Stevey Walker was about to hit it big on the day he would die. The envelope that held his future had arrived at his cheap London apartment that morning. Only, he hadn't had the courage to open it yet. So as he worked a job he hated, he thought about that envelope. Inside, it was his salvation. It was everything he had worked his entire life for. It was the culmination of his dream.

His attention was drawn back to the pub he was currently working at. The eyes of all the patrons were on him. That was right. He was supposed to read the next question. He'd let himself drift away.

"What famous historical figure is most well known for his short stature?" Stevey read aloud to the crowd of eighteen gathered in the pub.

"One more time. What famous historical figure is most well known for his short stature?"

A few people quickly wrote down their answers on pieces of paper. Stevey ran a hand through his hair. He was employed by a second-rate pub quiz company. Twice a night, Stevey would go to some dingy local pub and read trivia questions aloud. The pubs he frequented were not of high quality. They were the bottom of the bottom, just like he was.

Stevey hated his job. When he first applied for it, he thought maybe it would be up his alley. After all, Stevey Walker wanted to be a comedian. In many ways, running a quiz game was similar. Both required you to entertain a group of people using only your words. Unfortunately, the job wasn't what Stevey thought it was going to be.

They had given him a script that he was supposed to follow. It allowed for very little improvisation on his part. This made the job unbelievably boring. The pub patrons barely paid attention to him. They didn't care what he had to say outside of the trivia questions. Still, he owed a great deal to this job. It had been great motivation to work harder towards his real ambitions. That work had finally paid off today.

After seven agonizing rounds of trivia, Stevey was free. He left the pub with a broad smile on his face. He thought to himself that this was going to be the last day he worked a shitty job like this. He was correct, as you know. He wouldn't work a job ever again.

***

It was a 20 minute walk back to his apartment. One he found to be eerie. It felt like there was something off with the night. Stevey checked over his shoulders frequently but never found anything there. He caulked it up to his own cowardice. Stevey was a very cowardly man, and he wasn't afraid to admit it. The world seemed to look down on that, but to Stevey, it just seemed like the smart way to live. Very rarely do cowards find themselves in a dangerous situation.

Despite the unease he felt, he reached his apartment building with no issues. Stevey entered the apartment with a broad smile on his face. He was immediately greeted with the beautiful smell of a shepherd's pie fresh from the oven. Sarah must have gotten home early and done some cooking. He was going to kiss her for that.

"Guess what today is?" Stevey asked as he strolled into the kitchen.

His girlfriend looked up and smiled at him. She moved a strand of her brunette hair out of her eyes. Even though they'd been together for over six years, she still took his breath away every time he saw her. Sarah sarcastically tapped a finger against her chin.

"Tuesday?" she guessed.

"Well, it is, but much more importantly, it's the last day you and I are going to spend in a shitty apartment like this."

"Why's that?" She asked.

"Because a letter came. From the Soho Comedy Club."

Her face lit up with excitement.

"That's wonderful, Stevey! Did you open it?"

"Not yet. I thought I'd wait for you."

That was a lie, of course. Stevey was simply too afraid to open it by himself. Sarah had this unique quality about her. Just her very presence seemed to make him braver. She had been the one to convince him to send the VHS tape containing his stand-up routine in the first place. That had paid off. They'd actually considered him. Stevey was on the shortlist for a chance to do sets in the actual Soho Comedy Club. It was the kind of gig that made stars. All of the greats got their start there.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Go get it."

She shooed him away with her hands. Stevey made his way to the table where he'd stacked the mail that morning. The letter was right where he left it. He'd sat and looked at it for an hour, trying to build the courage to open it.

To anyone who wasn't Stevey Walker, it would have looked like a normal envelope. To him, it was extraordinary. Its immaculate white parchment seemed to radiate the light from around the room. His name was written in a neat, professional hand across its front. The simple logo of the Soho Comedy Club was stamped in the top corner. He took a deep breath and carried it to Sarah.

"I think I'm going to throw up," Stevey declared.

