seemed to want.

Quickly, I glanced around to find where it had come from. He was leaning against the old rusty gates that was part of a building. The rain splatting against the rim of his faded dark cap and sliding down his black leather trench coat. I shivered. He never looked up at me. Not then, anyway.

Time seamed to stop, as it turned suddenly from a slight drizzle to a hellish downpour. Without looking at me, he motioned with his hand. A shiver went up my spine as if doom was staring at me, as if time stood still. As I slowly walked, with ever-slow foot steps, towards him, I tried to get a look at his face, his hollow eyes. Both were slightly hidden. The warning signal went off deep inside me. I should have run just as shivers ran up my spine. I didn't want to go toward him.

When I closed in on him he lifted his hand, gloved in tattered leather, and brushed the icy cold finger tips over my eyes. Like a web of illusions, I closed my eyes.

His fingers slid down to my chin, then to my shoulder and elbow. He led me in to a realm of geometry.

I don't remember all the twists and turns of the first trip in time. I don't remember how long it took, or how short. I don't recall anything except the sound of the pouring rain hitting the ground, the feel of him cupping my elbow and that forbidden stench.

I do remember that he broke it suddenly, as quick as it started. He spoke a word. It was not a word like that which anybody else spoke. Instead, it came from beyond the realm of death, in the darkness. I opened my eyes, looked quickly around and saw nothing.

I was alone, standing in a small circle of light that captured my fearful soul. He was gone. I did not understand how I could hear commands not spoken. I turned three times, then half dizzy, mindless, stopped. I wanted to sit down, my legs were wobbly. He emerged from the darkness, minus the stench. I was entranced by his very being. He held a package out to me until I took it.

Mere seconds of an over-turned hourglass. I looked at the strange package. It had my name on it. I looked up to ask him how he knew. He was gone. The command of a voiceless realm came. Again, I was disappointed. I wanted to ask

"To whom?".

But I couldn't find the courage to do so. Instead I nodded and closed my eyes for just a minute, as time seemed to stand still.

The sound of pouring rain was louder then ever before, more entrenched.

I opened my eyes to find myself holding a package, standing outside the old iron gates of the building. The man was gone. I was confused. I wanted to see his face, his hollow eyes. I slowly opened the package. He was gone. The contents of the package was a scroll. A signpost to my destiny. The future. A life's tale for a mystery in a timeless night.