How do you start a story? How do you determine the beginning or even the end? You’re totally at the will of the author and how far along a journey they would like to divulge:  none of the twists or turns are choices, but paths followed. My journey started much like most stories,  with tragedy, but this isn’t where I'm going to start, I'm going to start at the end.

I was sitting opposite two police officers in a dingy interview room. There was little light and the chairs and table made the room slightly too confining. They both stared at me as I slowly shifted in my chair, the hard plastic already uncomfortable and the cup of coffee in front of me mostly finished. The clock ticked loudly in the silence. The two officers were looking curious to me, both middle aged but differing in looks.  They say some people carry their lives in the lines on their faces  and for one of these gentlemen life had obviously been hard.

“We need to know what happened from your perspective; we can't help you if we don’t understand.”  The softer looking of the two officers spoke up, he looked at me with as much curiosity as I had for him. In that moment I'm unsure what provoked me to actually tell them the insanity that had been going on.  I was sure at that point,  the second I told someone,  I would be carted off to some asylum, never to be seen again or worse.  I ran my finger around the edge of the cup and narrowed my eyes slightly.

“You won't believe me”.  My voice dropped to almost a whisper. “I wouldn’t believe me”. The one officer put both elbows on the table and looked at me with kind eyes.  I saw the other officer roll his slightly and he took a sip from his cup of coffee.

“It all started about a month ago, a normal day by most people's standards.  One of my hobbies is photography, I like to capture moments that others might miss. I reflect on them later, wonder about those people's lives and what they might be like. Imaginary scenarios that take me away from my bare existence and that day.  That’s exactly what I set out to do, simply take some pictures.

I wandered through the city for a while but the streets were oddly quiet.  I remember thinking that it was unusual for that time of morning, normally people were moving about, rushing to work, others catching a slow breakfast.  But that day there was no-one.

I turned down a road I normally took and found myself in front of some roadworks.  They covered the path, coned off so no-one could go past. I should have turned and walked back the way I'd come  but in that moment,  like anyone would,  I took the divert sign and followed it further. It led me into a side street and down another one. I walked for what must have been fifteen minutes slowly following road signs. It became a game after a while and I forgot about the lack of people on my journey, eventually it led me onto a road I knew and my mini adventure was over.

I strolled down the street and saw that a few people were now making their way about town and cars were driving past at a steady rate.  I stopped to take in the sights and saw a florist opening his shop across the street. I poised my camera and I snapped him going about his business, his smile illuminating my photos. That was the end of my normal life, that picture was the last picture I took that showed an ordinary world.

The next few seconds were a blur, a roar of an engine, the shine of metal, a crash and screams as dust and debris filled the air around me. My entire world had slowed down and I’d watched as the car crashed into the brick wall beside me.  It missed me by inches. I cannot explain what happened.  It felt superhuman, like time itself slowed down to a pace I'd never seen before.

I saw the drivers face and the anger in his eyes.  I saw a woman next to him, her face a mess, bruised and bloody.  She looked terrified. The front of the car crumpled against the wall and the passenger was thrown through the wind shield.  Her small frame was limp and lifeless as it slid to the ground.

Although I could see it all my body could not react and even if it could've, what would I have done, all I could do was watch. The driver's airbag had activated and he was unconscious.  I could see his chest moving from where I was and I felt anger build up inside me. He’d done this on purpose, that was all I knew in that moment I'm unsure how I knew, I just did and it felt unjust!

I'm unsure how many seconds passed, time was still moving like thick fog in the air rather than at normal speed and my feet felt glued to the spot. It was then I first saw it, it looked like thin wisps of black smoke to begin with. The way it moved caught my eye, as I watched the smoke roll across the pavement towards the car.  As it got closer panic rose up inside me, the smoke began to look more human like.

I could see long thin bony arms and legs. The movement turned from rolling smoke to crawling, its elongated arms moving much like a spider,  its limbs impossibly thin, its skin hung loosely from its pale grey body.  I stared and noticed more about the creature as it got closer.  My brain screamed at me to leave, to run, to move in anyway;  but I was stuck, my feet now in quicksand for all my brain knew.

As it drew nearer it stopped suddenly and I saw its head crack to one side.  I took in all of its face, a sight I never wanted to see, never wanted to know existed. The skin was sallow around its mouth, a gaping tear in its face that shone crimson in the light, its teeth jagged, gently glinting in the corners. I looked up and saw that the creature had no eyes, just sockets that struck terror into my soul, black as night and seemingly never ending, I felt desperation for life within my soul, a drowning feeling of survival yet I was still rooted to the spot.

I took in its hands and saw human like fingers, but too long, too thin, and broken, haggard and sharp nails. It cocked its head in the other direction and I have never known a feeling like the one I felt when it truly looked at me.  For a second, I felt hope and happiness, I saw in my mind's eye childhood memories, adventures with my friends and family dinners, but that moment was fleeting and the one that followed was indescribable.

I felt lost and hopeless, stuck in a never-ending cycle of loneliness.  I felt grief and heartache that felt like it might rip my insides apart. I lost my inner voice for a second and I was treading water in a cold dark abyss, life was gone and there I would stay forever. I accepted it all in that moment, it took no time at all, and then the feeling was gone. My senses rushed back to me and I could finally see the creature again, its deep, dark sockets looking right at me but now I saw something different.

I saw the hunger in its face, I saw the desperation but I also saw beauty. The thing slowly crawled towards me, its impossible limbs moving over one and other, but I stood still, my brain unsure why I felt so calm. It came so close I could have touched it, it stretched its neck out and sniffed the air around me for a second, I held my breath and then it slowly crawled back towards the car.

My feet now unstuck I could have moved; I should have left but I didn't. I watched the creature climb onto the destroyed metal that was once the hood of the car and reach in through the wind shield.  It broke pieces of glass out the way until it could comfortably climb inside. I saw the driver wake up, the terror and panic matching that of the life he himself had just taken.  The creature slowly unhinged its jaw, its long fingers curling around the man’s shoulders and neck.  It grabbed his hair with one hand and pulled his head back sharply.  The crack of his neck indicated to me he was no longer alive and his head lolled back as the creature gently parted his lips and then with two fingers, opened the driver’s mouth as far as it could and held it in place while it sniffed the air around him.

Then it looked inside the man's mouth.  They stayed like that for a long time.  Then the creature unhooked his dirty fingers from the man and climbed back out of the car letting the driver’s body hit the seat with a thud. I watched as it slowly crawled back down the street, it didn't look back at me but I followed it with my eyes as far as I could until it turned into smoke again.”