Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-26129984-20150221181242

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I awoke as peacefully as one could. It was the perfect temperature. My room was cold, but the pillows and blankets I was cocooned in warmed me. I did not want to leave my bed, but it was the wet slobbery kisses from my puppy forced me to leave the sanctuary I had created. I pulled off the covers like a bandaid and felt the sting of cold. I slowly dipped my toes into my  slippers and trudged across the wooden floor to let the puppy out. I went back to my room and started my day. Showered, dressed and started to clean my room.

I had recently moved to this little house by myself. I was only 21 years old and it was time to upgrade from roommates to a house. It was a little run down and old, which is why it was so cheap. As ragged as the house was, I thought it was perfect. Everything from it’s perfect windows and wallpaper to it’s flawed roof and stairway. There was only one thing about the house that seemed to bother really bother me. I had felt like I was being watched. Which is why I got the puppy. I felt I could get the puppy and train him to be a watchdog. I named him Sammy. Sammy, as it turns out, was a natural watchdog. Though he was not even a year old, he had gotten into the habit of barking at strangers and anyone who stepped in the lawn, but if I greeted the strangers, he would happily run up. I loved that dog. He kept me company where a normal human could not. He didn’t babble about so-and-so’s new hair style, or that-guy-from-the-bakery’s girlfriend’s love affair. He loved the quiet as much as I did.

A few months later I had settled in and met myself a nice neighbor boy. He seemed to be very smart and had his head on straight. I didn’t like going out and socializing much, but I always enjoyed conversations with him because they were never gossipy. Just short shallow conversations that were genuinely enjoyable. The kind of person a shy person like me feels comfortable around.

It was a cool october evening, I can’t tell you why she started. I can’t tell you what I did, what I disturbed. I just know it was started. At first it was small. Always when I was alone. It would be like, something moving out of the corner of my eye that I couldn’t quite see, an unexplainable noise behind me. Sometimes Sammy would look at funny places in the house and I wouldn’t understand why. We would be watching tv and he would pick his ears up and lean his head listening to a corner of a wall, or staring at a chair or doorway that lead deeper into the house. It did make me question at first, but as being a legal adult for only a few years, my first impulse was adolescent superstition and fantasy. I always had to remind myself, that I was an adult, with a house to my own and there were no such things as ghosts or monsters. In an act of desperation, my inner adult, argued with compelling conviction with my inner child. I had decided that there was just a noise that my dog could hear that my human ears couldn’t. Maybe it was a fly just out of my view that he had seen. Then things got more intense as the days passed. The night terrors happened. I began having trouble sleeping. First it was normal nightmares. Just Green eyes staring at me. Sometimes there was hate in them, other times there was fear. I couldn’t understand what they wanted. That unknowing is what scared me. Was it me they hated? Was it me they feared? Or someone else? After I got up in the mornings, sleep deprived and with a headache, I always tried to look in the mirror, but I couldn’t help but see those green eyes. The nightmares got worse. In my dreams I would run from those eyes, then I would wake up somewhere not in my bed, sometimes behind the couch, sometimes on the lawn. One time I woke up on top of my washing machine.

