I'd see him again, every now and then, and do my best to avoid him. "Mr. Jack" didn't seem too fond of the idea; I'd slip into my room (it was an inn, see, and I'd been staying there a while) when I thought he didn't see me, slip out after I'd thought he'd gone only to walk right into him. Needless to say, I was terrified out of my wits. I knew this man was dangerous, I knew he was toying with ungodly things, and I knew he'd taken an interest in me. Can you blame me that I'd started carrying a knife with me? It's perfectly reasonable, to find oneself a weapon.

So, it was raining again, and he was there, moving about in his unnatural way. I knew he was looking at me from inside his shadows, planning something. I decided to hurry away. It was dark upstairs, and I didn't think he'd be able to find me where I'd hidden myself away then I heard him moving. They didn't sound like normal footsteps, you got to understand, they sounded like the dead thump of bodies falling to the ground, it was horrible, I was paralyzed with fear, you must believe me, it's not as though I could have run away. So when the big man rounded a corner, yelling, was it my fault that I defended myself? No, 'course not, we all know who's doing it was.

When my fear cleared (I was terrified, like I said) I tried to help the poor sod. I tried to find some bandages and, when that failed, I at least tried to wash the man's wounds. I wasn't willing to give up on him, you see. I'm a good man, I try to do good where I can.

It was Jack who found us.

I remember his devilish grin, I remember him asking what I planned to do with the bodies.

"Bodies?" I asked him.

"You can't expect me to remain quiet, so you're going to kill me too."

I told him I'm not a murderer, never killed a man in cold blood, this was self-defense and an accident. But he didn't believe me.

He said he could make all my problems go away, for a price.

And, like a fool, I agreed.

He sent me up to an old tomb, buried beneath a hill a few leagues west, saying that if I got him some stone knife from inside he'd hide the body and leave me be. I know now - feel it in my bones - that if I tried to stab him it would just go straight through, leaving him alive, so I took the only option I saw as available.