A Man of Salt and Shadow

"The Sphinxes eyes stay closed, until someone who does not feel his own worth tries to pass by."
- Engywook, The Neverending Story.

"In the old house we had a shitty, half built garage attached to the side. The owners before had converted the downstairs three car garage into a basement and had been in the process of building an exterior garage before the events that led to them selling it. The was a small gap in between the garage and the house, about a metre and a half wide. Due to the garden being on a higher level and poor knowledge in retaining wall construction, soil and detritus would fill the meter and a half wide, house deep alleyway. A tattered shade cloth made the sun into blotched patterns of whites, greys and charcoal which added a certain eeriness to the alley even in the sunniest of days. That side of the house was avoided as much as possible when chasing friends and brothers around the large block with water balloons and toy guns. Only ever seen once at night.

The summer moon was full and beat down from the twilight sky with almost as much ferocity as it's daytime counterpart. It was the end of the week and Dad was away, being teenagers we took advantage of the situation with zeal and alcohol. Wes had left his bike by the garage. Drunk, dazed, stupid I jokingly ran around the side of the house to get steal it. That's when I saw him. Leaning on the brick in the small alley between the house and the disused garage. A stranger. I remember him perfectly. He was complete darkness, as if no light could escape. He lifted a cigarette up to his lips and pulled, a long, dull inhale. The smoldering cigarette breifly lighting his upper lip, a dim sanguine glint in porcelain black eyes. They catch me. I stand, still, not even breathing, trying to comprehend what I am looking at. He looks at me front on, smiles, the white of his teeth luminous and vivid. I am frozen, hypnotised, a self imposed paralysis. He shows me his knife, it's clean and cool, a lime green in the moonlight. He takes another drag, ponders, then walks off. I shake. I wipe the tears and eventually compose myself. When I return everyone else has gone to bed. I tell no one what I saw. What I felt. Pure, beautiful fear."