The Man by Avishai El

It was almost ominous of where her life was headed. As she went in the back to grab it for the customer, she was startled by a man’s head in her peripheral. She jumped back and almost fell back into the wall. She felt his eyes burning into her, sensing her fear which she tried incred- ibly hard to hide. Her breath caught in her throat, and she dared to look up. Nothing. Nobody. He was gone. Was it a vision? Was it a premonition? Was it reality? The questions raced through her mind at an uncomfortable speed, clashing into one another. Vaughan had 4 hours left to work, she just had to pull herself through it and stop over- thinking. Maybe it wasn’t something to worry about. She then grabbed the rifle, the rifle case, and went back up to the front of the store.

Before she handed the man the rifle case with the rifle inside, she priced him out. Once he paid, he thanked her and left. Vaughan finally had the chance to be by herself, but she wondered if she would prefer to be surrounded by people to feel safer. No matter what she tried to think about, she couldn’t shake the spine-chilling feeling of being watched through the window. “That was so weird,” she whispered to herself in confusion. The time soon came around to leave. He said,

“Right, I better go and get some rest,” she said.

“Alright. Get you some rest and take the day off tomorrow.”

“But…” Vaughan tried to reply.
“No, buts…” Antonio said with a polite smile.
“This isn’t a battle I can win, is it? I’ll be off then. See you

soon,’ Vaughan finally accepted his nice gesture. Vaughan

got in her black 2008 Land Rover Range Rover and drove home.

Immediately after returning home, she took a long, relaxing, and soothing bath to detox after a stressful day at work. She eventually dropped off to sleep in the tub. By the time she awakened it was 4 am the next morning, so she got dressed and laid down in the bed feeling a little more relaxed than the night before. Vaughan knew something wasn’t right. It hadn’t happened to her in years, why now? She chewed her bottom lip anxiously, hoping it wouldn’t last as long as last time. For the first time in a while, she felt relieved to be wide awake. She almost wanted to pray that it wouldn’t happen again. The dreams she had as a child caused too much strain on her emotions, knowing whatever she dreamt of became her new reality was beyond disturbing at a young age.

Vaughan remained baffled, wondering why the universe would want her to go through such a terrible ordeal again. The dreams terrified her as a child, and they carried on into her teenage years and she tried her best to suppress them. She thought they were gone but to her surprise, they had returned more sinister than ever. All she could see was his face – the man from the window.

Vaughan shuddered in her sleep, feeling the panic as though it was real and happening right now. He aggressively ran towards her, attempting to clasp her into his arms. She yelled and screamed at him, begging him to let her be, but his expression darkened, and she knew he would not leave her alone. Then she saw it. The sharp, steel knife he had grasped in the palm of his hand. Maybe this was it.