Saving Daylight

Story Sent in by Winona:

Kevin and I spoke online for about two and a half weeks. It was my idea to meet in person, and he said that he'd be game, but he asked me, "Can we make it late? The later the better."

I replied, "Sure. Do you work late? Is that why?"

He said, "No, that's not why. Around midnight all right? Saturday?"

After laughing at my screen for a minute at that message, I wrote back, "That might be a little late. Let's say say seven or eight."

He wrote back, "That's early for me, but I can probably do nine. That all right?"

It was after my usual dinnertime, but I thought it a decent compromise. Then came the discussion over where we were to meet. I suggested three places that I thought would fit the bill.

"Which is the darkest?" he asked me.

"Are you photosensitive?" I asked him.

"No," he replied, "It's a personal matter. Which place is the darkest?"

I had a bad feeling about it, but Kevin wouldn't explain what his obsession was with meeting so late in a dark place. At least it wasn't his car, his house, or an alleyway: it was a public place. Besides, aside from that, he seemed like a nice guy who was genuinely interested in me. So we made a date for 9pm in the darkest of the three restaurants I had suggested.

I half-expected him to arrive dressed in all black, but he wore a nice outfit and nothing at all seemed amiss. He was in good spirits and we had a good dinner until he said, "So, to explain about why it needs to be dark around me," he said, "I draw power from the dark. Light saps my energy."

"Come again?"

He explained, "I feel weaker in the light."

I asked, "So you're photosensitive, then?"

He snarled and raised his voice. "I'm not photosensitive. That's a pussy physical disease and I don't have it. I'm talking about sensitivity on a spiritual plane. Higher than physical."

"I'm not sure if I understand."

"I'll demonstrate."

He put his spoon down in the middle of the table and held his hand a few inches above it, as if trying to make it move with his mind. His hand quivered, and I watched, trying to keep as open a mind as possible. Nothing happened.

"What's supposed to happen?" I asked.

"Shut it. You're breaking my concentration."

I stopped being interested in him around that time, but like a train wreck, I couldn't pull away so easily. I watched and watched, but nothing happened. I went back to my meal. He didn't seem to mind or notice. The waitress came by, took our plates, and asked if we wanted anything more.

Kevin ignored her completely. I asked, "Kevin? You want anything else?"

He blew the air out from his cheeks, but he kept his stare on the spoon. I said to the waitress, "We'll take the check."

She brought it over and Kevin finally stopped doing whatever he tried to do with the spoon. He looked at me with a smile. "Well, at least it partially worked."

I asked, "Was your plan to keep it frozen there? Well done."

He said, "No. I summoned the check, instead."

I giggled. "The check was going to come regardless."

"Yes, but we didn't know when. It came precisely when I wanted it to."

"Oh. So your powers are made up, then?"

"What? No!"

"Because that's what I'm hearing, here. The powers of darkness are weak, it seems. It takes you 10 minutes to summon something that's coming anyway?"

"Shut it."

"I got it: you turned the spoon into the same exact spoon! Well done."

"I said shut it!" he yelled, and picked up the spoon and banged it against the table. Then, he did it again.

That certainly did shut me up, for a moment. Then, I jumped up and said, "There's definitely darkness here, but I can't help you with it."

He banged the spoon on the table again, and I hurried out. I felt bad for leaving him with the check, but he was a total nut-job, and I didn't want to have anything more to do with him. Luckily, he never contacted me again.