I hadn’t seen him in ten years. Sweet Jesus. I thought I was finished.

Alright, maybe I knew he was there. Underneath, a splinter beneath my skin. Unseen but palpable.

I don’t want to do it again. Please-

I was downtown. He’s never appeared to me in public before. I was walking through the plaza, near the circular fountain, when he alit on top of the statue in the center of the pool, nine feet tall with ragged dragon wings that folded around him like a ripped and weathered cloak covering his talons. No one looked up at him, not even the hot dog vendor almost directly in front of him in front of the fountain. He turned his desiccated vulture’s skull so that he was looking at me – even without eyes he was staring right at me and I froze, pinned by his eyeless glare. A man who was following me too closely walked into me and cursed, and I wanted to scream what in God’s name is wrong with you people, why can’t you see what’s in front of you?

Maybe this time he won’t make me hurt them before they die.