Shadow in Your Eyes

Have You Seen Them Too?

Because I can sure as hell tell you I have seen them. As I sit on my bed typing, they move, circling my bed. I can only catch a glimpse of them, a flash of black in my peripherals, just out of reach of my eyes. That’s where they live you know. Not in your eye, but in the space around your sight, just out of view.

My grandmother came from the jungles of Puerto Rico born and raised. She had never claimed to have “The Gift”, but she was knowledgable in oddities, the strange and the unexplained. I always paid her no mind when she said things like, “Beware the voices in the woods, for they will lead you to your doom,” or “Witches seek children at 3:33 A.M., so stay indoors at that time.”  She would blurt out warnings, and sometimes feel ill when she would sense a disturbance. She did have her odd moments, however, like the one time she spontaneously packed her family in a wagon without telling anyone why. After half a days travel on the road, they met a rider telling them her sister died the day before. No word had gotten to my grandmother’s town, yet she had known her sister’s fate.

Anyway, I had always seen things out of the corner of my eyes, as most people have. My grandmother travelled all the way from the Puerto Rico to visit family (she must have known something because my cousin whom she had visited the night before perished in a car accident that day), and stayed over at my parents house. The small house was cramped as always, and her presence did not help, but I had always been quite fond of her, despite her seeming omnipotence.

“Im sorry my dear, what did you say?” she asked.

“Nothing” I replied. I had not breathed in her direction. I could sense now that she was trying to get my attention.

“Well now, come and turn the lights on. It’s just too dark to talk.”

“Just a sec,” I responded as I yanked the chain on the dining room lights. The fan blades started spinning. “I always mix those two up” I chuckled as I pulled the correct chord. At that moment, I saw a flash dart across to my right, toward my grandmother, and out the door. As I looked to see what it was, I saw my grandmother too was looking at the door.

“Splendid, now we can talk in peace!”

“What are you talking about now grandma?”

“Have you seen them? The little people? Shadows in the sides of your eyes?”

“Grandma, thats just the light playing tricks on the eye. Science these days can prove…”

“You don’t know these things as I do. One of MY age has experienced a lot of things, and these things are not to be trifled with.

“Ill humor you” I said as I took up the chair closest to her. “Enlighten me. What are they?”

A coy smile formed across her wrinkled face. I had taken the bait, and was in for another one of her tales.

“The shadows are the 6 tricksters. They are the the demons and shades from the deepest parts of hell. They try to instill fear, and weaken the mind. They are jealous, insidious, creatures and often prey on the weak willed, and those that have been traumatized. Once they have whittled you down, they will whisper things to their thrall. Depending on how deep the person has fallen, they will convince their prey to do all sorts of nefarious biddings. I shudder to think of what evils can be contributed to these creatures!”

“That is a good story, but I think the light playing tricks is a much more rational explanation.”  I felt bad to call her out on this story, but it had seemed too incredulous to be true.

“If you want to see if they are interested in you, then walk into a dark room with a mirror in it. Simply look in the mirror and turn on the lights. You will see them as they flee the light. You know the forces of darkness hate that stuff!”

I had had enough for one sitting and pretended like I had just got a text, and went upstairs to check it. All this was just so stupid. There could not actually be hell-spawn lurking in my vision, let alone be interested in me.

I was wrong.

About a week after my grandmother had left, I began seeing the flashes more often. They would appear when I woke up, turned corners, or when I was busy surfing the web for the latest creepypastas, but they would always appear, just out of view. The sun shone brightly outside my windows, but I noticed the inside was never as bright. It was as if a haze, or dust cloud had drifted into the heart of my home. I had the eerie feeling that there were eyes watching me. I was never fast enough to catch a glimpse; but catch a glimpse of what? These were just a trick of the light; I was certain. It stuck in my mind however, about the things in your eyes. The more that I thought about it, the more I would see them.

Maybe it was fear that drove me to it, or just curiosity, but I decided to try out my Grandma’s test. I walked into my bathroom, and stood looking at the vanity mirror. I put my hand on the switch, but could not find the strength to flick it. It was as if a voice in my head was whispering to me not to. Was I certain that I wanted to know? Was my trepidation really caused by me, or them? There was no way there could be any truth to my grandmother’s stories, could there? Only this test could definitively prove their presence. I finally convinced myself to turn on the light. With a loud flick, the whole room was illuminated.

My heart stopped.

The muscles in my body had stiffened.

My eyes could not believe what they had just seen.

I knew this had not been a trick of light.

I saw not one, but six dark flashes head toward the door. I ran to my computer and had to write. I need to get this warning out there. Not much is written about the phenomenon of the shadows at the corners of your eye, but it is real! If you feel brave enough, step in a dark room, and look in a mirror yourself. Turn on the lights, and see if they’ve taken an interest in YOU! All I can do is write, and hope my mind can withstand them.