The Dark Stalker Read online

  “First, I would throw you down and step on your face with them and then I’d kill you!” Travis said in a threatening tone, lunging at Troy causing him to run away with a silly grin on his face. “Come here you little snot!” Travis said as he started to chase his younger brother.

  “Get him! Get that little snot!” Carl shouted as he joined Travis in the chase.

  Troy turned to see how far they were behind him but they were closing in. Carl and Travis soon caught up to him and began beating on him in a playful manner. All three were laughing while Troy called out occasional screams of “Stop!” and “Let me go!” After a short while, Carl and Travis released Troy and they resumed their journey to the mall. That didn’t stop Troy from his relentless teasing.

  *****

  Back at the house, Ron hustled downstairs to take a quick trip to the local hardware store. His eyes gleamed once more when he spied his wife sitting on the couch watching the Food Network. He crept over and gave her a soft peck on the cheek. She turned and looked at him with a loving smile and her eyes followed him as he walked out the room heading for the side door.

  The hardware store was less than a mile away, just down the street and around the corner. At the stop sign at the end of his street, there were some bushes that partially obstructed his view to his left. He inched forward and looked left, then to his right, and then left again to make sure it was clear. No vehicles were in sight, so he began his right-hand turn. Then something flashed in the corner of his eye. He turned his head to the left and a large SUV came bearing down toward him at a high rate of speed. It came out of nowhere. Ron slammed on the brakes, jerking forward then back in his seat. The SUV barreled right through the stop sign, just missing the front of Ron’s car.

  “You dumb muthafucker! Asswipe!” Ron shouted from inside of his car, exasperated by the driver’s arrogance and ignorance.

  With the sudden onslaught of adrenaline, he gave serious thought to giving chase but decided against it. The best thing to do was release his anger. Forcing a possible altercation would not be wise. Anyway, both he and his vehicle were okay, but he was still a bit shaken up. He looked to his left again then continued his right turn. His music eased his mind and he proceeded, without further incident, to his destination.

  In the parking lot of the strip mall, he pulled into an empty space, exited the car, and stepped inside the hardware store.

  “Hello sir! Is there something I can help you find today?” the store employee asked as he walked through the sliding door.

  “Not right now, thanks. I just want to look around for a bit, but if I need anything, I’ll come and get you,” Ron said as he headed to the far left aisle.

  “Fine sir. Take your time to explore,” the employee said.

  Ron took his time moving up and down the aisles, trying to remember what he needed to buy. He knew he should have written down what he needed. He spotted some scorpion repellant. That was one item. Down the next aisle, he picked up an LED UV flashlight that makes scorpions glow at night. At the back of the store were a stack of plastic carriers. He pulled one out, placed his items in it, and continued shopping.

  When he was done, he approached the checkout area and immediately regretted taking such a long time in the store. Six people were ahead of him in the only line available, and it wasn’t moving very fast. A bit frustrated, he took his place in line and passed the time by staring out the store’s large windows to watch passing traffic. Across the street from the store was a stationary figure, all black. He couldn’t tell if it was a person or not but he was dismayed at how still it stood. He kept staring at the figure, unaware the line began moving in front of him. The gap between him and the customer in front of him drew fairly large when the man behind him tapped in on the shoulder, breaking his stare, and said,

  “Excuse me sir! Sir! The line is moving.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry.” He closed the gap and turned back to the man behind him to explain himself.

  “I was just looking out the window across the street wondering what that black thing was. Do you see it?”

  The man smiled then looked out the window and asked,

  “What thing? I don’t see it.”

  Ron pointed and said, “That thing right over…”

  The figure was gone. He looked around some more. It had disappeared. Perplexed, he said, “I know I saw something across the street.”

  “Well, whatever it was, it’s gone now,” the man said.

  Ron was stumped. Did he hallucinate the whole thing? He was sure he didn’t. He wondered if that stop sign runner affected him more than he thought. He was next in line and began unloading his items from the hand carrier. After paying for his goods, he carried his plastic bags out to his car and after placing them on the seat, he gazed across the street one last time to see if the black figure returned, but he was disappointed. He climbed in his car and headed for home.

  *****

  A full parking lot at the mall was a sure sign that a lot of money was exchanging hands between shoppers and shop owners, but the people occupying those cars were only a portion of the mall’s total clientele. There’s a large subculture without wheels, and they were at the mall for one reason, to socialize. The mall had become a teenage hangout long ago and different cliques talked, joked, and courted one another, with shopping a distant thought. Carl and Travis were members of this subculture and Troy was learning the membership rules from his big brother.

