Man Lost...

A short brain teaser that will have you scratching your head but enjoying the work involved!

The Day went out with a flash,  like lighting candy, and just like that...the day was kissed by sweet Darkness herself.  Everyone always thought that Darkness was a he, you know... Big! Bold and Scary!  But Brian knew better than that.  Only a woman could blow such a soft breeze, so soft that even the leaves on the trees wouldn't stir, but you could still feel the warmth through your scalp, only thing was that when it came out the back of your neck it was wet with perspiration.  He knew he wasn't walking that hard... or that fast, to walk up a... a cold sweat! 

No, it was Darkness!  She knew that he was in a strange land, with strange people.  So she trifled and toyed  with him, treated him like he was something of little value, with no substance or importance.  Well he would show her...

Trying to find his way he turned the corner...why was he walking anyway, 'Where is my spar?' he asked the dusky night.  That made him chuckle...why he couldn't figure out.  Everyone knew that a spar was a cross between a space craft and a car.  He stumbled and when he looked back to see how big the crack in the sidewalk was, Peril mixed with Apprenhension, they were cousins to Darkness. He seen the shapeless shadows, amorphic configurations bouncing off the buildings like monsters after their kill...No he wasn't alone anymore...wondering briefly about his friends.  He had started the night out with friends...Heck, maybe they had already been ate.  He was going to make sure that wasn't going to happen to him so he picked up the pace, sure that his spar was just ahead, past the next corner.

He picked up his pace and so did the shadows... he was just fifty feet from the next corner.  'Yeah, my spar has got to be right past that corner.'  He checked his rear view... and someone threw a trash can in his way...or did he stumble into one.  Bracing his fall with his hands, he landed.  Keys that he didn't remember holding bit into his palm...drawing blood.  No time to worry about that... the click-a-dee clack of paws, or where they hoofs of some kind, had grown nearer, along with the sounds of voices.  'Voices?', but that was impossible how could monsters talk. 

He got up with a sense of renewed urgency...he had to get away, make it to his car.  He rose to his feet and took several steps before having to go back to pick up the keys he had put down while examining the small cuts on his hands.

"BRRRRrriiiaannnnnn!!!"

'What the?... Who in the?'  Brian stammered as he picked up his feet...one after another, quicker than quick...putting distance between him and his pursuers.  'Dang, they sounded so humanlike...'

"BBrrrriiiiannnnnn...BBRRiiiannnn"

This time he could make out two monsters, how many were chasing him.  He started to sprint and everytime his right foot hit the ground the lighting would spark...changing the scene.  He had visions of a woman, a pretty woman, his age.  She was was tring to keep his keys from him, must didn't want him to leave her.  There were others there too, some faces he knew, most he didn't.  They were all talking at the same time, which was giving him a headache.  People were such a pain is the a*s!  A man just wants to have fun...

'There...there's my car.'

For a moment he was wondering why he was running and why would the word car confuse him so?  But then lighting flashed again, multiple bulbs all at the same time and he was back in the Land of  the Giants...

He turned to stand his ground... sometimes you had to fight these damn monsters... so he punched the nearest one.  Felt the cartilage give to let the teeth break free.  It hurt his hand but he barely noticed..two more monsters grapping at his clothes... speaking gibberish.  "Opp...Oppp!!" they yelled.

"What did they mean 'Opp...Opp'"

One of them sounded familiar.  These two were easy work, they were smaller, softer than the first one... he thought maybe they were the females of the monsters, but just like Darkness, females can be dangerous too.  They don't let you do what you want eithier...

Knuckles bloody, keys back in hand, he headed for the corner.  Walking now.. he sure showed them monsters...

"STOP!"

"STOP RIGHT THERE!!!"

Brian turned and saw two more monsters.. these with something in their hands that looked like some kind of weapons.  "Stop right there!" they repeated.  No way was he stopping for them.  He ran...

Lighting bulbs flashing with each step!

The corner..he made it to the corner.  He looked back and the two beings were gaining ground.  Looking forward he spotted his spar... he meant car...or spar?

"Stop! We said! hollered one.

"We said Stop! Stop right there!" yelled the other.

Brian kept it moving.

 He reached the middle of the street and he heard the screeching of tires...one mind telling him that spar's fly not roll, the other, watching headlights bare down upon him.

Up in the air he flew.  The lighting this time was brighter than all the rest.  When he hit the pavement, the world was eerily quiet.  When sights and sounds started to return he seen two police officers, one standing over him, the other kneeling, trying to feel for his pulse.  He seen a bloody and bruised Lisa come stand over the kneeling officer. 

"Is he alright?" she asked.  "Pulse is weak, look like his leg is broke!"

The officer that was standing up was on the jack calling an ambulance.

"Lise...Wha..wha is goin' onnn...?" Brian asked.

Through a bloody mouth is girlfriend replied, "Your lost Brian...your lost!" 

THE END!

Do you know what Brian's condition was?

A  short-fable by Steve Harris

Author's Note

I thought this would be a good idea to make people use their minds while enjoying the ride...