I met him one November.I met him one November. Think about it. November. Even the month itself abounds in mystery. When I think about it now, I realize that i really didn't meet him. I'm not even sure what you would call our acquaintance. Maybe fate. Definitely a precedent for the future. It was late and I was making my way home, through the fields that lay between the Vicar's house and ours. I first spied him between the trees that lay at the edge of the surrounding grove. At first glance all I could see was a tall dark shadow of a man. My heart jumped, yet I continued to walk. I passed the area where he had been and walked quickly beyond the vicinity. I entered the scruff of foliage at the edge of the fields and passed quickly through it to the next stretch of pasture. As I entered the circle of grass, I stopped to pull my cloak tighter around my shoulders. The November wind was a bitter one. I bowed my head for a moment as I adjusted my clothing, and when I looked back up, there he was. In front of me, not more than ten feet away, the shadow man. I was struck first by his extreme pallor, accentuated by his ruby lips. His hair was slicked back, away from his ghostly countenance. Don't look into his eyes, something whispered in my ear. Perhaps my conscience, perhaps an angel of some sort. Either way, I disregarded. I lifted my head upward to gaze into his eyes, strangely intense. Black with an underlying aura of violet. He stared back and his lips slowly curled into a sly half smile. |