"You're not going to throw up love. Come on, open it."

He nodded and carefully opened the letter. Inside was a single sheet of paper. He pulled it free and read it aloud.

"Dear Stevey Walker, we received your taped audition for our open comedian position. While we enjoyed your routine, we have decided to go in another direction. Thank you for your interest in the Soho comedy club. We hope to hear more from you in the future."

Stevey felt his heart drop. He was empty inside, like someone had scooped out all his emotions. He almost began to cry but held the tears back. He had been so sure he was going to get it. He'd put so much into that routine. How could they just reject him?

"Oh, Stevey. I'm so sorry."

He hadn't been good enough. He'd have to do better next time. Thinking about it, he could already see the flaws in his routine.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"I'll just have to try harder next time. I'll have to be funnier. I can do it; I know I can!"

Sarah was shaking her head.

"Stevey, we put everything we have into this. All of your savings. I believe in you. I believe you could do it, and I know how badly you want this. But maybe it's time to think about other options."

She tried to wrap him in a hug, but he pushed her away.

"What do you mean?"

"What I'm trying to say, Stevey, is that maybe there is something better out there for you. You gave it your best shot. You worked harder than anyone I know. No one can take that from you. I don't know if we can afford to do this again. I know it's hard, but maybe it's time to move on," she said.

He could tell she meant it. That made him more upset. She wanted him to quit. Stevey Walker was many things, but he was not a quitter. His father had drilled that into him as a boy. If a man wanted something, he had to fight to get it. He could never give up.

"Better things? All my life, the only thing that ever made me happy was making people laugh. I want to be a comedian. It's all I've ever wanted, Sarah. I put in the work. I fought tooth and nail. I thought if I just worked hard enough, I would make it. I guess that was bollocks. Still, it's my dream. How could I give that up?"

"You can find something else to love. Something better."

She tried to reach out a hand again, as if to comfort him.

"Something else to love? What? Like you. With jokes like that, you should be the comedian."

The words were cuttingly cruel coming from his mouth. He spit them out like venom. Stevey regretted them as soon as they slipped free. He'd gone too far.

"Look, Sarah, I didn't mean that. I'm sorry."

"I think you should go, Stevey."

"Sarah, I-"

Sarah cut him off, not letting him finish the thought.

"Go! Please."

She was crying now. Tears slid down her cheeks. A pit of guilt curled in Stevey's chest.

"Yeah, Alright." He headed for the door and stopped after he opened it.

"Look Sarah. I didn't mean it. I love you. You know that."

She didn't answer. Only continued to sob. So Stevey left.

***

The night outside the apartment seemed colder now. He had put everything into that tape. He'd been so sure he was going to make it. Sarah was right, he realized. It wasn't going to happen for him. That twisted him up inside. But the loss of his dream wasn't what was eating him. Not really.

All Stevey Walker could think of was Sarah. She was the only person he still had in his life. Everyone else was either dead or gone. And he had hurt her. Said things he didn't mean. Cruel things. He was terrified he'd just ruined things with the woman he loved—the only person who'd ever truly accepted him.

What was he doing? He was a bloody idiot. Stevey hadn't realized it until that moment, but he loved her even more than he loved comedy. He loved her more than anything. The realization was almost a relief. There was something else for him in life. He could find happiness with her. He had to tell her. To make her understand.

He turned to head back to their apartment and came face-to-face with a man in a suit wearing an old black fedora. Its eyes were as red as blood. They shimmered in the darkness like rubies.

It stood beneath a flickering lamp post. Swarming, wiggling shadows lurched off him. As it had been with Henry, there was not a light source to cast them. The hairs on the back of Stevey's neck stood on end. Whatever it was, he didn't want anything to do with it. Stevey could tell from just one look. He would have said the man was pure evil if he believed in that sort of rubbish.

"What do you want, Dickhead?" Stevey called out nervously.

The man with red eyes said nothing. Beyond its writhing shadows, the thing did not move an inch; it only stared blankly towards Stevey with its crimson eyes.

