Silhouette in the Dark

I.

                                                                  [2012]

Steve Rogers stepped onto the front stoop of his apartment building, stretching his left arm across his chest and holding it for a few seconds. He switched to his right arm, stretching it to the left and feeling the pull on the muscles in his shoulder. He repeated the process a few more times, warming up for a brisk run on the National Mall. Just as he dropped his arms, a familiar sensation crept over him. Trying to be nonchalant, he glanced around.

Someone was watching him. He could feel their gaze on him as he continued to search his surroundings. A young couple was walking further down the sidewalk, but they were too lost in each other's eyes to notice him. Across the street, an older woman tossed some birdseed to the pigeons. No threat there. Steve swept his gaze across the numerous windows on the front of the building. A few were open to let the cool morning air in, but no one was in sight.

Steve lost all sense of nonchalance and begin looking around in earnest. Someone was here. He just knew it. He walked down the few steps to the sidewalk and began walking toward the fenced-in bushes at the corner of the building. Perhaps someone was hiding the shrubbery. He had only taken a few steps when a voice called out from behind him.

"You trying to get a head start on me?" Steve turned and smiled at his neighbor as he exited the building. They had recently become friends and ran the Mall together every few days. The man held up his cellphone and shook his head. "Sorry that call lasted so long. I thought it would be a quick check-in."

"Someone you haven't heard from in a while?" Steve asked, walking toward his friend but glancing back toward the shrubs.

"I actually just saw him a few days ago. He's starting a support group for vets dealing with post-traumatic stress." The man noticed Steve's distracted gaze and cast his own glance toward the bushes. "Something over there?"

Steve looked again, but the shadow of the building made it impossible to tell if something was really there or not. "I don't know. I guess not." He turned back toward his neighbor and shrugged. "Probably nothing. You ready to run?"

"Yeah, let's go." The man started off down the sidewalk at a steady pace. Steve followed after him, easily matching pace with his friend. Maybe it really was nothing, he thought to himself, deciding to cast the matter aside. There were more important things at hand. Still, he couldn't resist the urge as they jogged down the sidewalk. He turned his head one last time toward the bushes.

The leaves were rustling, without a breath of a wind to be felt.

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She watched them run away before slipping away into the shadows. When the tall one turned his head again, she would be gone, leaving him to believe he had imagined the whole thing. She crept along the side of the building, tracing the bricks with her fingertips. It had taken many years, but at last, she had found him. After all this time, he was the one. And now that she knew where he was, she could begin to plan her next move. Things were coming together nicely.