Day 197

The lampost flickered twice as she stared at it determinedly.
There wasn't much else for her to do as she waited for her bus.
She kept seeing pale flickers up and down the pole.
Her bus wasn't due for another five or so minutes so she crossed the road
to get a closer look.

She reckoned it was a mouse or something.
As she began crossing the road a hand appeared from behind the light, grasping
the pole so tight the knuckles turned white.
Standing still she leant left and right, trying to see the person behind.
It must be some kind of practical joke.

Her voice echoed harshly as she called out to the prankster.
There was no reply but another hand joined the first.
This new hand was right at the top of the pole, just below the light.
Far too high to be connected to the same unseen person as the first hand yet
they something about them seemed to belong to one being.

The bus stop looked far more inviting now and she began to back away slowly.
With every step she took another hand appeared.
By the time she reached the bus shelter there were eight or so clenching and
unclenching around the streetlight rhythmically.
More appeared with every blink of her unbelieving eyes.

Her attention was distracted momentarily as her bus finally pulled up.
Quickly flashing her bus pass she grabbed the only available seat at the back by the window.

As the bus pulled away she looked towards the streetlight.
From the rear window she could clearly see the rest of the being.
All of the hands were theirs, attached with impossibly thin arms that had far too many joints
and were all the same sickly shade.

It was looking at her.
Its bulbous uncannily familiar head tilted at an unnatural angle as it grinned with a mouth
too full of teeth to close.
It had no body.

Frightened she turned her attention to the front of the bus, determined not to panic.
However the whole way home,out of the corner of her eye she could see it.
Clasping every lamppost they drove past with those stick thin hands.

She wondered how long it would follow her for.

As her bus pulled up to her well lit street, she had no other choice but to find out.