Somewhere along the way I may a guy who was about my age. He wasn't young and he wasn't very old but he was very spooky. I met Richard at the USO one night when I got conned into a game of spades. To this day, I hate that game. Not that I hated Richard, I didn't. It was just the pressure of having to learn and play a game that I found boring. Richard was another story.
In some ways, I was afraid of him. It was like he could see right through me and maybe I didn't like what he thought he saw. He thought he could see my soul. OK, my aura is one thing, but my soul is mine and I'd like to keep it private, alright?
He knew ahead of time what I was going to say. He could predict what I was going to do before I did it. Maybe you think I had it coming for what I did to Will at the pool table, but this was different.
He told me we were meant to be together. He had us all convinced that he could see the future. This was no teenager with a mad crush, he could have been my age. He was one of those guys who could have been any age. I was scared to listen and scared not to listen.
I have always been lucky reading cards and palms for others but I could not read Richard. Either he was blocking me or there was nothing there.
I started to doubt myself. Maybe Richard was only a figment of my imagination. I went so far as to ask a friend one night to tell me who was sitting at the table with me earlier. I was afraid she was going to say no one, but instead she described Richard in words that made me think "Vampire".
I had just been scared out of me wits reading Salem's Lot. I made certain I was never alone with him. I never knew if I should run to him, or away from him.
When he wasn't in uniform, Richard always dressed completely in black. He even wore a cape sometimes.
I never saw him in the daylight, but there were those who swore they had. He was either there or he wasn't.
He had slick black hair and pointy teeth and ears. His skin was pale and his eyes were almost yellow. He had eyes that could bore holes through you. I tried to look somewhere besides his eyes. I saw fire in them once and I avoided looking in them ever again.
As suddenly as he appeared, he was gone. One night, he told me I was going to have to learn to live without him. I had never learned to live with him. I never saw him again.
I sometimes wonder if I wished him away because I was afraid to commit to a relationship. I didn't love Richard. I didn't hate Richard. I think I pitied him because he was lost and I was afraid to try to save him. I couldn't have done it anyway. I didn't know how.