Original title: “The Man...”
Date added: 12/17/12
Date stored: 05/10/13
It all started that one fateful day...
I was walking down the street one day just enjoying the view. It was a beautiful, sunny day in downtown Mansfield and I just wanted to get to my favorite diner. While walking I stopped and talked to a few familiar faces, and one that I had never seen before...one that none had ever seen before.
A man, old and seemingly brittle, stopped me and talked to me.
"My what a mighty fine young man you are," he said cheerfully.
"I reckon you have not a fear in the world do ya!"
This was odd to me, I had never been stopped by and old man to be told that I am a "mighty fine young man" before. But I thought nothing of it and continued to converse with him.
"Thank you sir," I said.
"I try not to let my fears consume me, I wouldn't say I don't have a single fear because that's quite a silly notion, don't you think?"
"Bah, nothing silly about it sonny. I have not a single fear nor did I ever, fear is a weakness." he said.
The man just walked away with that statement and I never saw him again. I thought about what he said, "fear is a weakness" but is it really?
It's a basic human emotion, I mean there have to be things that scare you, right? Right? Well, maybe it is possible to not be scared by anything, maybe it's just a mental thing that you can overcome. Am I over-thinking this? Yes, I must be.
After pondering the man's statement for a good time I decided to calm myself by reading a book, a book about myths and stories. Whilst flipping through the pages, I came across a story called "The Man". It grabbed my attention for some reason, so I decided to have a read of it.
Believe me when I say goosebumps shot down through my spine and through the rest of my body. To sum it all up, the story says "The Man" is an older man who pops up at random times and random places, and talks to a young man he finds. He asks them their fears, then tells them that he fears nothing and simply disappears never to be seen again.
My nerves were shocked. I couldn't move and all I did was sit there with a dumbfounded look, I couldn't believe it. This book had described, to a tee, exactly what happened to me today. I was so creeped out that I decided to just put the book down and never read it again.
Heh, what a mistake that was...
After being creeped out I fell asleep and then I proceeded to have an odd dream.
I was just walking down the street then all of a sudden the same man stopped me. But something was different, after he asked what my fears were and I told him he said something different...
"I told you I fear nothing, this is because I am fear itself."
The man melted away into a puddle and then rose back up as a new being, a petid being. The man was now hideous with a mouth two times the size of a football. He got in my face and said "ARE YOU SCARED NOW SONNY? ARE YOU SCARED?" and continued until I was pushed into a corner in the fetal position.
He wouldn't stop, inching closer and closer every second I was frozen in fear, I couldn't handle it, I broke down and cried.
"Awww sonny, don't cry," he said, "I'm just going to kill you."
I yelled and yelled but nothing came out, the man's arm started to sharpen and he was moving closer. The blade was at my neck and all I could do is watch as he was about to end my life. Right as he stabbed my neck I awoke.
The man was staring at me. Back to his original form. "I told you Sonny, fear is a weakness," he said "now that you have looked fear in the face I hope you never fear another thing."
He disappeared.
I never saw that man again and I never had another nightmare.
But, I never forgot the face of that man.
It haunted me forever...