***
The faceless man fretted as he watched Melissa tumble backward and hit her head against the wooden frame of her bed. He did not want to believe misfortune had befallen him again. He refused to believe he would not even be offered the opportunity to propose friendship to her before she went still forever as the others did. He immediately rushed through her window and into her bedroom and put his face close to hers. He felt her breath on his face. She lived! And he would have his chance with her.
But they could not stay at her house. Too many people came and went from it. Moreover, he had seen Gabriel loafing about on the rooftop of her garage just beyond her bedroom window not long ago. He had been there once and he was confident he would return. After all, their kind could not afford to shun friends. He could not risk Gabriel returning and taking her from him. He realized that they needed to leave.
He decided to take her with him to the house next door.
The faceless man bent down and wrapped his arms around Melissa’s waist then stood erect effortlessly. With her slung over his shoulder, he descended the staircase and walked to the door in the family room at the rear of her house. He crossed her property and went directly to her neighbor’s back door.
Once inside, he began to panic. He worried she would shriek, or attack him with a mop, or a rolling pin. He worried she’d be cruel. He simply did not want a repeat of any of the negative incidents he had survived. He did not want to get hurt again. He wanted an opportunity to demonstrate that he was a friend; that he was going to be her best friend. She would love him and see he would never harm her. But he needed time to exhibit such sentiments. His inability to speak slowed his ability to communicate effectively.
Then an idea evolved in his mind, one he considered a rather good idea.
He rested Melissa on a lumpy couch in the living room careful to turn her on her side and elevate her head then scrambled to the garage. He scanned the area for rope, did not see it right away. He began to dig through a variety of gardening tools. He moved a wheelbarrow, gardening gloves, a watering can and a stack of dust-covered issues of Gardening Digest before happening upon a neatly coiled length of rope.
The faceless man smiled and returned to the living room.
He lifted Melissa and placed her in a wooden rocking chair that sat alongside the lumpy couch. He tied her hands behind her back and bound her feet together. In such a position, she would pose less of a threat to him, she could not hurt him.
He regretted tethering her like an animal but he needed time and wanted to avoid being attacked again. He did not want history to repeat itself.
He seated himself on the couch and watched as her eyes began to dart behind her eyelids. She started to stir. She moved her head from side to side and her eyes opened wide with fright.
Panic seized the faceless man. He dove over the back of the couch and hid behind it. He closed his eyes and pulled his knees to his chest and silently hoped she would accept him. She was his last chance.
Dark Reality 7-Book Boxed Set Page 156