The man without ears

I could hear something breathing heavily, maybe an animal. ‘Roll up the windows,’ the man said, his voice barely above a whisper. I fumbled for the button, my hands shaking.

It was the kind of stormy night that made your skin crawl and the hair on the back of your neck stand on end. I was driving down a deserted highway, trying to make it home before the storm got any worse. That’s when I saw him, a man without ears. He was standing on the side of the road, drenched from the rain but seemingly unbothered by it.