Stevey crossed to the other side of the street in a hurry. The man's red eyes followed him. Could a person even have red eyes? Stevey had never heard of them. Deep in the recesses of his mind, he realized such logic was pointless. The thing in front of him was not human. He was sure of it.

I feel that it's worth noting that Stevey is not alone in his analysis of the red-eyed man. Anyone who lays on it realizes much the same. It only takes a glance for them to know it is not human. This was true even for myself, and I'm sure it was true for you as well. I've wondered if it's the way his shadows move on their own that tips off our minds to the truth. I don't believe this is the real cause. Though I could never test the theory, I suspect even a blind man would know the red-eyed man was not human by the raw power of its presence. What the thing actually is, I do not know. All I know is that it frightens me. And I am not easily frightened.

By this point, Stevey was more than a little frightened. He felt he had to get away from whatever this thing was. He felt like his life depended on it.

"I don't know who you are, but you can fuck right off. I'm not in the mood for this shit, and I haven't got any money."

Stevey made eye contact for only a second, and dread filled his mind. All his complex thoughts were reduced to a single urge: run. Yet he couldn't. It was like he was glued in place. Unable to look away from the well-dressed creature parading itself as a man.

The red-eyed man lifted a finger and pointed it towards Stevey. The shadows pivoted to follow it. A coldness like ice filled Stevey's chest. Then it smiled. Something in that smile told Stevey it was reveling in the moment. He'd seen that look on hecklers tearing apart a bad comedian. It was a smile that was forged from another's suffering.

The lights flickered off, and then the thing was gone. Stevey took a deep breath. He did what many do when confronted with something beyond their understanding. He elected to ignore it. After all, he had more pressing concerns. Stevey began to slowly walk back towards the apartment. He had to get back to Sarah. He had to apologize to her.

He was so tired now. He just wanted to sleep. His eyes began to lull, all on their own. He shook himself awake and almost fell over. He stumbled into an alley between two old buildings.

He slid against the brick wall of the alley. Why was he so exhausted? He was struggling to keep his eyes open. A fight he was rapidly losing. It didn't feel right. It was almost like he was being sedated. His eyes slid closed, and he fell into a deep slumber. When he next opened his eyes, he saw Paradise.

***

When Stevey didn't call her or come by to see her after two days, Sarah called the police and reported him missing. They conducted a search and obviously never found him. The police called it a suicide. They said Stevey had taken the rejection and subsequent fight hard. They told her he probably decided to call it quits permanently. Sarah couldn't accept that. After all, he had her. She had been there for him through the worst of it, and he'd been there for her. She knew he loved her. He wouldn't just kill himself.

The police wouldn't listen when she begged them to see reason. She told them someone must have taken him. If only she knew how right she was. They told her that things like this just happen. She knew better, though. Stevey wasn't dead. She knew any day now, Stevey would walk back into their home. He'd come back for her.

Only he never did. As the years passed, Sarah was forced to admit to herself that he was dead. With that realization came the rest of the questions she had to ask herself. Could she have helped him? What if she just said something else? Anything else. She shouldn't have snapped at him. She knew he didn't mean it. Why hadn't he left a note?

They were questions she knew she would never be able to answer. That fact ate her up inside. Her mind jumped to the worst possible conclusions. Sarah wished he'd given her anything to help her understand why he had done it. Maybe then she'd be able to move on with her life.

Yet, whenever she thought back to that night, a single odd detail always stuck in her memory. When she'd watched him go for the last time, there had been someone else there. She had told the police, and they said it was probably someone else walking home.

She wanted to think they were right. After all, the man she saw under the streetlamp looked normal enough. He had been dressed in a black suit with a fedora, which may have been a bit out of style. There was nothing outwardly wrong with him. Despite that, there had been something sort of sinister about him. It was almost like he wasn't human, as outlandish as she knew that sounded. Sarah wouldn't know until sometime later just how close she'd been to Paradise that night.