No one in the room would admit to clicking on the lights, and it was clear from the looks on their faces that no one was going to speak up about the mess.

Keith was the first to speak.  “This place is a mess.  Look at all the dust.”

“Smells a little bit like Grandma’s old breath used to,” Imaginary Keith said, “but without the Polygrip and whiskey.”

It wasn’t that hard to understand, not if you gave it any thought at all, which isn’t saying that he did.  There’d been a time of privacy once, most anyone with a formal education could have told you that, but that was a long time ago, just another one of those obscure facts about the path of humanity.  More historical footnote, really, than anything else.  Certainly not something to sit around thinking about, unless you were one of those academic types he ran into from time to time, wandering around talking to anyone who would listen about some obscure feeling of discontent that no one seemed to understand, least of all care about.  He certainly wasn’t one of those, at least he didn’t think so anyway.  But who knew anything for sure these days?  Waiting around near the edge of the sands the past few weeks had taught him that much.  One thing he did know was that he wasn’t surprised when the thin man pulled the letter from his satchel, unfolded it slowly, and began to read.

I spotted a man with uncommonly long legs approaching from the north, covering the distance between us in far fewer strides than I would have thought possible.  A felt hat sat upon his head, which he carefully removed to wipe the sweat from his somewhat large, pale brow.  I was impatient for news of my return, but held my tongue, knowing that whatever news the man had for me, would be shared when it was time.  There is no use hurrying anyone along, that much I understood.

He shows up from time to time, but the sight of him sickens me so much that I have no choice but to spare you the details.  It’s the least I can do.  There’s just no point in wallowing in that kind of picture, no benefit at all, far as I can tell, so I’ll just keep my mouth shut for now, if you don’t mind.  I’ll just keep looking away until either the thought of him finally disappears, which doesn’t seem likely, or he finds some way to get himself cleaned up. 

I can tell you this: There is nothing romantic about watching a man totter on the edge of darkness.  The unnatural tautness of limbs, the nervousness, the frantic look - at first you think he’s there for your entertainment, and you look on, glad for the distraction.  After all, it’s not you standing there.  You’re not the one who’s lost.  That kind of thing doesn’t happen to you.  No, you’re too smart not to stay a step ahead of whatever it was that grabbed onto this poor fool, and yet, there you are, toe to toe with a desperation that you now can’t pull your own eyes away from.  You watch as the man begins his long, slow fall backwards.  You watch him become lost in his own fear, feel it grabbing at you, trying hard to pull you in with it, and you think to yourself, now he’ll step away, because he has to, doesn’t he?  He has no choice.  No man just disappears into a hole of his own fear.  It doesn’t happen.  But when you look down you see the man’s feet are rooted, and you look away not believing what is happening.  But you hear it.  You hear the bones of his ankles cracking and breaking as you clamp your hands over your ears to try and block out the screams, until finally, finally you are able to close your eyes until eventually everything is quiet again.

This is not what you had planned, but you reach down and pick up the bloody feet, trying hard not to look at the splintered bones that poke through the raw flesh.  No, this is not it at all.