James had never been particularly comfortable around strangers, and the latest development did him no favors. As he waited for the bus, the stranger next to him showed only a calm sort of weariness, like a man waiting to die. He was of medium height, and was dressed in your typical business suit, looking like the stereotypical businessman. James himself was dressed in a t-shirt, his favorite windbreaker, jeans, and a pair of sneakers. He would have said something, but he feared the stranger would look down on him, and so he let the silence remain.

Mustering his courage, James decided to try to open a conversation. He turned to the man beside him, and casually said, “Nice weather for November, huh?”

At first the stranger didn’t react. He appeared frozen. He then flicked a glance at James, turned away- and immediately looked back as his jaw dropped, an expression of enormous surprise on his face. He studied James for a moment more, then appeared to take control of himself and force himself away, staring back into nothing.

James wasn’t sure what he did wrong.

Deciding that the silence was better than something of that sort happening again, he leaned back on the uncomfortable bench and continued to wait. Thankfully, the bus came only a few minutes after the strange interaction.

The stranger immediately got up and walked towards the bus with purpose. James got up, and attempted to follow the stranger. He took a step up onto the bus-

-and fell on the sidewalk, throwing his still-upraised knee painfully onto the sidewalk. Cursing at himself, the bus, and the world in general, he got up, glancing wildly around-

-and the bus was gone. As though it had never been there in the first place.

Deciding that it’d be easier to walk home at this rate, James stepped back onto the sidewalk, beginning the six miles back to his house.

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James’s actual day job was something that didn’t require a whole lot of interaction with people. His job was to find lost dogs, either being hired by the local shelter or by a worried family who was lost without their dog. Business was slow, but paid well, and James would normally wait in his office, trying to occupy the time between jobs.

Today, he had a call waiting from a family who had lost track of their terrier three days ago. They had lost him near the town park, where he had ran off into the forest. They had also sent him a photo of the dog by e-mail. After reassuring the family that the dog was probably fine, nothing much could happen in three days, and he’d get on it right away, James set off to the park.

He began to look for obvious terrier tracks once there, and had found what looked like the beginnings of a trail, but something caught his attention. There was someone he recognized on the sidewalk across from him. He looked up to see who it was.

It was the stranger from the bus stop, staring intently at James. He crooked his finger at James in a “follow-me” gesture and then turned towards an overgrown path that the town had never bothered to restore.

James looked back down at the tracks. They led over to the forgotten trail.

Not wanting to fight the inevitable, James got up and started after the stranger and the terrier.

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The trail wasn’t so overgrown that it was impossible to walk on, but it was a constant annoyance to James nonetheless. Shrubs and thorns kept poking out at him and he found himself tripping over loose stones. Thankfully, the trail seemed to be coming up on a clearing.

In the clearing ahead was an unmarked cross, looking as though it was new despite the terrible state of the trail. There was also a small picnic table off to the side, covered in mold, and a place where a fire pit must once have been.

The stranger and a woman that James didn’t recognize were also in the clearing, embracing each other. The woman was dark haired and wearing an evening gown, despite the relatively cold weather. As soon as James stepped into the clearing itself, the woman faded and vanished, leaving only the stranger.

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence between the two, and then the stranger opened his mouth and began to speak, which James heard in his mind and not his ears. “Tell her that Lionel is glad she has moved on.”

This, combined with the otherworldly method of speaking, frightened James. He began to back away, not caring that the terrier had probably gone this way, only wanting to get away from the unknown.

With an expression of mild amusement mixed with pain on his face, the stranger gestured at James. A small terrier that James instantly knew as the dog that had gone missing bounded out of the woods from directly behind him. The terrier paused to sniff at the stranger before going over to James and sniffing at him as well.

The stranger spoke without voice again: “You saw me, and there will be others in your path. I will not be the last you see.”

This said, the stranger closed his eyes with the expression of a man who has set down a heavy burden- and simply vanished.

James stood there, shocked at what had just happened. After mentally shaking himself and looking once more at the unmarked cross, he picked up the dog and left, returning the clearing to its former peaceful state.

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James called the family back that evening and asked for their address, telling them that he’d found their dog. After receiving the address, he got his car (which he had left at his office the previous day) and drove to the address.

A medium sized white suburban home greeted him. He picked up the terrier, who had been completely silent for his entire time with James, and walked to the door. He knocked and waited.

The door opened, letting out the smell of a fine dinner cooking, the sound of children laughing, and a woman-

James froze in his tracks.

It was the woman from the clearing, looking as real as anything he’d seen.

“Thank you so much! You’ve done us such a favor!” The lady smiled, taking the dog from James’s stunned arms. “I can’t tell you how happy the kids will be. I’ll send the check tomorrow.” She made to close the door.

Gathering his courage, James stopped the door where it was. He looked the woman in the eye and said, evenly, “Lionel is glad you’ve moved on. He’s okay with what happened.” He knew that had been what the stranger wanted.

It was the woman’s turned to freeze. Her breathing picked up, and she was about to ask a question, but James closed the door before she could begin.

He already had enough questions of his own to answer.