Casual and Unobtrusive

Casual and Unobtrusive

Mimicking his opposite casual and unobtrusive, like a drawing board it
took shape as their movements mixed and mingled till they blurred. They
seemed to blend into one. They made up a whole, an entity, self
contained it seemed to be. Perhaps only for the untrained eye had they
merged. But for those who were more familiar with their peculiarities
they remained separate.
There was a sudden shudder starting from his shoulders almost to subtle
to see and his hand had a nervous tremble when he lit another
cigarette.
His mirror image merged from the wall and seemed to edge away, and then
further still unnoticed it slid behind him, then past.
An attack was inevitable now.
There was another shiver and a drop of cold sweat found its way from
his forehead onto the surface in front of him. His shoulders tightened
when he felt the urge to turn, his torso slowly spun around, it took
seconds but there was nothing behind him.
He wiped more sweat from his forehead when the heat became unbearable,
then produced a phone from his pocket, checked and checked again but
there were no calls.
His nerves were stretched and felt like snapping, a nervous twitch in
his left eyelid gave it away, but it was subtle.
It was when she turned around the corner that he stopped breathing. He
was dead for two minutes, his eyes fixed to an invisible spot on the
grey wall opposite.
He came to when her shadow moved through his vision, blurred his focus,
jerked him back into the world ahead.
She stopped behind him her shadow bathing him in darkness, but although
she tried he was too far for her hand to reach.
Impatient she turned twice to try again, but he was still too far. She
could see his shoulders in front, bulging muscles, jerking with spasms
of tension.
There was frustration as she tried reaching again and again, her
desperation becoming apparent to a distant observer.
A reflection in the binoculars illuminated the observers face for a
moment. But it was to late for the driver to stop the lorry, he felt
resistance which quickly broke away as the sound of breaking bones
filled the drivers ears. It only took a few seconds before it was over
and quiet again, the sound of a disappearing motor ebbed away. The
binoculars still stared but the reflection of light which had turned
them into a target had gone.
He could hear breathing then, from behind the shadow that cast a dark
cloud over him and he dared not turn. Covered in sweat there was
nothing he could do to hide the scent of fear which protruded from
him.
As if on cue the music set in, slowly at first the rhythm picked up as
the volume rose, her feet immediately moved with it, drumming it into
the ground. Her hips jerked back and forth, as the music got hold of
her, swirling her around, like a whirlwind would do with a pile of
straw. Upwards went her arms, shaken and pulled by the rhythm of the
music.
At the edge of conceivable space to her left a figure appeared in the
distance. Hips were moving as arms gently swung from one side to the
other. The moment remained captured while the figure walked on but
never reached.
A sudden splatter of rain washes the music away, it washes away the
scene which becomes blurred like a drowned water colour painting.
Light hearted female laughter is heard through the falling of water,
then all noise fades to silence.

© Marcus Bastel