  As they entered the air-conditioned structure, a sea of faces, young and old, moved like a churning ocean along the wide walkways, and a unique hum was heard where no single voice stood out over the others. They took their time merging in with the wave of people walking in their direction, wary of being swept up within the mob and losing sight of one another. Travis tried holding Troy’s hand as they all dodged moving feet, swinging bags, baby strollers, and other obstacles that created pedestrian hazards. Occasionally they became separated, forcing Travis to stop, turn around, and locate his brother’s face, but he had a knack of always finding Troy.

  Today, the brothers followed Carl, wondering where the hell he was leading them. Carl took an unexpected right turn forcing the brothers to cut across others that were walking. After a few dodges, stutter steps, a few “excuse me’s”, and evil stares, they found themselves standing inside Footlocker. Carl knew what he was looking for but it was a mystery to Travis. Soon, Carl bent down and admired some red Air Jordan’s. Travis could have been cruel and teased him, admitting that Carl’s mother would never buy those shoes for him. Instead, he remained quiet and glanced over at Troy, indicating he should refrain from commenting also. Travis was pretty sure it was his own new shoes that influenced Carl to enter the store.

  “Man, one day I’m going to get a pair of these things,” Carl said.

  “I know you will dude, and you’ll look awesome in them. You’ll be runnin’ up and down the court and flyin’ through the air just like Jordan,” Travis said in support of his best friend.

  Carl spotted a Footlocker salesperson walking in his direction, so he returned the shoe to the display and headed out the store followed by Travis and Troy.

  After rejoining the shopping traffic, they were fortunate to find enough space where the three of them could walk abreast, and that also allowed them to see the walkway on the other side of the mall. That’s when Carl spotted Carmen, a schoolmate he’d always had a crush on. She was standing on the second level talking with a few of her girlfriends.

  “Travis, that’s Carmen up there! I need you to run interference for me with her girlfriends while I talk to her for a while,” Carl pleaded.

  “No way man! You know she won’t talk to you. She never has. She’s gonna shoot you down, clown,” Travis replied being very sure of the outcome.

  “Come on, man? Do this for me. Quit being such a douche. I won’t take too long. I just wanna see what she’s up to,” Carl said as he gazed back up at her, staring like a lovesick puppy.

  “What a
butthead. Come on then. I’ll do it just to see your expression when you crash and burn, brother,” Travis joked. Travis turned to Troy and said, “Troy, watch this. This is gonna be good. Carl is gonna go down in flames!” Both boys started laughing.

  Carl kept an eye on Carmen’s whereabouts as they headed for the escalator. They were standing next to the railing outside The Limited women’s clothing store. Carl wasted no time. He started walking up the escalator stairs as they moved, squeezing by the other patrons, on a mission to catch her before they all decided to walk away. Travis and Troy let the escalator carry them up as they watched Carl’s antics with anticipation. Carl slowed his pace as he approached Carmen.

  Travis started laughing when Carl tried to act nonchalant, casually looking before acting surprised to see Carmen. With a broad smile and his arms outstretched to the side, he said, “Hey Carmen!”

  “What’s up Carl?” Carmen replied wearing a sweet smile while her friends turned to see who she was talking to.

  “Nuthin’ much. I’m just cruising the mall looking around with Travis and his younger brother.” Carl stepped closer to the girls, trying to join their little circle.

  At that moment Travis and Troy strolled up to join the group.

  “Hey Travis. Hi Troy,” said Carmen. She was very fond of both boys.

  “Hey Carmen,” both said in unison standing just outside the circle.

  “Are you here shopping or just hanging out?” Travis asked as Carl and the other girls turned to look at him.

  “Oh, a little of both, but mostly hanging out,” Carmen replied.

  Carl look annoyed and said, “Hey Travis, do me a favor and get me a pop from the pop machines over there. If you do, I’ll get one for you and your brother.”

  Travis knew that meant get lost while he finished chatting it up with Carmen. “Alright man. What flavor do you want?” Travis asked.

  “Anything but root beer. I’m just thirsty.”

  “Alright, give me some scratch dude,” Travis said with his hand out waiting for Carl to give him some money.

  Carl reached into his pants pocket, pulled out two $1 bills, and placed them in Travis’ hand.

  “Come on Troy. You can tell me what you want when we get there,” Travis said motioning with his head.

  As the boys approached the vending machine, Travis turned to see how Carl was doing, snickering all the while because he knew this was going to be hilarious, but to his surprise Carmen was smiling back at Carl as they talked.

