Melissa Stanton was walking by herself through the cold September night to her apartment only a few blocks away from her office. A journalist by profession, she was recently asked to write on the rumors surrounding the Anderson vs. Arte case in surgical malpractice. She balked at the assignment at first, wanting instead to be home with her family for the weekend, but finally accepted it rather than risk being fired and agreed to stay later than usual in order to prepare a draft for review and editing. It had taken much longer than she had expected. Her husband, Henry, had called and she told him that she would probably be late and not to worry about staying up in order to wait for her. He had a huge job interview in the morning anyway and he couldn't afford to lose any sleep.
The wind whistled through the empty street; Mrs. Stanton shivered despite the heavy jacket she always wore. She could have sworn that she heard a soft sighing that had nothing to do with the eerie wind. Suddenly she knew she wasn't alone. She hurried to the next turn of the sidewalk, hoping she may run into some friendly citizens going about their nocturnal activities. Instead she found herself on another empty street save for a man standing dead center of her designated path. She started shivering ever more violently.
He didn't look right in the dull light cast by the street lamps; both extremely pale and dreamlike. There was something malevolent about his presence despite his nonthreatening stance. He wore a dark t-shirt without a jacket. Melissa wondered at whether he was crazy or if the chill strangely didn't bother him. A small smile tugged at his lips as he took in her lonely appearance. He cocked his head casually. Melissa was rooted to the spot, captivated both by the stranger's unearthly beauty and the overwhelming sense of danger he brought with him. He started to walk slowly towards her and she was unable to back away.
As he drew nearer she noticed that there was something strange about his eyes, but she couldn't concentrate on even that. The air grew much colder as he stood directly in front of her. He said not a word, but started for a few mesmerizing seconds into her large blue eyes. Then, as if he were going to whisper some secret, he leaned in towards her her body trying to contort into inhuman shapes as suddenly she was enveloped by pain as everything started to go numb and fade into wisps of gray and into darkness.