It had been raining nonstop for days. The local news station had called it a 100-year event it had rained so much. Everyone in town could be seen sprinting to and from their cars or dashing into the shops that lined the streets, splashing passersby with a sort of reckless self absorption. But he didn't mind the rain like they did. The soft pitter patter of the drops as they crashed from the heavens onto his umbrella above him was... soothing, quieting, to say the least.

He stood at the opening of the alleyway in the cool October rainstorm, bundled against the winds. He had chosen his spot carefully. His position allowed him a certain vantage point to keep an eye on the two of them while simultaneously giving him enough shadow to avoid the stares and screams of the rain avoiding sprinters. His sunken eyes and bone white exterior was often only accepted around the latter half of October. The rest of the year he stuck to the shadows, allowing what little moonlight that peaked through the clouds to guide his way.

The biting cold wine blew and sent a fresh wave of rain underneath the sea of umbrellas at an angle. He adjusted his grip on his own umbrella and shifted his eyes from her to him. This new guy she was with sent waves of anger and jealousy through his body. _I don't trust him_, he thought. He couldn't quite place it, but there was just something about this guy that set him on edge. _What does she see in him?_

She was the kind of girl that was rare to find in his world. Unfailingly kind, intelligent, and beautiful. She was the only person in his life who had seen him in the daylight and not shrieked in terror or bolted across the street to get away from him. She had not only not screamed, she smiled and said hello to him. She treated him like she cared about him.

Since that first meeting, he had made it his mission to see her as often as possible. Each time, she looked into his eyes and offered him a kind smile. He had learned her daily routine and did his best to have his path bring him as close to her as he could manage. He didn't want to scare her off, but he craved her smile.

As time went on, he grew protective of her. He made sure that her days were perfect. He always made sure that her running path was cleared of strangers. In the mornings he stood under the tree in her front lawn to make sure the paperboy never hit her door with the paper, lest it startle her. He even made sure that her neighbors dog wouldn't bark through the night so that she could get a good night's rest. He would do anything for her.

As he stood in the shadows, thinking of all the ways he could protect her, she smiled again. He felt a sinking feeling knowing that this one was not intended for him, but for the man sitting across from her in the coffee shop. He tried to shake off the feeling. _She's just being polite to him. She doesn't mean it... it's not even the same smile she gives to me_.

The winds shifted and blew again, sending drops of cold water crashing against his even colder bony hands. He had to find a way to keep this man away from her. He'd done it before with her ex boyfriend. All he had to do was meet him at night and let him see his face. He never bothered her after that. This time it didn't seem like it would be so simple. He waited and watched, taking in every movement she made until she finally saw him standing there. She offered a soft smile from behind her coffee mug across the road. _I need to get him away from her..._

•••••••••••

She was nervous to be sitting across from him. Talking to a police detective made everything feel so much more imminent, much more terrifying. But this had to stop. She could not allow this... thing... to continue to stalk her, and she certainly would not allow anyone else to be hurt because of it.

"I don't know why he keeps following me," she said, exasperated. "I've seen him EVERYWHERE. He even cut my neighbors dog's vocal chords!" She was mortified and the thought of someone, some_thing_, that would even be capable of such a horrific act.

"I understand your concerns. You said he also stalked your ex?" The detectives eyes were dark, accentuated by the dark circles born of many sleepless nights.

She offered a nervous smile, unsure of how to explain her certainty of what happened. "Yes," she said, "he said that... that thing, that skeleton thing...." She struggled to say it all out loud.

"Take your time," he said. He had dealt with many cases of stalkers throughout his career and knew that each of the victims needed compassion and patience.

She appreciated his kindness, though it did little to ease her fears. "He said that.... _it_... was in his room. In his house!" She could feel all of the emotions welling inside of her as she tried to find the words. Suddenly it was like an avalanche and she let the words take off, uncontrolled. "He said he woke up to that thing standing in the corner of his room staring at him with his... eyes? If it even has eyes? Said it stood there and when he saw it he tried to get away and it caught him and... and...." The flow of words stopped as quickly as they had started. How could she describe the attack without ending up in the same psych ward as her ex?

The detective's voice was gruff as he finished her sentence for her, "he was attacked. I've read the report. It was awful and I am sorry to hear that he has since taken up residence the sanitarium."

_Well maybe he wouldn't have if the cops had believed him_, she thought. Of course, she could never say that out loud if she wanted the detective to help her. She raised her mug to her lips when she saw him. Out of the corner of her eye, the tall skeletal creature wrapped in his long coat and scarf, clutching his umbrella like he always does. "Oh my god he's here," she breathed. She tried to seem normal by smiling, but it felt more like a grimace mixed with an internalized scream. She shifted her gaze back to the detective, noticing his alarm despite his obvious fatigue. _That thing is going to kill me... _