  “That lucky SOB!” Travis said under his breath. He couldn’t believe Carl may be making some headway with Carmen.

  Troy turned to Travis and said, “What did you say? I didn’t hear you.”

  “Oh nuthin’. Carl just got lucky. That’s all,” Travis replied.

  In front of the vending machine, Travis purchased three sodas and pocketed the fifty cents left over. He gave one to Troy, and they sat on the bench next to the vending machine watching Carl and Carmen from a distance. The large doors, at the end of the corridor to their right, allowed enough sunlight in to brighten that part of the mall and they also gave them a clear view of the parking lot outside. Troy popped the top on his can and started chugging his cherry soda.

  Travis opened his can and tilted it up to allow the cool stinging bubbles to slide down his throat. After those initial gulps, he sat the can on his lap and watched people pass by. A group of very cute teenage girls caught his eye and he stared them down until they exited through the glass doors. When they were out of sight, he noticed a dark figure standing very still in the parking lot. He couldn’t make it out but it didn’t seem to belong. He couldn’t look away. It never moved and people passed by it without anyone acknowledging its existence. Something wasn’t right and he didn’t like it one bit. He turned to Troy and said,

  “Troy, look out there. Do you see that?” Troy gasped. It was the same figure he’d seen earlier down the street from Carl’s house, but this time it was much closer.

  “Oh no. I saw the same thing when we were at Carl’s house,” Troy said while turning to Travis with his eyes wide.

  “You did? Why didn’t you say something?”

  “I didn’t know what it was plus it was way down the street, then it disappeared when I looked back. What is it?”

  “I don’t know but I don’t like it. Come on, let’s get back to Carl,” Travis said. He grabbed Troy’s hand and stepped quickly over to where Carl was flirting.

  Carl was finishing his conversation with Carmen, and the girls were just preparing to walk away when Travis and Troy arrived. Travis needed to concoct a crazy story that would convince Carl that they needed to leave.

  “Um, hey dude. I…I just remembered…ahh…ahh my father wanted me to help him with some work around the house today. I forgot all about it so we gotta go, like now,” Travis said wearing a serious expression.

  “Really dude? Ahh man, that sucks! We just got here. Damn! Alright. Well, at least I got a chance to talk to Carmen. I can’t wait to see her in school,” Carl bragged.

  “You just got lucky dude. I still don’t think she’s into you. Come on, let’s get outta here before I get into trouble.” Travis led them to an alternative exit.

  Travis kept looking over his shoulder once they were outside but there were too many people milling about. Now, his singular thought was to go home. He’d forgotten about his soda and didn’t take another swig until they were well away from the mall.

  *****

  Keisha and Ron were on the living room couch watching television when the boys walked through the front door.

  “Hey, we’re home,” Travis said as the two of them sauntered into the living room.

  “Mom! I’ve got to tell you something. Remember what you said this morning after we came downstairs?”

  “What did I say?”

  “You said you saw some black thing down the street that didn’t move? Remember that?” Troy moved in front of her blocking the television.

  “Yeah, I remember.”

  “Well, me and Travis saw it while we were getting some pop from the vending machine. It was the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen. Travis didn’t know what it was so he grabbed me and we walked back to where Carl was standing.”

  Ron’s eyebrows raised as he listened to the boys talk about what they had seen. Then he asked, “Hey, are you guys telling the truth or just trying to mess with your mother?” His expression was serious.

  “No. It’s the truth! We both saw it,” Travis replied.

  “I saw it twice!” Troy added. He watched his parent stare at him when he said that.

  “Oh yeah, Troy told me that he saw the same thing when we were on Carl’s porch to pick him up.” They turned back to Travis. “He said it was down the street standing perfectly still, and then all of a sudden, it disappeared.”

  “Wait, Troy you saw this thing twice today? Once while you were at Carl’s house and then while you were at the mall? Is that right?” Ron asked.

  “Yep! It was scary looking and all black. It looked like a person but it never moved,” Troy repeated.

  “Okay, something strange is happening here, and I don’t know what’s going on,” Ron replied visibly upset. He stood up, walked toward the front of the coffee table to face his family.

  “What’s wrong sweetheart?” Keisha asked sensing something was amiss.

  “Dammit! I saw the same thing while I was standing in line in the hardware store! It was across the street, and I couldn’t make out what it was. It was all black and it just stood there very still. I watched it so hard that I didn’t know the line had moved. Someone behind tapped me on the shoulder and when I moved up in the line, I looked back out the window, and it was gone!”