Smirk

The wind was blowing south as the skies acted as strange is I've ever seen. There were huge snowflakes mingled with a sprinkling rain that caused the snow to clump before it even hit the ground. The temperature felt like almost fifty degrees, warm enough not to need a coat. I remember how everything was permeated by the bright light of the sun, however bright it was cast with a gray hue. I distinctly remember him because of the way he came down the road towards me. His head hung in a manner that made me question whether he could even percieve the world around him. Somehow he saw me and began making his way slowly in my direction. I felt a strange sense of contempt and pity towards him, if only because of his unhinged demeanor. It seemed with every step he took that he might fall flat on his face, but every time he managed to get one foot precariously in front of the other.

Even as he neared the patch of grass that I was standing on, I couldn't make out his face. His hair hung over his eyes, and it seemed to float to cover him as he lurched his head to and fro. He started walking up the drive towards me, up until then I had been merely a spectator to his seemingly drunken stride. I began feeling a strange sense of dread as he walked up to me and outstretched his hand. This was not a fear that he might try to harm me but only of what he might reveal. As he grabbed my arm a jolt was sent through my frame that almost knocked me to the ground.

"The stones cast in malice create the barrier from perfection. It is crowded outside the wall, while attainment lies within." With an almost maniacal smile he revealed his face, and it was a mirror of my own.

"Walk the true path or walk akin to me!" He turned and strode off toward the road quickly and deliberately in his pace. He never faltered and turned only once, to smile and show the possession of his true value, and that of my true vanity.