The man in the Dark

It was dark that night. I struggled to make my eyes adjust but nothing could pierce the darkness of that night. I wanted to remember every detail, the air was thick and smelled strongly of the river. Just hours ago the blazing heat had been scorching the earth and now the air was thick with the smell of stale fish. However thick the air though, there was not a sound to be heard except one. I could hear it as if it  were a deafening roar, however to others they might have missed it altogether. The beat of the mans heart as he stood in the darkness. I knew he was there, as he knew I was. Though the river masked our scents and the darkness blinded our eyes, our ears never lied. As we stood there it was almost as you could feel the pounding of our hearts begin to shake the earth beneath us.

He was here every night walking in the brisk summer air just when it cooled off, but this night was especially dark. The man knew I would be here, he just had to know it! My heartbeat quickened as I stood there loving every moment of the darkness knowing the man was probably filled with fear. The night air though it had a foul odor before began to grow on me, and I could taste it now. This night would be magnificent I wanted to remember this night forever. The air now tasted as if it were a ripe fruit, I could hear the heartbeat as if it were a beating drum, louder and louder it grew. I wanted to see his face, I wanted to remember every detail of this night. I could hear him, taste the thick air that surrounded him, and if I wanted to I could even feel him.

I couldn't see the man I came to kill, and that slowly ate at me. My heartbeat quickened even greater now, and as it did, his surely would follow. His life was that of an hourglass as each piece of sand took its final plunge to the bottom to seal the fate of this man. What had he done to me to deserve such a cruel fate you might wonder? How can I justify what I am about to do? The loud drum-like pounding of his heartbeat is all the reason I need to go through with what I must do. Has this man interfered with my life you may be wondering? This man has been a part of everything in my life from day one, I'd have to blame him for everything.

The time was too close now, I grasped the blade tightly in my hands. The man was so close I could just end it right now, I could surely feel his heartbeat now as if it were my own. He knew what was happening and he knew what I was about to do. He was there from the first day! There's no way I could ever let him stay! I was sure I could feel him now as I wrapped both hands around the knife, I could feel his fingers upon mine. How could I not panic and do what I've done? I thrust the steel quickly so that the deed could be done.

All was silent now, the knife had connected. I couldn't taste the air anymore either, rather I tasted something strangely familiar. As my hands were still wrapped around the blade I felt my fingers go numb. The knife protruded from the mans heart, though it was hard for me to smile or laugh or react. My fingers slowly began to loosen from the knife in my hands, my arms began heavy and the tears rolled in. I looked down to see what I had done, and saw the knife protruding from my chest. My knees finally buckled and my arms fell by my side, my head fell back and hit the ground. The taste in my mouth was apparent now, it was full of blood. Finally I managed to crack a smile, the deed had been done.

Reviews

[Harrisen Viator]

I love it. The suspense was awesome. I do have to say one thing though.

as soon as I read the line:
" It's only fitting really, he was here when this began, and now I am going to end it."
I knew exactly what was going to happen at the end, but still it was a good read and a suspenseful short story. Maybe try and work on not letting the foreshadowing get a little too far ahead, because that's what hurt it, to me. Other than that it was a good story!

[Robert Michael Miller Jr.]

Thank you, I have yet to proof read this so it's probably full of bad grammar, punctuation, and who knows what else. Sadly I have to work in 5 hours and haven't slept yet, So I'll have to get to that later.

[Harrisen Viator]

Oh yeah, you should probably get to sleep dude! I really didn't check for grammar or anything like that, but I have to write a research paper, so I'll periodically come back to this whenever my mind wanders.

[Robert Michael Miller Jr.]

Thank you! I think the most interesting thing about some of my stories is learning the actually stories behind the story. I feel like sometime I need to write a behind the scenes to all of my poems and stories, I think people could actually enjoy reading about those. For instance something you may not have deducted because I never clearly stated it was that the man in this story suffers from a combination of Schizophrenia and Multiple Personality disorder. The man really did have murderous intent, to kill his other personality, and at the same time he had slowly lost his mind coping with the Schizophrenia losing sight of what is reality and illusion.

[Robert Michael Miller Jr.]

Alright I am off to sleep now!

[Harrisen Viator]

Wow. That throws a whole new perspective into the story. I'm kinda at a loss for words now, because of this new information! That's an awesome bit of information that I totally didn't see. That's cool haha.