Dark Mystery

The other day I received a call from an old friend whom I had not seen in many years.  We had worked together on some sensitive government projects, the nature of which I choose not to reveal at the present time.  But be assured, they were both necessary and of a nature that--- well, let me get on with the strange events which recently transpired.

My friend, I shall call him X, had always been of a cheerful nature, lighthearted and jovial.  But now, after all these years, a darkness seemed to have overtaken him.  Gone was his usual witty humor, and in its place, a barely noticeable desperation, as if he were somehow in imminent danger, and needed someone in whom to confide.

I agreed to meet him in a coffee house not far from where I lived. This was after I had first invited him to my home, which he warned me against using for our meeting.  "I'm already being followed," he said.  "No need to lead them directly to where you live."

"But," I said, "Who is following you?  And why?  Besides, if they are following you, then surely, they know that you are calling me."

But X replied, "No, they can't trace my calls from this phone.  Just trust me on this.  They can't."

"Okay," I said.  "I'll be there in twenty minutes."

"Please hurry," he said.

I did, and twenty minutes later, I walked into the small coffee
house.  At first I did not see him.  I was looking for X as I had
known him twenty years ago.  When he waved at me--- very
surreptitiously, I noticed--- I was astonished to see that he had lost weight, and looked more grey than I had thought he would.

Other than that, his demeanor was that of a man carrying a heavy weight on his shoulders, a darkness of the eyes, and the kind of cautiousness that caused him to sit well away from any windows or doors, and never to turn his back on the middle of a room.

As I sat down at his table, his urgency intensified.  “I’ll have to
make it quick,” he said.  “I don’t know how much time I have.  Maybe I shouldn’t have invited you here after all.  Perhaps I have placed you in great danger.”

I tried to soothe his obviously frayed nerves.  “Don’t worry about that,” I said.  “We’ve both faced danger before. Somehow, we always got through.”

“This is worse,” X said.  “If they know that I have revealed the
secret, they will go to any lengths to suppress it.  These guys stop at nothing--- and at no one.  Not even the president is allowed to know what the truth is.”

At this point, even I began to take on some of the tension that
surrounded X.  But I was determined not to fail my friend.  After all, he had never failed me, especially when it counted the most.

“Very well,” I said.  “Come what may, if you need to tell me, and if there is little time, then go ahead.”

X twisted in his chair, knowing that once he took the next step, there would be no turning back.  “Okay,” he said.  This is it.  But one thing.”

“Yes?”

“Be sure that you tell no one.”

“I won’t.”

“I really mean this.  I shouldn’t even be telling you.  But at least
this way, neither one of us will bear this burden alone.  Promise me.”

“I promise.  I won’t tell anyone.”

“Good.  Now here it is.”

What X told me next was the most world shaking revelation that I had ever heard from any person.  I was shocked, stunned, and astounded. It involved powers of the highest order, and forces that exceed everything I thought I knew.

When he was done, X bid me farewell, saying, “Now remember.  You promised not to divulge any of this to anyone.  Ever.”

“And I won’t,” I said.  “I’ll never tell anyone.”

And being a man of my word, I won’t.
.