The Fear

He wants to free them from fear, by whatever means necessary.

The warmth of the coffee radiated through the flimsy paper cup but made no difference to the bitter cold which was fighting to consume me at every gap of clothing. My eyes search the crowd, yet no eyes come to rest on me. Not directly, at least, there is of course the ever present stabbing of quick glances leading to the quickening of steps, the tightening of a mother's grip on their child's hand, the clutching of bags closer.

Fear is what makes them vulnerable. It is only when we open ourselves up to the danger of the world is it that, danger is afraid of us. However, once you are impermeable to danger, you become danger.

My wide gaze narrows, honing in on one woman, her pale skin glowing under the beam of the street lights, this light makes her stand out, brings her to my attention. I study her more intensely, I notice her rushed pace, her wrung hands, her fear.

I abandon my coffee on the ground beside me as raise my stiff body from the ground. I walk with sharp strides and am soon in line with the woman on the parallel path. She glances across once she notices me, I can almost see the cogs in her mind turning while she beings to quicken her steps. I adjust mine to remain in time with her. Her shoulders tense even more than they had been previously. She is looking at me through the corner of her eye as she once more finds her speed increasing. I turn my head to look directly at her, matching her pace once more. She looks back at me and begins to sprint. I smile to myself as I run after her, I love a chase.

It isn't long before I am right behind her, she looks back and finally meets my eyes. She opens her mouth to scream but I am too quick. My hand covers her soft mouth and pulls her into a nearby lane. I lean against a damp wall, its chill cutting at my back, however the young woman held firmly against my chest is successful in warding off the cold. She is shaking so I hold her tighter. I bring my lips to her ear and speak softly. I chastise her for being afraid. Hot droplets splash onto my hand, I tell her not to cry, that she has nothing to be afraid of. Her eyes are cast to the ground, I can barely make out the blue glint through her tears. I tell her to look at me, I shake her when she makes no move to. I repeat myself louder, again soliciting no response. Her fear is too great, she would never rid herself of it.

I rest my forehead against hers, her breathing stills. I tell her I am so sorry, so sorry that she couldn't help herself, I tell her I am going to make it better, I'm going to make sure she doesn't feel like this ever again.

I look at the young woman and am satisfied. Still in my position, hunched over her body I gaze into her dulled blue eyes, finally without fear. I tell her she is now free, knowing how thankful she would be. That is the one downfall of my duty, I will never be thanked, my chosen ones will never know how much they should appreciate me, but knowing the difference I'm making in this world of terror keeps me going.  

Author's Note

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Reviews

[Delmar Cooper]

"beings" Should be begins. I would not have mentioned spelling and proofing over that one small error, which is impervious to any spellchecker BTW, when I read your piece I pasted it into word and adjusted the type face size and font to suit my eyes. This caused three words to become run together for some reason. A second read of the original shows it was that transposition that caused the run on.

So ignore my comments and forgive me. My focus should have been on the originality of your treatment.

[Delmar Cooper]

This is a good story, but the eerie power it should possess and use to possess the reader is sapped by poor spelling and proofreading. I would like to care about this story, but it is hard for me to do so if you don't care enough to present it well.

[AnnaGraham]

Thank you for taking the time to comment! I've put this piece through two separate spellcheckers (a US and a UK version) and both have come back with no mistakes. My tutor in university also read through it, though she didn't mention any faults with structure. If you have time would you mind going into a bit more detail on the faults of this piece. If not, I appreciate the feedback you have given me!