Watchful

I couldn’t sleep.

There was no reason for my inability to just close my eyes and drift away into some dream I probably wouldn’t even remember. I was tired, so that wasn’t the problem. And I wasn’t the kind to be kept awake by that horror movie I saw last week.

My eyes stayed wide open, no matter how hard I tried to close them. I turned over in bed and was able to make out the faint outline of my wife by the faint moonlight shining in through the window.

I turned back over after a minute or so and face the other side of the room, and this is when it all began.

In front of my closet were two faintly glowing dots, approximately six feet in the air, each with a smaller dot of black in the center. My heart stopped for a moment and then kept beating at an accelerated pace. There has to be an explanation for this, I thought. I scolded myself for being scared. I was supposed to be brave.

The thing that seemed wrong about this was that these little red orbs resembled eyes, but they weren’t on anything. They just floated there, staring intently at me.

In an attempt to show myself that there was nothing to be afraid of, I sat up slightly. My plan was to get up and approach them to try and find out what was causing this. And then it took a step forward. As I said before, the eyes didn’t seem to be attached to anything. But they bobbed up and down slightly as they moved forward, and I realized then that this was some kind of entity. I gave up on any sort of rational, believable explanation. I pulled the sheets up as slowly as I could. There wasn’t really a reason for that, but I just felt like if it couldn’t see me, I was safe. I kept moving the sheet over my face even though it took another step towards me every time I moved. By the time I was covered, the eyes were inches in front of me, blurred by the translucency of the sheet. My breathing was heavy but quiet. I considered waking my wife up, but… why would I want her to see this?

The thing that I assumed was there tilted its head slightly to the side, as if it was curious about me. It came a little bit closer even though I hadn’t moved a muscle. The eyes took up most of my field of vision now. I breathed out as slowly and quietly as I could, and it didn’t seem to notice the sound. The part of the sheet directly in front of me vibrated just barely enough for me to notice, but the eyes were directly in front of me too. It somehow didn’t notice the vibration and it stayed motionless, staring intently, as if it could see through both the sheets and through me. Because about that time, an idea formed in my head. What if it could see my fear? I had nothing to base this theory on, but it seemed likely for some reason. If it could see fear, maybe I was supposed to do something brave.

What I did next is a good example of how stupid people can be when they’re afraid.

I threw off the sheets and sprang up at it as fast as was humanly possible. My plan didn’t work at all. I wanted to tackle it, but it just moved to the side. And when I say moved, I don’t mean that it sidestepped. I mean it moved all the way to the side. To the edge of the room, instantaneously. I went past the area where it had been and barely kept my balance when I landed. It was still in front of the wall, and it wasn’t moving even when I did. It seemed to be mocking me. I charged at it again, and it teleported behind me and I almost ran into the wall. I used the wall to steady myself and I turned around. It was on the opposite side of the room. Without any action from me it teleported again just a few feet to the side so it was in a corner. And then it was in the middle, a bit closer to me, and then it was a little to the side. It kept moving, staying in each spot for less time every time it moved. It was inches in front of me for a second and my startle reflex made me jump. Soon it seemed to be everywhere at once. I backed up into the wall. I was cornered. If I moved at all, it might teleport into me, and that wouldn’t be good for anyone. The room was glowing red. And then it was gone. The eyes had disappeared. I glanced quickly around the room to make sure they really were. I dropped to the ground and looked under the bed. There was nothing. After checking everywhere; the closet, behind the curtains, and even in the drawers of the dresser, I concluded that it was actually gone. I pushed the bottom drawer back in with my foot and turned around.

My wife was standing beside the bed, eyes wide open. And they were not hers. They were identical to the ones that had gone away less than a minute before.

“Is something wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” it said with a smile, and not the kind you get from being happy. It sounded exactly like her.

I backed up and hit the dresser. The trophy I had gotten from placing second in a bowling tournament fell to the floor with a surprisingly loud thud.

I had attacked the eyes earlier. Something told me I should do it again, and I listened. Looking back, I regret it, despite its results.

I ran forward and shoved it onto the ground. Her- its face showed an expression of extreme shock. I think it had thought that I wouldn’t attack if it was in my wife.

She fell onto the ground, but the eyes stayed in place. I pushed it again, and it stumbled back and tripped over my wife, who was still on the ground. When I pushed it over, I could feel the texture of its skin for a moment. It was scaly and dry, like a reptile.

I reached down and picked it up by where I estimated its neck to be. The thing was astonishingly light, to the point where at first I didn’t realize I had lifted it. It struggled to escape and kicked me in the thigh. While it hurt, I didn’t let go yet. I threw it as hard as I could into the wall, shouting, “Leave me alone!” It replied with the most awful, earsplitting sound I’ve ever heard as it flew into the wall. It had no impact. Instead, it was like it merged with the plaster. The eyes were part of the wall. It didn’t move, and hasn’t since.

I turned around. My wife was still on the ground, with her eyes closed. I reached down and put two fingers on her neck. She still had a pulse. I breathed a sigh of relief. The eyes had been defeated. We were both okay. It was over.



The eyes stayed on that wall and never moved an inch. I don’t know why throwing the thing into a wall killed it. Maybe it didn’t. We were somehow able to sleep through the next night. For the next week or so, we slept in the guest room. We eventually tried selling the house to this semi-elderly couple. They loved the house up until they got into our bedroom. They were confused about it, of course. While they were there we tried scraping it off with a knife. Apparently I accidently pressed to hard, and that section of the wall collapsed and left a hole in the wall. It was about a foot wide, and the eyes stayed hovering in place, unaffected by the breach.

They didn’t buy the house.

We moved a dresser in front of them and moved back into our old room. You can still see a faint red glow, but only if you try.

The idea that it could see me through the blankets lingers in my brain to this day. If it could see through those, then why not the dresser? I have no evidence for it, but none against it either. I can’t get the idea out of my brain that it’s still watching me. Maybe it’s waiting. Maybe it’ll come back someday. Maybe…but probably not. Hopefully not. For now, I’m fine. And I think I’ll be for a while.

I think so, at least.

Credit: Aaron Davis