To call this a day like any other day would be a travesty!  Only a short while ago, the man named Vinnie Pantera could have been said to be stuck in 'the grind', that lifestyle of routine and regularity that dominated so many men.  Sleep, eat, work, eat, work, and then a late afternoon and evening of free time.  While Vinnie spiced this familiar recipe up with his various ventures around town, included who he helped out on a daily basis, the rest of it differed only slightly.  Were it not for novels, games, movies, and getting to know different people because of his activities, Vinnie would definitely call his life 'boring'.  Yet all that had changed.

Yesterday evening, after an hour spent in a local bar with two friends, it happened.  For some time he'd heard about the 'selfless barmaid', whose reputation in that area of Angel Springs rivaled mythology.  Evidently, she greeted every customer warmly and listened to their troubles with open ears, ready with the exact right thing to say to make people feel better.  The tales Vinnie heard filled him with admiration.  He imaged this barmaid, not as a kindred spirit, but as his better.  Most everyone who knew Vinnie might call him 'selfless', but he knew in his heart of hearts that he didn't do nice things for people for the sake of doing good, but for self-validation, and the pride of being held in high regard.  Faced with stories of true altruism, Vinnie could not help but be filled with both respect and envy.  That night, however, the myth came to life.  For the first time the stars aligned and Vinnie saw the 'selfless barmaid' in person.  Sheepishly he remembered being so captivated by her beauty that he could say nothing for more than twenty minutes, and of course his friends instantly caught on and wouldn't stop teasing him.

After that, though, he quietly seated himself at the bar and ordered something.  When the barmaid served him, the two slowly struck up a conversation.  Vinnie learned that her name was Alice Benning, as well as other things about her, and he quickly found that he could not stop telling her about himself, especially his problems.  Nevertheless Alice consoled him and, after hearing that he who cultivated an image of selflessness thought of her as that virtue's pinnacle, laughed and treated him to a dazzling smile.  “Don't let your insecurities rule you,” she told him.  “We're all insecure on the inside.  It's the action you take that makes you who you are, and from that standpoint, you're every bit as good a person as you think I am.”  This one statement convinced Vinnie: he was in love.

The jolt from that encounter elated him, keeping him in a sort of joyful high through the night and to now, the early afternoon.  Questions plagued him, even as he strode along the sidewalk with his left hand in the pocket of his suit jacket.  How could he get someone to like him who was kind to everyone habitually?  As far as he knew, he was no special case, and she might not have felt anything for him at all.  Barring that, how could he get someone to like him, period?  Vinnie knew very little in the ways of love.  How could he avoid seeming obsessed, or creepy, or stupid, or weak?

And how could anyone really connect with him when he couldn't tell anyone about Back Door Man?

[i]My awful secret[/i], he thought wryly.  No matter what, he couldn't bring himself to tell anyone about the terrifying apparition that haunted him.  Sometimes it seemed like some kind of guardian spirit, the way it went after people who troubled him, but even when he was alone it would be there.  When walking in the dark, he might hear footsteps trailing behind him.  In his apartment at night, he might look up from his computer and see some of the light coming from his bathroom blocked by a dark shape.  And whenever it appeared, there would be wheezing.  It wasn't very loud for Vinnie compared to how loud it was toward the Back Door Man's victims, but it still freaked him out to no end.  Only last night had he enjoyed a perfect night's sleep.  [i]Maybe it responds to my emotions?[/i] he wondered.  [i]But it's no use wondering.  No matter how hard I work to earn Alice's affection, I'll still have this curse.[/i]  “Man...”

Vinnie broke out of his reverie when the sounds of gunshots reached him.  Instantly he was on alert, watching the place the sound came from with wide eyes.  Just down the street, someone in front of the Golden Peking restaurant had just gotten shot.  Before a few seconds could pass, more bodies hit the floor, with only well-built youth standing in the middle of it all, splattered by blood.  Shivering, Vinnie instinctively edged toward the nearest building, his phone already out of his pocket.  He dialed the emergency hotline, and in as calm a voice as he could, reported that there'd been several shootings near the Golden Peking, and he looked around to find the signs with the street names before relaying those as well.  The operator thanked him and Vinnie hung up.  He continued watching, mostly staring at the dead bodies on the street in horror, but he saw something else only a few minutes later far more disturbing.  An adjoining street on the other side of the Golden Peking had been the route of a steady stream of people from the restaurant, fleeing by way of a back door as far as Vinnie could guess.  Now, though, it held only one person, who was currently crossing it to go somewhere else that Vinnie couldn't see.

He saw it only for a moment, but that moment changed everything.  Enormous, white, and seraphic, it was something ghostly and unnatural—like Back Door Man.  One thought seized his mind: [i]there are more!?[/i]  The next instant it was gone.  Another person, harder to make out due to lack of distinctive white dress, followed Kijo, but without any sort of spirit of his own he did not make any kind of impression.  Vinnie, meanwhile, slumped against the nearest building, his brain feeling like a bunch of bouncy balls.  “What...the hell.”  After a moment his grey matter started feeling heavy instead, and self-doubt kicked in.  “Maybe I'm just seeing things...God, I hope I'm not crazy.”