Bystander
It was absurd. The only thing I can think when I try to make sense of what had happened is that it couldn't have happened.
It started at the coffee shop, the one around the corner. My very presence there was an anomaly in it's own right. I never went into that place, their coffee had a bitter, rancid taste that burned all the way down ones throat as if it was gasoline that had been put through a coffee machine. It was owned by the local fat cat Nikolo Bauer, the CEO of a Pharmaceutical Empire that had planted itself in the small town of Roving Heights and launched a conquest on all the preexisting business, turning the caustic coffee shop into an overpriced caustic coffee shop.
There had been a miserable rain that day, and as soon as I had stepped inside I regretted agreeing to meet my housemate with the keys to the house (which I had locked myself out of) here, instead of waiting for him out in the rain. The acidic smell of the "Coffee" that assaulted my nostrils reminded me why I never visited the establishment in the first place. I ordered a doughnut, which still turned out to be a mistake as it was little improved over the coffee. I was considering the most tasteful way to dispose of the most distasteful delicacy, when my mind was suddenly preoccupied with a deafening boom that shattered the window I had been seated by. Along with the rest of the people in the shop, I rushed outside to see what had happened.
In the middle of the streets was a man who was wearing a leather jacket and a balaclava and lugging around a back pack, and appeared to be trying to run down the street while simultaneously trying to view everything that was around him, with little success. Spinning around wildly, he screamed "Leave me alone!" and " I didn't do anything to you!" at no one in particular before tripping himself and landing on the ground.
Before he could even lift himself off the road, which he attempted with great haste, a man simply appeared behind him. It was nearly surreal. He was literally not there one moment and there the next. The man on the ground spun around, tripping the man behind him. Pointing his hand at the crowd of spectators that had surrounded them he shouted "Disappear again, I dare you! You know what I'll do!"
Despite him having a pronounced lack of weapons, this was enough to make the crowd to attempt to disperse before he yelled "Don't you move either!". He seemed so confident in his ability to do harm to the bystanders that I guess they figured either he actually could, or was a raving lunatic that shouldn't be messed with.
His arms were spread outward, pointing toward both the man who had appeared and the crowd, and his attention was frantically trying to focus on both with no avail. While he was looking at the crowd, the man disappeared from his spot and reappeared behind the other silently and knocked him unconscious with a quick blow to the head, immediately disappearing afterwards.
The police arrived in only around five minutes and identified the man as having robbed a bank and naturally asked to serve as witnesses. However, when the first volunteer told the story, they only nodded, thanked us for our cooperation, and left, obviously in a hurry.
