Bogleech.com's 2013 Horror Write-off:

" The Day I Met the Time Traveler "

Submitted by Irene Vallone

I had missed the bus on the day I met the time traveller.
I waited for the next one
As the misty rain came down in sheets.
I couldn’t fail to notice the man dressed all in black,
A hood pulled up over his eyes,
Suspiciously clean,
With orange-brown skin and a crooked-toothed smile,
Both warm and unpleasant.

I was feeling neighbourly on the day I met the time traveller,
So I humored him
As he asked me for directions to the corner of Birch and Hayes,
Pointed him down the street into the city
And waved goodbye
As he strode away,
Watching his legs bend up and down
Like a giant bird’s.

I decided to skip class on the day I met the time traveller
And follow the man in black
As he strode away from the bus stop,
Asking him where he was from
And what he was up to in our little town,
Which couldn’t possibly have anything to offer
A man so interesting (although I didn’t tell him this).

I felt a chill down my spine on the day I met the time traveller,
When he told me where he really came from
And what it was like there,
How he was but a servant
Of a greater whole.
I believed him.
I had no reason not to.

I was grateful as I’d ever been on the day I met the time traveller
When,
After escorting him to his destination
(Mikey’s Pizza, on the corner of Birch and Hayes),
He told me to check my watch
And I discovered that I had enough time
To walk across town and get to class on time.

I had so many questions on the day I met the time traveller
That I never got to ask
Before he pulled up his hood
And showed me his skinned-over empty eye sockets.
“Tell no one,” he said.
“I can sense your temporal ripples.”
I promised.

I came home from class on the day I met the time traveller
And found a sealed envelope underneath my pillow
That held a note reading
“Thank you for your help”
In loose and sketchy handwriting,
And a Polaroid of Mikey’s Pizza in flames
Marked with “8-10-2063”.