Darun Ferguson
Period 3
January 7, 1998


The Encounter


Imagine that you are an innocent person who happens to be walking to the closest store near your house when you witness a struggle. Someone is being mugged, and you feel you have to help. Just as you approach the situation, you notice that the suspect appears rather odd. His eyes glow with hatred, blood thirst, and even fear. In his right hand is a sharp, wooden object, with which he is attacking the victim. You rush to help the man being stabbed, but it appears that he has been dead for a while, due to his pale complexion. As the murderer notices you, he plunges the wooden weapon inside the corpse. He stands up and puts his hand in his right pocket, pulling out a powder that smells much like garlic. This powder he throws on the dead man. Then he runs off. When you finally step beside the corpse, it bursts into flames, forcing you to jump away quickly. Within seconds, all evidence of the crime is gone.

You contemplate the events of the night as you forego the store and decide to head back home. Suddenly you see the murderer, writhing on the ground not far from you. Something in his coat is harming him, and you see smoke coming from his right pocket. You realize that his coat is catching fire. Anguish and pain are fully visible on his face as he pleads you to help him remove his coat. You turn away in disgust, though, and continue home. Justice, you think to yourself, is done. The killer has killed himself.

However, the screaming stops abruptly, rather than dying down slowly. As you hear a cry of pain and anger from a distance behind you, you have an urge to speed up. You begin to accelerate when you hear footsteps--running--and they are getting closer. The fact that danger is present is all too noticeable. You run, faster and faster, and eventually reach a full sprint, but the footsteps are catching up. The footsteps are so close you can hear the source of them breathing.

Suddenly, an arm pushes you into the building beside you. As you turn around, you see that it is the murderer, but something is very different about him. Then you realize it--normal human beings do not have fangs. As you look into his cold, red, glowing eyes, you can see his dying human side

Almost instantly, he throws you from the building, and turns away. "Run," he says, his fists clenched so tightly that his own lifeblood is dripping off his fingers. "Run while you have the chance."

You run. You run all the way home.