Entry 1

Day 1 - Friday

I’m not sure why I feel like writing this. But I think I have to.

Twelve days ago. I was driving back from a party just after one in the morning, and I was a little drunk. Not bad, you know, I had only had a few beers, and there was no way I was blowing an .08, but I was certainly buzzed. I turned down my street – you know the kind: long and empty with city-planted trees lining the road on both sides – and relaxed a bit in my seat. I was only a minute or two from home, and I was already fantasizing about bed when my car suddenly stopped in the road. It wasn’t like it came to a screeching halt or anything, but the engine cut out, and it rolled to a stop after another hundred feet or so. The street was deserted, except for two or three cars parked outside the few other houses in the neighborhood.

This had never happened to my car before, and it took me completely by surprise since it was only a couple years old. The headlights were still on, the only source of light in the street, so the battery wasn’t the problem. Perplexed, I tried turning the engine over a few times, but it would only sputter out a moment later. I sighed heavily and sat back in my seat, buzz effectively killed, and then I noticed something just out of the range of my headlights. After focusing on it for a little while, I could just make out the shape of a pair of legs. I sighed again – in relief this time – hoping this person knew more about cars than I. I opened the car door and started to get out, but before I could stand a coughing fit overtook me and it was several seconds before I recovered. I looked back out at the person to see if they had moved any closer, to where I might recognize them as one of my neighbors.

They certainly had moved closer. I could now see all of their lower body. All five feet of it. I froze. This was impossible. None of my neighbors were that tall. No one was that tall. I took my hand from the door handle and slowly twisted the dial to set my car’s headlights to the high beams.

For the briefest moment, I saw every inch of him. His too long legs leading up to his too long torso and too long arms, clothed in a black suit and tie.  His head, cocked to the side, and I knew he was looking at me even though his face

Oh God.

He didn’t have one.

He moved. He took one spastic step towards my car and the lights went out- all of them- and I was left in pitch black. There was a footstep. And another. Oh God. I couldn’t even breathe. He would be here any second, he could close that distance in only a few strides with his height. Another footstep, so close, so loud. Why were they so loud?

The door. The door was open and I was frozen in place, listening as the footsteps got louder. He should be here by now. So loud, so long. What’s taking so long? My lungs were screaming for oxygen, I hadn’t taken a breath in so long so loud so long.

Silence. The footsteps were gone. The street looked brighter, the starlight broke through, no longer the empty, murky blackness. Cautiously, I dared to take a breath.

Nothing. My breathing came easier. I leaned my head back and coughed once.

My door slammed closed and his face was at my window. His empty face his nothing face his no eyes no mouth just skin nothing face. The car came alive once more, lights and engine on as if they had never been off and I stomped my foot down on the gas as hard as I could, straight through the neighborhood, out onto the streets, to the highway, to the lights of the city.