The people rarely took notice of him - he'd become a familiar part of the landscape, something you see without really seeing. He spent most his days walking around the fountain with the no-longer-white marble angel in the middle of the town square.
Gone were the days when he'd belt out at regular intervals his dire warnings about the Big Eye in the Sky, the one that watches everything, puts all your sins on record. Shouting at the top of his voice and honking a red bicycle horn to make himself noticed.
Too much noise, the cops said. They took him in for being a public nuisance, punched him around a bit, just for fun, then released him on a warning.
He wasn't homeless, for every night he'd disappear - nobody knew where 'cause nobody paid attention to the village fool. But he'd be back at first light, still rambling about the Big Eye in the Sky. Just another religious nut. Harmless. Every now and then some school-kids would come taunt him, throwing eggs or empty soda-cans at him. It was some sort of rite of passage, but he never got angry with the kids. On the contrary, there was a sense of urgency in his voice as he tried to convince the children they're being watched and they need to go to ground if they don't want to get in trouble.
The kids laughed and left. He was no fun, he wouldn't chase them or shout abuse at them. Lame.
From time to time he'd hand out leaflets or at least he tried to but who'd take anything from the idiot at the fountain? It's impossible to say what was on those neatly hand-written pages, because no one ever read them. Truth is those days people had become so used to reading on screens they found hand-written stuff quite weird.
When two teenagers vanished without a trace, the cops desperate for a lead took in even the resident idiot for questioning. No use, as he kept mumbling about that blasted Eye in the Sky.
'They have angered the Big Eye in the Sky, that's why they were taken.'
After that, he redoubled his efforts, going as far as grabbing people by their arms, just to make them stop and listen, but they brushed him away in disgust. The fool has lost it completely, they thought - such a sorry spectacle, the poor lunatic pointing to the sky, rambling about satellites and those that go against the laws.
Next year there were more disappearances and then there were even more.
The madman noticed there were fewer passers-by now and seemed to be losing his interest.
Soon enough whole days passed without anyone crossing the market square. Only the fool crouched near the fountain, kept repeating like a broken-record - 'Beware of the Big Eye in the Sky'.
Story written for @mariannewest's freewrite challenge. Today's prompt was: "record". New prompt every day. Check out her blog.