"Oh, Lets see.  What do I need?"  I stopped in the cracker aisle of my favorite grocery store and had one of the those, I know that I need something, but can't remember what it is moments.  I bit my lip with contenplation and stared at a box of Ritz crackers and still it was blank, but damn, Ritz crackers and and Port Wine cheese sounded really good.  I messed around in my pockets looking for my cell phone.  I was about to go postal for not being able to find it.  Then I realized I left it in my pocketbook.  I rummaged thru it and HA! there it was beneath the wallet and past the bandaids.  I felt victorious and rang my mom to see if she could remember anything.  That was a big mistake.  She rambled on and on.  I wanted to choke the life out of her. One more year, I told myself, one more year of high school and I'm gone.  She began hounding me about going to the local community college instead of going to Brown University.  As my mother kept rambling on I thought to myself, "There is a college in Alaska right?"
"Mom, you can't think of anything we need.  Because I'm not coming back out tonight. Its too cold."  Thats when I saw him, just for a brief second out of the corner of my eye.  He was really not to bad to look at, but I had the creepiest feeling about him.  My mother kept saying "Liz, Lizzy, Elizabeth, are you listening to me?"  I came back to life and nodded my answer and became annoyed with her voice.  I shrugged my shoulders and then looked up and saw him again going out the door.  He was tall with a long black coat on and black wavy hair.  Our eyes met briefly, only briefly.  They scared the hell out of me.  He just made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.  He looked away quickly and walked to his car.  I zipped up my coat while still listening to the ramblings of my mother.  As I got to the entrance of the store I tucked my chin into my coat to block out the bite of the cold air. It stung my cheeks and made my eyes water.  I hussled to my Geo Metro and got into the rolling ice box.  My mother finally said as I sat and started the car. "No sweetie, we don't need anything just come home."  I said, "Bye" and hung up the phone.  I backed out of my spot and saw the man again.  I tried not to look at him, but I couldn't help it.  He just gave me the creepiest feeling and I saw his eyes.  They were black. They seemed so cold and his face had no expression.  I quickly turned my head and hoped that he didn't see me.  I headed to the right and headed home to Willow Lane.  I shook all over at the thought the that guy just sitting there in his car staring at me.  I knew I had to get home.  I sped a little bit and just as I was turning off Main Street to go onto Willow Lane I saw his car behind mine and then I thought twice about going home.  Something didn't feel right, but I just dismissed it. I shook my head and took in a deep breath because in about 2.2 I was about to listen to my mother talk about how boring her life is and how I'm so lucky to be young and that I take things for granted and which college to go to.  And if she mentions me dating that Phil Scott guy again.  I will kill her!  
I finally made it to my driveway and pulled up next to my dad's truck and got out.  I didn't even bother to look to see if that guy had followed me home.  I just wanted to get inside, take a long hot shower and do my homework.  But as I reached for the doorknob I did turn and looked and saw his tail lights go up the street and turn to the left. I shook my head to get rid of the mans face and took in a deep breath and walked in the house so I could to be tortured by my mother.

I drove downtown today, nothing unusual, just the same, old routine. I needed a break from the book I was writing and, also, because I seemed to be suffering from a severe case of writer's block. I was leaving the grocery store with my usual dinner for one and that is when I saw her. She was tall, but not too tall, long, dark hair and she had the most intriguing green eyes. Her eyes are what got to me, they almost seemed haunted. She hardly paid any attention to me, but I noticed her right away. She was walking quickly toward the automated door, hands stuffed into her coat and her chin was tucked into the high collar of the coat, protecting the lower half of her face her from the cold, northerly wind that came in ahead of the brewing snowstorm. She passed right by me, close enough so that I caught the sweet smell of her perfume. I walked slowly back to my car, glancing backward to watch her pass through the doors. I wasn't paying attention in front of me and I walked right into an elderly woman. It was Mrs Franklin, an eighty year old woman that lived four houses down from mine.  Mrs. Franklin was the type of person you tried to avoid, ducking around corners so she wouldn't see you,  if she did, you would spend the next half hour listening to her about her current health crisis. Apparently, today was my lucky day. Mrs. Franklin's wrinkled, old face broke out into a yellowed-toothed grin. She peered up at me, over the top of her glasses that sat on the bridge of her nose. She began with the usual greeting and then began her twenty minute spiel of the mysterious stomach problems she had been experiencing for the last two weeks, but I really wasn't listening, I was watching the automated doors open and close for the various people that passed through them. Some I knew, some I didn't. Mrs. Franklin didn't seem to notice my distraction as she rattled on and on about her stomach issues and besides my occasional nod, I didn't really acknowledge her at all.      Finally, there she was. The automated door slide open as she hurried through, back out into the cold air. She had her cell phone to her ear and her bag of groceries swinging from her hand. It appeared she was arguing with someone  on the other end of the phone.  I was intrigued by her, more than I have been in anyone, as of late. I watched her climb into a small, compact car, where she sat for a few moments, while she finished her conversation with the person on the other end of the phone. I abruptly cut Mrs Franklin off from her tangent, mumbling something about having to get back to my book and hurried to my car, watching the small car slowly back out of its space and drive around to the exit of the parking lot. I opened the door of my truck and heaved the bag of groceries onto the passenger side and climbed in. The engine roared to life as I turned the key and quickly backed out of my space, still watching the small car that sat in the exit of the parking lot waiting for the opportunity to pull out onto the road. I got right behind her as she pulled out into the road. I followed behind her as if I was just another ordinary person, going along my merry way. She drove down Main Street and turned left onto Willow Lane, where she sped up a little. I stayed behind her, but at some distance, no sense in spooking her. She drove for about two miles before pulling into a maple lined drive way. I drove past, trying to keep a steady speed as I drove by. I wondered if it was her house as I drove down the road a ways, trying to give her enough time to get inside so she wouldn't see me drive back by. I slowed a little as I passed back by the house and saw that the lights coming on in the small house. I thought of her eyes as I drove back to my house and as I turned my key in the door, the first few snow flakes began to fall. I put my bag of groceries on the counter and stared out my kitchen window as the snowfall began to grow heavier and steadier, thinking of the girl with the green eyes.