The Hiding

The Hiding:Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The cold night air froze the vapor that exhaled from his mouth, freezing his facial hair into a spiky brush prickling at his upper lip.  A chill was stopped just up the small of his back as he zipped up the remainder of his coat with his nubby, glove covered hands. Tim had just taught his last lecture at Drake University before Christmas break, the night class that he always dreaded.  It wasn’t the class that bothered him.  Biology was his gateway to understanding the masterful design of it all. 
What bothered him the most was the darkness of the cold winter night.  As he had just stepped outside of the glass hung door of Olin Hall, he paused in the fresh air before the quarter mile walk to his black Audi 4.  Looking out beyond the steps in front of him, the cold glow of the orange campus lamps hung high on metal poles. On his left, mist bellowed out of a storm drain on a nearby street, convoluting the surrounding view into a hazy glow from the surrounding lights. He stood there tall and slender, casually dressed with his consistent khaki’s resting below his leather bomber jacket. His hair was loosely parted, but overall hard to decipher as the wind relentlessly blew it in all directions. As he began his walk, Tim thought about the quietness of the streets around him.  He always was the last to leave following his night classes.  He planned it this way.  He always found it necessary to be around for stragglers that might have a last minute question, and to polish off some of the days busy drafts along with his cold cup of coffee.
Walking along, he noticed an occasional cold breeze that blew into his face, pelting him with tiny ice crystals floating up from the snow below.  A howl of the wind bellowed;, followed by the sound of faint, low pitched, haunting voices.  He stopped as he heard the voices coming from in front of him, next to a small brick building. Being that Tim was near the university campus, he began to feel his heart race, knowing that the neighborhood was known for occasional pockets of crime.  He slowly approached the upcoming building, taking off one glove and strategically placing his shoulder bag in front of him. He began to wonder why he would even bother to take this defensive pose.  As he approached, he realized an onlooker might think his gait to be funny, like he had hit a patch of ice and was tiptoeing along to prevent a fall.  Suddenly, Tom realized that the voices weren’t coming from around the corner, but instead from directly in front of him.  He stopped suddenly, unsure what his eyes were seeing. His view was bent and quivering as a heater vent protruded from the side of the small brick building.  As he stared just beyond, he noticed an outline of an oddly tall and skinny shape in the quivering light rays, with a faint sound of syllables intermixed with clicking and resonance coming from it’s direction.  The shape startled Tim, causing him to jump to a halt.  He took a step back in a guarded pose, eyes widened; teeth gritting from a combination of fright and awe; and his bag sinking low in front of him as he began to lose his grip. 

Right about the time that Tim decided to high tale it and run the opposite direction, the shape and the sound were gone.  Blinking twice, the quiver dissipated in the cold night air as the heater vent turn off.  Tim hurried past the vent.  Walking faster, he tried to avoid slipping on the snow packed sidewalk, barely gripping the ground below him with his polished loafers.  The chill in his back grew stronger as he spotted his car in the distant parking lot.  He checked over his shoulder to find a barren sidewalk creeping upon him, but only in his mind.  With one had keeping his bag from dropping, he snugged the bottom of his coat down past his waste, trying to keep the cold wind out.  Clicking the remote keyless entry in his pocket, his car lights lit up twice.  Quickly in a combined motion, Tim unlocked the handle while slinging the door open.  He threw his bag across the seat, and plopped directly in the drivers seat.  Closing the door, he locked the handle without hesitation. 
The fear began to subside once the engine started.  Tim didn’t wait tonight for his car to warm up.  He drove away, his vision slightly obscured by the condensation building inside the cold window.  As his heart rate slowed, he began to think about the craziness he experienced, and how Alyssa may think twice about their upcoming second date, had she known of his intricacies.  “A grown man,” he scolded himself, “afraid of the dark.”