The Pursuit, by E. C. Traganas

The Cemetery Entrance, by Caspar David Friedrich (Germany) 1825

The Pursuit 

I was approaching the cemetery when the man slipped in through the gate. He might have noticed me, I couldn’t guess, but I had a fresh bouquet of flowers to place at a gravesite, and kept my suspicions at bay. He was striding ahead at a steady clip, sneakers crunching on the dirt path, kicking up gravel as he veered in and out of range. I made a mental note of his features: average height, close cropped dark hair, black anorak flapping in the wind. Slender, about my build. I decided to trust my instinct. No possible threat here, I thought. But, still, one never knew.

It was late afternoon, the sun’s rays were casting long, perpendicular shadows, a solitary crow was flying overhead. The cemetery would be closing soon—no one was in sight. I kept my distance, slackening my pace, concealing myself in the shadows cast by looming mausoleums along the way. But every now and then, I would spy the top of his head bobbing behind mounds of stately pink rhododendrons, and then his figure would emerge from a winding lane breezing past rows of tombstones at a steady stride. Once or twice, I saw him looking behind, straight in my direction. Then he would pick up momentum while I held purposefully back at a cautious pace. The band was stretching wider: our paths were diverging. I was hoping he would disappear altogether. 

And soon enough, he passed a forked road and swerved left along a canopy of hemlock bushes. Safe, I thought, forging ahead up the hill to my destination. The stranger was gone, I sighed in relief, moving on with plans of his own. But then, I thought, maybe not. Maybe, sooner or later, we were bound to eventually catch up with each other after all.

E. C. Traganas

Author of the debut novel Twelfth House, and Shaded Pergola (https://a.co/d/dt81bEh) a collection of haiku featuring her original illustrations, E.C. Traganas has published in over a hundred literary magazines including The Brussels Review, The Society of Classical Poets, Amethyst Review, and others. She enjoys a professional career as a Juilliard-trained concert pianist & composer, has held over 40 national exhibitions of her artwork, and is the founder/director of Woodside Writers, a New York-based literary forum. www.elenitraganas.com