On this morning, after rejecting the image that I saw in the mirror, I went to try and eat. I cooked the egg, but the smell was almost repulsive, once I sat down to eat I could not stomach the idea, much less the actual egg. Then a knock at the door, a melody in which only Neighbor boy used. I opened the door, and saw his beaming face and was greeted with a smart ass comment. I normally would have laughed if things were different, but this time I only faked a laugh. His self amusement turned into concern. “When was the last time you ate?” I motioned to the table, “I just finished now.” He pushed past me and looked at the plate “I asked when you last ate, not when you last cooked” Feeling too tired to argue, I let out a sigh of exasperation. “Probably last week. I nibble food here and there so it isn’t like I am starving, I just haven’t been hungry lately.” He looked concerned. “Lay down in your room. What’s your favorite food? I’ll cook it for you! I’m a pretty good cook!” I smiled a little, and went to lay down as directed. Once I laid down I felt peace…. but only for a moment. Soon, I felt my leg being slightly pulled on, I thought it was Sammy. I smiled with my head nestled in my pillow. Sammy came to lay with me. Then, as I heard the clank of pots and the humming of neighbor boy, I realized that neighbor boy would stop humming periodically to acknowledge sammy, who replied with a happy bark. If Sammy was in the kitchen, who was here with me? I kept my eyes shut. If anything I pressed my eyelids closer and closer together. I had felt whatever it was inch it’s way lazily up the bed. I started to think “It cannot hurt me. There is nothing there. Neighbor boy was in the other room. So was Sammy. I cannot die here… I will not” I opened my eyes expecting to see nothing, just that it was a trick my paranoid brain pulled on me, but I was so far from wrong. Looking back at me, just a few inches from my face, was a ragged woman, she looked skinny from malnourishment and hate in her green eyes. Her black scraggly hair lay in bunches around her, with knots that looked exactly like bird’s nests. She just stared at me and whispered in a voice that sounded like her throat was unused and dry, “You. are. worthless” I let out a scream. With a clatter of objects falling neighbor boy and sammy were in the room faster than the speed of light. She was gone. He looked at me with concern, and sat down on the bed. “I haven’t seen you, for two weeks, and it seems like you’ve lost a ton of weight. You don’t look healthy, and even if you were….. to lose that much weight in that short of time isn’t…..”  He trailed off. “I know you’re not well. Tell me what is going on. Have you been getting sleep?” I looked at him, and said “I’m just depressed” it was easier than explaining that I felt like something was watching me, and it sure as hell made more sense than saying a woman was just laying in this bed with me. He grabbed my hand in a reassuring way.

He didn’t say anything. I was glad. I was lying anyway. He stayed with me all day. He didn’t try and cheer me up or play games or anything. He just stayed in the room. He fell asleep a few times, rifled through my bookshelf and read parts of the shorter books. He even clicked on the tv and played a few games on my laptop. I just layed in bed. In truth, I was too scared to move. If I did, I might see her, I didn’t want to shatter the illusion that I was safe. I didn’t want to roll over and see those eyes again. I was glad that he stayed. As night began to fall, he stirred from petting a sleeping sammy. “I gotta go now. But I’ll check on you tomorrow. I want you to eat. I mean it.” He left. As soon as he did, the house itself seemed to breathe differently. Sammy ran off into the other room, I wanted to get her, and make sure she was safe, but I did not want to meet that woman a second time. Without too long, I got up to find him. I loved that dog as if I had given birth to him myself. Which sounds weird because I am human and he is a dog, but I loved him. Sammy had been the only one to be here through the past few months of terror, so blissfully unaware of the struggles of his human. When I went for Sammy, my actions were selfless. I had to protect this puppy, the way he had protected me. When I rounded the corner there she was again. Just staring. This time fear. Then I knew. It was me she feared. She backed up bumping into the side table, knocking over the bills and magazines I had stacked there. I wasn’t sure who had screamed louder, her or me. It wasn’t comical. There wasn’t moment where I felt I needed to explain myself to her. Tell her things like “I don’t want to hurt you” Even if there was no hate now, I knew she held hate for me, and I was not going to stand around and wait for her to realize she had the drop on me. So I ran past her, half out of terror and half blind courage to look for my furry companion. I found Sammy panting by her bowl. Shit. I bet no one fed her. What a fucking time to be hungry. I picked her up and hastily grabbed her bowl and ran full speed back to my room. I did not see her on my way back, but I sure as hell heard her. Just a low growl. She growled my name with hate and disgust. Once back in my room, and slammed the door shut I let the confused canine down and dropped the bowl shaking. I immediately barricaded the door. I heard her banging on the door. I cried heavy tears. Sammy did not bark maybe she knew it was moot. He just laid at my lap, in an attempt to console me. I don’t know when my tears had turned into sleep.

I awoke the next morning, Sammy asleep. I slowly took down the barricade. Still haunted by raspy voices muttering incoherent things then I slowly went about the day chores. Then as the day grew dark, a startling knock at the door. I knew who it was and let him in. As promised he came back. He saw how scared I was and with the same furrowed brow that etched concern on his face came back. He could see my fear, I know he could, but he must have understood that I would lie because he did not ask. This routine went on for weeks. He came, gave me food, which I pretended to eat, and then he left and I was left to her mercy. She sometimes just stood in corners of the house shouting insults at me, sometimes she would be in my bed, other times she just laughed at me from reflective surfaces. It was as if she couldn’t decide on one emotion. Some days she hated me, others feared and less often she mocked me. She terrorized me in my dreams to the point where any sleep I got was shallow, dreamless and often short.

