Embrace the Night

Page 191



"I don't believe in that kind of thing."

"You lost your parents, too, and you feel guilty because they died and you didn't. You come here in the evening because your house is empty, and the nighttime hours are too long and too lonely."

He had frightened her now. He could see it in the sudden tensing of her shoulders, in the way she held herself, rigid and poised for flight.

"How can you know that?" she demanded, her anger overriding her fear. "I told you, I have the ability to divine your thoughts."

"What am I thinking now?"

"You're wishing a policeman would come by."

Sarah laughed softly. "Not likely at this time of night. They're all at Winchell's having donuts and coffee."
He laughed with her, the first time he had laughed in years, and it felt good.

The smile transformed his face, and for the first time Sarah realized that he was quite a handsome man. Feeling as though she were being disloyal to David, she quickly put the thought from her mind.

"I'd better go," she said.

"I mean you no harm, Sarah."

"I know, but… I'm not… I can't…" She stood up, her arms crossed over her breasts. "Good night."

He watched her walk away, and then he dissolved into a dark mist and followed her home. He stood in the shadows outside her house until he was sure she was safely inside. Only then did he turn away, hoping desperately that he would see her again.

She went to the park the next night, and the next, and the next, not knowing what it was about this strange man that drew her back to him night after night. She only knew that he seemed familiar somehow, that his very presence soothed her in some indefinable way.

Their relationship was a strange one. They sat side by side, rarely speaking, yet each drawing comfort from the other's presence.

After two weeks, Gabriel had decided their nightly encounters were destined to go on that way indefinitely, with the two of them meeting and not speaking; more than strangers, less than friends. And yet, for him, for now, it was enough. Meeting Sarah each evening gave purpose to his life, gave him something to look forward to.

And then she showed up late one night, her face whiter than new-fallen snow, her eyes shadowed and red, her whole demeanor one of abject despair.

Gabriel rose to his feet as she walked toward him, alarmed by her appearance. "Sarah, what is it?"