Stranger

There he is, lurking in the shadows, bordering just on my field of view. I glance behind me, and there he is again, familiar in so many ways yet still a stranger. His eyes bore into me, is it with accusation or confusion, it’s hard to know. I step forward to get a better look at the stranger, almost out of view a light flickers to my right and I turn quickly. Suddenly he is standing in front of me, moving from left to right in an instance.
After the initial shock of seeing him there I slowly become accustomed to him, my pulse returns to normal and I stop jumping in fright on every move. Time passes, I sit with a coffee and attempt to read a book, but I know he’s there. He does not speak, in fact he does not make a single sound even when I walk right up to him. Gradually my mind becomes absorbed in the book and I forget the coffee, forget the stranger, forget almost everything. As I finish the chapter I look up in search for my coffee and there he is, just to the side of me, looking straight at me.
Behind him and through him I can see the feint outline of the moonlit hills in the distance. My coffee is forgotten, I move towards him silently so we’re almost nose to nose.
“Who the hell are you?” I ask quietly. He mouths the question with me but does not answer.
Now I’m closer his eyes take on an surreal look, his body is translucent yet his eyes are solid, almost as if they are floating in an ethereal body. He does not take his eyes from me as I move closer, even when I’m standing nose to nose with him he does not blink or turn aside. I can see every crease, wrinkle and mark upon his face; each spot, hair and freckle appears magnified as I notice them each almost as if for the first time though I know I’ve seen them all before.
For a while I stare at him, not seeing him yet at the same time seeing little else. His brow is furrowed, confusion etched across his face echoing the confusion I am feeling.
The sky outside starts to brighten and the stranger begins to fade, I’ve spent hours in his company yet have still have no idea who he is. As the Sun creeps above the distant hills he vanishes, I know he’ll be back again tonight, will I learn more of who he is tonight or will he remain a mystery? For some reason I’m nervous about seeing him again, nervous that I’ll never be able to understand who or what he is, perhaps it’s something we’re not supposed to understand. One thing is sure, I won’t be able to avoid the stranger however much I try when night once more surrounds me.

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