Night Owls

Jerry glanced down at the photograph in his hand, then back up again at the woman sitting alone at the back of the cafe.

It was her, maybe. She seemed younger than before, and her hair was lighter. Somehow there was a pathos about her, something melancholic, but in his line of work emotions were not so important. Better to keep a grip on reality.

All at once a blinding light coursed through the space. Jerry and the woman froze. And then a creature appeared, seemingly from the air itself.

It was the lady of the lake, the one who pulled up the sparkles from the water like chunks of diamonds pulled from the earth. She had visited him in dreams. She spoke to them, a punishing violet flash emerging from those dangerous eyes...