Face in the alley
The highest place in Hope Hills, Oklahoma, population 1200, was the courthouse. The walls of the courthouse were staggered flat rock carried from a lake some 20 miles away, by the founder of the town himself in a horse drawn carriage, or thats how the story goes. The flat rock stood out from the wall in many places from the ground all the way up to the fourth story. So that gives you how Mitch Sanders was able to climb the wall up to forth story, but it doesn't give you the why.
Mitch was dressed in a business suit and was slightly overweight, but managed to get to the top of the courthouse without so much as a slip. Mitch didn't rest when he got to the top instead he walked straight to the edge, and looked out over the town. The town of Hope Hills looked much bigger than it actually was from forty feet up, especially being the highest point in town. The lights would have actually been beautiful if it was anyone else standing up on the fourth story of the courthouse. But Mitch didn't come here for Beauty, he came here to die. Mitch took a look at his watch, it was 11:15 p.m.
No tears came as he thought of his little boy Jay, or his little girl Caitlin. He knew they would be better off without him. They would get his social security and there Grandparents would be excellent guardians. His mom and dad wouldn't mind the job. He had been nothing but a thorn in there side since he squandered there farm, in the family for a century, on a bad investment. Now he had lost another job because of his increasingly dangerous temperament. He pulled out his cell phone and looked at the background photo. It was him, his son, and his daughter on easter last year. Everything seemed to be going right back then and Mitch had one of those rare smiles on his face. He stood up suddenly and chunked the phone across the street in front of the courthouse.
"I DON"T NEED YOUR GUILT." He screamed. White spittle getting caught in his well kept goatee as he spewed the hateful words out of his mouth like he was expelling some of the hate from his very soul. He watched the phone bounce across the street. The battery came out and slid into a small space the size of half an alleyway between a lawyers office, and A Cash advance center. He watched it for a while wondering why he even through it in the first place. Thats when his eyes settled on a shape in the darkness.
No street light reached the small alleyway, and he shouldn't have been able to see anything in the pitch darkness of the small alley. But he did see something. He was staring at it as surely as it was staring at him. It was impossibly white, and it was a face. Mitch shook his head, thinking to himself its just the stress of what you are about to do, and looked back at the alley. Nothing was there.
"See" he said to himself. Stress is just getting to me. Mitch looked over the side of the courthouse to make sure there would be nothing to break his fall and prepared to jump head first off the fourth floor. He took a deep breath, images of his son and daughter flashing through his head, and now the tears did begin to fall. He howled with the anguish of them waking up in the morning with out a father. His life snuffed out as easy as blowing out a candle. He bit back and summoned his strength. This was the only choice and he wasn't going to fail at this to. He backed up to take a ruining start, and then.
"I figured you were going to jump when you first got up here." A voice said behind him. "People who wait usually don't have the balls to go through with it, but it appears you are going to do it after all."
Mitch froze not wanting to turn around. What if it was a cop or someone that noticed he was up here. They would take him down and put him away somewhere. They're coming to take me away ha ha, they're coming to take me away he he. Mitch remembered a song he used to sing as a kid and it made chills run down his spine.
"I'm not a cop Mitch. I have a proposition for you if your willing to listen." The voice had a darker edge to it that Mitch hadn't noticed before.
Mitch slowly, very slowly, turned around hoping not to find a cop, hoping not to find anybody. Because if there was anybody up here that meant he was caught. He thought about making a run for it and jumping, and that's exactly what he did. He closed his eyes and ran for the edge of the courthouse. Thinking about nothing now but getting it over with. He bounced off something very hard, and very cold. He looked up and wiped a stream of blood away from his nose. There was a man. Thin with a triangular face, dark cold eyes, and a burning blackf ire stare. He was wearing a dark overcoat that blended perfectly like a hood into his jet black hair. He had boots with buckles on them like those goths he had sometimes seen in the mall when he traveled to bigger city's.
"I said I had a proposition for you Mitch. Let me tell you my story and if you want to jump afterwards then I won't stop you." The man said. His voice sounding more ominous now.
"Who the hell are you?" Mitch screamed. The damned tears betraying his anger. "What in the hell would I want to listen to your story for. I have enough on my plate, and how do you know my name."
"I to am close to death. Just a different set of circumstances is all. If you give me a chance to tell you I will explain. The dark man sat and motioned for Mitch to do the same.
