An Unusual Encounter

He was not what I had expected, and yet, there was something oddly familiar about him. He reminded me of the sun in winter and when he spoke, it felt like a gentle rabbit sitting on your chest. All you wanted to do was reach out and touch it.

That was his greatest weapon.

I was very young when I first met him. Things were simpler back then. Days seemed to blend with ease and I thought I had found my happiness. I had been lying in a field. Summer had hit its peak and large stalks of golden wheat surrounded me like a soft, yet sometimes prickly blanket. The weather was only mildly hotter than I would have preferred. It left my skin feeling sticky and wet, but I would have taken it over winter's harsh bite. Then, just when I had decided to close my eyes and let go of the day, there, in the late summer sun, he arrived.

"Hello," I said, my voice still bubbly from a naivety that hadn't been tarnished, yet. 

"Hello," He replied and I felt it. A small hop. 

My eyes lit up like the evening sky, for I had never heard a voice that made me feel things. I sat up and craned my head back. "Where did you come from? And why can't I see your face?" I asked noting that no matter which way I turned my head, the setting sun made it too difficult to catch a glimpse of his features. It was like looking at a shadow that had come to life.

"I suppose, I've come a long way away." He said answering my first question, but not my second.

"Well, what brings you here?" I asked, finding I liked questioning the stranger more than I liked getting answers.

"You don't know?" He quirked his head and I could see the outline of a sharp jawline.

I pressed my lips together for a moment. "You must be hungry," I decided. "I have learned that most people who've come a long way away tend to be very hungry when they arrive here."

"Sounds like you've met quite a few travelers."

"Sure, none ever decide to stay, though," I frowned and looked down at my knees. "But I suppose that is the destiny of a traveler. They can never stay in one place for too long." I looked back up and searched his shadowed face for something my eyes could latch onto, but to my disappointment, they found nothing, so I had to ask with furrowed brows, "Are you a traveler with no place to call home?"

He hummed and said thoughtfully, "Everyone has a place they call home. A traveler's home is in the souls of their shoes."

"And yours? Is that where your home is too?"

"Well, I don't wear any shoes!" He let out a hearty laugh at a joke only he understood. 

I tilted my head and narrowed my gaze at where his feet should have been, but the long stalks of wheat made it impossible to see anything. 

I had decided then that his novelty was wearing off and I didn't quite like him as much anymore. He was also spoiling the last rays of my sunlight. I dropped the lightness in my tone, "Have you come to visit me?"

He instantly sobered up and his posture stiffened. He loomed over me regally, like a king about to address his subjects. "No."

His velvety voice now felt thick and slimy on my body, like a snake sliding over me. I brushed my shoulders, but only felt my own wet, sticky skin.

"I have come for your travelers."

I jumped up quickly, my heart thudded against my ribcage like it was suffocating in my chest. "Wh- You- I- I don't know what you mean!"

"Sure you do," He said stepping out of the sun's glorious light and for a moment I had forgotten it was summer. Winter chill ran down my spine and my whole body shook. His eyes were endless orbs that now sank into mine and refused to let me go. "You know, the ones you refused to let leave."

"No," I wasn't sure if I said it out or not, until his lips split unnaturally wide, showing too many of his sharp, white teeth. And for a moment, all I could think of was a very hungry shark had found me.

"Are you scared little one?" He asked with a wheezing laugh that sounded like a bird was caught in his throat.

"No," I narrowed my gaze. "You may be a shark, but this is my land, I will not let you have my travelers. I will take their shoes and then this will be their new home and- and- they will not be able to leave!"

Just then, his smile dropped, and his head twisted nearly all the way to its side. "You think me a shark?"

I huffed and placed my hands on my hips to stop them from shaking. "My mother told me sharks have big, sharp teeth and beady eyes. You, Sir, match that description."

"Well, firstly, my eyes are not that beady. Secondly, and probably most importantly, sharks live in water."

"Good," I puffed up my chest. "That means I have the advantage."

"How you have managed to do what you have done and still not know what a shark is, is quite the conundrum."

I narrowed my gaze, finding my breath once more. The sun now felt warm on the back of my neck. "I believe, like them, you have underestimated me."

"I'll be sure not to do it again," He said with a slow nod. Something flashed in those dark eyes and he looked at me thoughtfully once more. "Would you like to see real sharks?

I crossed my arms. "I am quite happy here, with my sun and my shoes."

"And your loneliness?" He asked and I could feel rabbits again.

My face fell the way it always did when a traveler left and I found my field wheat was too scratchy and the sun too hot.

"Are you happy with your loneliness?" 

I paused for only a moment, trying to find the right words. My voice came out shaky and breathy like I had been running for a long time. "I- I could make you stay." 

"And I could make you come with me," He challenged with a grin. "But I will give you this choice, stay, and keep your sun and loneliness," He stretched his arm out casually, letting a wicked grin play on his lips, "Or come with me and see real sharks."

I hesitated for a moment. A cool breeze brushed through my hair and told me the day would be leaving soon. I reached for his hand.

"Soon, you'll be a traveler too," his eyes gleamed, and quickly put my hand behind my back.

"It seems, I have underestimated you, as well," I said taking a step back and stepping on something warm and squishy.

He stood up straight once more as if forgetting for a moment who he was and then remembering. "So you have made your choice?"

"Yes," I said with a firm nod. " I choose my field and my sun."

Then, he did something I wasn't expecting, he asked, "What do they call you little one?"

"Kore," I replied quickly as if this entire time all I wanted from him was to know me.

"Well, Kore," He said with a pleased sigh, "Thank you for entertaining this weary traveler and I do hope I see you again."

My heart sank to my stomach. "You're really going?"

"I've only come to collect what is mine and I'm not quite as fond of the sun as you are." He said with a small shrug. He paused for a moment before adding, "Maybe one day you'll come to see me."

I huffed and stood up to my tallest height. With the bravest voice I could muster I said, "I doubt it."

Little did I know, I was very, very wrong.