Jason

I could feel it moving around us.

Sometimes, when it passed between us and the canyon wall, I would see the faintest flicker of something, a suggestion of height, of wrong angles.

Once, when it paused just outside our circle,

I caught the barest outline of a shape taller than any of us, leaning forward, head cocked in a way that was almost comically curious if it hadn't been so horrifying.

Then it stepped closer.

I didn't see it move.

One moment it was out there, in the not-quite-visible ring around us.

The next, I could feel it right behind me, close enough that if I had leaned back even an inch, I would have touched it.

The air temperature dropped, the smell of rot and something burned flooded my nose.

This was a voice that sounded like it had been dragged across gravel.

You saw me.

I hadn't said a word, but it was right.

I had seen it on the canyon rim earlier.

I had looked it in the face.

I see you now, it rasped.

I felt something brush the back of my neck, just above my collar.

Light, almost gentle, like a fingertip.

My whole body locked up.

Tears poured down my face, hot and silent.

Then, in my own voice right in my ear, I'll see you later.