The sun rested mere inches over the horizon as the young man made his way from his office to the subway station. He had had quite a day. Push came to shove and he threw his co-worker, Charlie, 'under the bus' so to speak. As a result the young man was promoted with a rise in pay. He was so self-satisfied that when the employee he had gotten fired threatened revenge, he only smiled. The meager effort wasn't even worth his laughter.
Now that he was on the street, he had the feeling of being followed. As he had seen people do in movies, he waited until he was in front of a shop window to turn to look while pretending something on display had caught his eye. No one. It must have been his imagination. He continued on his way.
There he was. He saw him out of the corner of his eye. He was certain he was being followed by a man dressed in charcoal grey. Wasn't Charlie wearing a charcoal suit today? He wondered, but couldn't really remember. Until the opportunity to do him in, the young man had never really paid Charlie much attention. Like this sidewalk, Charlie was only a means to an end. Nonetheless, the young man quickened his pace. The grey man moved faster, too. Whenever the young man paused, so did the man. When the young man turned to look back, the grey man disappeared somehow. Beads of moisture formed on the young man's forehead. He could feel them trailing down inside the collar of his shirt. He considered standing his ground, but the only thing he had to fight with was his department store shopping bag. He decided instead to get to the station as fast as he could. Charlie, or whoever his pursuer was wouldn't do anything in front of witnesses.
Finally, he reached the station. As he prepared to descend the stairs, he looked down and saw an extra pair of dark shoes. The shock caused him to miss the step and he tumbled down to the landing. A man asked if he was all right and offered him a hand up.
"He pushed me! You're a witness! Did you see who pushed me?" the young man pleaded.
"There was no one near you," the man replied. "You tripped on something and fell. No one pushed you."
"No! A man in a charcoal suit. You must have seen him. He's followed me since I left work. His name is Charlie something or other. He got fired today and blamed me. He swore revenge. I'm sure he tried to kill me just now! Tell me you saw him! You must have seen him!" The young man was shouting his panic now.
"Sorry, mister, but like I said, no one was around you. You tripped somehow. That's all. Now get yourself home. Be safe."
"Yeah, sure, easy for you to say!"
The man shook his head and continued down the stairs to his train. A woman approached him. "I saw you help that guy. He never even thanked you."
"That's okay. He said something about someone in his office threatening him. Right this minute, I think he'd be afraid of his own shadow. It'll be dark soon. I hope he makes it home all right."
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