Eerie Tales

The Man

WALKING alone on the sidewalk, especially late at night, is one of the things that sends chills down the spine of most people, including me, of course.

I arrived at the crossing from my night shift work in the city.

I heaved a deep sigh as I prepared myself to walk along the lonely, empty sidewalk that leads to my house, a few blocks away from my spot.

I fixed my leather jacket and adjusted the backpack on my back. Here we go again, Stanley...

My foot began to step forward as the creeps started to tickle my flesh and made my skin shiver. The cold winds came and hugged me, but I just felt my sweat ready to fall out of my pores. My heart pounded hard every time I lifted my foot. I wouldn't feel this scared if I only had a service vehicle.

I always pray that the lamppost alongside the sidewalk won't go "lights out" whenever I walk home. That would be so scary if it ever happened.

As I strode cautiously and quietly, hoping for a peaceful walk in the middle of the night, I spotted a man wearing a red shirt and black pants approaching me. His head was hanging down, and he walked like a drunk man who had just freshly abandoned a bar.

"A drunk man. Why do I even have to encounter one?" I whispered to myself.

My pace slowed down as he got closer to me. I readied my defense mechanism if ever he bumped into me and started a fight. I only have one plan and that is to run for my life.

My gaze was fixed on him. I stayed beneath the lamppost until he passed by me, but my system rattled wildly when he stopped and did not turn to face me.

"Good evening," he said.

I didn't answer. I just stared at him. My mind was occupied with the fact that he stopped in front of me and began talking to me as if we were friends.

"It's not safe to walk along the street alone, young man," he continued. He still didn't face me. He was uneasily standing on the dim part of the sidewalk.

By the way he talked, I could conclude that he was overly drunk. But I couldn't smell the stench of alcohol from him, but something rusty.

"When you see a man lying beside the sidewalk, tell him to go home," he commanded, and without another word, he walked away and vanished in the dark.

I shrugged. I was sure he was talking about his friend who got knocked out after drinking a lot of alcohol.

I took out my flashlight and illuminated my path because I had already passed the only two lampposts on the sidewalk, and there were no lampposts on my way up.

I continued walking. What kind of friend leaves his drunk company? I chuckled. People are hilarious and sometimes awful.

Aiming my flashlight ahead, I saw a figure on the cement pavement. I squinted my eyes to focus on the figure and finally recognized that it was a human unconsciously lying on the cold sidewalk.

"This must be the man he was talking about," I mumbled.

I strode closer and the next thing I saw made me breathless and gasping for air. My jaw literally dropped as my eyes widened in fear and surprise. I couldn't blink or move my body to run for my life.

A bloodied and breathless man was lying beside the sidewalk. His abdomen had been brutally destroyed, causing him to bathe in his own blood, and his face had been skinned and his eyeballs had been removed!

I felt a frightful meltdown when I realized something.

The man who I came across and the dead man beside the sidewalk were the same person.