THE FIRST ENCOUNTER

It was a cold, windy night and Mary was going home from the hospital where she worked, in her black turtle-neck top and black jeans which she wore under her doctor's coat. She was listening to music with her earpods when she saw something at the corner, or at least she thought she did, she squinted to get a better look but saw nothing there, she shrugged it off as nothing and went her way. When she got home, she performed her nightly routine as always and went to sleep. She woke up the next morning feeling refreshed, got ready for work, dressed in a black T-shirt and black jeans with black boots ( FYI, black is her fav colour). Ready for the day's work, she ate a sandwich and set off for work. She walked to the train station and felt someone watching her but when she turned around, there's no one there so she kept going, when she got on the train, she was sitting opposite her dressed in all black like her, but to her his clothes looked a little bit creepy and he kept on staring at her throughout the whole train ride. She thought it was weird but for some reason, she felt drawn to him.

She went to work happy, she knew she had no appointments scheduled for today. She was in her office when a strange looking man came in. The kind of strange to make you feel intimidated. He said he had an appointment scheduled for today, confused, she checked her computer and realised he was telling the truth and asked him to sit. She proceeded to ask him what the problem was. "How may I help you, sir?, I asked overwhelmed by his presence. He replied cooly, " there's no way you can help me for now, I'll be back soon". He said and left, I stared into space for a few seconds, then I went after him, I couldn't find him anywhere, not even outside the hospital. I went back in and decided to ask the receptionist, "Clara, sorry to disturb you but did you see the guy who just left my office?", she replied by saying "No miss, there's been no one here all day", if I wasn't confused before, now I am, I decided to ask her another question, "what about my appointment?". She looked at me perplexed and I knew I had lost it, "You have no appointments for today miss". I didn't bother her anymore and went to my office to check for the appointment on my computer. I couldn't find anything. I sat down thinking I've gone mad. I thought it's best if I stay home and clear my head, or so I thought.

As soon as I got home, I sank into my bed. I thought about my day at the hospital and what I found even stranger than his disappearance is what he said. How was I going to help him later, when is he coming back for me and why. All these thoughts came to my mind before I slept off. I woke up, after what felt like many days, from the weirdest dream. In the dream, everyone was bowing at my feet and the strange man was beside me and said "I told you I would come back for you". And I remember nothing before or after that. I checked the time and saw it was already midnight. I tried to forget about the dream, telling myself it was all in my imagination. Since I couldn't go back to sleep, I went to the kitchen to get something to eat, then watched an episode of Wednesday. Thinking about how unrealistic it was, I fell asleep. And this time peacefully.