deepundergroundpoetry.com

The Visitor II

The glass window had been broken and on her sofa was a big rock with soil still on it. Tied on it was a piece of paper, very dirt smeared, and on it was written �don�t even think about it Bitch�. It looked like her husband, Joe�s handwriting. How could it be possible? her mind screamed. He is dead! I saw him buried!
�She placed the rock and the paper in a plastic bag and placed it in an empty drawer. She was shivering with anger. Someone had defiled her space, her mind screamed. She thought about calling the police but decided against it. She felt that something was very wrong there and that the police might even deride her for being so easily fazed.
�She walked around her house looking for other signs of intrusions. There seemed to be nothing else there. Her bedroom was as the way she left it, as was the kitchen. She was puzzled but her training as a security officer and once member of the Police force compelled her to look around even more.
She went out on to the yard and look at signs of footsteps under the broken window. There seemed to be a slight indentation on the grass but nothing else.
She looked towards the woods some hundred metres from her home. No it was too far away. The path leading into the woods was as lonely as it has always been. In her ten years living in the house, she had only seen people walk into the woods a couple of time. She had never ventured out there as she had no time on her hands to waste in wood-walks.
�Suddenly out of the woods, a gangly man seemed to stumble out, and fall flat on his face. She almost screamed until she saw that he was being dragged by a huge black dog with woolly hair, maybe a Russian Terrier, Jane thought.
The dog gave a resounding bark, making her jump. She loved dogs but huge ones intimidated her.
�She backed away as the dog ran towards her, dragging the stumbling man behind.
�Mugggs�.!� The man shouted and the leash got pulled out of his hands. The dog ran past Jane, and the man stood there gaining his balance as he brushed his hair out of his face.
��Sorry that was my dog Mugs, he thought he saw something interesting out here and he dragged me�we were taking a walk in the woods�.� he stammered pointing at the dog and at the pathway into the woods.
Jane looked at the man, silently.
��I am Gerald by the way, I live at the other side of the woods,� he put out his hand, and Jane took it saying her name. Jane. She looked at the tall gangly man, with his unruly dark hair, and thought he bore a resemblance to the textbook description of Ichabod Crane.
��Jane�� the man said, and then went down on his back with a thump, and his breath came out like �swoosh� and the huge dog stood on him licking his face and breathing hard.
�He struggled up, and regained his hold on the leash, and giving Jane a sheepish smile, he started to say, �I got to bring this mutt home�� that was all that he managed to say and then he was pulled by the dog that ran back to where they came from.
�Jane stared at the disappearing figure for the longest time. She had never seen the man before, although Joe had once mentioned about some hermit at the other side of the woods.
�She shook her head, and dismissed the incident. She went into her house, made a mental note to ask a workman to repair the window, and walked into her study.
�She switched on her lap top and out of curiosity she went into the dating site. There was mail for her, from David James.
�It was the standard introduction where he stated that he worked in a computer company as a programmer and that he was interested to get to know her as she sounded fascinating. He also stated that he had just moved into the city and guess what; he was just a few miles from her area.
�Jane�s reply to the mail was short and to the point. She was glad to know him and that she hoped he enjoyed his work.
�She then shut down her computer, took a shower and went to bed. � � � � � �She lied down and thought about the events of the day. It was a strange day, a dirty rock thrown through her window with a cryptic message on it, and the strange man appearing from somewhere and actually introducing himself. His hands were large and �.she sat up in shock.
�His hands had been dirty, mud splattered to his wrist, even the nails were caked with it. She felt the bile came up to her throat and reached for the phone. She must report the incident, better late than never, she thought.
�Suddenly the lights went off and Jane heard soft laughter from outside her bedroom door. She jumped out of bed, and stumbled, hitting her head on the bed post. Dark became darkness as she crumpled to the floor.

...to be continued...