The night everything ended, I was ready to stand up to her. I was ready to kill her. Before bed, I grabbed a knife. It was big, and I could see her hateful green eyes in the reflective, sharp blade. This did not scare me. In truth, I did not know if a blade would work. But I had to try. I took it to bed, and placed it under my pillow. I layed down and waited for her to strike. Waited for her to make the first move. Then I saw her. She stood in the corner of the room. Tonight she hated me. That was okay. I stood up and looked at her. There was fear welling up inside me, but I dared not let that show. She flitted away with superhuman like speed. She was just a blur. I knocked the light out, I did not know if she could see in the dark, but I could at least try. I stumbled clumsily in the dark. The taunting began, whispers and vulgar word seemed to come from all directions discombobulating me. The only light in the dark room was from a little crack in the curtains from an outside street lamp. She and I played this game of survival well into the night. I finally caught her when I saw her blur shift across the sliver of light. I jumped on top of her and her body was smaller than mine, but she was strong, it took an amazing amount of strength that I seemed to have stolen from adrenaline to hold her down. Once I did, the long knife that I held in my sweaty hand, almost sang with anticipation, ready to be used. She made an animalistic sound of distress. I took the knife and dug it into her belly, making sure to make is as painful as I could, twisting the knife as I pulled it out, she made an inhuman noise. When I was done, she whimpered on the floor like the disgusting dog I knew her to be. After I was done, I had felt so spent and so tired that I just fell. I felt the warm wet carpet beneath me, but I did not care. I pulled the blankets down to prop my head up and I slept. That was the best night of rest I had in a very long time.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent:36pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:#ffffff;font-weight:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">The next morning I awoke to a man screaming my name. I stirred and it was neighbor boy. He looked pale. I wasn’t sure how long I had been asleep, but I had felt well rested. I looked up and smiled sleepily. Then I realized that he was screaming because that woman’s body was probably still on the floor. I didn’t even bother to move after vanquishing my worst enemy. I turned to see the woman’s mutilated remains, trying to figure out a story to tell him. I could say she attacked me in the night, that wouldn’t be a lie… .right? Only my thought processes stopped when I looked the bloody corpse beside me. It wasn’t a woman, but sammy. I do not clearly remember or understand what happened next. I remember screaming and looking at my bloody hands, crying so hard that my head swam. What remained of Sammy was strewn about the floor. There were police, and sirens.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent:36pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:#ffffff;font-weight:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">It’s been three months since Sammy’s death. I finally told Neighbor boy what had been happening all those months. He didn’t say much, but shortly after, I moved into this place. It is a mental hospital. They make me eat, even though I can’t stomach it. They make me take medicine, it helps me sleep. I’ve stopped having nightmares. Occasionally, I see Sammy in my dreams, sometimes alive…. sometimes…. not. She is still there when I look in the mirror. She seems to be feeding off my misery. Her hate is ever there, growing with each day. Growing with mine. Her green cold eyes staring back with a sharpness to them. I looked into her. She looked right back, I whispered a raspy voice “You. are. Worthless”

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent:36pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:#ffffff;font-weight:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">A melody in the form of a knock came from the door. It was neighbor boy. I only see him once a month. “What-cha doing?” All I could say was “The eyes” She was still there, why couldn’t he see her, and her cold green eyes. Then he looked at the reflection, without any reaction or emotion as if he couldn’t even see her, then he leaned up against the wall so he could face me.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent:36pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:#ffffff;font-weight:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">“I always thought that you had pretty bright green eyes”

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent:36pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:#ffffff;font-weight:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">My heart stopped.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent:36pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:#ffffff;font-weight:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">“What?”

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent:36pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:#ffffff;font-weight:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">I had never stopped to think that the eyes that gazed back at me were the same color green as my own.

<span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(255,255,255);white-space:pre-wrap;">I guess I was right. There was no such thing as monsters or ghosts…. there are just creatures like me. <ac_metadata title="Those Cold Green Eyes. (Unreviewed. Your time is appreciated!)"> </ac_metadata>