The Encounter

Chapter 2

The following morning I felt exhausted from the previous day of chaos. I didn't get a wink of sleep; maybe only two hours. With lack of sleep weighing down my eyelids, I slowly get ready for a day of work at a publishing firm. Buckling my watch on my wrist, I sneak a peek at the time, it's about seven-thirty in the morning; an hour until work actually starts.

I sighed lightly, slowly walking to the stand-up mirror in the corner of my room. leaning in close to my reflection, I see the dark circles and bags under my eyes; I wrinkle my nose slightly and grab the concealer off of the counter in the bathroom. Sticking my pointer finger out, I dab a little onto my finger and put it under my eyes, rubbing it in till the dark circles are barely noticeable. Satisfied, I grab my purse and my I.D. and head out to work early, closing the door behind me.

Walking in the morning warmth, the sun kisses my cheeks, leaving a slight smile on my lips. Coming to a stop at a crosswalk, I stand silently. Checking my watch one last time before I get to work. Seven-forty five, forty-five minutes till I start work. I wait for the light to turn red, allowing me to walk across the road. Walking a bit more till I turn right on the sidewalk; almost to the publishing firm, I start to feel dizzy.

I instantly know what's happening. The overwhelming stillness is taking over again. Shaking the dizziness from my body, I look from left to right frantically. My heart thumping against my chest, I spot someone in an alleyway quickly jerk their head around the corner. All I saw was a flash of blue and the stillness vanished yet again.

Gasping, I look both ways on the road and run across it, still wearing my heels. Did I actually just see that? There's no way! I must follow whatever I just saw, no matter what or who it is.

Running down the alleyway is a huge pain wearing heels, only stopping for a second to tear them off of my feet. Continuing with my frantic search, all I could hear was the thump-thump of my feet against the concrete and the constant bu-dump of my heart. Rounding the corner, the stillness rushes over me again in great big waves, making me trip over my feet.

Stumbling forward, I regained my balance, desperately trying to keep myself from passing out. Before I can turn around to see if someone was there, I'm grabbed by the back of my neck, pain exploding from my skin. I let out a scream only to be caught in my throat as I'm thrown across the alleyway, my head slamming against the brick, making stars burst into my vision.

Gripping my shoulder, I struggle to stand up and lean against the wall; blood running down my arm and dripping onto the concrete. Breathing hard, I look up and see a tall man wearing jeans and a tight shirt hugging his shoulders. His hair clung to his brow with sweat. He's too far away to tell the expression on his face, but I imagine he has a smug look plastered to his face. He takes a slow step, causing me to flinch, closing my eyes tightly shut.

"You know how long I've been waiting for this moment? I know a day isn't that long but hell, it sure felt like a real long time," he exclaimed. I look up, not expecting him to speak. He stood about a yard away, I gasp, fear coloring my face.

With a quivering voice, I ask, "Who are you?"

"Woman, there's no point in asking since you'll be dead soon but if you insist, I am Skylar Najera." He says, amusement flitting across his face. Never blinking once, he takes another step forward, cackling as he says, "You'll be my first kill in a while, and oh boy is the urge to kill strong."

Not hearing a word he says, only bits and pieces coming through to me. "Dead… Skylar… Kill… Strong…" All I could focus on was his aura, swirling around his body like black flames. Although, there were specks of green swirling in his aura as well. Interesting. I know what most aura colors mean; black being pure evil, green being pure good, purple is flirtatious, blue is bubbly, pink is kind, red is loving, yellow is curiosity, and orange is confidence. Which means this guy here is mostly evil, with some good in him, though I don't think very much at all.

"Don't you know it's rude to stare?" Skylar says, his voice rising slightly with anger. "You don't even know what I said do you?" His words startle me out of my trance, making my heart skip a beat. I blink, noticing he's now two feet away.

"What? I don't understand. Kill? Dead?" I say in confusion, still holding on to my shoulder, the back of my head throbbing. Reaching up to touch the back of my head, and in a flash I see him move, he catches my wrist and grabs the other, slamming both against the wall pinning me against it.

Noses almost touching, Skylar whispers menacingly, "I said I'm going to kill you, what's not to understand? I kill you, I get pleasure. It's as simple as that." His aura flashes green but immediately turns back to black. His face dances with confusion for less than a second then is once again glazed with murderous intent.

I just saw his aura turn green, and what was that expression? It was almost too fast to recognize but I saw it. Was he having second thoughts? It was too quick to tell anyways.

Breathing heavily, my throat starts to constrict. I force out the question that's been begging to escape my lips. Barely a whisper, I manage to ask, "Why me? Why specifically me? Tons and tons of other people walking down the street and you picked me to kill. Why is that?" Staring at his face, I can tell my question caught him off guard, surprise flitting across his face; causing him to loosen his grip on my wrists. Taking that moment to move away from his closeness, I wrench my wrists from his grasp and push him away with all my strength.

He stumbles back a couple of steps, regaining his balance, he huffs and anger flushes his body. He snarls and takes two great leaps tackling me. My head slams against the concrete with a sickening thud. All I hear is a slight murmur close to my ear. I can't quite catch any words. All I can see is darkness closing in until I can see no more.

Over the next minute, I come in and out of consciousness, seeing a blur of blue every now and then. Sounds come to a stop and so does my consciousness once again. All that crossed my mind as I fell unconscious was…

Am I going to die?